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

Mongol Warfare and the Creation of the Mongol Empire m 137 n Mongol light cavalry usually prevailed in battles in the open field. They gen- erally outnumbered the enemy’s cavalry, if not his whole army, and thus could outshoot and outmaneuver him. When the numbers were more even, and the en- emy used different equipment and understood Mongol tactics, the odds shifted. Battles of the Ilkhans’ Mongols in the Middle East with the Mamluks of Egypt in Syria exemplify the challenges of a more competent enemy and a more dan- gerous climate 1 . At ‘Ayn J §låt in 1260 the two sides were roughly equal in num- bers. The Mamluks had “a hard core of about 10000 [Egyptian army] troops” plus refugee Syrians and “assorted Türkmen, beduins” and “Kurds” facing some 10–12,000 Mongols 2 . But the Mongol force was only a fraction — just over one 1 Examples especially useful because many were based on the witness of the Mongols’ antagonists: few of these survived most battles with the Mongols. 2 Amitai, Mongols and Mamluks , 27, 36–37 Fig. 6. Line drawing of the Samarra “Racetrack”