#the warfare of genghis khan

[ancientorigins]

The captivating saga of the rise and fall of the Khwarazmian Empire took place against the backdrop of Central Asia from the 11th to 13th centuries. Positioned strategically along the fabled Silk Road, this empire emerged as a formidable force. Led by illustrious figures such as Ala al-Din Tekish and Muhammad II, it ascended to unprecedented heights, fostering vibrant trade networks and facilitating rich cultural exchanges.

Embodied within its chronicles are epochs of rapid expansion, diplomatic maneuvers and decisive confrontations with formidable adversaries such as the Mongols and the Seljuks. However, fatal missteps ultimately led to its demise, culminating in the untimely collapse of the once-mighty Khwarazmian Empire at the hands of none other than the infamous Genghis Khan.

#Genghis Khan #Mongols #Central Asia #demise #Khwarazmian Empire #Muslim #slaves #warfare

[quotesfrommyreading]

The Mongols may not have troubled many modern museum curators with their art or left fine buildings to admire but they did leave a lasting legacy in other ways. Perhaps their greatest effect on world culture was to make the first serious connections between the East and West. The Mongol Empire, the largest contiguous land empire up to that point, stretched across one-fifth of the globe and their soldiers were obliged to fight Teutonic knights at one end while at the other they faced samurai warriors, neither of which enemy had any notion of the other's existence. Hitherto, the Chinese and Europeans had each viewed the other's lands as a semi-mythical place of monsters. As ambassadors, missionaries, merchants, and travellers like Marco Polo (1254-1324) were encouraged to freely cross Asia, so contact increased, and ideas and religions were spread. Gunpowder, paper, printing, and the compass all became familiar in Europe. The Mongols spread ideas in cuisine, too, such as making their sulen (shulen) broth-come-stew a popular dish across Asia even today. There were, alas, less advantageous consequences, like the Black Death (1347-1352), first transferred from a pocket of remote China to the Black Sea and from there to Venice and the rest of Europe. In Mongolia, though, the empire is remembered fondly as a golden era and Genghis Khan, the starter of it all, continues to be honoured with regular ceremonies in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar.

  —  Mongol Empire - World History Encyclopedia

#mark cartwright #history #military history #warfare #politics #international relations #trade #religion #travel #technology #invention #culinary history #food and drink #disease #mongolia #mongol empire #marco polo #genghis khan #sülen #black death #bubonic plague

[ammg-old2]

The Mongol Empire (1206-1368) was founded by Genghis Khan (r. 1206-1227), first Great Khan or 'universal ruler' of the Mongol peoples. Genghis forged the empire by uniting nomadic tribes of the Asian steppe and creating a devastatingly effective army with fast, light, and highly coordinated cavalry. Eventually, the empire dominated Asia from the Black Sea to the Korean peninsula.

Expert horsemen and archers, the Mongols proved unstoppable in Central Asia and beyond, defeating armies in Iran, Russia, Eastern Europe, China, and many other places. The descendants of Genghis each ruled a part of the empire - the four khanates - the most powerful of which was the Mongol Yuan Dynasty in China (1271-1368), established by Kublai Khan (r. 1260-1279). Eventually, the Mongols became part of the sedentary societies they had so easily overwhelmed and many converted from traditional shamanism to Tibetan Buddhism or Islam. This was a general symptom of the Mongols not only losing part of their cultural identity but also, too, their famed military prowess, as the four khanates all succumbed to damaging dynastic disputes and the armies of their rivals. Although not famed for creating any lasting architectural wonders or political institutions, the Mongols did make the significant contribution to world culture of finally connecting the eastern and western worlds via expanded trade routes, diplomatic embassies and the movement of missionaries and travellers from Eurasia to the Far East.

#history #military history #warfare #mongol empire #mongolia #genghis khan #kublai khan #studyblr

[memories-of-ancients]

The Forgotten Mongol Heavy Cavalry,

When it comes to legends of the vicious Mongol conquests horse archers seem to be the celebrity rock stars of the Mongol Army who get all the fame and admiration. Depictions of Mongol battles in modern times usually show wild barbarian Mongol horse archers riding circles around enemy formations while showering them with volley after volley of arrows. Missing are the less glorified Mongol heavy cavalry, an absence which I’m sure would make the Great Khan sad because the Mongols had fine heavy cavalry. Not to put down horse archers, but horse archers alone don’t always win battles. While horse archers have their advantages, they also have several weakness and limitations, especially against opposing heavy infantry and cavalry equipped with shields and armor while in a defensive battle formation. What made the Mongols effective was not the mere fact they had horse archers, but because they had better tactics, among them combined arms tactics where they were able to coordinate the abilities of different units to accomplish a goal on the battlefield. This isn’t just a principle of Mongol warfare, but a principle of warfare in general. Whether we're talking ancient times or modern warfare, the side that has better combined arms tactics typically wins.  

The early Mongol Army consisted of 60% horse archers and 40% heavy cavalry. Later the Mongols would adopt new units such as heavy infantry, light infantry, siege units, and artillery conscripted from the peoples they conquered. However for this post I’m only referring to the early Mongol Army commanded by Genghis Khan and his general Subutai.  The purpose of the horse archers were as skirmishing units; to harass, sow chaos and confusion, and weaken the discipline of enemy ranks. The purpose of the heavy cavalry was to directly engage enemy units in close combat. To do their job, Mongol heavy cavalry were heavily armed and armored, much more so than their horse archer counterparts. They were armored head to toe in lamellar armor composed of metal plates sewn together into a suit. Often this armor also covered the horse as well. 

