Genghis Khan’s Warriors Had To Live By These Wild Rules

Genghis Khan’s Mongol hordes created one of the greatest empires the world has ever seen – but it came at a price. The warlord didn’t shy away from brutal cruelty, and so it was a very good idea for his army to follow his strict rules both on and off the battlefield. Here’s what it was really like to be one of Genghis Khan’s warriors – from the strategies they employed in war to the beliefs they had to hold in private.

40. Keep the secret of Genghis Khan’s tomb

Genghis Khan died on a summer’s day in 1227. And you’d assume that the great man – who, let’s not forget, had become the ruler of all he surveyed – was buried in a flashy, spectacular tomb. But this was very far from the truth. In fact, the emperor himself supposedly demanded the complete opposite.

The mystery lives on

Apparently, Genghis Khan ordered that he should be buried with great secrecy – and that absolutely nothing should mark his grave. So, when he passed away, grief-stricken soldiers carried his body to a secret location. They even went so far as to repeatedly ride 1,000 horses across his grave to obliterate any sign of its existence! And it seems to have worked. After nearly 800 years, still no one knows where Genghis Khan’s remains lie.

39. Become a master archer

One of the main reasons why Genghis Khan was so successful? His soldiers had incredible archery skills. But the art of marksmanship didn’t just spring out of nowhere. No, Genghis Khan ensured that the Mongol people were taught from childhood. Competitions were even held to test children – boys and girls – in various martial skills. These included wrestling, horse riding, and athletics as well as archery.

Multitasking

And Genghis Khan didn’t just need a high level of bowmanship in his men. Mongol warriors were also expected to be experts at firing arrows while they rode their horses at a gallop. But the dictator did make sure his soldiers had the best bows available at the time. They were state-of-the-art weapons with wooden cores. In the right hands, these were deadly.

38. The horse comes first

For a Mongol warrior, a horse was essential. But soldiers didn’t have just one! Apparently, they traveled with a small herd of four or five steeds. That’s so they would always have a fresh horse when Genghis Khan called upon them.

A symbol of wealth

This gave the Mongols a key advantage over their rivals. Using horses, they could travel great distances at high speeds. But the animals were important to Genghis Khan for another reason, too. Basically, horses were seen as a measure of wealth – so, the more you had, the better.

37. Be prepared to retreat

Picture the Mongol hordes going into battle, and you’re probably seeing them racing across the steppe and vanquishing all in their path. And, yeah, they did do that from time to time. Often, though, the soldiers were a lot more cunning than that. Sometimes, they used a tactical retreat to great effect.

Tricking the opposition

It’s said the Mongols would attack with a relatively weak force before suddenly retreating in disarray. Then, when the enemy set off in pursuit of what was actually a planned withdrawal, the main Mongol force would strike. Taking the advancing soldiers unawares, Genghis Khan’s men would comprehensively defeat them. This feigned retreat apparently resulted in many victories, too.

36. Tolerate different religions

Genghis Khan ruthlessly conquered large parts of Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. You’d think, then, that he would have tried to impose the Mongols’ religious ideas on the people he controlled. These beliefs centered around shamanism, spirits, and ancestor worship. Curiously enough, though, he let folks just worship however they liked. How come?

No rebellion

Well, Genghis Khan apparently thought that trying to impose religion on others would be more trouble than it was worth. The Mongols reportedly made efforts to get on the right side of religious leaders in the lands they annexed. They even granted tax breaks to clerics and holy places. But there was some clever thinking behind this decision. Supposedly, Genghis Khan believed that granting religious freedom would make the people less likely to rise in rebellion.

35. Compulsory military service

Perhaps above all else, Genghis Khan needed manpower. The more soldiers he had under his command, the easier it would be to achieve his territorial ambitions. But the Mongols didn’t depend on volunteers; people were conscripted. And strict laws dictated who must be ready to serve in the Mongol army.

