Tumen (unit)
Tumen, or tümen ("unit of ten thousand";[1] Old Turkic: tümän;[2] Mongolian: Түмэн, tümen;[3][4] Turkish: tümen), was a decimal unit of measurement used by the Turkic and Mongol peoples to quantify and organize their societies in groups of 10,000. A tumen denotes an administrative unit of 10,000 households, or a military unit of 10,000 soldiers.
Mongolian linguist Byambyn Rinchen defined that the word "tümen"(Mongolian: түмэн, ᠲᠦᠮᠡᠨ) is a root Mongolian word that denotes the Mongol word for 10 thousand.[5] English Orientalist Sir Gerard Clauson (1891-1974) defined tümän as immediately borrowed from Tocharian tmān, which according to Edwin G. Pulleyblank might have been etymologically inherited from Old Chinese tman or 萬.[6]
Magyar military organization of the conquest era
[edit]It was thought that the same kind of military organization was used by the Magyars during the conquest of Hungary. According to Ahmad ibn Rustah (c. 930), a Persian explorer and geographer relying on second-hand information, the "Magyars are a race of Turks and their king rides out with horsemen to the number of 10,000 and this king is called Kanda".[7]
Genghis Khan's organization
[edit]In Genghis Khan's military system, a tumen was recursively built from units of 10 (aravt), 100 (zuut) and 1000 (mingghan), each with a leader reporting to the next higher level. Tumens were considered a practical size, neither too small for an effective campaign nor too big for efficient transport and supply. The military strategy was based on using tumens as a useful building block for shock assaults.[8] A Mongol army usually consisted of three tumen, but armies consisting of only one tumen were also deployed. Regardless, tumen would often be understrength and the number of tumen deployed doesn't provide an accurate number of combatants.[9]
The commander of a tumen was a tümen-ü noyan, a term sometimes translated as "myriarch" (cf. myriad), meaning commander of 10,000.[10]
During the Post-Mongol Empire, the nomadic administrative system based on military organization was further developed in the Northern Yuan.[11] For example, the largest administrative unit of the Northern Yuan was the tumen, which field 10,000 soldiers, and this was a direct continuation of the military system established by Genghis Khan.[12] The Northern Yuan was also known as the Forty-Four Tumens of Mongol Nation((Mongolian: Дөчин Дөрвөн түмэн Монгол улс) in Mongolian.[13] During the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongol army consisted of 40 tumens, and Toghon Temur Khan kept retain only 10 tumens of it.[14] From then on, the Northern Yuan was divided into 6 tumens of Eastern Mongols and 4 tumens of Western Mongols which called Oirats.[15] Each tumens was headed by the most influential tribe, and they were directly ruled by the Borjigins.[16] The 6 tumens of eastern Mongols were Khalkha, Chahar, Uriankhai, Ordos, Tumed, and Yunshebu-Kharchin-Asud, while the 4 tumens of western Mongols were Khoshut, Dorbet, Torghut, and Choros.[17] Each tumen included various Mongol tribes. Within a tumen, there are divisions into khoshuu, and within khoshuu, there are divisions into bag, each of which is made up of various Mongol tribes and is led by a Mingghat Noyan, and a Jaghut Noyan.[18]
In modern armies
[edit]Tümen is a military unit still used in the Turkish Land Forces, comprising 6000 to 10000 soldiers.[19] Its commander is a tümgeneral "major general" there and in the Air Force and a tümamiral "rear admiral" in the Naval Forces. It is the equivalent of a modern division.
See also
[edit]
- Touman, the name of an emperor of the Xiongnu peoples of Central Asia
- Military of the Mongol Empire
- Tyumen—the name originates from tumen
- Tumen River
- Iranian toman
- Mingghan
- Myriad = 10,000
References
[edit]- ↑ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language - toman Archived 2007-12-09 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Doerfer, Gerhard (1965). Türkische Elemente im Neupersischen : alif bis tā / [Doerfer, Gerhard]. Vol. 2. Steiner. p. 632. doi:10.25673/38110.
- ↑ Vietze, Wörterbuch Mongolisch - Deutsch, VEB 1988
- ↑ The Silk Road And The Korean Language
- ↑ Сумъяабаатар, Б. (2025). Чингис хааны удамт академич Б. Ринчен (in Mongolian). Улаанбаатар. ISBN 978-9919-0-6076-3.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ↑ Clauson, Gerard (1972). An Etymological Dictionary of Pre-Thirteenth-Century Turkish. Oxford, Clarendon Press. p. 507. ISBN 0198641125.
- ↑ Laszlo Gyula, The Magyars: Their Life and Civilization, (1996), pp. 41–42.
- ↑ Corvisier, André. A Dictionary of Military History and the Art of War. Blackwell Publishing, 1994. page 529
- ↑ Archer, Christon I. (1 January 2002). World History of Warfare. U of Nebraska Press. p. 174. ISBN 978-0-8032-4423-8. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
- ↑ Qiqing Xiao, The Military Establishment of the Yuan Dynasty, PhD diss. (Harvard University, 1978), pp. 9–10.
- ↑ Шара туджи: Монгольская летопись XVII века (in Russian). Москва. 1957.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ↑ Шара туджи: Монгольская летопись XVII века (in Russian). Москва. 1957.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ↑ Гонгор, Д. (1970). Халх товчоон (in Mongolian). Улаанбаатар.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ↑ Монгол улсын түүх (in Mongolian). Vol. Гутгаар боть. Улаанбаатар. 2003.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ↑ Монгол улсын түүх (in Mongolian). Vol. Гутгаар боть. Улаанбаатар. 2003.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ↑ Цэрэндорж, Ц. (2010). "Ар, өвөр, гадаад, дотоод Монгол хэмээх нэрийн тухай". Нүүдэлчдийн өв судлал (in Mongolian) (10). Улаанбаатар: 197–211.
- ↑ Цэрэндорж, Ц. (2010). "Ар, өвөр, гадаад, дотоод Монгол хэмээх нэрийн тухай". Нүүдэлчдийн өв судлал (in Mongolian) (10). Улаанбаатар: 197–211.
- ↑ Саган сэцэн (1961). Эрдэнийн товч (in Mongolian). Улаанбаатар.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ↑ Sabah Newspaper Online - Turkish Armed Forces