War Horse

by Louis A. DiMarco

  Chapter Five

  STEPPE WARRIORS

  By nature they are good at riding and archery. Therefore they took possession of the world through this advantage of bows and horses. —ANNALS OF THE YUAN DYNASTY

  The composite bow was an important weapon to mounted warriors of many of the great ancient empires: the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Persians, and the Islamic armies of the Middle Ages. However, these great armies were merely borrowing this weapon from its inventors and greatest practitioners: the horse warriors of the central and east Asian steppe. The most important manifestation of the horse-rider weapons system in the history of warfare was the composite bow wielded by a skillful archer and mounted on the versatile and virtually indestructible steppe horse.

  The tribes of the steppe survived because they were the masters of the horse and composite bow. A long line of ferocious nomadic tribes, beginning with the Scythians and the Sarmatians of the first millennia BC and ending with the last of the Mongol Khans in the sixteenth century, built their armies around this weapons system. Tactically, they were unmatched by any other mounted forces. For 2,500 years the horse-archer armies of the steppe were virtually undefeatable. Before the invention of gunpowder, no weapons system could stand against the steppe horse archer.

  The Eurasian steppe is a sea of grassland that extends 5,000 miles from Manchuria to Hungary. In the north, deep forests border the steppe, and in the south, deserts and mountains edge the grasslands. It is divided into western and eastern sub-regions. The western steppe begins on the Hungarian plain and extends east to the Pamirs, the western Tien Shan, and the Altai mountains in the area of modern Tajikistan. The eastern steppe has a northern and southern band on either side of the Tien Shan in modern Kyrgyzstan, which join in Mongolia. The eastern steppe has more deserts, much colder winters, and is at a higher elevation than the west. The harshness of the eastern steppe accounts for the generally westward migration of steppe people over time.1 The mountains are not a major obstacle to movement. The steppe was the perfect environment to encourage the development of riding and the early relationship between man and horse.

  Over the centuries there were four reasons for the excellence of the steppe horse-archer armies. The first was the composite bow used by the skilled archer. The second reason was the unique steppe horse. Together they formed the horse-archer weapons system. The third component of success was a simple but highly effective military system. Finally, the steppe armies achieved success through the inspired leadership of excellent commanders who were bold and demonstrated a thorough knowledge not only of their own capabilities and limitations but also those of their enemies.

  THE STEPPE HARCHER

  A variety of pieces and materials make up the composite bow.2 Its opposite is the self-bow, a bow made up of a single stave of wood. The exact origin of the composite bow is impossible to determine, but evidence indicates it originated on the steppe around 1500 BC. In order to maneuver the bow across the horses’ neck, the bows used by steppe archers were much shorter than those used by standing archers such as the Egyptians. Bowyers began construction of the bow by gluing several pieces of wood or bamboo together to form a lightweight core. Steaming the core on a form gave it the correct basic shape: a curve away from the archer. Once he formed the core, the bowyer shaped boiled horn and glued it to the belly (the side toward the archer) using fish or hide glue. He allowed it to dry after tightly wrapping the bone to the wood. After two months or more, sinew strips taken from the hamstrings or back tendons of a cow or deer were dried, crushed, mixed with glue, and applied to the back of the bow (facing away from the archer). The bow was then set to cure for as long as a year. Once the glues had set, a protective material, commonly birch bark or leather, covered the entire bow to protect the horn and sinew from the elements.

  The completed bow dramatically curved away from the archer. However, when strung the curve was reversed and the stresses resulting from stringing the bow gave it its power. The Huns further enhanced the curve of the bow by adding bone or wood ears set into the ends at an angle from the curved limb. These ears acted as a lever when the bow was drawn causing the limbs to bend further, maximizing the draw, and thus further increasing the power of the bow.

  The arrows used for the bow were in some ways more important than the bow. A good archer could compensate for the problems of a less-than-quality bow, but there was no way to compensate for arrows that did not fly true. Archers made arrows from reed, cane, or some other wood. Reed arrows were lighter and so had a longer range but were likely to break upon impact and not be reusable. Although archers preferred an arrow length matched to the archer, the sheer volume of arrows dispensed in battle required the issue of a standardized size. The heads of the arrows consisted of a large variety of styles. Early arrowheads were made of bone; later they were made of metal.

