If we utter the word "envoy" ever again, please, send the envoys. EDIT. Really sorry for not being able to answer everyone, already working on the next video.
Mongol general: "Hey what if we just pretended to run away to draw them in again and then surround them?" Advisors: "We've tried that like 10 times already, they won't keep falling for that." General: "Trust me." 10 BATTLES LATER: Advisors: "How are they still falling for this?"
Mark Runyan. In reality no one is falling for it. You and your fellow soldiers are being slaughtered. So you see a opening that's possible you can escape. Just instinctual to take it. I know the brave people online would rather stay and die fighting though.
After the battle of Mohi (1241) in following 2 years almost half population of Hungarian kingdom died due to ravaging and starvation, cause there was noone to seed the fields. Only stone walled forts were preserved, probably because Mongols didnt want to bother with sieges. This was the reason of high density of castles in hilly terrain of modern day Slovakia built after the invasion. There were rumours that Mongols will return, and they finally did (in 1271 I think) but it was smaller raids rather than invasion few decades ago
I doubt the second invasion was a raid. The generals who lead the 2nd and 3rd invasions were not as good as their Genghisid predecessors. They were lackeys who earned their positions due to social rank and not meritocracy. Also they did not have the full support of the Mongol Khanates and therefore their military capabilities were reduced. Also the Hungarians and Poles learnt their mistakes and prepared. But that is for clarifying the major reasons why the Mongols failed.
@@xylem2202 Well. China is more closer to Mongolia and most of the Mongolian army focused on Song. Even they had siege engineers , they still difficulties on terrain and fortresses that block the gap of mountains. Mongolian highest casualties is in China alone, they struggled, thrown lives,adapt more techniques until they succeed. Castles in Europe was hard but Mongolians were also adaptable on how to overcome those problems (remember the hasashins fortresses). The knights can also be match (although not by mongols themselves) but by Chinese cataphracts they employed. The problem is that they can't bring these cataphracts into a very far land so instead they focused on China.
It's a win-win situation for the Mongols. If they accept the demands the mongols won't have to fight them and gained a new subject and if they killed them they have legitimate reasons to invade.
I showed these videos to the history teacher and we are now using them in the Mongol lessons- they are great documentries packed pull of information with nice graphics and animations
dessidance I trust in Allah. But Tengri/Tanrı also means "god" in old Turkish. So sometimes we used that term too. I guess Tengrism in Turkey only practised by some far nationalistic people. But their numbers are very very few.
M Really? Some of my friends are in the way of Hüseyin Nihal Atsız or so close to him but none of them is Tengrist as ı know. Maybe they are cripto tengrist :)
Utmost respect to you guys. Most people probably won't even realize how hard the research for this video must have been since there are almost no primary sources for the Battle of Legnica as well as it is very hard to get any non-polish secondary sources for this battle. Great job guys. I'll include some additional pieces of information for those who want to know a little more. Some additional facts and nitpicks: Poland was at that time divided into smaller Duchies. Only forces from Silesia, Lesser Poland, and Greater Poland participated in that battle. All other Duchies remind neutral. The number of Polish forces is a bit too high in the video. Historian J. Maroń claims that Henryk II could at best mobilize around 2000 men. The infantry used by Polish side was recruited from miners of Złotoryia and Lwówek. From what I know, they were deployed in the first line of Polish forces under command of Bolesław Dypoldowic. 6:42 The participation of Teutonic Order in Battle of Legnica is highly doubtful. Teutonic chroniclers claimed their participation 100 years later which is hardly a proof. We know however that Knight Hospitalers, Templars, and Knights of the Holy Sepulchre did participate in it. Poles employed mostly cavalry for this battle. Well, to be honest, we know almost nothing about the course of Battle of Legnica but what I know about this Battle is very different to what you have shown. According to what we know from Annales silesiaci compilati Polish forces were formed into 4 lines and reserve unit. (5 lines in total) To be honest, the sources are so laconic that it is impossible to fully reconstruct the battle. I mean literally, this is the longes descrition of this Battle that survived to this time: "Postea autem, furia secunda post octavam Pasce V Idus Aprilis Tartari in Legnicz proficiscuntur, quibus dux Henricus, filius sancte Hedwigis, cum magno exercitu occurrit. Ibique inito et habito gravissimo bello, Polonis et cruciferibus pugnantibus ducis exercitus terga, vertit in fugam, quem pogani, victis omnibus insecuntur et ipsum ducem in campo comprehendunt et occidunt." --- Annales silesiaci compilati
Thanks for your insight, indeed this story about internal division is important, I didn't understand how it wasn't possible to raise an army bigger than just 6000 people. People often overlook that kind of important information. Like for example, few people seem to realize just how divided was France during the second half of the middle-age (like a confederation), only uniting that very populated (back then) kingdom after the 100 years war.
