Why the Mongol army was invincible 1,000 years ago, these three points are indispensable
The Mongols were thin, and many soldiers could not even take out a decent armor, especially the core of the cavalry was a horse, and the Mongolian horse was thin and small, far inferior to the tall, strong, and amazingly fast European horse.
In fact, among the world's major horse breeds, the Mongolian horse is the horse that combines speed and endurance best. If he were to let Mongolian horse and Bolt run 100 meters, he could let Bolt run 15 meters first. If you let the Mongolian horse and marathon world champion run the marathon, you can let the world champion run for an hour first.
In fact, the advantages of Mongolian horses go far beyond that. The Mongolian horse's speed and endurance are amazing, so its long-distance running ability is particularly strong, and it is often difficult to guard against. In fact, in the era of cold weapons, especially in the wars of nomads, the Mongolian horse played a decisive role, which is a bit like this fighter in the current war. It is characterized by its short and hardy nature, and its endurance is very strong, and it can run non-stop, which is unmatched by other horses.
As the saying goes, shoot the horse first, and the thief captures the king first. The Mongol cavalry specifically looked for places where the armor on the horse could not be protected, and first made the opponent's war horse lose its combat effectiveness. Since many of the horses of the heavy cavalry lost their combat effectiveness, these people could only run and follow behind when pursuing. Due to the armor on their bodies, their speed was very slow, and they turned into live targets and were shot by the Mongol iron horse. The pursuing heavy cavalry was caught in front and back by the Mongol iron cavalry because of the lone army, and was quickly eliminated by the Mongol army.
In addition to the unique advantages of Mongolian horses, the strength of Mongolian iron horses is also inseparable from one factor, that is, technology. What the vast majority of people don't know is that at the beginning, the combat effectiveness of cavalry was inferior to that of infantry, what is going on? It turned out that the power of cavalry mainly depended on the horse, and the faster the horse, the greater the power of the cavalry. But in the early days, the speed of the cavalry was very slow. And the reason is not that the horse does not run fast, nor is it because people do not want to run fast, but because they dare not run too fast.
At the beginning, people rode directly on the horse, and when the horse ran, in order not to fall, people had to clamp the horse's belly with their legs, and tightly grab the horse's mane with both hands. Since it is difficult to maintain balance on the horse, riders are generally insecure, so they dare not run too fast or make movements, and it is difficult to exert combat effectiveness. Later, with the advent of a type of harness, the situation improved. This harness is called a saddle, but riding a horse is actually a skillful job. If you don't have a saddle and you ride on horseback, then you can't be fixed, and you can't do anything. In war, you need to fight with people, you need to shoot arrows, a lot of actions to do, then you can't fix people, you can't exert your strength. The role of this stirrup is to fix the person on the back of the horse, then this effect is very large, plus the stirrup, then the person on the horseback to form a relatively fixed posture, so that he will use the knife to fight, or when shooting arrows, the body can be relatively supportive. This was very important, so the invention of stirrups and saddles in the horseback people, as well as the invention of the horseshoe, was very important for the Mongol war.
In the world, the invention of the stirrup is of epoch-making significance, comparable to the invention of the wheel. With stirrups, the rider's feet have a stable fulcrum, no longer worry about the body shaking from side to side, and the legs do not have to clamp the horse's belly tightly, which greatly reduces physical fatigue. The appearance of saddles and stirrups completely liberated the hands of the fighters, and from then on, the powerful combat effectiveness of the cavalry began to show. With the help of saddles and stirrups, as well as unparalleled Mongol horses, the Mongol Empire built a cavalry of unprecedented strength.