A huge army

All able-bodied men from the age of 16 to 60 – some sources say 15 to 70 – could be called upon to serve as soldiers. In his 2017 book The Mongol Art of War, Timothy May estimated that a staggering one in seven of the Mongol population were soldiers. That is an astonishingly militarized society.

34. Share the plunder

If there’s one way to lose the loyalty of your soldiers, it’s failing to give them what they believe they’re owed. And so while the Mongols didn’t get anything like regular pay, the fighters naturally expected to be richly rewarded. Genghis Khan had a rule for this, and it’s a surprisingly fair one for a warlord.

Dividing the loot

As the Mongols conquered more people, they stole everything from gold and silver to horses and slaves. And Genghis Khan made sure there was an equitable system of dividing up the loot. But this didn’t happen until an enemy was utterly defeated. After that, a special committee called the jarqu administered the payouts.

33. Equality under the law

You wouldn’t expect a fearsome conqueror to be an equal opportunities kind of guy, but Genghis Khan was surprisingly progressive for his time. He laid down the law, in fact, to ensure that everyone got a fair shot. And he did this in two main ways.

Women’s rights

Firstly, Genghis Khan’s laws meant that it was the best soldiers who got promoted rather than those with links to ruling families. Yes, this meant his armies were pretty much meritocracies. Secondly, he actually gave protection and status to women. At a time when women’s rights were non-existent elsewhere, Mongol females often held positions of political power. They could also serve as shamans.

32. Always obey

Genghis Khan and his lieutenants were as one when it came to unquestioning obedience from soldiers. They believed that orders had to be followed at all times. This meant soldiers and even officers could be lashed if they did not follow commands to the letter. That’s right: if any of a soldier’s equipment went missing, it was the officer in charge of the man who was punished.

Consequences were severe

Some infractions were dealt with by using the ultimate sanction: execution. Offenses that were punished by death included falling asleep on guard duty, desertion, or retreating without orders. And this respect for the rules was noted by a European who traveled to the Mongol lands in 1245. Friar Giovanni di Plano Carpini wrote, “These men... are more obedient to their masters than any other men in the world. Fights, brawls, wounding, murder are never met with among them.”

31. Practice hit-and-run tactics

The main force of Genghis Khan’s army was the archers mounted on horseback. And these highly mobile troops were ideally suited to one of the Mongols’ favorite battle tactics. We’re talking about the hit-and-run assault, which had to be practiced and perfected all the time. But what was this exactly?

It’s all in the planning

Well, the armies would attack at speed – often making deadly use of their bows – and then retreat before an enemy force had time to re-form its ranks. They would make these rapid horseback sallies repeatedly while staying out of range of the enemy’s weapons. And only when their opponents were thoroughly disordered by the hit-and-run tactics would the Mongols make a final devastating attack.

30. Target enemy leaders

One way to disrupt an enemy army is to take out their leaders. And that was certainly a tactic Genghis Khan encouraged his troops to pursue. He picked it up in his earliest campaigns, when he was attempting to unite the Mongolian people under one ruler: him.

Only one thing to do

Genghis Khan quickly realized that allowing opposing leaders to escape was a mistake. It meant that even after battlefield defeat, they could muster their followers and live to fight another day. With that in mind, then, he soon made sure that his rival generals and rulers were put to the sword.

29. Right time, right place

Genghis Khan was a master of one of the most important rules of war: choosing the right time and place to engage his enemies in battle. The Mongol leader would deliberately avoid attacking an opponent until he was satisfied that the circumstances were entirely to his advantage. Only then would he launch an assault.

Catching everyone off guard

Under Genghis Khan’s skilled generalship, the Mongol forces would sometimes split into smaller groups to avoid an unsuitable battlefield. Eventually, though, they would come back together when the time was right to strike a conclusive blow. Often, this would take the shape of a surprise attack that would quickly overwhelm the enemy.