+xenotypos Exactly, almost every medieval kingdom went through a period of fragmentation to get united once again. To be honest, such fragmentation was usually beneficial in the long term since it allowed quicker economic development of different part of the realm.
Have watched barbarian empires of the steppes as well. It really changes your perspective when the tumen is described as a separate army. Subutai has to be my favorite general!
MrAlio84 Muslims were on the contrary always wrecked by the Poles ignorant. Look up the battle of Vienna 1683 and the battle of Hodow. The Nazis and communists tried to break the spirit of the Polish people but failed. The Poles didn't break no matter how many of them were massacred. And how did the Romans and crusaders wreck Poland exactly ? Because the Roman Empire never occupied what you call Poland today and the crusaders were attacking Muslims, not fellow Christians.
Gimme a Break Ha ha, I guess... But in my defence, I find Mongols to be genuinely awesome (in the original meaning of this word) and I always love to see Polish history popularised.
@@rupertsmith5815 Even worse. Mongols were the Nazis of middle ages. Many cultures were genocided by them. Nothing badass about that. Badass are the people who stood up to these monsters.
@@martinpospisil3747 Yes 100% correct. The reason why we don’t think of them that way is because we don’t have footage or interviews or anything we just have the writings from mostly the mongols or people who supported them . And they tend to focus only on the military side . The Nazis on the other have tons of footage and eye witness testimony and interviews and we all know someone who was directly affected . So most people don’t glorify them
It seems even God thought Mongols were too much, seeing how Ogodei Khan died just as the united Mongol army was closing on Vienna, and how Monkhe Khan died just as the united Mongol army was closing on Cairo. Which turned away most of the Mongol army for reelection, and left only minor forces in the regions to consolidate. Hey, new Assassin's Creed game plot maybe? :p Oh, and let's not forget the Kamikaze during invasion of Japan.
Don't that just beat all? The moments were counting down and doom was upon them through the black clouds of dust as the horde rode down upon their prey, when their leader and great khan dies and they must turn back. To the defenders it seemed like god spared them a horrible fate. XD
Eh, only western European sources indicate that. Mongolian sources say batu actually ignored the call and kept his forces in Europe and only left because he failed to take most of their stone castles(the few places any of the grand wopping 85 knights sent to crusade against the Mongols were at) and was losing major battles in bohemia and ,iirc, Croatia and a few small sallying efforts in Vienna actually knocked the shit out of the Mongols. Come the second invasion with even more men than the first , eastern Europe has castles and knights in numbers and.....the second invasion was reduced to struggling survivors.
@@HellboyGodzilla Eh, it would be a different world if the great Khan didn't die. Far more people would have Mongolian traces in Europe if he didn't die. Vikings from the North and Mongols from the East. I know there's a huge time gap between them but the Mongols would have a greater footnote in European history books.
@@ls200076 Nah, the generals in Europe didn't leave when the Khan died, they got beaten ragged in Croatia, bohemia, lost a LOT of men failing to drive the miniscule knights sent to face them from stone forts and their defeat at Vienna had frustrated them into just deciding it would be better to try again fresh.
Papa Francesco Perhaps it was a tactic of the mongols to get their envoys killed. By making outrageous terms for treaties or even insulting the King and people in the country they were in. Or perhaps they werent killed by the Kings or Nobles of the Kingdom they were in, but by Mongolian assassins. So that the mongols get a reason to attack that country. Just a wild guess from me.
A Glass of Cacao You really think mongolz needed a reason to attack to any nation? They dont give a shit if they wanted to invade ur country they just would have done it with out any reasons! I ve read comments like these under mongol invasion videos! Like they would have invaded if the envoys was killed or not! Bla bla! No u are so wrong aout that! Just remember about khwarezm empire! When Mongolz had 100k troops at most khwarezm sultan had 1 million troops! For Mongolz it was really risky war with enemey who had way larger army and also Mongolz was having war against another large enemy china who had millions of troops!but at end Mongolz beat em all!
A Glass of Cacao No, it's not a wild guess. The envoys the Mongols sent tend to end up mysteriously dead...providing the perfect excuse for the Mongols to declare war. However, this tactic didn't go down well with the Manlukes of Egypt. The Mongols lost both their envoys and the army sent to avenge their deaths.
Bella goes into seclusion and get's *abandoned the commoners* and *annoying the religious authorities* modifier, -20 general opinion and trait "wreckt by the mongols". Loses one wall, barack or fortification per every county invaded by the mongols. That's how fucked Bella was. Ck2 player's will understand.
