[Spivak]

Fascinating, the takes I've seen from most historians was that polycentrism was actually likely to be Europe's undoing because the Mongols were the best to ever do it at recognizing that armies weren't as united as they first seemed and, before the fight, made deals with fractions to get them to stand down (and then kill them later) and, during battle, taking advantage of split command and breaking ranks.

I don't think that there was really anything that could stop the Mongols at that time because they had Chinese siege engineers to deal with fortifications and plenty in the way of "normal" soldiers but I'm happy to read the argument. The strongest case I've heard against them was that away from the steppe the conditions that produced hardy soldiers with their talent for shooting started to fall off.