Their primary arm was a lance used to conduct charges. For melee fighting they would carry swords or axes, and also maces for armored opponents. They would also probably carry a shield. Along with their horse archer counterparts, Mongol heavy cavalry also carried a bow in order to engage the enemy at a distance. In essence Mongol heavy cavalry were similar to Middle Eastern or Byzantine cataphracts and European mounted knights. 

On the battlefield, Mongol units typically fought in five ranks, the first three ranks composed of horse archers, the last two composed of heavy cavalry.  During a Mongol charge, the horse archers would close to around 50 - 100 yards and fire arrows while the heavy cavalry would protect them from counterattack by enemy cavalry. It should be noted that Mongol heavy cavalry were also armed with bows, so likewise would be firing on the enemy as well. After firing, the formation would turn around, resupply with arrows, and remount with fresh horses. They would then repeat the charge again and again until eventually the enemy would weaken, begin to panic, lose discipline, and perhaps break ranks.  At that point the heavy cavalry would swoop in and smash the enemy formation. The Mongols also used deceptive tactics which the heavy cavalry would be an essential part. One common tactic was the feigned retreat, where a Mongol unit would pretend to retreat in panic as if defeated. The enemy would in turn charge expecting to chase down and massacre a terrified enemy. To their horror, the Mongols would reform and counterattack, the heavy cavalry at the front to smash the disorganized enemy and the horse archers firing from the rear. Another tactic would be to use the horse archers to draw the enemy into an ambush, where the heavy cavalry would appear from a hidden position and conduct a surprise attack on the enemy flanks or rear.

#history #mongols #medieval history #middle ages #cavalry #heavy cavalry #military history

[literary-illuminati]

2024 Book Review #4 – War in Human Civilization by Azar Gat

This is my first big history book of the year, and one I’ve been rather looking forward to getting to for some time now. Its claimed subject matter – the whole scope of war and violent conflict across the history of humanity – is ambitious enough to be intriguing, and it was cited and recommended by Bret Devereaux, whose writing I’m generally a huge fan of. Of course, he recommended The Bright Ages too, and that was one of my worst reads of last year – apparently something I should have learned my lesson from. This is, bluntly, not a good book – the first half is bad but at least interesting, while the remainder is only really worth reading as a time capsule of early 2000s academic writing and hegemonic politics.

The book purports to be a survey of warfare from the evolution of homo sapiens sapiens through to the (then) present, drawing together studies from several different fields to draw new conclusions and a novel synthesis that none of the authors being drawn from had ever had the context to see – which in retrospect really should have been a big enough collection of dramatically waving red flags to make me put it down then and there. It starts with a lengthy consideration of conflict in humanity’s ‘evolutionary state of nature’ – the long myriads between the evolution of the modern species and the neolithic revolution – which he holds is the environment where the habits, drives and instincts of ‘human nature’ were set and have yet to significantly diverge from. He does this by comparing conflict in other social megafauna (mostly but not entirely primates), archaeology, and analogizing from the anthropological accounts we have of fairly isolated/’untainted’ hunter gatherers in the historical record.

From there, he goes on through the different stages of human development – he takes a bit of pain at one point to disavow believing in ‘stagism’ or modernization theory, but then he discusses things entirely in terms of ‘relative time’ and makes the idea that Haida in 17th century PNW North America are pretty much comparable to pre-agriculture inhabitants of Mesopotamia, so I’m not entirely sure what he’s actually trying to disavow – and how warfare evolved in each. His central thesis is that the fundamental causes of war are essentially the same as they were for hunter-gatherer bands on the savanna, only appearing to have changed because of how they have been warped and filtered by cultural and technological evolution. This is followed with a lengthy discussion of the 19th and 20th centuries that mostly boils down to trying to defend that contention and to argue that, contrary to what the world wars would have you believe, modernity is in fact significantly more peaceful than any epoch to precede it. The book then concludes with a discussion of terrorism and WMDs that mostly serves to remind you it was written right after 9/11.

So, lets start with the good. The book’s discussion of rates of violence in the random grab-bag of premodern societies used as case studies and the archaeological evidence gathered makes a very convincing case that murder and war are hardly specific ills of civilization, and that per capita feuds and raids in non-state societies were as- or more- deadly than interstate warfare averaged out over similar periods of time (though Gat gets clumsy and takes the point rather too far at times). The description of different systems of warfare that ten to reoccur across history in similar social and technological conditions is likewise very interesting and analytically useful, even if you’re skeptical of his causal explanations for why.

If you’re interested in academic inside baseball, a fairly large chunk of the book is also just shadowboxing against unnamed interlocutors and advancing bold positions like ‘engaging in warfare can absolutely be a rational choice that does you and yours significant good, for example Genghis Khan-’, an argument which there are apparently people on the other side of.