Worth mentioning, despite those traits, Bella completely reformed his country and military to the point his heir was able to royally fuck the mongols when they return :D Comebacks are always possible for good players :D
“If you surrender to me, you will be forgiven; If you resist, you will suffer greatly and perish cruelly,” said Batu khan’s envoy to the Kievian Rus. Kiev chose death by killing the envoy.
the europeans who had their countries messed up. They were never taught about mongols in their history class and now butthurt that their ancestors lost to them
Wait for all the ignorant comments like “we defeated the Mongols,” “Mongols were Turks”, “Mongols were nothing but lucky barbarians,” etc... But this being said, I am enjoying this series. Keep up the good work!!
HARUN AL-RASHID التميمي Mongols shaped the modern world bitch, you wouldn't be here if it weren't for the mongols. And your whole comment shows exactly how ignorant and shutoff you are from the rest of the world. Educate yourself.
I'm so glad you mentioned the use of artillery by Subutai as it is one of the first recorded instances in history where artillery was used against ground troops instead of in a siege.
Very well done! Beautiful to watch. Excellent coverage of the campaign in Europe but a few errors in the period before: Chinggis Khan died in August 1227, not 1229. Ogedai became Great Khan in 1229 though, as there was a two year regency by his brother Ogedai and the Kurultai to elect him Khan was not held until 1229 Ogedai did not invent the Yassa or Mongol religious tolerance, but did continue both of these traditions. The Yassa was established by his father shortly after becoming emperor, but there is a lot of debate over what it compiled and how much it can be called a unified set of legal codes. Likely, it was a gradual harmonization of steppe traditions aiming to cement loyalty to the Khan, superseding but not necessarily replacing other legal customs of the nomads (that's why his Yassa is called the Great Yassa, as there were smaller Yassas of each tribe) and unclear to what extent it was supposed to be applied to sedentary conquered populations (which varied over time). The image you use for Batu is an actor who played Chinggis in some chinese television series I think? Just an observation. You didn't discuss Guyuk and the third wing that campaigned south of Hungary! I don't know the route they took so I was very curious to see that one! And Batu did not return to Mongolia after Ogedai died: most of his generals did, such as Subutai and the other princes, but Batu himself camped in the Volga steppe region. He wanted to place himself in a stronger position to watch the election, but also wanted to secure the territory he had recently taken as his personal fiefdom (which became the Golden Horde and was effectively an indepdentn kingdom within the next ten years). This became problematic once Guyuk (Ogedai's son) became Khan in 1246 (his mother Torogene was regent between this and Ogedai's death) and Batu had still not returned to Mongolia to give his official support to the new Khan. Guyuk was en route to confront Batu in 1248 when he died unexpectedly. Excellent detail in the campaigns though! This is a fantastic way to visualize them and it is much appreciated!
The Jackmeister: Mongol History Some medieval poet from western Europe wrote a poem about the death of the Bulgarian tsar Ivan Asen II and how the " Tatars " ( Mongolians ) rejoiced at the news of the death of the one who have defeated them. Obviously, my ancestors won a battle against them in 1240 AD, but the sources of this information are so unclear, that some historians wonder if that really happened. There's nothing about where the battle was fought or what was the size of the armies. However, if that's what happened, then that might be the answer to your question: what happened to the southern invading army? They were defeated by the Bulgarians. Unfortunately, Ivan Asen II died the next year and in that encouraged the Mongols to raid the country in 1242 AD. Even though part of their army was ambushed in a passage and defeated, many cities were sacked by the rest of the Mongols and eventually we had to buy peace, by paying a tribute to their empire :(
China says IT tolerates religion too. One has to wonder just how it played out. We'll never know how peaceful the Pax Mongolia was. To the conquered, the Pax Romana probably didnt feel so peaceful. Just wondering. Art doesn't answer that question.
Very well placed and coherent clarifications. Glad to see someone take the time to write this post, since I wanted to point them out too, but didn't have the time to do so (as indicated by my late posting).
Another awesome video. Quality and quantity of information about the battle as well as the background situation is simply astonishing. I feel like Im in a history class - I love history. Your videos are perfect educational material.
Great video. Thanks so much. One feedback: Usually every Mongol warrior has 3-4 horses with him. That way he can switch horses when the one he is riding gets tired. So to make your images of the Mongol force on the move more accurate you should really show for each Mongol warrior on horseback several other horses riding along side him.
