Mongol invasion of Europe
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The Mongol invasions of Europe were centered in their destruction of the Ruthenian states, especially Kiev, under the leadership of Subutai. The Mongols then invaded the Kingdoms of Hungary and Poland, the former invasion commanded by Batu Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan, and the latter a diversion commanded by Kadan, also a grandson of Genghis Khan, though both invasions were also masterminded by Subutai.
Historians have debated since the 1200s whether or not the Eastern European campaigns of the Mongols had macrohistorical importance. Most military historians believe they essentially were diversions, meant to frighten the Western powers sufficiently to keep them out of the Mongols' affairs in the East, specifically in Russia. The evidence does indicate that Batu Khan was primarily interested in securing the western frontiers of his Russian conquests, and only after the swift destruction of both the Hungarian and Polish armies did he begin thinking about the conquest of Western Europe. Mongolian records indicate that Subutai was planning a complete conquest of the remaining European powers, beginning with a winter attack on Austria and other states of the Holy Roman Empire, when he was recalled to Mongolia upon the death of Ögedei Khan. This recall, and his death, undoubtedly saved Europe from the same fate as every other power attacked by the Mongols.
The famous remark of King Louis IX of France that he was going to fight the Tartars and would either send them back to hell or be himself sent to paradise was a sign of the fear the Mongol invasions aroused. Ironically, the European invasions were a third theater of operations, second to both the Middle East and Song China. It is believed that Western Europe would have been unable to withstand a Mongol onslaught and the history of Europe would have been dramatically altered. This belief is founded on the destruction of the armies of Poland and Hungary within a two day period by the Mongols with relative ease. Military historians agree there is no reason to believe other European armies would have fared any better.[1]
| The Mongol Invasions |
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| Central Asia – Georgia and Armenia – Kalka River – Volga Bulgaria – Ryazan – Vladimir-Suzdal – Sit River – Köse Dag – Legnica – Mohi – Baghdad – Ain Jalut – Korea – Japan – Xiangyang – Bun'ei – Ngasaunggyan – Yamen – Kōan – Pagan – Syria – Kulikovo – Vorskla – Ugra River |
However, other historians have stated that matters would not have been so simple, though this is a minority view.
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[edit] Invasion of Europe (1241-1242)
The Mongols invaded central Europe in three groups. One group conquered Poland, defeating a force under Henry II the Pious, Duke of Silesia at Legnica. A second crossed the Carpathian mountains and a third followed the Danube. The armies re-grouped and crushed Hungary in 1241, defeating the Hungarian army at the Battle of Mohi on April 11, 1241. The armies swept the plains of Hungary over the summer and in the spring of 1242 regained impetus and extended their control into Austria and Dalmatia as well as invading Moravia. Had the Great Khan not died, necessitating the return of all the "Princes of the Blood" (of Genghis Khan), all of Europe might have fallen as easily as Poland and Hungary.
The attack on Europe was planned and carried out by Subutai, who achieved perhaps his most lasting fame with his victories there. Having devastated the various Russian Principalities, he sent spies into Poland, Hungary, and as far as Austria, in preparation for an attack into the heartland of Europe. Having got a clear picture of the European kingdoms, he brilliantly prepared an attack nominally commanded by Batu Khan and two other princes of the blood. Batu Khan, son of Jochi, was the overall leader, but Subutai was the actual commander in the field, and as such was present in both the northern and southern campaigns against Russia and the Ukraine. He commanded the central column that moved against Hungary. While Kadan's northern force won the Battle of Liegnitz and Güyük's army triumphed in Transylvania, Subutai was waiting for them on the Hungarian plain. The newly reunited army then withdrew to the Sajo River where they inflicted the tremendous defeat on King Bela IV of Hungary at the Battle of Mohi. Subutai masterminded the operation, and it was proven to be one of his greatest victories.
[edit] Invasion of Hungary
The King of Hungary had summoned a council of war at Gran (Esztergom), a large and important settlement upriver from Buda and Pest. As Batu Khan was advancing on Hungary from the north-east it was decided by the King to concentrate his strength at Pest and then head to the north to confront the Mongol army. When news of the Hungarian battle strategy reached the Mongol commanders they slowly withdrew, drawing their enemies on. This was classic Mongol strategy, perfected by Subutai. He prepared a battlefield and waited. It was a strong position, because woods prevented their ranks from being clearly scouted or seen, while across the river on the plain of Muhi, the Hungarian army was extremely exposed.