Of course all that value requires taking Gat at his word, which leads to the book’s largest and most overwhelming problem – he’s sloppy. Reading through the book, you notice all manner of little incidental facts he’s gotten wrong or oversimplified to the point where it’s basically the same thing – my favourites are listing early modern Poland as a coherent national state, and characterizing US interventions in early 20th century Central America as attempts to impose democracy. To a degree, this is probably inevitable in a book with such a massive subject matter, but the number I (a total amateur with an undergraduate education) noticed on a casual read - and more damningly the fact that every one of them made things easier or simpler for him to fit within his thesis - means that I really can’t be sure how much to trust anything he writes.

I mentioned above that I got this off a recommendation from Bret Devereaux’s blog. Specifically, I got it from his series on the ‘Fremen Mirage’ – his term for the enduring cultural trope about the military supremacy of hard, deprived and abusive societies. Which honestly makes it really funny that this entire book indulges in that very same trope continuously. There are whole chapters devoted to thesis that ‘primitive’ and ‘barbarian’ societies possess superior military ferocity and fighting spirit to more civilized and ‘domesticated’ ones, and how this is one of the great engines of history up to the turn of the modern age. It’s not even argued for, really, just taken as a given and then used to expand on his general theories.

Speaking of – it is absolutely core to the book’s thesis that war (and interpersonal violence generally) are driven by (fundamentally) either material or reproductive concerns. ‘Reproductive’ here meaning ‘allowing men to secure access to women’, with an accompanying chapter-length aside about how war is a (possibly the most) fundamentally male activity, and any female contributions to it across the span of history are so marginal as to not require explanation or analysis in his comprehensive survey. Women thus appear purely as objects – things to be fought over and fucked – with the closest to any individual or collective agency on their part shown is a consideration that maybe the sexual revolution made western society less violent because it gave young men a way to get laid besides marriage or rape.

Speaking of – as the book moves forward in time, it goes from being deeply flawed but interesting to just, total dreck (though this also might just me being a bit more familiar with what Gat’s talking about in these sections). Given the Orientalism that just about suffuses the book it’s not, exactly, surprising that Gat takes so much more care to characterize the Soviet Union as especially brutal and inhumane that he does Nazi Germany but it is, at least, interesting. And even the section of World War 2 is more worthwhile than the chapters on decolonization and democratic peace theory that follow it.

Fundamentally this is just a book better consumed secondhand, I think – there are some interesting points, but they do not come anywhere near justifying slogging through the whole thing.

#book review #history #war in human civilization #azar gat

[joshdonnas]

“Hey, you want to hear something cool? Voyager 1 just crossed the termination shock eight billion miles away. First human-made object to leave the solar system.”

DONNA MOSS AND JOSH LYMAN The Warfare of Genghis Khan (5x13) ✦ The West Wing

#twwedit #thewestwingedit #the west wing #josh lyman #donna moss #josh x donna #s5 #5.13 #tvfilmsource #smallscreensource #usersource #otpsource #useroptional #userbbelcher #userthing #tvandfilm #tvgifs #tvcentric #tvfilmgifs #filmtv #they are so insane seriously #like she's not even hiding it lmao

[racefortheironthrone]

Was Genghis Khan/the Mongol Empire particularly brutal/inhumane by the standards of medieval warfare?

Brutality was not unknown in medieval warfare - look at the accounts of the First Crusade and you'll see plenty of massacres of civilian populations - but I would say that Genghis Khan and his lieutenants were organized and systematic in their brutality in a way that we would not see again until the industrialized total warfare of the 20th century.

Just to give a few estimates: scholars estimate that the population of China shrank by between 30-60 million people (roughly 50% population loss) following Genghis' invasion of the Xia and Jin; similarly, following the Mongol invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire in 1219, according to one estimate the population of Persia may have dropped from 2.5 million to 250,000 (roughly 90% population loss). The CIS estimates that Genghis Khan's campaigns were so destructive that they reduced C02 emissions by 700 million tons.

And all of this was done by hand. After a rebellion or the surrender of a city that had resisted Mongol rule, Genghis' army would "measure against the lynchpin" - i.e, the male population would be marched past a wagon, and if their heads were taller than the lynchpin of a wagon wheel, they would be beheaded. Men with swords in their hands would do this awful, bloody work all day, and the entire male population of a city would be paraded by, and the men would do their work. The rest of the population - artisans and craftsmen were usually exempted, as were the young, as were women - would be enslaved and deported back to the heart of the empire en masse.

But as bad as this kind of massacre and forced migration could be, the biological warfare and deliberate destruction of irrigation systems was much worse. If you survived the battles and the sieges, and there was a good chance that you might if you weren't a soldier and if your city surrendered without putting up a fight, the odds that you would die as a result of famine - caused either by the destruction of irrigation systems, the burning of fields, or the loss of agricultural workforce - or plague (thanks in no small part to malnutrition-weakened immune systems) were high.

#history #medieval history #genghis khan #demographics

[irithnova]

In your opinion, what is female Mongolia like?

If I'm being quite honest? If I were to envision a female Mongolia, I wouldn't make her personality that much different from her male counterpart!

I think I'd give her the name Sarangerel - meaning moonlight (sorry, my goth side is showing but it's also a very pretty name).

The reason why I say this is because often... What I've noticed anyways, is that when people make female Mongolia ocs they tend to hypermasculinise her or use her as a means to insert pretty generic "step on me" girlboss rhetoric onto her. Of course, a female Mongolia would be a strong woman (especially given the history which I explain later in this post) however there is a difference between making her a strong woman and straight up hypermasculinising her. Of course this isn't always the case, I've seen good female Mongolia ocs! However I've seen it too many times considering how obscure Mongolia is as a character anyways, let alone female Mongolia ocs.