An english chronicler of the time, Matthew Paris, comments on the invasion as he heard about it and summarizes it as "in 1241, the Kingdom of Hungary ceased to exist," or something along those lines
Hello ,Why nobody talks about the second Mongol invasion in1285 / 86. The Hungarians easily defeated 2 Mongol armies. Hungarians won Second Mongol invasion of Hungary - Wikipedia
Well, the mongols were unstoppable .I think Japan was saved by the divine wind (I think is called Kamikaze), sinking mongol ships ,Byzantine empire was saved by the sacrifice of Arab and Bulgar neighbors... But, China was ravaged, 2 powerful christian empires (Poland and Hungary) were mutilated.. Only stupid luck saved the rest of Western Europe.. so, yeah is weird how history sometimes works.. it is amazing
Mongol army has a very clear weakness, jungle warfare. They got defeated by the Vietnamese. Also the Delhi sultanate stopped the mongol march south. The defeated Chinese held out the longest due to their naval army, and mountain fortresses. But they finally capitulated after Kublai threw millions of soldiers at them (the largest theatre in mongol expansion), started heavily investing in riverine warfare, and bring in the counterweight trebuchet and trebuchet experts from the middle east. Mongol weaknesses: 1) Overstretched territories and ability to send necessary soldiers for crucial campaigns they lost. 2) Fighting a wealthy-funded empire with a strong nomadic culture. 3) Naval battles. Mongols avoided when possible, when they did, they outsourced to their defeated subjects. You're not going to get quality, motivation, loyalty and commitment in these campaigns. 4) Mountainous terrains.
Czech King succesfully stopped them. In 1241 Wenceslaus successfully repelled a raid on Bohemia by forces serving under Batu Khan and Subutai of the Mongol Empire as part of the Mongol invasion of Europe. The Mongols raided the Kingdom of Poland, Silesia and Moravia, led by Baidar, Kadan and Orda Khan with a force of around 20,000 Mongols, causing much destruction. During the Mongol invasion of Poland, Duke Henry II the Pious of Silesia, Wenceslaus' brother in law, initially asked his help in fighting off the Mongols. However as Wenceslaus was coming to his aid in Legnica with a force of 50,000 soldiers, impatience forced Henry II to attack the Mongols without Bohemia's help which resulted in the devastating Battle of Legnica.[8] Following the Mongol victory, Wenceslaus fell back to protect Bohemia. He gathered reinforcements from Thuringia and Saxony along the way, before taking refuge in Bohemia's mountainous countries whose terrain would reduce the mobility of the Mongolian cavalry. When a Mongol vanguard assaulted Kłodzko, the Bohemian cavalry easily defeated them in the mountain passes.[9][10][11] After their failure against Wenceslaus' army, the Mongols led by Baidar and Kadan turned away from Bohemia and Poland and went southward to reunite with Batu and Subutai in Hungary, who had crushed the Hungarians at the Battle of Mohi. When Subutai heard in 1242 that Grand Khan Ögedei had died the previous year, the Mongol army retreated eastward, because Subutai had three princes of the blood in his command and Genghis Khan had made clear that all descendants of the Khagan (Grand Khan) should return to the Mongol capital of Karakorum for the kurultai which would elect the next Khagan. Such was Wenceslaus' success against the invaders that chroniclers sent messages to Emperor Frederick II of his "victorious defense".[12]
Don't forget all the central asian turkic tribes, the selcuks, koreans, russians, persians and all the different indian groups that suffered from the mongols.
In the Southestern Europe,Mongols came all the way to the Croatian coast but they couldn't handle big stone walls and the lack of food for their horses. That was just a random info i wanted to add. Great video!
There may have been a battle on the north-west of the Adriatic coats at Grobnik Field (field of graves in translation) against the Batu khan in 1242... The battle is considered a legend by the historians because there's no written evidence before the 14th century... But I do believe it happened... I am from the island of Krk some 50 km away from the Grobnik Field... and I know a few people form Grobnik... as the only "proof" that the battle did actually happen I have only that some of the people from Grobnik have really distinct mongolian features... like noses and eyes... where you can clearly see that they have some mongolian ancestors... I went to school with 2 girls from Grobnik and I'm 100% sure they have some mongolian blood.... so let's say that I'm not sure that the battle happened.. but I am sure that the Golden Horde reached all the way to the northern Adriatic coast (almost Italy) at some stage and left their genes... xD Edit: wiki - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Grobnik_Field the croatian version of the wiki page has a lot more information... but this is enough to see what I'm talking about I guess...
