Reddit reviews Genghis Khan’s Greatest General: Subotai the Valiant

I also admire the accomplishments of Subotai. We could probably be best friends.

I've been entirely fascinated by this time period, because it's had such an impact on the world. I always think of the "what-ifs" had the Mongols had not laid low they Chinese dynasties, as well as not decimated the Middle East.

I've read several books (and continue to do so) about the Mongols and especially Subotai (or Subedei) and I'm just left in amazement in how they could do what they did. I'm constantly looking for more literature on the Chinese of the period to find out more of the Mongol campaigns there, and see how advanced they were compared to other civilizations of the time period. Some books on the Song Dynasty's technology just blows me away. I'm hoping to find more on Subotai's campaigns in China.

Also, if you haven't read it, I suggest checking out Subotai the Valiant Now it's not completely focused on him but more on the campaigns themselves, but still a very good read.

If "Soon" is in a few hundred years. Technological balances change during timescales like that you know.

So uh this existed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Poland_(1025–1385) And sure, there were internal power struggles -that doesn't mean it didn't exist as entity, or that it couldn't martial forces against an outside threat. Nobody traces the foundation of Poland to the foundation of what, the commonwealth? The traditional date is 966.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Legnica

That's the forces of the Kingdom of Poland, the Holy Roman Empire, and crusader knights facing down against the Mongols.

As for Georgia, they were martialing for a crusade, and were a lot stronger at the time than they are nowadays. The sources say a hundred thousand knights, which is certainly an exaggeration, but 50,000 - 100,000 martialed men, including mercenaries and their Cuman allies, isn't beyond the scope of imagination. This isn't from an old book either, it's according to this book :

http://www.amazon.com/Genghis-Khan’s-Greatest-General-Subotai/dp/0806137347

Feel free to quote any sources better than a history professor and prolific author, feel free! Hell, you can look some about that very attack up in the Google Books preview of that book and check out the sources for yourself!

Sure, maybe they didn't have exactly the same styles as Europe - but feel plate and heavy calvary they certainly did have, and given that the Muslim forces were still easily contesting European ones at the time I don't think being part of the same "Technological sphere" is exactly high praise.

Oh, so they couldn't sustain sieges which were thousands of miles from their homeland? Gee, I'm sure that has a ton of relevance for their general aptitude for it, and especially for a pitched field battle!

Europe was maybe ahead of China with access to superior metal resources - but Georgia, Khwarizmi, and the other Islamic principalities? You ever hear of Damascus steel, kind of top of the line back then? It ain't from London. Europe wouldn't be solidly ahead of the Islamic world for centuries yet, and only decisively ahead by the 1600s. The Mongols trumped Islamic forces right up until the Mamluks, with rudimentary gunpowder weapons, beat them after they were well past their own height of ability and political unity.

Genghis Khan without a doubt!

Why? Because he had Subutai and Jebe. It is a pity that historians have not focused on the instruments behind Genghis Khan's success. AFAIK, there is only one book dealing with Subutai's achievements: Subotai the Valiant