Subutai launched the Battle of Muhi during the night of April 10, 1241, only one day after the smaller army in Poland had won the Battle of Liegnitz. At the Muhi, a single division crossed the river in secret to advance on the Hungarian camp from the southern flank. The main body began to cross the Sajo by the bridge at Muhi. This was met with fierce resistance, so catapults were used to clear the opposite bank. When the crossing was completed the other contingent attacked at the same time. The result was panic, and to ensure that the Hungarians did not fight desperately to the last man the Mongols left an obvious gap in their encirclement. This, along with the feigned retreat, was one of the Mongol's most prized strategies.
As Subutai had planned, the fleeing Hungarians poured through this apparent hole in the lines, which led to a swampy area. When the Hungarian knights split up, the light Mongol archers picked them off at will and it was later noted that corpses littered the countryside for the space of a two day journey. Two archbishops and three bishops were killed at the Sajo, plus 10,000 fighting men, the pride of Hungary. By late 1241, Subutai was discussing plans to invade the Holy Roman Empire, when the news came of the death of Ögedei Khan, and the Mongols withdrew, as the Princes of the blood, and Subutai, were recalled to Mongolia. As noted previously, it is possible that only the death of the Great Khan prevented the utter destruction of the remainder of Europe.
[edit] Reasons for Mongol success
The Mongols were generations ahead of the armies of the age. They fought in modern-style organization, with the smallest command being 10, then 100, then 1000, then 10,000 (a tumen), commanders were called noyans. Soldiers and bureaucrats were promoted on the basis of ability, rather than birth, with the exception of Ghengis Khan's relatives. Most European armies consisted of a few professional men at arms, and knights, and levies of peasants. Mongol armies were more nomadic with constant practice in riding, archery, and organized combat by group. They travelled very light, able to live off the land. Their incredible intelligence organization combined with centralized command demonstrated remarkable ability to coordinate armies separated by great distances. They showed mobility unheard of by armies of the time—up to 100 miles/day (the Mongol military post express made 600 kilometers/day). Mongol combination of mobility and communication was not equalled until World War II.[1] They had extraordinary military discipline, extraordinary endurance and were above all practical, readily assimilating advanced siege technology.
[edit] End of the Mongol advance in Europe
Some western historians attribute European survival to Mongol unwillingness to fight in the more densely populated German principalities, where the wetter weather affected their bows. But the weather did not stop them from devastating Russia and China, and Europe was far less densely populated than China.
The probable answer for Batu's stopping after the Mohi River, and the destruction of the Hungarian army, was that he never intended to advance further. He had made the Russian conquest safe for the next ten generations, and when the Great Khan died and he rushed back to Mongolia to put in his claim for power, it ended his westward expansion. Subutai's recall at the same time left the Mongol armies without their spiritual head and primary strategist. Batu Khan was not able to resume his plans for conquest to the "Great Sea" (the Atlantic Ocean) until 1255, after the turmoil after Ögedei's death had finally subsided with the election of Möngke Khan as Great Khan.
[edit] Mongol infighting
From 1241 to 1248 a state of almost open warfare existed between the son of Jochi, Batu, and the son of Ögedei, Güyük. The Mongol Empire was ruled by a regency under Ögedei's widow Töregene Khatun, whose only goal was to secure the Great Khanate for her son, Güyük. There was so much bitterness between the two branches of the family that Güyük died in 1248 on his way to confront Batu to force him to accept his authority. Batu Khan was unable to turn his army west until 1255, after Möngke had become Great Khan, 1251, and he had repaired his relations with the Great Khanate. Ironically, as he prepared to finish the invasion of Europe, he died. His son did not live long enough to implement his father's and Subutai's plan to invade Europe, and with his death, Batu's younger brother Berke became Khan of the Kipchak Khanate. Fortunately for Europe, Berke was not interested in invading Europe as much as halting his cousin Hulagu Khan from destroying the Holy Land. Berke had converted to Islam before and watched with horror as his cousin destroyed the Abbasid Caliph, the spiritual head of Islam as far as Berke was concerned. The Mamluks of Egypt, learning through spies that Berke was both a Muslim and not fond of his cousin, appealled to him for help and were careful to nourish their ties to him and his Khanate.