Archeologist here. The Battle happened but probably it wasn't a Croatian victory, but a draw. 8000 Mongols vs 8000 Frankopan, Bribirski and Babonić troops. Not 30.000 vs 30.000 as the legend says. Also when the Mongols besieged Knin they were furious they were forced to fight hand to hand. They left for Trogir when they learned Bela wasn't there. After Trogir Bela went to Rab where he was safe. Kadan then went west and was intercepted at Grobnik. After that he turned back and entered bulgarian teritory. EDIT: 1251 Bela reafirms privileges for the Princes Bartul and Fridrik Frankopan of Krk for lending him their navy and protecting him through the mainland. Bela's documents mention battles in Litoral Croatia after witch Kaidan had to retreat. There were many assaults, especially on Klis and Trogir. Bela's daughters Katarina and Margarita died fom unkown resonons at Klis, but his heir, the later Stephen I survived. Ibn Sayd (1214-1274) and Abu al-Fida (1273) wrote that the Tatars were defeated and forced to retreat to their land. Croatian sources mention Bela as a coward suckling on his throne. Frankopans gave him 20.000 golden marks to fell better. As lovers of truth you make up your mind. :-)
For those saying the Mongols wouldn't have taken Europe, you're either biased Europeans or don't know what you're talking about. Someone said something about the HRE being able to stop them? Not a chance, The emperor and the Pope were locked in a power struggle at the time that left Italy and Germany (HRE) both weakened. Someone else mentioned that European castles would stop them, why? The Mongols had access to more advanced siege weapons than Europe and would have access the cannons within 5-10 years, something Europe had never seen before. When the Mongols turned back their scouts were less than 100 miles from Venice. The french knights templar said at the time there was no army between France and Hungary that could stop them. The castles and fortifications of Europe would be as easy as taking the walled cities they had done before. They took 12 walled cities in Russia in 2 months,..... in WINTER. Unheard of. Make no mistake, the death of Ogedai Khan saved Europe even if they don't like to admit it. I've heard even to this day there is a festival in Hungary celebrating how "beat back" the Mongols, laughable!
Well, I am not an expert on the siege warfare, but it seems that the cities/castles of Western Europe were more fortified. Again, at this point, we are just assuming things.
Cities weren't more fortified than Chinese cities as an example. I'd be willing to listen to a case for castles being harder to take. However most European castles wouldn't be able to hold enough men to trouble the Mongols even if they couldn't take them by siege. Besides, the main problems the Mongols had with taking cities weren't the actual fortifications, rather the ability to fire on those fortifications. For example, the Mongols had trouble taking Beijing because the very high walls and numerous towers had their own siege weapons that were used to destroy the Mongol siege weapons before they could get in range. European castles in this time period didn't have that sort of advantage.
IMHO whole Europe was too big peice to monglos for one bite. I think it's similar like invading Russia by Napoleon army, and German later. But if they tried to slow push on west, they would given an opportunity for west countries to learn and find solution. Exactly that was happened with Golden Horde. East states has found solution, even adapt tactics for themselv. Many times people use term: "and the winged hussars arrived" on youtube discussions ( i think it's pathetic). We should realize that WH has evolved as a formation to fight with tatars, cossacks, moskovs ( using comparable tactics)
Whats so special about european castles? Here is some Chinese fortified castles and walls: imgur.com/a/a6abT imgur.com/a/Gkrlo imgur.com/a/PTmlO imgur.com/a/j0GwS imgur.com/a/EdtqP imgur.com/a/09aTX imgur.com/a/WxDN0 "Under the Jin dynasty the capital of Zhongdu had walls covering a perimeter of 24km and reached a height of 12m." Military capability of song dynasty www.zhangzhiyong.cn/english/military.htm Info about song dynasty gunpowder warfare "Advancements in weapons technology enhanced by gunpowder, including the evolution of the early flamethrower, explosive grenade, firearm, cannon, and land mine, enabled the Song Chinese to ward off their militant enemies until the Song's ultimate collapse in the late 13th century. The Wujing Zongyao manuscript of 1044 was the first book in history to provide formulas for gunpowder and their specified use in different types of bombs.While engaged in a war with the Mongols, in 1259 the official Li Zengbo wrote in his Kezhai Zagao, Xugaohou that the city of Qingzhou was manufacturing one to two thousand strong iron-cased bomb shells a month, dispatching to Xiangyang and Yingzhou about ten to twenty thousand such bombs at a time.[148] In turn, the invading Mongols employed northern Chinese soldiers and used these same types of gunpowder weapons against the Song. By the 14th century the firearm and cannon could also be found in Europe, India, and the Islamic Middle East, during the early age of gunpowder warfare." In second opium warfare it was difficult for crack chinese thick walls en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Trebuchet1-intransit.jpg southern chinese landscape en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:YangshuoFromTvTower.jpg en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Loess_landscape_china.jpg Military capability of jin dynasty www.britannica.com/topic/Jin-dynasty-China-AD-265-316-317-317-420 Middle easters walls: Wall of bukhara from kwarezmian empire imgur.com/a/iMcSv imgur.com/a/QTtu2 castle of ichan-kala Samarkand imgur.com/a/ycnw5 imgur.com/a/NJQWQ The fortified castles the assasins en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Masyaf_Castle_2.jpg en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Masyaf_-_Gesamtansicht.jpg Mongol invasion of korea , which korean had fortified islands. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_invasions_of_Korea Mongol invasion of afhanistan kabul Bala Hissar fort kabul imgur.com/a/ugoNO I don't think 13th century fortified cities of europe would withstand mongol invasion or the landscape.
