«Тахиййат»: Сборник статей в честь Н. Н. Дьякова

Mongol Warfare and the Creation of the Mongol Empire m 119 n average, would quickly tire under loads of more than about 100 lbs 1 . These small forces on their many small mounts began the conquest of history’s largest land empire. The ponies were a unique military asset because their small size meant they were easy to feed: steppe grazing sufficed for their maintenance, as it does not for larger equines. Like their aboriginal ancestors designed to live on the steppe, the ponies possessed robust digestive systems. [The Mongols] are now [following their conquests in Russia and Hungary,] equipped more elegantly with the plundered arms of vanquished Christians... They have been especially refurbished with better horses ... Their [ ponies], lacking fodder, are said to be content with the bark and leaves of trees and the roots of plants 2 . [emphasis added] They would also eat snow in winter, an important capability when many water sources freeze up 3 . Thus these ponies, unlike horses with greater energy needs, did not require fodder, nor, when traveling or campaigning, a supply train to carry it. Furthermore, at need, they served as rations for their riders: the ponies ate grass, and, if necessary, the soldiers ate the ponies 4 . Pony dung could 1 According to: Epstein H. Domestic Animals of China. Farnham Royal, 1969. P. 100–101, the modern Mongolian pony is about 12½ hands (50 inches) tall and weighs 600 lbs; the di- viding line between ponies and horses is at 56 inches/14 “hands” (or 58/14½ hands) measured from the high point of the back. (Visualize the small mounts of Qin Shihuangdi’s funerary army, not Tang horses.) For the load-limits of horses, 17% of body-weight (102 lbs for a 600 lb pony), see: Engels D. W. Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978. 128 n. 26. See also the description of (Jochid) Tatars on the march: “each man [had] with him several reserve horses running at his side, but tied tail to tail so that they could be kept in formation”: in L. J. D. Collins, “The Military Or- ganization and Tactics of the Crimean Tatars, 16 th and 17 th centuries”, in War, Technology and Society in the Middle East , V. J. Parry and M.E. Yapp eds. London: Oxford UP, 1975. P. 265. 2 Letter of 1241 from the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II to King Henry III of England, Matthew Paris, Cronica Maiora , IV, 112–15, quoted by Douglas S. Benson, The Mongol Campaigns in Asia [and Europe]. Chicago: Bookmasters, 1991. P. 372–373. 3 Ovdiyenko I. Kh. Economic-Geographical Sketch of the Mongolian People ’ s Republic. Bloomington IN: Mongolian Society Occasional Papers, no. 3, 1965. P. 17; William of Ru- bruck, The Journey of William of Rubruck, in Christopher Dawson ed., The Mongol Mission (London: Sheed and Ward, 1955), 94; cf. P. Jackson and D. Morgan ed., The Mission of Friar William of Rubruck , P. Jackson trans; (London: Hakluyt Society, 1990), 72-hereinafter, respectively, Rubruck/D, Rubruck/J. 4 A600 lb pony renders out to 240 lbs of high-calorie (1855 kcal/lb) meat, enough to feed 200 men for a day; seeW. Martin-Rosset et al. , “Rendement et composition des carcasses du poulain de boucherie”, Bulletin Technique, Centre des Recherches Zootechniques et Vétérinaires