28. Take the flanks

The most obvious way to fight a battle is a headlong charge at the enemy force. But it also may be what your opponent’s expecting. No wonder, then, that Genghis Khan had an array of more cunning tactics in his repertoire! One of these was the practice of flanking. Mongol warriors would avoid the center of the enemy’s forces; instead, they would skirt around their sides.

Size didn’t matter

This way, Genghis Khan and his warriors could surround an opposing army. And the tactic could even be combined with a planned retreat. How did that work? Well, once the enemy advanced in pursuit, the Mongols could attack in the flanks and from the rear. Then the retreating Mongols could turn and mount a frontal assault. Using such clever tactics, Genghis Khan often defeated armies with superior numbers.

27. Win sieges with engineering

A fortified city presented Genghis Khan with an altogether different battlefield problem. Hidden behind high battlements, an enemy could hold out for long periods if they had sufficient supplies within their citadel. And unless such a stronghold was overcome, Genghis Khan could not feel secure in the territory he had invaded. So, what did he end up doing?

Aggression and inteligence

Well, naturally, Genghis Khan made sure that the Mongol army included engineers and specialists in conducting siege warfare. Many of these skilled men came from Chinese and Muslim territories that the leader had previously conquered. And these soldiers knew their stuff. They used gunpowder, artillery, massive catapults that could hurl boulders against castle walls, and even rockets to shatter defenses.

26. Divide your enemy

Genghis Khan often conquered by sheer force of arms. He wasn’t opposed to the use of diplomacy or deceit when they made victory easier, though, and that’s clear from one particularly clever strategy. Whenever they saw the opportunity, the Mongols would work to increase existing hostility among their enemies.

Bad blood

In his book The Mongol Art of War, Timothy May quoted the words of a 13th-century French nobleman called Jean de Joinville. Joinville wrote, “Whenever the Mongols wish to make war on the Saracens, they send Christians to fight against them and on the other hand employ Saracens in any war against Christians.” Yep, Genghis Khan weakened his enemies by using any bad blood to his advantage.

25. Move fast

One of Genghis Khan’s secret weapons? Mobility. With their hardy horses, the Mongol hordes could travel over great distances at speed. That allowed them to confuse their enemies or take them entirely by surprise. And it also made them ahead of their time. We’ve only seen such flexibility again when motorized armies arrived in the 20th century.

Keeping pace

Genghis Khan sometimes made Mongol warriors on horseback cover 75 miles per day. And to make sure they could maintain this high pace, soldiers were well-supplied with as many as 16 spare mounts. This, of course, meant they could travel great distances quickly. Most crucially of all, though, they could also act with deadly speed on the battlefield.

24. Gather intelligence

Genghis Khan didn’t lead his warriors into battle until he’d made thorough preparations. And one crucial element of this pre-attack groundwork was the gathering of intelligence. Obviously, it was important to know how many soldiers the general had at his disposal, so a headcount of available troops was the first step.

Spying

Then the Mongols would learn what they could about their opponents. Undercover agents disguised as holy men or traders would infiltrate enemy territory to gather information. They would also hunt out any potential turncoats who may defect to the Mongol cause. And once Genghis Khan’s troops had started advancing, spies would report on the lie of the land. Nothing was left to chance!

23. Use all available weapons

The thick cloud of arrows the Mongol warriors were capable of launching would have struck terror into the hearts of their enemies. But Genghis Khan had other strings to his bow. Or, to be more precise, his soldiers had a full armory of other fearsome weapons.

No match for Khan

Take the 1221 Siege of Nishapur in modern-day Iran. When the Mongols besieged the city, their equipment included 300 ballistae – large catapults that could launch rocks or spears at the enemy. Genghis Khan’s hordes also had 3,000 powerful crossbows for good measure. There was no way the citizens of Nishapur could match that.

