Kutulun, thanks for your link! It was interesting and informative, but I would have to disagree with the author's, well, absurdly romantic statement:

"Even though they never fought against the most powerful warriors who ever existed in the West, the Celts, there is no doubt that the Mongols proved superior to all those whom they met in battle."

I'm wondering why the author would mention that. Granted, the Celts were admirable warriors in their own right, but for one thing any Celtic society must have been confined to Ireland by the time of the Mongol invasions. The Celts were known for charging into battle without any armor at all, ridiculously easy prey for Mongol arrows.


As an alternate worthy western foe for the Mongols, I might say try pairing up an army of Charlemagne or any formidable French/German/British army with heavily armored knights in a terrain not wide and open, and the Mongols will surely not win as easily if at all.

If you think about it, just about all Mongol conquests are on the open steppe where they can take advantage of their bows and cavalry tactics. Take these away and the fight becomes more even, as on the isle of Japan where they could not push back the Samurai.