When people do this, they usually think they're doing something groundbreaking, but really - they're not. Mongol women and Northern Asian women in general are hypermasculinised along with their male counterparts, lol. It's kind of comparable to how black women are hypermasculinised and the "strong black woman" trope, this time the "strong Mongol woman" trope.

Time to talk about women in Mongol culture!

Mongol women and men back in the day shared a lot of the same chores! Women did bear a greater responsibility with tasks such as cooking, cleaning and child rearing, however it was vital that both men and women were skilled in all aspects of nomadic life. This is because if one parent died, the other parent would then have to fulfil the role of the deceased one. It would be utterly useless if one died and only knew how to do half the chores which are needed for survival on the steppe!

Further, Mongol women had more rights and say in certain things compared to their foreign counterparts. Mongol women were able to become shamans and participate in religious ceremonies, they were able to own and inherit property. They were even allowed to divorce! Their opinions were also valued in court - the wives of higher ranking Mongol men were allowed to give their say. Further, if their husbands were away, sick, or deceased, they could speak on behalf of them.

This is impressive: Mongol women were also responsibile for packing up and setting up camps, making sure all the family's belongings were put safely on a cart, and actually driving the carts - several of them, actually!

They truly were masters of their craft, and their impressive speed at which they could do this was a huge reason as to why Mongol warfare was so light on its feet.

Further, the consumption of alcohol was a vital element in Mongol celebration. Both women and men were free to drink as much as they wished during feasts, and there was no stigma attached to a woman getting drunk.

Accounts from William of Rubruck:

"And all the women sit their horses astraddle like men."

"It is the duty of the women to drive the carts, get the dwellings on and off them, milk the cows, make butter and gruit, and to dress and sew skins, which they do with a thread made of tendons"

"Then they all drink in turn, men and women alike, and at times compete with one another in quaffing in a thoroughly distasteful and greedy fashion" (he wasn't exactly the biggest fan of the Mongols).

Mongol women played in active role in invigorating the Mongol morale. The Secret History of the Mongols details how the wives of rulers would deliver impressive speeches to warriors in order to encourage them to fight diligently.

There are many famous Mongol women, who were known for their intelligence, shrewdness, and strength:

Queen Manduhai:

Manduhai was born into an aristocratic family, and she married Manduul Khan at 18 and had a daughter (not named). After Manduul Khan's death, she adopted Batmunkh, the last descendant of Genghis Khan, and named him Dayan Khan. When Dayan Khan came of age, she married him and became Empress. Despite her experience, Manduhai supported Dayan Khan and played a crucial role in reuniting the Mongol retainers. Remarkably, she fought in battles even while pregnant, enduring injuries and achieving victory. By establishing Dayan Khan as the rightful descendant of Genghis Khan and defeating the Oirats. Manduhai became a legendary figure.

Hoelun (Chinggis Khan's mother):

After her husband, Yesugei, the tribal leader, was poisoned by a rival, Hoelun fled with her son into the wilderness. At the time, Chinggis Khan, who was known as Temujin, was a young child, somewhere between the ages of nine and twelve. Unable to maintain the allegiance of his father's followers, they were abandoned. Nevertheless, despite their ostracised status, the family managed to survive by scavenging and relying on the resources of the land. Hoelun, portrayed as a resilient and determined woman, gathered her children and established a new life for themselves. Her son would later go on to establish one of the most magnificent empires in history. It's even said that Chinggis Khan was only scared of two things, dogs - and his mother's temper!

Khutulun:

Khutulun was known in Mongolia to be an impressive athlete and fighter. She was born in 1260, and was the daughter of Qaidu, and a great granddaughter to Chinggis Khan. During this time, a civil war was brewing amongst the Mongols. Khublai, who later became the emperor of the famous yuan dynasty, was enthusiastic about pushing the empire forward when it came to governing, politics and the likes. Qaidu on the other hand was not impressed by this, and favoured more traditional Mongol values. Qaidu had 14 sons - however it was his one daughter, Khutulun, whom he relied on the most when it came to military expertise.

Marco Polo has this to say about her:

“Sometimes she would quit her father’s side, and make a dash at the host of the enemy, and seize some man thereout, as deftly as a hawk pounces on a bird, and carry him to her father; and this she did many a time.”

Khutulun was a formidable wrestler - and was adamant about not marrying a man unless he could beat her at wrestling. For every match she'd won - she'd be given 100 horses by the loser. It is said she ended up with 10,000 horses.

Did she actually end up with 10,000 horses? It could be somewhat of an exaggeration, as back then 10,000 was a number that was given to mean "a lot", kind of like how we use the word "a million" today. Nevertheless - she was unbeaten.

Her influence is so great in Mongol culture even now. When you look at male Mongolian wrestling outfits - it leaves the chest exposed. This is in reference to Khutulun - to show that the wrestler is indeed, not a woman.

So in conclusion, I personally wouldn't make a female Mongolia's personality that much different to what I envision my male Mongolia's personality to be like, I certainly wouldn't make her more demure by virtue of her being a woman. Mongol society was quite fair to Mongol women anyways, and has been quite consistently egalitarian (I'm definitely not saying things were/are perfect or that it was a feminist paradise, of course). She'd definitely know her worth, and yes, she would be strong - just like her male counterpart.