I actually like how you guys cover obscure, though none-the-less world shaping, battles in central asia, eastern europe and the middle east. Keep that up.
Ogedie khan's death saved west Europe and monke Khan's death saved Egypt!! Sultan jalal ul din defeated Mongols in battle of plwaan or prwaan!! Genghis Khan said hisotrical words for jala ul din"i wish I had son like jalal din I would conqure wholde world" Absolutely nightmares both for Christians n Muslims!!
Pardon me, but Egypt saved by Sultan Beibars, man who been born in Great Steppe, and he very well know Steppe Nomads tactics, that's why he stop Mongols
@@josephrant5467 Baibars doesn't fight Hulagu Khan's 50.000 army, he fight agains Hulagu's personal assistant officer named Kitboga with 10.000 army. If Hulagu Khan had not had to take most of his army with him and go to the Kurultay election in Karakorum for the election of the new kagan, Sultan Baybars wouldn't had a chance against Hulagu's large army.
Subutai; one of, if not the greatest unsung-general(s) in military history. Yes, and your right; they shouldn't have killed Mongolian Envoys... how'd that strategy work out?
an excellent video [and likewise professor harls lectures:D] ..the only things I can add of note....is about the cumans , who had been pushed out of the way by the advancing mongols...they did attempt to perhaps join up with the Hungarian king but things went very wrong diplomatically and boths sides , broke up...which was unfortunate , for whom would have known what a cuman force [who knew the mongols tactics well] could have achieved, with there supporting horse archers with the Hungarian forces :D
Like Henry II famously said: "Gorze nam się stało!" - "A great Misfortune has fell on us". Indeed, Europe stood no chance against such opponent. Maybe the situation would look different if Mongols had faced some strong coalition made up from centralized states, like France or England. But Hungary was the only centralized kingdom in the region. Poland was little different than Rus themselfs - divided in duchies, fighting with each other. The fortifications weren't that great either. While Western Europe had it's share of stone castles, there were only handful of them in Hungary and Poland (more of them were present in the former at the time). Of course, later on, both states saw that they need to upgrade their defences, and Mongols had more problems attacking Hungary later on. But Eastern and Central Europe weren't as densly packed with castles and urban centres as West was, so that was (partly) their downfall.
That is true but at that time period there is really no army that can fight the mongol a pitch battle, if you notice all the people that defeat them either use guerrilla warfare, terrain/fortification, weather
@@grimaldus1523 yeah, cause Jin dynasty was 10x more powerful than western europe lmao. IF it took mongols that long, it would prob take 10x less time to take western europe LOL
@@grimaldus1523 lmao you a western europe fanboy or something? XD You're statements are so stupid i dont even know where to begin rofl. They captured chinese siege engineers and used them against chinese fortifications you dumbass, they didnt go to western europe to get tech to bring down china you fucktard LOL
The irony of the hungarian defeat Mongol tactics should be noted. Hungary was formed by tactics using light mobile troops, raiding cities and populations, and defeating numerically superior forces. However, as the Kingdom grew, it started to adopt other nations tactics of heavy knights and less mobile combat, only to be beaten by foe less numerous and more mobile.
Magyars weren't that different from Mongols when they entered Pannonian plain. They were nomads after all, and had never known lifestyle other than nomadic one. However, after the raids had stopped after the famous Battle of Lechfeld, Hungarians started to become settled and agrarian, just like their Slavic subjects. It's not like they "became weaker" by adopting heavy knights tactics. While fighting with anyone, you adapt to their tactics. Hungary bordered Holy Empire, full of newly formed knight class. Germans were their primary enemies during that period, so they changed their tactics accordingly. Just look at Teutonic Knights. We imagine them being those crusaders, heavy cavalry, while in reality, they had to adapt to the enviroment (Prussia was heavily forested and mounted charges weren't effective there) and their main enemy - Lithuanians, which were lightly armoured and quite mobile. So after some time, most of the Teutonic army looked almost like their Lithuanian counterparts. Sure, the major knights were just like we imagine them, but they wouldn't fare that good if they didn't adapt. As for Mohi/Muhi... The Hungarians had numerical advantage, there was just one bridge in the area, and their camp was heavily fortified. They had every chance to win, but they botched it, by being too ignorant.
