“Intellectuals, especially liberal intellectuals, invariably have a “plan” and the plan generally requires imposition by government.” ~ R.W. Grant ‘The Incredible Bread Machine’ (1999 edition)
The Genius of Genghis Khan
When Genghis Khan set out to attack Manchuria to his east, it was with the clear intention of breaking the traditional bond of vassalage that his clans owed towards their numerically vastly superior and commercially wealthier manchurian overlords. In fact when, after he had consolidated the dispersed factions of the Mongol tribes into one nation, he was visited by a luxuriously apparalled poobah plus entourage from Beijing whose purpose was to instruct Genghis on his fealty to the Emperor and to instruct him on his tax requirements. Legend has it has that Genghis, without saying a word or even greeting the emissary, dropped his trousers and proceeded to urinate in front of him. The latter, presumably well-versed in the interpretation of diplomatic non-verbal communication, got the message and departed, texting hurriedly back to HQ something along the lines of “this one’s going to be trouble.”
Which would have been an understatement.
Genghis did not do vassalage very well and his first campaign - the Manchurian Campaign - after the consolidation of power in 1206 was to settle the issue in his favour by attacking his Chinese neighbours and would-be overlords immediately and decisively. To this end he assembled an army of approx. 100,000 men entirely composed of mounted cavalry. This (legendary) Mongol army was probably the only army in history thus constituted, had next to no supply caravan in the rear, with each soldier entirely responsible for his own sustenance and shelter. Mongolian cavalry rode light, ate little (they took dried yak meat in their pouches for protein - a sort of early jerky) and otherwise hunted their supper en route. Faced with walled cities and advanced military technology, Genghis’ army had to rely on other methods to win.
Genghis was a master strategist and a voracious assimilator of technical knowledge. It is to be assumed that he was familiar with the teachings of the great military philosopher and general Sun Tzu whose treatise on the Art of War written some 1,500 years earlier will have been read to him by captured scholars. Genghis placed a high premium on intellectuals, writers and men of letters and treated them generously as he integrated them into his culture. The height of military and political strategy is captured in Sun Tzu’s admonition to win without ever having to fight a battle, a lesson was absorbed fully by the Great Khan. His relatively small mounted army could ill afford losses, especially when faced with (usually) superior numerical forces. In the Manchurian campaign he therefore employed the following three strategic principles that were to be developed to devastating effect in the next 15 years of campaigning:
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