conquest of Europe, it was Subutai who truly commanded. Equally, Guo Kan devised the strategy that reduced the powerful walls of Bagdad in mere days, after destroying her small, but brave and disciplined army in mere hours by drowning them. Promotion by merit, not birth, was one of Genghis Khan's most important innovations, and Guo Kan, from an ethnic group of the Mongols' strongest rivals, was one of his prized generals, loyal to five generations of Great Khans. Nasir al-Din Tusi, Rashid and Bar Hebraeus provide accounts of Hulagu's first governors in Baghdad. Notes References Amitai-Preiss, Reuven. The Mamluk-Ilkhanid War, 1998 Chambers, James, The Devil's Horsemen: The Mongol Invasion of Europe. Atheneum. New York. 1979. Hildinger, Erik, Warriors of the Steppe: A Military History of Central Asia, 500 B.C. to A.D. 1700 Morgan, David, The Mongols, Nicolle, David, The Mongol Warlords Brockhampton Press, 1998 Prawdin, Michael. The Mongol Empire Reagan, Geoffry, The Guinness Book of Decisive Battles , Canopy Books, New York (1992) Saunders, J.J., The History of the Mongol Conquests, Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd, 1971, Sicker, Martin, The Islamic World in Ascendancy: From the Arab Conquests to the Siege of Vienna, Praeger Publishers, 2000 Soucek, Svatopluk, A History of Inner Asia, Cambridge, 2000 Yuan dynasty generals 1217 births 1277 deaths Politicians from Weinan Generals from Shaanxi