Kayserili38ification I actually talked about the famous battle in another video on this channel regarding the Mamelukes victory over the Mongols. The pivotal battle that first halted the Mongol advance in the middle east.
@Kayserili38ification The magyars were not a turkic group, and they were not from Attila. They were subjects of turkic groups yes, but they themselves were finno-ugric. The most common misconception is about the name Hungary. It comes from the word Onoghur, becouse the first time the Byzantines met with the magyars they were just mercenaries of the Onoghurs, so they mistaken them one people, as they did with the scandinavians and slavs too earlier. If you look at a country which was in direct contact with magyars, you can see that they called them magyar too. In ukranian they are named Ugorsi, from the word Ugor, wich is the hungarian form of Ugric, since they were a finno ugric population.
I love these Doc's and the way they also use the Total War Games to Showcase the Units. Plus it's a Small thing but when the Main Battles are going on I Love the little Broken Glass type sound the Units on the Field have when they're Crushed.
Thank you so much for this video. I'm a fan of Roman and Nomadic history. I think XIII century and Mongol Empire especially, worth much more media products than we have.
When we look at how the mongolians won the battles shown int his series it should be pretty clear that no one was inherent better. The mongols had their close calls and on often occasions they were matched in combat; however, the Mongol leaders were extremely experienced and talented which helped them take advantage of the terrain and the mistakes made by their opponent. So, when it is asked if the Mongols could have taken over Europe, we will never know because there are so many variables that could have effected their success at all points of their campaign.
You'd be surprised..... Mongols weren't stupid. First invasion they would've took what they learnt from first encounters against Europe and adapt. Hungary lost so many population (as said in the video) Of course Europe was luckily saved either way. Had the Mongols continued onwards (even if the Khan died), they would've conquerer half of Europe and left home. Still Europe was hit by a huge blow, but not like China, which had one of the largest population ever. It's crazy how they lost due to more military tech and armies. But it seems they weren't much match against the Mongols Cavalry army.
In my opinion the reason why Golden Horde did not invade europe ever again is because army of Golden Horde did not want to take europe, since the europe has no steppe land, needed for nomads, nor richness like china had. They were not interested in dying and killing people for nothing to gain.
Great video as always. Some differences with History Marche's video on Mohi. In his video, Hungary was invaded since they refused to hand over their cuman refugees as slaves to Subutai. Also in his video, the first skirmish on the bridge was fought between a cavalry detachment let by Bela's brother and an archbishop against a mongol scouting party. Finally when Batu Khan forced his way through the bridge the northern flanking force hadn't arrived. He routed the crossbowmen with his mangonels and the hungarian infantry was overrun by sheer numbers. Besides those 3 differences, both videos have the same narrative, with HM's video having more information in the hungarian theathre and yours having more info on the overhaul invasion. Either ways I am a fan of both channels and am just happy so many military history channels are happearing recently.
It's fun to watch this Doc Khan face off between K&G and E.C. History. On the one hand it's all family drama and here it's all world domination. I say K&G's is scarier, while E.C.H. makes the characters more relatable. It's cool to get both sides of this coin. Keep it up here. You'll be well over 1M subs soon ;)
From nomadic horsemen fighting for scraps of food and resources, to acknowledged as the best damn conquerors in history. Yeah, badasses are just one word to describe them.
Great video, well made and a vast source of history! Though there are nuances that must be explained. My country suffered at that time a political partition, so there wasn't such thing as the Polish Kingdom, only a loose association of single principalities, which most of the time argued with each other about dominion over the land. Kraków was the capital only de iure, and Henryk II wasn't even the high duke, just a Silesian prince, who had enough understanding to gather allies, try to stop the Mongols and faced them in open field. His reign lasted only three years before his death by Legnica. I admire your work King and Generals!
Dude if anyone complains about the Mongols and how brutal they were, I'd tell them that brutality was effective at dealing with their enemies and putting the populace in its place. War calls for many tactics, brutality is just one of those tools. And the Mongols were very good at war.
@@EmporerAaron its amazing that no other civilization adapted bow cavalry so damn well. Like the Native American tribes I guess used it but two centuries too late.
Well the Mongols are gifted in so many ways that if it wasn't for a few minor issues that prevented it they could have subjugated the entire known world at the time. From China to East Europe with the rest of the world fearful of them and paying them off just to keep them away.