I also wouldn't want to risk hypermasculinising her because well, as I said before, both Mongol men and women are hypermasculinised (Northern Asian people are in general) and reducing a female Mongolia to a cheap girlboss type doesn't do justice to that character or Mongol history and culture anyways.

#hetalia #aph mongolia #hws mongolia #Hetalia Mongolia #hetalia world stars #hetalia world series #hetalia world twinkle #Mongolia oc #Hetalia headcanon #Hetalia headcanons #Hetalia fandom #Historical hetalia #nyotalia #Aph Asia #Aph east Asia #Hws Asia #Hws east Asia #Nyo Mongolia

[crepes-suzette-373]

This is just a huge long winded post about how Germa reminds me of Japanese history and mythology, and some Wano things. Just so that it's all in one place and not scattered.

Very wild and goes all over the place, it's that conspiracy board with strings. I've been enabled by enablers.

WCI:

Related to the Nobunaga post (you probably need to read that one first).

Deep, deep reach here, and I feel like it's just bonkers connecting WCI to something as historically significant in Japan as The Honnouji Incident, and it doesn't even seem relevant at all. But. It was well known that Nobunaga was killed on the verge of reaching a big success.

He was on his way to oversee reinforcements being led to fight one of his biggest rivals, and anticipating that this will finally bring them down. Then one of his commanders betrayed him and he died with his heir. On the night before his death, he was having a glamorous tea party with the court nobles, not suspecting that anything was wrong.

Germa thought they were going to secure a big profit by allying with Big Mum, but are betrayed and they all almost died in a tea party where many VIPs from all over the world were present.

There's a lot of rain during WCI. I think it's just meant to relate to Sanji's mental state, because rain = sadness is a very common trope.

Still, very famous conspiracy related to the above historical incident was that the commander who did the betrayal was said to have written a poem that has the line translated something along the lines of "Now, the rain falls, on the fifth month" before committing the deed. This poem supposedly contains a hidden message that reveals his intention to betray.

Like I said the connection is very flimsy, that's why I doubt there's relevance.

Also in terms of more number 6 stuff, the above incident happened in history in the sixth lunar month (also in June, according to Western calendar).

Japanese crests:

More randomly throwing nonsense at the wall, but speaking of Japanese tradition, Ichiji's belt somewhat reminds me of some samurai house crest. I had been thinking about this a lot since I've been going through traditional Japanese designs in making the youkai AU:

And on the subject of Japanese designs, "lightning/thunder" is actually traditionally depicted as a "square spiral". In patterning (like clothes or paintings), it can sometimes be embellished into a shape that vaguely resembles a swastika.

I just thought the swirly pattern is interesting. It's square, while Sanji and the others are round spiral shapes, so it might not be relevant. I just thought of this because of the lightning bolt in the Germa skull.

Wano:

Also. Probably just design coincidence, but... somehow their silhouette is similar (same big fluffy hair, the coat's cut flares like a kimono):

I mean, not saying the Vinsmoke family is related to the Kozuki, just the Wano people in general. I mentioned once that I thought young Judge kind of looks like young Kin'emon.

Last thought. There is a conspiracy in Japan, where famous warrior Minamoto no Yoshitsune didn't die like history said. He actually went to the mainland and became Genghis Khan.

This was part of what I was thinking, when I thought the Vinsmokes might have Wano origins. It's a story of "Japanese hero leaves Japan, becomes a ruler elsewhere".

Other random things that are probably even more not relevant, but doesn't help my conspiracy brain:

One of Nobunaga's sons who survived the chaos ended up in service of the conqueror who succeeded in unifying Japan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (apparently according to Japanese text it's not Tokugawa like people think). This Hideyoshi is famously nicknamed "Monkey" in Japan (regardless of whether this is true or not)

Said son is infamous in Japanese perception for being "stupid" and "useless" because he is just absolutely terrible in warfare (not sure if this is necessarily true either, but well, I'm no historian). He's apparently very good in the arts, though.

In the linked post I mentioned of there being another son whose name is literally number 3 and 7 (Sanshichi) that makes me just giggle because of Sanji being 3 and 2. That third son is not the one who survived, but this one and his older brother was born so closely in timing (from different mothers) that people have argued that the order of the birth was incorrectly recorded.

Those two brothers were sometimes said to have issues with each other because of this. I don't think this is relevant, but this knowledge just makes Niji and Sanji's interaction seem funny to me.

#conspiracy theory #germa 66

[professionalanagram]

a week or two ago i was trying to figure out if this one girl was trying to ask me out or just to get me to join her church. i couldn’t really tell. but today she was just. STARING at my tits. why both. whyyyyyy does it have to be both.

for the record i have zero interest in either but going in to try to stop one front can weaken the other in psychological warfare -genghis khan probably

[twwpress]

Weekly Press Briefing #33: February 5th - February 11th

Welcome back to the Weekly Press Briefing, where we bring you highlights from The West Wing fandom each week, including new fics, ongoing challenges, and more! This briefing covers all things posted from February 5 - February 11, 2023! Did we miss something? Let us know; you can find our contact info at the bottom of this briefing!