  Steppe archers used both bow and arrow quivers. The Scythians used a combination quiver that the Greeks called a gorytos, which stored the bow and had a pocket on the outside for arrows. Most of the steppe tribes used separate bow and arrow quivers. Bow quivers carried the strung bow in a protective case. The archer usually slung the quiver over his shoulder or fixed it to his belt. Half of the bow protruded from the case allowing quick access. Arrow quivers were also important. There were two main designs of arrow quivers: a tube shape and an hourglass shape. The hourglass-shape quiver accommodated the fletching of arrows carried point up for easier arrowhead selection. Depending on the type of quiver, an archer could carry between 30 and 150 arrows. Marco Polo reported that the Mongolian archer carried a quiver with 60 arrows. Thirty of the arrows were light arrows designed to pierce armor, and 30 were heavy broadhead arrows for use at close range.3

  The warrior had to pay careful attention when stringing the bow. The archer carefully adjusted tension to achieve the optimum power while at the same time not too tight that it might compromise the integrity of the string. The archer made the strings from sinew, horsehair, and various vines. Use of different strings depended on climate conditions; for example, horsehair strings were best for extreme cold. Archers always carried spare bowstrings.

  The composite bow had a maximum effective range of approximately 175 yards but had an accurate killing range of 50 to 60 yards. Archers trained not only to shoot directly at the target but also to fire at a high angle. Launching the arrows at a 45-degree angle at a designated area or dense target resulted in the arrows descending on the target almost vertically. Trained archers maintained a sustained rate of fire of 12 arrows per minute for area fire while a charging archer could loose five arrows in ten seconds while moving at a gallop. In the gallop the archer stood and balanced in his stirrups, steered with his knees, and timed his shot at the point in the canter or gallop when all four of the horses’ feet were off the ground. The preferred gait for firing on the move was the gallop. At a gallop the horse lengthens and lowers his body and head, giving the archer a clearer field of fire; the stride of the horse is smoother; and the horse has a greater tendency to move straight ahead without rein guidance.4

  The steppe warriors almost universally fired their arrows using the “Mongolian draw.” This difficult technique was unique to the steppe and drew the arrow using only the thumb. They fired the arrow off the right side of the bow. The hand was turned perpendicular to the string and the thumb locked around the string from left to right (for a right-handed archer). The index finger then covered the thumb locking the thumb in place. The horse archer then drew the string to his ear while extending his left arm and the bow body toward the target. The thumb draw eliminated some of the finger pinch associated with the finger draw on a short bow, and it allowed greater security of the cocked arrow while riding.5 Releasing the thumb dis-charged the arrow. The archer wore a ring on his right thumb which made the release smoother and more comfortable.

  Some historians believe the steppe warrior was also his own bowyer, making and maintaining his own bows. Others agree with historian Otto Maenchen-Helfen th
at composite bow making in general was so complex a craft, and the Hunish war bow in particular was so perfectly made that professional bowyers must have been used.6 However the bow was a central feature of both war and life on the steppe. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that all steppe warriors were intimately familiar with the bow-making process, were capable of making their own bows, and with the possible exception of the superbly organized Mongol army made their own bows whenever possible.

  Though a highly effective weapon, especially as part of the mounted archer system, the composite bow did have limitations. The crossbow and the dismounted archer could outrange the horse archer. In addition, chain mail, shields, and even the padded undergarment, the gambesons, were effective protection from the horse-archer attack at some ranges. Thus, the composite bow was a weapon that a well-trained and well-led adversary could overcome. Still, its rate of fire, accuracy, power, and most important, the fact that it could be employed from a moving horse made the composite bow an important weapon until well after the arrival of gunpowder. Steppe archers from the Crimea employed the weapon with good effect well into the seventeenth century.7