22. Commandeer enemy technology

Genghis Khan certainly wasn’t too proud to use the technology of his enemies. And that’s just as well, as the Mongols’ weaponry was fairly primitive at the start of their campaigns. As the armies conquered more lands, however, they reaped the rewards in more ways than one. They were able to absorb more advanced military technology and even battle tactics.

Theft

As the Mongols traveled through West Asia, they stole steel helmets, chainmail, breastplates, and even armor for their horses. This meant that along with their traditional light cavalry, the Mongols could now deploy the heavy variant to good effect. Smart!

21. Horsemanship was mandatory

Horses were central to Mongol culture and a key element in their success on the battlefield. There was even a law that all children must learn to ride. And for Genghis Khan’s troops, commanding a horse was as familiar as walking. It helped that the Mongols took advantage of one simple invention: the metal stirrup.

Stirrups allowed success

When and where the stirrup was actually invented remains a mystery, but the Mongols certainly made full use of it. Riding with stirrups meant that a warrior could stay on his horse with both hands free. That allowed him to fire arrows as he rode at speed – a fearsome martial skill that helped the Mongols win so many battles.

20. Don’t wash your hands

It seems that the Mongols weren’t that big on washing their hands before or after meals. Even when they ended up covered in bits of meat, fat and grease, they apparently declined to find some water to clear away the worst of it. Instead, they’d just wipe it away on their garments. Yuck!

Greasy insulation

That obviously meant these people’s clothes were then covered in animal oils and lard. That sounds horrible, but there was actually a logic behind it. Because all this fat on their attire would serve as a sort of insulation, which was handy when they were exposed to the often harsh elements of their territory.

19. Don’t dare drink from your own cup

Every culture has its traditions when it comes to people sharing a drink together. The Mongols, though, had quite a strange one. Rather than a group of people clinking glasses and taking a sip from their own cups, they were known to all share the same one. Not exactly that hygienic, folks.

Poison precautions

As with the habit of rubbing their dirty hands on their clothes, though, there was also a logic to drinking from one cup. The Mongols were terribly afraid of being poisoned, you see, so this was a way of protecting against it. And it wasn’t just a drinking habit – Ghenkis Khan made it the law!

18. Fire’s no safety issue

In their time, the Mongols figured out something profound about fire. They realized that by passing objects through it, they would then become “purified.” They were actually onto something with this, as extreme temperatures are, indeed, usually enough to kill germs. But while they had the right idea generally speaking, they got a little lost on the specifics.

Feel the burn

Fire was understood as a spiritual phenomenon for the Mongols, not a scientific one. And their use of it may have been a little problematic. Not only did they pass inanimate objects through the flames in order to purify them, but they also apparently forced people to feel the burn. Ouch!

17. Big hair, big importance

The more affluent female members of the Mongol empire would style their hair to the extreme. They’d place jewels throughout their locks, which were styled in the most intricate ways imaginable. But how did they manage to achieve such designs? With the hardened fats of a sheep, of course.

Hairstyles fit for Star Wars

If you want an idea of what these hairstyles may have looked like, there’s a simple thing you can do. Just throw on The Phantom Menace and take a look at the scene where Queen Amidala gives a speech to the Galactic Senate. Her hairdo and outfit here were inspired by Mongol style. Just wow. 

16. Boil, boil, boil your food

The Mongols are said to have enjoyed their meat. They were happy to tear into things we’d be familiar with today, such as lamb. But they also tucked into things like rodents and even dogs. They didn’t, however, prepare these things in a way that sounds particularly appetizing to those of us around today.

"Spiritual benefits"

Far from grilling meat to perfection, the Mongols tended to boil it instead. This, they thought, would help the foodstuff to retain its supposed spiritual benefits. Then they’d pour the boiling water used in the process onto the plates they intended to eat from, before pouring it back into the pot again.

15. Make your own DIY blood fountain

One would presume that being a part of an empire that’s constantly expanding would be quite exhausting at times. Fighting battles and traveling great distances must be thirsty work, but sometimes water could be difficult to come by. What could be done in such a grim situation?