Challenges/Prompts:

The following is a roundup of open challenges/prompts. Do you have a challenge or event you’d like us to promote? Be sure to get in touch with us! Contact info is at the bottom of this briefing.

@thefinestmuffin and @JessBakesCakes are hosting a casual Josh/Donna Rom Com Fest that will reveal on February 14. Prompts and claims are open; details here. 

Photos/Videos:

Here’s what was posted from February 5 - February 11.

Janel Moloney posted a video of a monster truck rally she went to with her kids.

Josh Malina posted a behind-the-scenes photo from the set of Scandal.

Josh Malina posted a screenshot of a montage of photos his phone made for him.

Rob Lowe posted a behind-the-scenes photo of himself on the set of 911 Lonestar with his dog, Daisy.

Richard Schiff posted a photo on the set of Ballers with Steven Weber, Dwayne Johnson, and Rob Corddry.

Rob Lowe posted a photo of himself as the Grand Marshal of NASCAR’s Busch Light Clash.

Donna Moss Daily: February 5 | February 6 | February 7 | February 8 | February 9 | February 10 | February 11

Daily Josh Lyman: February 5 | February 6 | February 7 | February 8 | February 9 | February 10 | February 11

No Context BWhit: February 5 | February 6 | February 7 | February 8 | February 9 | February 10 | February 11

Edits/Artwork:

silly little political show by schiff0rd [VIDEO EDIT]

 Miscellaneous:

Happy birthday to Mary McCormack! 

This Week in Canon:

Welcome to This Week in Canon, where we revisit moments in The West Wing that occurred on these dates during the show’s run.

Season 1, Episode 14: Take This Sabbath Day aired on February 9, 2000.

Season 2, Episode 13: Bartlet’s Third State of the Union aired on February 7, 2001.

Season 3, Episode 13: Night Five aired on February 6, 2002.

Season 4, Episode 14: Inauguration: Part 1 aired on February 5, 2003.

Season 5, Episode 13: The Warfare of Genghis Khan aired on February 11, 2004.

Season 6, Episode 14: The Wake Up Call aired on February 9, 2005.

Editor’s Choice: 

We’ve rounded up some of our favorite Valentine’s Day fics! We know we missed a lot of good ones, so please feel free to reblog or QRT with your own V Day recs!! 

Getting It Right by spinninginfinity | Rated M | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete | When you're running the free world, Valentine's Day can be tricky to pull off.

The first Valentine’s Day she and Josh are together, Donna cooks dinner.

love brings you flowers (then it buys you coffins) by hufflepuffhermione | Rated T | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete | She locks eyes with him and smiles slightly, hoping that he knows what she’s about to say is entirely a joke. “Come to think of it, you didn’t buy me roses either.”

His face pales. The flush of the wine and the candlelight disappears almost instantly, leaving behind a ghost who is only translucently Josh Lyman. She’s seen Josh distressed before. She’s seen him half-dead, she’s seen him in the worst throes of grief and pain, and yet even in those instances where his life changed forever, she isn’t sure she’s ever seen his expression change that fast.

Donna and Josh have their first Valentine's Day together, and Donna finds out what happened the last time Josh bought her roses.

Fleur de Destin by sarabrowncolorado [archived by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist]  | Rated M | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete |  Flower shop AU

Conversation Hearts by JessBakesCakes | Rated G | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete | Josh looks around the small diner they’ve found themselves in somewhere just outside of Greenville, South Carolina, taking in the fading red and pink decor that’s been haphazardly tacked and taped to the walls and windows. Admittedly, he’d forgotten about Valentine’s Day - they all had other priorities these days.

Or, Bartlet for America era Josh/Donna on Valentine's Day.

flowers and chocolates by iwasfollowingyou | Not Rated | Josh Lyman/Sam Seaborn | Complete | josh has a secret admirer. donna enjoys it immensely.

Spoken and Unspoken by amandasarmada | Rated E | Danny Concannon/C.J. Cregg | Complete | C.J. and Danny spend Valentine's Day together - well, sort of. Last chapter is E.

 must have been that something lovers call fate by crossingdelancey | Rated T | C. J. Cregg/Toby Ziegler | Complete | They’ve been living together for all of three years now. She never thought living with her ex would be an easy feat, but he managed to prove her wrong. She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t still a little nutty about him, but that ship has very much sailed. She’s been making her way through the men of New York, and a handful of women, too, but measuring up to Toby Ziegler is a mammoth task.

—

in which cj is stood up on valentines day, and toby steps in

 All That I Love by AndAllThatMishigas | Rated G | Abbey Bartlet/Jed Bartlet | Complete | Valentine's Day for the Bartlets is never typical with three children and two very busy careers.

Fics:

Presenting your weekly roundup of fics posted in the tag for The West Wing on Archive of Our Own. If you are so inclined, please be sure to leave the authors some love in the form of kudos or comments. Be mindful of posted warnings/tags for each story.

