You cannot teach the advantage of
living in harsh terrain, possibly the harshest environment known to man at that
time. It can only be learnt by surviving it.
As a boy, Timujin had to learn how to
hunt and kill to survive. This he excelled in. His first rivalry was with his
10 year old half brother. So at the age of 8, he deployed his younger brother to attack from
the front, and he himself shot his first foe dead.
Through their cold, forbidding
environment, Mongols learnt to rely on hunt and mobility as their primary mode
of survival. This meant they were mobile, highly skilled at being able to kill
from a horse and arrow, most significantly, they became highly adaptable.
Under Timujin, the Mongol race
organized itself; deploying their rigid conformity to the importance of the
hunt (the importance of a protein diet) and a rapid attack and retreat tactic.
These were warriors of the Steppe,
conquering at leisure sedentary, agricultural lands.
They hunted and gathered rather
marvelously.
Shahbaz Ali-Khan
Lahore, 13 February 2013
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