  In the early steppe armies, before the establishment of the Mongol Empire, there were no major class distinctions. Every man in the tribe was a warrior, a horseman, and an archer. He learned his skills informally from his family and clan. Leaders such as Attila and Genghis Khan gained their following partly through their prowess in basic warrior skills. The individual steppe warrior led a hard life that toughened him to hard campaigning and gave him excellent fieldcraft skills. Life on the steppe inured him to heat and cold and he had incredible eyesight. Mongol horsemen could to distinguish a rider from an animal at a range of four miles across the steppe.8

  In the early steppe armies the horse archer equipped himself. His service was an obligation to his family, clan, and tribe. In most steppe armies soldiers received no pay but did receive a portion of all loot and booty. Steppe tribes divided booty according to strict rules. He brought to his service his string of horses and two or three bows. Personal equipment of the steppe warrior was not usually equal in quality with that of his opponent. Horse archers did not formally wear armor. Veteran steppe cavalrymen armored themselves over time with captured equipment. The standard dress was soft leather boots and a quilted tunic. A lasso, short sword, and dagger made up the individual archer’s general equipment.9

  THE STEPPE HORSE AND HORSEMANSHIP

  Horses were central to the economy and culture of the steppe tribes. The horse was valued above all other possessions, and booty and tribute usually included a large component of horses. When the Mongols established the Yuan dynasty in China the bulk of the art produced by the royal artisans centered around the subject of horses. All of the steppe tribes from the Scythians to the Mongols ate horsemeat. They also all drank mare’s milk and used it to make cheese. The tribes used horsehide for clothing, tenting, and equipment, and horsehair for bow strings. Steppe leaders recognized the importance of the horse. Genghis Khan issued strict orders on the humane treatment of the army’s horses. He prohibited leading horses with a bit in their mouth. The Mongols never destroyed battle horses but rather put them to pasture when they were no longer useful. War horses were never used for food. When a warrior died, his favorite war horse was killed and buried with him so that their spirits could ride together. Riders exchanged ridden horses every few hours, especially during rapid movement. The Mongol army segregated horse herds by color. White horses were sacred and fit only for princes.10

  Horses

  The tribes of the western steppe at the time of the Roman Empire, the Scythians and the Sarmatians, had mixed central Asian horses with the type 1 ponies of the Germanic tribes of central Europe, producing a smaller horse than might have been found further east. The Romans described the horses of the Scythians as misshapen, with short legs and big heads. To the Romans, steppe horses were too short to ride.11 In addition, during this period wild horses still existed in the western steppe. The wild horses of Europe, known as Tarpans or Eurasian wild horses, were direct descendants of prehistoric horses and were not genetically part of the Equus caballus line, the domestic horse, but rather a distinct species, Equus ferus. These horses existed in the wild in Europe into the nineteenth century but ultimately went extinct around 1875. Many of the northern European pony types, such as the Polish Konik pony, show strong influences of breeding with Tarpans. Modern scientific methods of reverse breeding using horses that have obvious strong genetic links to Tarpans have resulted in a modern Tarpan breed that is believed to be very close to the original species.12 It is probable that the horse herds of the western steppe tribes contained animals that were a product of type 1 Celtic ponies, type 3 Central Asian horses, and Tarpans. The resulting type of horse was extremely rugged, ugly (by Roman standards), and relatively small—13 to 14 hands high.

  This small horse of the western steppe continued to dominate the horse herds of the region as the Hunish tribes arrived in the fourth and fifth centuries. Vegetius, in his veterinary work Mulomedicina, described the Hun horses as hardy creatures, accustomed to cold and frost, and long living. They had “great hooked heads, pro-truding eyes, narrow nostrils, broad jaws, strong and stiff necks, manes hanging below their knees, overlarge ribs, curved backs, bushy tails, cannon bones of great strength, small pasterns, wide-spreading hooves, hollow loins; their bodies are angular, with no fat on the rump or the muscles of the back, their stature leaning to length rather than to height, belly drawn, and bones huge.” According to Vegetius, they were thin and beautiful in their ugliness. He also stated that they were quiet and sensible, and bore wounds well.13

