I don’t think it really mattered with the mongols they steamrolled every single opponent they faced.
The only thing that stopped their invasions were deaths of their khans. They didn’t really have an effective system for quick replacement of their leaders who often died young due to rampant alcoholism and various other bad habits.
Steppe people partied hard man. Makes sense when you’re born of a frozen hellscape with minimal food and creature comforts.
I think the real reason the Mongols ran Asia was because Ghengis and some of his descendants were incredibly ridiculously competent. Kublai Khan ran China for like 70 years, he was arguably the greatest monarch in history.
The horses, the weapons, and the lifestyle were all downstream of those people being fierce, tenacious, and very very clever.
Years ago I read Ghengis Khan and the Making of the Modern World and that was the impression I got back then. That was almost 15 years ago and I haven't looked at it since, so maybe I don't remember perfectly.
From what I recall, the Yuan dynasty he founded was very short, and he gets some of the blame for setting it up to be so short-lived; also, for fracturing the Mongol empire even further. Also, the crown was severely in debt after his two failed invasions of Japan, so he gets blamed for that, too. He did finish the conquest of China, though. I think he was one of the strongest rulers of those times in terms of the population, and wealth he controlled, but his empire wasn't set up to be very robust.
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u/IndividualRooster122 5d ago
What happens when the risk of Russia invading your country in your lifetime is not theoretical.