Ghengis Khan
2015
‘History is written by the victors’ in most cases. Not so for Ghengis Khan. The tightly disciplined armies that came west in the 1200s were not from a culture that wrote things down. We rely upon the vanquished for the accounts of his conquests. In particular the literate classes of Asia and Europe - clergy and landowners - who bore the brunt of the attacks. The slaughters were of the opposing forces not the common folk. And the clergy because they ran the show.
His was not a massive army; he did not leave occupying forces. How did they get so far from their homeland without getting cut off? I read anecdotally that the only structure that the Mongolians built were bridges. Bridges to get back home. A fragile artery back to the steppes.
It seems impossible that his forces could have held the territory they did by a reign of terror alone. History does not record internal power struggles; mutinous generals. The rank and file was well disciplined.