Great video as always. still it's so sad that we define history most often by its wars and battles. the leaders who sought peace, who stayed in their realms and build roads instead of armies are often forgotten by history. even if their accomplishments stayed through the ages and last longer than those of warlords and conquerors.
I have watched all the videos of your channel and I notice that the quality of your videos have been every increasing. There used to be some rotation flaws before, but overall, things are getting better and better. A few suggestions: - When you split the army into two, don't use half the length, because that would make the size quartered (thus the two new armies are smaller than the combined one, which doesn't make sense). Instead, use sqrt(2) / 2 = approximately 0.7 the length. That would make the two new splitted armies equal to the big one. - It seems that battles tend to snowball really quickly once one side makes a decisive victory in very small part of the battle, is this by nature? Would love to see more battles with more back and forth. Are you guys going to make a series about the new Total War series Three Kingdoms?
holy shit man.....is this just my imagination or subutai and all other mongolian general is genius tactician? o_O they looks like always have a trick on their sleeve.....almost always outnumbered but turn up the tide of battle and end up massacre the enemy forces o_O for god sake, if I were appointed a leader of the enemy forces, i dont know how to defeat them -____- versus an army who has very good mobility and discipline + genius leader = RUUUNNNNNN FOR YOUR LIFE!!!!!!
Horse mounted archers were op for thousands of years it was seriously dominant from the time of the ancient scythians till the advent of repeating rifles. Like even into the 1800’s you hear about China and Russia having to go to great trouble to defend against steppe raiders.
The Mongols were much better thinkers on the battlefield. Just like the trick of burning the ground at Legnica to obscure their enemies view. No European army in the Middle Ages would have conceived that.
yeah that what im talking about......almost all mongolian general always came up with a simple idea that prove can turn the tide of battle......how can that be man o_O i swear that their military tactic really superb.....i mean, when i saw this video at the scene battle of legnica, i always think and wonder how mongols army can win this battle.....the poland army draft and placement really good...... and then.....BOOOOM!!!!! burning the ground, i pause the video, blank 1-2 sec, and then said "the fuck?!", none for instance i came up with that idea -___-
nice video! one comment : the mongols were halted at the duna/donau until winter and this gave time to prepare the defences in what was left in hungary.. the mongols in 1242 failed to capture the stone castles in western hungary (and this caused the hungarians to build stone castles after the mongols at an insane rate) which saved the population from extinction, and while most of the army was indeed defeated, (already in 1248 i guess?) the hungarians defeated the austrians, because seeing the destruction they stole some lands from the hungarians for the safety of bela, so the defeat was far from the "end " of the hungarian kingdom
The problem with castles is that they can be starved by a small force. They are meant to slow an army down, force a siege and wait for another army to arrive and relieve the siege. Unless bread fell from the heavens, the defenders can be starved out. To defeat the Mongols you would have to remove them from the field.
pugilist102 It's the opposite. A castle can be manned by a small force yet require a large seige to enclose it. This eats away at attacking resources more so. A land scattered with castles multiplies this effect on route to conquer. It drains stores. Of course you're correct, stores run out inside too so were used to delay for relief reinforcement. But look at castles in Wales by Edward II, nearly all where connected to the sea for resupply. Castles were a major hurdle to any attacking force.
Walled cities require a large army to siege. Castles do not, especially if you have horsemIan to patrol the countryside. I doubt anybody would make it within 5 miles of a castle before being spotted by Mongol patrols. Castles able to resupply by sea are something else though.
"With free reign over Hungary, the Mongols did what they do best..." THIS might be the second greatest line from the Mongols story, with the best one being, "But, they broke the golden role: THEY KILLED THE ENVOYS."
Great video as usual, but there are a few inaccuracies with the maps which is relevant for any later videos on the Mongol conquests. In Anatolia, it shows the Seljuks controlling all of it except the parts under the empire of Nicaea, but there was also the empire of Trebizond in the Pontus region. Trebizond was a Georgian client state before the invasion of the Mongols and thus emancipated. During the later Mongol invasion of Anatolia, Trebizond contributed forces to the Seljuk defence in a combined effort. When they lost, Trebizond was not annexed, but instead became a Mongol vassal, famous for the beauty of its brides which were sent to various Mongol Khans. Other minor mistakes are the despotate of Epirus controlling Thessaly and Salonika and the lack of the Latin empire. There was an independent Wallachian princedom in Thessaly, a Latin kingdom of Salonika and the Latin empire still controlled southern Thrace (here shown as part of Bulgaria). Finally, there's also a mistake in Achaea which didn't control the area around Athens and central Greece. It was an independent duchy (duchy of Athens) which was later famously controlled by the crown of Aragon.