Josh/Donna

say my name and everything just stops by flowersinapril | Rated M | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | In Progress

your love was home by jimhopper | Rated E | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | In Progress

Chess Variations by jenks | Rated G | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete

two bodies (riddled with scars) by payback16 | Rated M | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete

we finally got it all right by mikaylawrites | Rated T | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | In Progress

The War at Heart by WitchyPrentiss | Rated G | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete

 Jed/Leo

May 2003 by yourlocalrandombisexual | Rated E | Jed Bartlet/Leo McGarry | In progress

The President’s Dead by yourlocalrandombisexual | Rated T | Jed Bartlet/Leo McGarry | Complete

Take Me Instead by yourlocalrandombisexual | Rated T | Jed Bartlet/Leo McGarry | Complete

What Tension?! By yourlocalrandombisexual | Rated E | Jed Bartlet/Leo McGarry | Complete

Other Pairings/Gen Fic

compel me to ask you for more by jazzjo | Rated G | Andrea Wyatt/Toby Ziegler | In Progress

it started off with a kiss... now it ended up like this by imawkwardlysoc | Rated G | Sam Seaborn/Original Female Character | In Progress

Writing Day by Mabis | Rated G | Josh Lyman/Sam Seaborn  | In Progress

A Different Life by PreppyPrincess5103 (JAG crossover) | Rated M | Sarah "Mac" MacKenzie/Sam Seaborn | In progress 

Through stranger’s eyes by Michelangelo_sky | Rated G | Ellie Bartlet, Josh Lyman (No pairings listed) | Complete

Wait For Me by imperfectirises | Rated M | Abbey Bartlet/Jed Bartlet | In Progress

Where The Hell…? by dumbchemist | Rated T | No pairings listed | In Progress 

Late Night Call by Jxjxjx | Rated G | Danny Concannon/C.J. Cregg | Complete

Adorable, Yet Ill Adored by HotchkissRoyale | Rated E | Ainsley Hayes/Sam Seaborn | In progress 

 Multiple Pairings

Paradise City by casliyn | Rated E | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss, Amy Gardner/Josh Lyman | In Progress

There are no second acts in American lives (except when there are) by norahb | Rated T | Josh Lyman/Original Female Character, Josh Lyman/Donna Moss, Sam Seaborn/Original Male Character(s) | In Progress

Midnights by park_all_covered_with_cheese | Rated G | Abbey Bartlet/Jed Bartlet, Josh Lyman/Sam Seaborn | In Progress

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#the west wing #west wing #tww #tww fandom #tww fic #tww fic recs #josh lyman #donna moss #cj cregg #jed bartlet #leo mcgarry #josh x donna #cj x toby #cj x danny #sam x josh #jed x leo #tww rare pairs #toby ziegler #sam seaborn

[wuxiaphoenix]

Worldbuilding: Horse of Another... Size

“Hollywood lied! The horses are tiny!”

Yes, that’s another sticky-note; or journal note, rather, after Jason is coherent enough to start writing one in that fantastic world. Despite what you see in c-dramas and k-dramas, the horses in Joseon-era Korea would actually be relatively tiny. The size of a Mongolian horse, in fact. Because that’s where most of their ancestry came from.

(Not always strictly Mongolia, but the steppe horses are what came with various waves of people trading and conquering across East Asia. And as of the Yuan Dynasty we’ve got records of Mongolian horses imported specifically for better cavalry. So.)

A Mongolian horse runs about 500 to 600 pounds, and ranges in size from 12 to 14 hands (48 to 56 inches) at the shoulder. A Thoroughbred, in comparison, is about 15.2 to 17.0 hands (62 to 68 inches), while an American Percheron runs 15 to 19 hands (60 to 76 inches) and weighs in the ton range - they average about 1900 pounds.

As in one Percheron outweighs four Joseon-era Korean horses. We can know this for sure because the Jeju horse still exists, and they tend to run no more than 12.25 hands - just over 50 inches at the shoulder. Tiny. Very tiny. Tiny to the point a rider makes sure most of his weight is over the horse’s shoulders, not its back. (As we can see in late 1800s pictures of Mongolian archers; I found a few via Wikipedia and other places. Wow.)

And yet these horses are large enough to be ridden; with armor, if you feed them well. Part of Genghis Khan’s ability to conquer various places came from his tactics of maintaining a good grain supply for his special cavalry units. Mongolian horses can live on just grass, but they have more endurance with grain.

There was a time when horses weren’t even that big. People who’ve dug the bones and checked historical sources estimate that horses weren’t bred big enough for cavalry until after the Late Bronze Age collapse (about 1177 BC). Prior to that chariot warfare was the big way to use horses, because putting a couple tiny horses into harness with a wicker basket over wheels could carry a human weight.

Note that horse size is partly due to breeding, and partly due to having your agriculture good enough to have extra grain just for feeding horses. A steppe horse can survive on grass alone. Bigger horses will starve. This was apparently a problem for horses in Elizabethan England as well; until people got the word to add grain to their diets, larger horses were critically malnourished.

Take this into account if you’re writing a realistic fantasy, or SF with horses imported off-planet. You can’t just turn a bunch of large-breed horses loose on a grassland and expect them to survive. Not unless the grassland is very different from what we know on Earth, and provides grain-levels of calories!

In case you’re wondering, Thoroughbreds didn’t make it to Korea until the 1800s, at the earliest. And yet horses that size and shape are what you generally see in modern dramas. So it goes....