Poor horses

Well, the Mongols developed a pretty gruesome alternative to drinking water from a flowing stream. When the situation was dire, they would turn to their horses for help. They’d open up a cut in the animal’s neck and drink the blood that flowed out — while it was still alive. Desperate times called for desperate measures. But yes, fetch the sick-bucket all the same please. 

14. Enjoy gone off milk

People from cultures throughout history have enjoyed a nice glass of milk. But the Mongols had a bit of a twist when it came to this. They fermented horse milk, a process that made the stuff alcoholic. In theory, then, these people could get drunk by downing their own milk. Hilarious!

Still around today

This boozy milk had a name: kumis. It was a slightly fizzy drink, containing around one to three percent alcohol. If this sounds a little strange, then you might be surprised to learn that it’s still around today. People living in the regions of the former empire are still fond of kumis.

13. Keep your food down — or die

If you found yourself choking on some food in the Mongol empire, you were really in a perilous position. Even if you managed to spit the blockage out, you could still end up in big trouble with the law. That’s because the Mongols thought choking was the result of demonic activity, so spitting was just spreading wickedness. Uh oh!

No spitting allowed

The Mongols felt so strongly about spitting that extreme measures could be taken to deal with those doing it. A person would be punished for the act, with the penalties being more severe if the spit traveled a greater distance. In the worst case scenario, a person could even be put to death for their crime.

12. Go to toilet in public

A Flemish monk named William of Rubruck once traveled to the Mongol empire, where he was exposed to the quirks and practices of its people. William naturally struggled to communicate, because of the foreign language spoken there. But that was far from the worst instance of culture shock he experienced.

No shame

William wrote of the incident that so appalled him. He recalled a time when he was with some Mongol people who “were seized with a desire to void their stomachs. They did not go away from us farther than one can throw a bean: they did their filthiness right beside us while talking together.”

11. Wash yourself by mouth

The Mongols didn’t particularly like to wash with water, but sometimes that was unavoidable. Still, they still did so in an odd way. As William of Rubruck wrote, “When they want to wash their hands or head, they fill their mouths with water, which they let trickle on to their hands, and in this way they also wet their hair and wash their heads.”

Watch your water

The Mongols revered water, which seems to be at the root of this strange practice. They didn’t want water that had come into contact with someone’s face to drip back into its source. Emperor Genghis Khan, it’s said, ruled that anyone who let this happen should pay with their lives. So the people came up with odd ways of ensuring it never occurred.

10. Don’t wash your clothes in water

It seems that the Mongols avoided washing their garments in sources of running water, but historians disagree about the specifics. Some, for instance, believe that this rule was only in force if a thunderstorm happened to be raging at the time. William of Rubruck, though, understood things a little bit differently.

Fear of thunder

According to William, the Mongols avoided using water to clean clothes because they thought a thunderstorm would result from it. And that was to be avoided at all costs, as they feared such weather events terribly. For that reason, Genghis Khan would have his subjects beaten if they were caught doing it.

9. Don’t waste your food... ever

When the Mongols were preparing meat for a meal, they really made the most of it. They lived in a pretty challenging environment, after all, so waste was unacceptable. So after all the meat had been stripped, they then got stuck into the marrow that lay at the center of the bones.

The more blood, the better

The Mongols also had a gruesome means of making the most out of their meat meals. When they were slaughtering a creature for food, they did so in a way that kept as much blood as possible inside the animal’s body. They then made sausages out of all this blood.

8. Don’t wizz in the water

The Mongols were meant to be totally respectful of water, so they couldn’t just go and taint it. That meant peeing into a river or lake was strictly prohibited. And if you were caught doing so, then things could get extremely bad for you. Yup, your life was now hanging in the balance.

The price of peeing

If you could prove that you’d only peed in water by accident, then you might escape with just a fine. The money would then be used to clean your home, which would hopefully ensure no evil spirits started to run amok. But if it was judged that you purposely wizzed in the water, then you could be executed.

