Like most nomads the Mongols dwell in tents, each family
often by itself. Severe simplicity is the rule of life, for property consists
of little more than one's flocks and herds, clothes, and weapons. The modern
Mongols are a peaceable, kindly folk, who have adopted from Tibet a debased
form of Buddhism, but the Mongols of the thirteenth century in religion and
morals were scarcely above the level of American Indians. To ruthless cruelty
and passion for plunder they added an efficiency in warfare which enabled them,
within fifty years, to overrun much of Asia and the eastern part of Europe.
MILITARY PROWESS OF THE MONGOLS
The daily life of the Mongols was a training school for
war. Constant practice in riding, scouting, and the use of arms made every man
a soldier. The words with which an ancient Greek historian described the savage
Scythians applied perfectly to the Mongols: "Having neither cities nor
forts, and carrying their dwellings with them wherever they go; accustomed,
moreover, one and all, to shoot from horseback; and living not by husbandry but
on their cattle, their wagons the only houses that they possess, how can they
fail of being irresistible?" [3]
