basis of social organization for any of the Eurasian nomadic tribes, not only for the Mongols. The steppe was divided according to clan origin, positions under the supreme rulers were distributed according to this criterion, and even at feasts the steppe people sat down according to their nobility.
Genghis Khan did everything to break this system, realizing perfectly well that knowledge meant much more than high birth. He began to bring people closer to him on the basis of their personal skills, and under him the army was commanded by the truly best.
The most famous person who managed to make a career under him was the talented general Subudai. He achieved everything that could be achieved by a man who was not a ruling family. And even the Chingizid princes were forced to humble their pride and go to him to bow.
Mongolian chronicles say that he was Uryankhai — a representative of the reindeer people who lived in the south of Siberia. Rashid al-Din, court chronicler of the Middle Eastern Hulaguid dynasty, assured that this was the name given to people who led a certain way of life, whether they spoke Turkic, Mongolian or Tungusic. They lived in the forest rather than in the steppe, rode sleds rather than carts, raised reindeer rather than horses. In the future they became part of the Mongols, Tuvinians and some Siberian peoples.
Subudai’s family was related to the princely Borjigin family. But, ironically, the future commander began his career in the army of Genghis Khan’s twin — Jamukha. It is unlikely that he had then those military skills that from childhood were formed in the nomads — Subudai was the son of a blacksmith, and his own tribe led a different way of life than the Mongols.
However, he was a very quick learner. Subudai appears in the annals with the nickname bagatur. This means that he was a great warrior, because such titles were not given to just anyone. In 1204 the twenty-year-old Subudai for the first time in his life began to command a tumen. It was a campaign against the tribe of Naimans, to whom his former leader Jamukha had fled. In 1206, when the Mongol Empire was proclaimed, the son of a blacksmith is listed fifty-second on a list of 88,000 Mongol nobles.
At this time he is still fighting under other commanders. Usually his chief is the great khan himself, but during the Chinese campaign Subudai is subordinate to the elder Djeba. True, he was entrusted to pursue the already defeated Merkits independently.
During the very first attack on Khorezm it was Subudai who was allowed to try his hand in the first battle. At that time he was considered a very promising officer, and was appointed one of the leaders of the reconnaissance raid to the west. During this military campaign two tumen Subudai and Dzhebe defeated, according to historians’ calculations, ten times the number of enemy forces. Russian princes at the battle on the river Kalka were surprised to find that the Tatars “shoot more farther than the Polovtsians”.
At the time of organizing the campaign to Eastern Europe, our hero was already considered the most serious military commander among the Mongols. In the course of this campaign he had to wipe the noses of thirteen tsarevich-chingizids. This campaign, among other things, was intended to teach them how to lead troops.
During the battle of Shayo, Batu Khan sent his men against the entrenched crossbowmen and Hungarian knights. The attack ended unsuccessfully, but it was Subudai who made things right. He ordered to attack the supostat with throwing guns, and sent the main forces in a detour. The future ruler of the Golden Horde had to publicly apologize to his subordinate.
New khan Gujuk supposed, that after departure from a life of his father between Mongolian princes civil war will begin. Therefore, after his accession, he immediately recalled Subudai to his homeland, not wanting such a man to be on the side of the Dzhuchids. The latter managed to take part in another campaign against China, but soon ended his life. His son Uryankhatai became a prominent commander in the khans of Mongolia, but never rose to the glory of his father.