7. Keep yourself warm inside the dead

If one of the more prominent members of Mongol society was injured, then a strange and bloody means of treatment might be attempted. The ailing person would be taken over to a dead ox — and forced to rest inside the beast. This was to ensure that the individual was warm enough. Makes you think of Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant perhaps...

Cozy carcass

There’s a record of such a thing happening to one prominent military official in 1274. This man, Bayan, was struck with multiple projectiles. The leader of the time, Kublai Khan, then commanded someone to “cut open the belly of a water-buffalo and put [Bayan] in the inside of it. [After] a good while, then, he revived.”

6. Eat your soul food

Some of the Mongols’ ideas about diet and nutrition were pretty out-there, it has to be said. In some way, they understood that the food a person consumed was really important for their health. Our own culture would agree with that sentiment, as seen in our adage, “You are what you eat.”

A spiritual diet

Yet the Mongols held very different ideas about what constituted healthy grub. Rather than nutritional value, these people thought more in terms of the spiritual worth of food. So animals deemed to be highly spirited — such as wolves, marmots and donkeys — were all apparently good for you. Eating these things could supposedly cure illness and even depression.

5. Do your duty and suck blood

As they went about the arduous task of expanding their empire, the Mongols obviously picked up quite a few injuries here and there... and deaths, of course. Wounds from arrows piercing their bodies was a particular concern, but they thought up a treatment to deal with it. Though it might not be what you’d expect.

Counterintuitive

Rather than having a properly trained nurse or medic deal with an arrow wound, the Mongols trusted the job to special servants. These people didn’t treat the laceration with medicine, but they utilized another method. Basically, they sucked the blood right out of the stricken person’s wound. Which is disgusting. And… won’t exactly stop blood loss.

4. Cook a steak on your horse

A French writer named Jean de Joinville once wrote of a bizarre practice from the Mongol empire. He claimed that the people of the realm would sometimes prepare meat for their meals by placing it beneath the saddle of their horse. They’d then ride around, tenderizing and heating the stuff up.

Put some meat on it

This practice may well have taken place, though some argue that there was another reason for it. It might have been the case that the Mongols thought the meat would help to ease any sores on their horses that had been caused by their saddles. Either way, it’s still odd.

3. Kick your way to better health

Gout was a big problem for certain people in the Mongol empire, especially those who enjoyed lives of excess as the condition can flare up in people who eat too much red meat and drink too much alcohol. It’s an extremely painful affliction, so the Mongols had to think up a way to treat it.

You put your right foot in

What they came up with, unfortunately, left a lot to be desired. The afflicted person was encouraged to jam their foot right into a deceased horse’s open chest. And if that didn’t work, a human’s stomach might instead be employed for the job. You really couldn’t make it up...

2. Throw diseased bodies at the enemy

Despite some of their wackier ideas about medicine and health, the Mongols did understand a certain amount. They knew, for instance, that disease was contagious and that an infected person should be quarantined. Their perspective of disease was very much rooted in spirituality, of course, but they were still on the right path.

Biological warfare

But the Mongols weren’t above using their understanding of contagion to their advantage. Records exist that claim they used to toss huge numbers of dead people at their enemies during battle. This was to infect their foes, which is a pretty horrendous tactic for winning a conflict. The smell alone was presumably nightmarish.

1. Experience the world’s most painful massage

If somebody was suffering from tummy issues in the Mongol empire, a rather unorthodox solution was available to them. Rather than drinking lots of liquid and resting up, a more proactive approach could be called for. All you’d need would be some camel’s milk and a set of cups made from silver.

How does this help?

The milk — which had come from nine white camels — would be applied to the body, while the cups were employed as tools for massage. But it was by no means a gentle process. The cups stood the chance of becoming worn, such was the intensity of the massage. One imagines that it didn’t help with the belly ache at all.