#horses #korean history #creative writing #worldbuilding #jeju island #mongolian horse

[ammg-old2]

Mongol armies moved extremely quickly and attempted to outmanoeuvre their opponents using speed and coordination. The aim was to only engage the enemy when absolutely necessary and to commit large numbers only when a specific weak spot had been identified. This strategy was designed to give maximum results for minimal losses. Cavalry units of around 1,000 men (a minghan) were subdivided into units of 100 (a jagun), which was in turn divided into units of 10 (an arban).

A Mongol army in the field was typically divided into wings operating either side of a central force and a vanguard. Indeed, even a Mongol camp was divided according to these groupings. A Mongol cavalry army rarely exceeded 10,000 riders in any one place at one time, even the very largest campaigns such as in Europe probably contained only three such 10,000-men divisions (tumens), the rest of the army, perhaps triple the size of the Mongol cavalry in some cases, was made of allies who conducted warfare according to their own traditions. The Mongols were usually outnumbered by their enemies in field battles but overcame this disadvantage by superior speed and tactics. A disadvantage of fielding relatively small armies was the difficulty in replacing casualties. Often vanquished troops were enlisted but in such campaigns as Eastern Europe, where loyalties were stronger, it did sometimes necessitate a withdrawal until reinforcements could arrive from Mongolia.

A classic Mongol strategy was to attack with a small force and then feign a retreat which only led the enemy back to a larger Mongol force. Another favoured manoeuvre was the tulughma, that is to attack with a central body of cavalry - heavy cavalry in the front lines and lighter units behind, who then moved through gaps in the front lines - and while these moved forward as one, cavalry units moved on the wings to envelop the enemy forces. The tactic was a smaller-scale version of thenerge, the Mongol hunting strategy used over vast areas of steppe to corner wild game. Sometimes these wings were very extended and so allowed the Mongols to entirely surround an opposing army. A reserve of heavy cavalry then moved in for the kill and any escaping enemy troops were ruthlessly pursued, often for days after a battle.

Ambush was another common tactic, as was using smoke from burning grass or dust clouds to mask troop movements, or attacking at the least expected time such as during a blizzard. The Mongols also employed some unusual strategies to out-fox their enemies. For example, they sometimes used felt dummies and set them on horses in amongst cavalry units to make the enemy think they were facing a far larger force than they actually were. Another innovative strategy was to drop leaflets from kites over the besieged Jin city of Kaifeng (1232 CE) which encouraged people to defect for a cash reward.

#studyblr #history #military history #warfare #tactics #mongol conquest of china #mongol conquest of the jin dynasty #jin dynasty #mongol empire #mongolia #china #genghis khan #horses

[kaiyves-backup]

what was the real life incident/show/B-movie?

The Vela Incident inspired both Alien vs Predator (2004) and the West Wing episode “The Warfare of Genghis Khan”. It really is execution that makes a story good, not inspiration!

#history #it's a weird world out there

[injuredcyclist]

The look on her face as she’s explaining what Josh is seeing?  The wonder in her voice?  I experience the exact same thing every time I look at the stars.  Looking at images from Hubble or James Webb, or staring at my local sky and seeing what stars I can see has never made me feel small or insignificant.  It simply fills me with awe and wonder.

#The West Wing #astronomy

[joshdonnas]

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season 1

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Let Bartlet Be Bartlet (1x19)

Mandatory Minimums (1x20)

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What Kind of Day Has It Been (1x22)

season 2

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In the Shadow of Two Gunmen I (2x01)

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The Midterms (2x03)

In This White House (2x04)

And It's Surely to Their Credit (2x05)

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17 People (2x18)

Bad Moon Rising (2x19)

The Fall's Gonna Kill You (2x20)

18th and Potomac (2x21)

Two Cathedrals (2x22)

season 3

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Isaac and Ishmael

Manchester i (3x01)

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On the Day Before (3x04)

War Crimes (3x05)

Gone Quiet (3x06)

The Indians in the Lobby (3x07)

The Women of Qumar (3x08)

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We Killed Yamamoto (3x19)

Posse Comitatus (3x20)

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20 Hours in America i (4x01)

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Game On (4x06)

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Process Stories (4x08)

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Red Haven's on Fire (4x17)

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Life on Mars (4x21)

Commencement (4x22)

Twenty Five (4x23)

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Constituency of One (5x05)

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Separation of Powers (5x07)

Shutdown (5x08)

Abu el Banat (5x09)

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The Benign Prerogative (5x11)

Slow News Day (5x12)

The Warfare of Genghis Khan (5x13)

An Khe (5x14)

Full Disclosure (5x15)

Eppur Si Muove (5x16)

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Access (5x18)

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Memorial Day (5x22)

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A Change Is Gonna Come (6x07)

In the Room (6x08)

Impact Winter (6x09)

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La Palabra (6x18)

Ninety Miles Away (6x19)

In God We Trust (6x20)

Things Fall Apart (6x21)

2162 Votes (6x22)

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The Ticket (7x01)

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Message of the Week (7x03)

Mr. Frost (7x04)

Here Today (7x05)

The Al Smith Dinner (7x06)

The Debate (7x07)

Undecideds (7x08)

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Running Mates (7x10)

Internal Displacement (7x11)

Duck and Cover (7x12)

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Two Weeks Out (7x14)

Welcome to Wherever You Are (7x15)

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Election Day Part II (7x17)

Requiem (7x18)

Transition (7x19)

The Last Hurrah (7x20)

Institutional Memory (7x21)

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