By: Gregg Martin

 The Mongol emperor  Khan was orphaned in his childhood and experienced a lot of violence and cruelty  Genghis used an army to achieve political control  He started the Mongol invasions and became one of the largest empires stretching from China all the way west but not into Europe

 “Quality not Quantity”  There were armies were smaller but their warriors were more superior than others  They used intelligence, physiological warfare, military strategy and logistics  Their characteristics were high caution and intuition, great intelligence and understanding, mobility, alertness, speed, and power

 The Mongols used the war tactic known as Retreat.  Retreat implied cowardice and lack of strength. The Mongols wanted their opponent to think this. They wanted the opponent to pursue them which expresses the opposing armies weakness  Strategies like this one were reasons why the Mongols were as successful as they were

 Their primary weapon was the Mongol bow  It was made of layers of boiled horn and sinew  They had a wide variety of arrows based on the target and the distance  They also had secondary weapons such as axes, single edged swords, and crossbows.  The Mongol arrow and bow was just two much for the opponent  Also had catapults that hurled heavy rocks (used for distance)

 The Mongols wore silk as clothing to prevent deadly harm by arrows  They had a protective shield of leather armor  Wore helmets, heavy leather boots  Also carried around a sharpening stone to keep their weapons in top shape

 Large reserve of horses which were used to cover distances at speeds which were unbelievable to the enemy  Made hunting a lot more easier  Roads were constructed for commerce and the horse was the instrument of transmission

 Horses did not only help the Mongols in war, hunting, and traveling but in survival too  The Mongols milked and slaughtered horses for food  Provided a steady diet of milk and yoghurt, blood to drink and they used the raw meat

 The Mongol Empire was separated into four parts: the Yuan Dynasty, the Golden Horde, the Ilkhanate and the Chaghatai  As the power of the Mongols declined, chaos started everywhere  The parts of the empire faced almost no outside threat but internally they were breaking down  The fragmentation of the empire occurred from and the Yuan dynasty officially declined in 1368 which was the last part of the empire to decline, officially ending it