However powerful the Mongolian forces were, they were not without their costly disadvantages. First and foremost, the Mongols were “land-based fighters” (Grousset 291). They fought well on practically any terrain, but they needed open space in order to ride and use their bows effectively. Small, confined spaces were death traps for them as their primary method of fighting was to keep their enemies at range. Following this, they did not have much use or need for maritime fields, opting instead to use sailors and ships from the areas they had conquered, namely China and Korea. Ships, especially “seafaring vessels for open water, were expensive to produce and the Mongols often opted for using cheap Chinese riverboats for their nautical excursions, the attempted invasions of Japan being notable here,” as stated in the book The Cambridge History of …show more content…
The aforementioned Chinese and Korean troops posed their own problems, namely that they were neither particularly warlike. These proved disadvantageous in their attempted invasions, as “the Mongol troops, being so entirely out of their element, and the Sino-Koreans, who were of little military value, could not stand up to Japanese fury” (Grousset 289).
In addition to the effective movement of troops, the Mongols used a powerful array of weaponry. According to the book The Mongol Art of War: Chinggis Khan and the Mongol Military System, “The main weapon of the Mongols was a composite bow. Made from layers of horn, wood, sinew, and glue this weapon possessed a maximum range of 300m, with an extreme range of 500m” (May 50). Despite being small and light enough to be used on horseback, the composite bows boasted incredible range and accuracy. Carried by all of the soldiers, it was constantly in use on the battlefield with a variety of arrows for different situations. “There has been some speculation concerning whether the Mongols poisoned their arrows”