  The early steppe tribes of Mongolia had a much less diverse genetic pool of horses in their herds. The wild Mongolian horse, also known as the Przewalski horse, was the primary source for the early Mongolian horse herds. The Przewalski horses are the eastern subspecies of the wild horse species Equus ferus. The efforts of zoologists and naturalists in the early twentieth century saved the Przewalski horse from extinction after they were the rediscovered by the Russian explorer Colonel Nikolai Przewalski in 1881. The failure to save the Tarpan in the decades before Przewalski’s discovery contributed to the desire to save the last of the ancient wild horses. “Przewalski’s horse is similar to the domestic horse though it has a smaller, more robust build, an upright mane, and a low-set tail. The most common colors are sandy tan, dun, and reddish bay. The horses have a dorsal stripe, a shoulder stripe, barring in their legs, and lighter coloring on their muzzles and bellies.” The Przewalski horse is small, averaging between 12 and 14 hands. These horses, once captured and domesticated by the Mongolian tribes, eventually mixed with the domestic horses owned by the Mongols. The wild horse can breed successfully with the domestic horse breeds, but after one generation the specific chromosome characteristic of the wild horse (66 chromosomes) is lost in the offspring in favor of the characteristics of the domestic horse (64 chromosomes).14 Still, the resulting domestic horse, the Mongolian horse, had many of the physical characteristics of the Przewalski horse including its stamina and endurance.

  A top priority of the Mongols was improving the breeding of their mounts. After capturing Beijing in 1215, the Mongols used the royal horse herds to improve the stock of the Mongol cavalry. The best of the Chinese imperial horses were the Ferghana horses which the Chinese captured from Turkish steppe tribes living in what is modern Kyrgyzstan. The Ferghana horses were as tall as 16 hands, significantly larger than the Mongolian horses. These royal horses were likely related to the central Asian horse type. With the successful conquest of Persia and penetration deep in into the Middle East, Ogodei Khan requested that “tall horses with long necks of western breed” be sent back to Mongolia as gifts. During the Mongols’ campaigns against the Khwarazm Empire, they came into possession of thousands of horses of this type, which were integrated into the existing army horse herds. Based on archaeological findings, the horses used in campaigns in the thirteent
h century were probably on average a hand taller than the usual Mongol horse today, putting them in the 15-hand range, with some being 16 hands.15

  Regardless of the original horse herd composition, the geographic range of steppe tribes and their native interest in quality horses resulted in the creation of a diverse herd. Still, the steppe army horse types shared some general characteristics that were absolutely essential to mounted warfare as waged by steppe tribesmen. The horse had to be an easy keeper, that is, hardy and able to subsist on a wide variety of low-quality feed. Early Mongol mounts existed just on grazing but later, after the conquest of China, the Mongol army made provisions for providing mounts with both fodder and grain. The horses also had to have exceptionally durable feet.16 Horseshoes were never in general use by steppe tribes. The logistics of horseshoes would have been unmanageable for a steppe army.

  Steppe horses were extremely obedient. Neither the Mongols nor the Huns used spurs; both tribes, instead, made use of whips to urge their horses to speed. Mongol horses were trained to follow their assigned rider in file on the march. This eliminated the need for horse attendants and massive horse herds. Riders trained their horses to respond to calls and whistles. The horses were not tied together while marching. The horses were physically tough; they had to be able to withstand a wide range of temperatures, particularly extreme cold, since winter was the steppe warrior’s preferred campaign season. An important characteristic of the steppe horse was its ability to find grass even in winter. The thirteenth-century papal emissary to the Mongol Khan, Giovanni di Plano Carpini, mentioned this trait: “When we arrived there [Kiev], we consulted about our route with a millenarious [Mongol officer] and other nobles who were there. They told us that if we led the horses we had into Tartary, they would not know how to dig grass from beneath the snow when it was deep, as Tartar horses do, and it would not be possible to find anything else for them to eat because the Tartars have neither straw nor hay nor fodder, and they would all die. So, we talked among ourselves and told the two boys who looked after them to send them away.”17