Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages

by Dan Jones

The reasons for his success were simple but effective. Besides a personal talent for fighting and marrying, both of which were essential tools of steppe diplomacy, he had also lighted upon some radical reforms to traditional Mongol tribal and military organization. Like Muhammad uniting the bickering tribes of Arabia during the seventh century a.d., Temüjin saw that bonds of clan and blood repelled as often as they attracted, and that by weakening them in favor of a direct bond to himself, he could create a whole that was much more powerful than its constituent parts. This necessitated some simple but important practical steps. One was to introduce a strong element of meritocracy into his military organization. Mongol society was customarily arranged according to tribal hierarchies based on ancestry and wealth. Temüjin tore this tradition to shreds. He chose his allies and his military officers on the strict basis of talent and loyalty. Then he gave his officers regularized units of men to command. The base unit was a company of ten men called an Arban, comprising six light mounted archers and four more heavily armored lancers. Ten of these companies made a Zuun. Ten Zuuns made a Mingghan. And the largest unit, ten thousand men strong, was a Tumen. Critically for the unity of the military as a whole, these units were not constructed from tribal groupings. They cut across family and clan lines.9 Once troops had been placed in their unit, they could not transfer—on pain of d...