Both entities were Turkic in origin.[2] Most of the Mamluks were of Turkic descent and Berke's Khanate was almost totally Turkic also. Jochi, Ghenghis Khan's oldest son, was of disputed parentage and only received 4,000 Mongol warriors to start his Khanate. His nearly 500,000 warriors were virtually all Turkic people who had submitted to the Mongols. Thus, the Khanate was Turkic in culture and ironically, had more in common with their brother Muslim Turkic Mamluks than with the Mongol shamanist Hulagu and his horde. Thus, when Hulagu Khan began to mass his army for war against the Mamluk-controlled Holy Land, they swiftly appealed to Berke Khan who sent armies against his cousin and forced him to defend his domains in the north.
Hulagu returned to his lands by 1262, but instead of being able to avenge his defeats, had to turn north to face Berke Khan, suffering severe defeat in an attempted invasion north of the Caucasus in 1263, after Berke Khan had lured him north and away from the Holy Land. Thus, the Kipchak Khanate never invaded Europe; keeping watch to the south and east instead. Berke only sent troops into Europe once, a relatively light raid in 1259, simply to collect booty he needed to pay for his wars against Hulagu from 1262-65.
[edit] Later campaigns
[edit] Against Poland (1259 and 1287)
In 1259, 18 years after the first attack, two tumens (20,000 men) from the Golden Horde, under the leadership of Berke, attacked Poland after raiding Lithuania. This attack was commanded by Nogai Khan and general Burundai. Lublin, Sandomierz, Kraków, and Bytom were ravaged and plundered by Nogai's army. Berke had no intention of occupying or conquering Poland.
An unsuccessful raid followed in 1287, led by Telubuga. Lublin and Sandomierz were sucessful raided, but they were defeat in Kraków. Despite this, Kraków was devasted. This raid consisted of less than one tumen, since the Golden Horde's armies were tied down in conflict with the Il-Khanate. The force sent was not sufficient to meet the full Polish army, nor did it have any siege engineers or equipment to breach city walls. It raided a few caravans, burned a few small towns, and fled when the Polish army was mustered.
[edit] Against Lithuania (1259 and 1275)
The Mongols also raided the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the campaign of 1259. There was another raid against Lithuania in 1275, as the Lithuanians were emerging as a rival to Mongol power.
[edit] Against Thrace (1265)
During the reign of Berke there was also a raid against Thrace. In the winter of 1265 Nogai Khan led a Mongol raid of two tumens (20,000 soldiers)against the territories of Bulgaria and Byzantine Eastern Thrace. In the spring of 1265 he defeated the armies of Michael VIII Palaeologus. After this Thrace was plundered by Nogai's army, and the Byzantine emperor made a alliance with the Golden Horde, giving his daughter Euphrosyne in marriage to Nogai.
[edit] Invasion of Hungary (1284)
In the 1280s Nogai Khan led an invasion of Hungary. But as with later invasions, it was repelled handily, the Mongols losing much of their invading force. The outcome could not have contrasted more sharply with the 1241 invasion, mostly due to the reforms of Béla IV of Hungary, which included advances in military tactics and, most importantly, the widespread building of stone castles, both in response to the crushing defeat of the Hungarian Kingdom in 1241.
[edit] References
- ^ Saunders, J.J. The History of the Mongol Conquests
- ^ Amitai-Preiss, Reuven. The Mamluk-Ilkhanid War
- Chambers, James -- The Devil's Horsemen: The Mongol Invasion of Europe
- Hildinger, Eric -- Warriors of the Steppe: A Military History of Central Asia, 500 B.C. to A.D. 1700
- Morgan, David -- The Mongols, ISBN 0-631-17563-6
- Nicolle, David, -- The Mongol Warlords, Brockhampton Press, 1998
- Reagan, Geoffry -- The Guinness Book of Decisive Battles, Canopy Books, NY (1992)
- Saunders, J.J. -- The History of the Mongol Conquests, Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd, 1971, ISBN 0-8122-1766-7
- 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
