In the era of cold weapons, heavy cavalry wearing armor on soldiers and warhorses has always worn masks, which can not only protect the face of soldiers, but also have a deterrent effect on the enemy. In Chinese history, the more famous is the mask of lanling king, it is said that the famous general of the Northern Qi era Lanling king Gao Changgong, because his face is too handsome and soft, so he will wear a frightening mask when fighting, in order to achieve the purpose of making the enemy dare not despise himself.
In the armies of ancient Russians, there was also the custom of wearing masks, and ancient Russian soldiers wore masks only because they were influenced by the Mongols of the Golden Horde. In some museums in Russia, there are many Chincha masks worn by the Mongols of the Golden Horde, most of which are made of iron, while the masks of some nobles are made of gold, and they are very well-made, and the outline of facial features and beards is also very perfect.
In the history of the Yuan Dynasty, it was rare for soldiers to wear masks, because in that era, the Mongols had always been known for their light cavalry, and their heavy cavalry was not large in number, and they rarely wore masks. However, in the Golden Horde of the Chincha steppe, the local Mongol cavalry was very fond of wearing masks, and the reason why they wore masks was not entirely to intimidate the enemy.
Chincha masks from the collection of the Russian Museum
After the Mongol expedition to Europe, Genghis Khan's grandson established the Golden Horde, one of the four great Mongol khanates, on the Chincha steppe, which ruled over the Russians for more than two hundred years, and the Muscovite Principality established by the Russians became a vassal state of the Golden Horde. In the early days of the Golden Horde, the Slavic peoples such as Russia and Ukraine were very afraid of the Mongols, and because the Golden Horde had ravaged their land many times, they were once very afraid of the yellow-looking people, and when the Mongols put on masks, they reduced their deterrence to the enemy army.
Moreover, the Chincha masks worn by the Mongols of the Golden Horde were not too frighteningly made, so the Mongols of the Golden Horde did not wear masks to deter the enemy. The reason why the Mongols of the Golden Horde like to wear masks, in addition to masks that can protect the face, is more because they were influenced by the chincha culture, after the establishment of the Golden Horde, the small population of the Mongols was quickly Turkified, and wearing masks is also a product of Turkification.
Cavalry of the Golden Horde
The custom of the Chincha people to wear masks can be traced back to the period of the Sabbath Empire, when the Persian heavy cavalry of the Sabbath Empire had a tradition of wearing masks. Later, in the war between the Sabbath Empire and the Turkic nomads, the Turkic nomads received many beautifully made masks from the Persians, and from then on, the masks entered the life of the Turkic cavalry. However, it is also believed that the Turkic cavalry wore masks for a longer time, because many of the stone statues found in the Eurasian steppes also had masks on their faces.
Because the productivity of the steppes was relatively backward at that time, only the Turkic nobles were eligible to wear masks during that period, and wearing masks also became a symbol of status. During the Golden Horde, the Mongols began to integrate with the Chincha Turks in their territory, and they not only began to use the Chincha language, accept the habits of the Chincha, but even began to imitate the Chincha in terms of soldier equipment and tactical system.
Kazakh cavalry in film and television works
For more than three hundred years of the Golden Horde' existence, the Chincha mask has always been a symbol of the Khanate's cavalry, and this custom even once influenced the Timurid Empire adjacent to the Golden Horde, and there was also a phenomenon of wearing masks among the cavalry of the Timurid Empire. After the fall of the Golden Horde, the Kazakh cavalry living on the steppe inherited the Chincha mask, and until the eighteenth century, the Kazakh cavalry still had the tradition of wearing masks.