Mongol Psychological Warfare Tactics

The Mongols were the pioneers of psychological warfare, yet the question remains: How could a confederation of tribal horseman in felt yurts terrify established civilizations such as the Chinese and the Persians so? The answer lies in some of their grizzly, terrifying, and altogether horrendous means of shattering an enemies mental strength. Blow i am going to list some examples of these tactics of mental warfare:

The Pile of Human Heads:
The Mongols were extraordinarily famous for making massive pyramids of the severed heads of their victims, and separate pyramids were built for the heads of men, women, horses, cats, dogs, camels, and children. Below is an image of one of these pyramids of terror:

The Naqarra:
The Naqarra was a massive drum that the Mongols would beat before battle, and to signal soldiers to perform certain maneuvers on the battlefield. It was so massive that four people had to haul it on ropes, while a camel was employed to carry it on the march. The drumskin of the Naqarra was crafted from the skin of a rival khan to Genghis, who skinned the man alive and placed his skin on the Naqarra's wooden frame, and beat upon it using the dead khan's femurs as drumsticks. Below is an image of the Naqarra:

Catapulting Corpses:
When the Mongols would besiege a city, sometimes they would hurl corpses infected with various diseases like bubonic plague or typhoid fever from catapults. A famous example of this would be at the Siege of Kaffa in 1346, when a Mongol army, who had members suffering from Black Death, fired the corpses of their infected comrades into Kaffa, and from there the disease hitched a ride on the rat fleas infesting the ships. The Mongols also would hurl severed heads from catapults into the city, as to both infect and terrify the local populace. Below is an image of the Mongol catapult:

Prisoners as a walkway:
When attacking a city with a moat around it, like most fortified cities in Europe and Asia were, the Mongols were not daunted or bewildered with how to counter the moat. They would just take prisoners they had captured from the previous town they had conquered, and push them into the moat until they drowned, then just walk over the dead bodies like a walkway of deceased flesh. Below is an image of a Mongol pushing a corpse into a moat to walk upon:

Death by Horse:
As Cavalrymen, the Mongols were no doubt familiar with the punishment of Dismemberment by Horse. In this particularly nasty and gruesome torture, the condemned victim would have their arms tied to a rope attached to one horse, and their legs attached to another. On a command the riders would trot in opposite directions, stretching and dislocating the muscles and bones in the victim's body until they were completely ripped in half. Another type of Death by Horse was reserved for those of noble blood, which the Mongols refused to spill. Instead of being shot or bludgeoned to death, the condemned noble would be crammed into a leather sack, and the entire Mongol army would gallop at top speed over them, trampling the victim to paste within minutes. Below is an image of the Mongols about to trample the Caliph:

Molten Metal Execution:
When the Mongols fought against the Kwarezam in modern day Iran and Uzbekistan, they had sent a trade caravan to Samarkand which had been captured by the Governor of a city called Otrar, whose greed was so tickled by the wealth of the trade caravan that he made up an excuse to attack it and seize the wealth. This act infuriated Genghis Khan, so when the governor was captured, he was bound hand and foot and held down as molten silver from the governor's own palace was poured into his ears, eyes, and throat. In the Mongol mind, this was a firsthand exprience of the proverb "Return what is given to you." Below is an image of Molten Metal :

So all in all, the Mongols used psychological warfare to make the job of conquest as easy as possible for them, and it is for their torture that they are remembered as the Cruelest Men in History.