In the 13th century, the Mongols built an empire with the largest contiguous territory in human history. It stretched from Russia to Southeast Asia and from Korea to the Middle East. Hordes of nomads destroyed hundreds of cities, destroyed dozens of states. The very name of the founder of the Mongolian became a symbol of the whole Medieval era.

Jin

The first Mongol conquests affected China. The Celestial Empire did not immediately submit to the nomads. In the Mongol-Chinese wars, it is customary to distinguish three stages. The first was the invasion of the state of Jin (1211-1234). That campaign was led by Genghis Khan himself. His army numbered one hundred thousand people. The neighboring Uighur and Karluk tribes joined the Mongols.

The city of Fuzhou in northern Jin was captured first. Not far from it, in the spring of 1211, a major battle took place at the Yehulin Ridge. In this battle, a large professional Jin army was annihilated. Having won the first major victory, the Mongol army overcame the Great Wall - an ancient barrier built against the Huns. Once in China, it began to rob Chinese cities. For the winter, the nomads retired to their steppe, but since then returned every spring for new attacks.

Under the blows of the steppes, the Jin state began to fall apart. Ethnic Chinese and Khitans began to rebel against the Jurchens who ruled this country. Many of them supported the Mongols, hoping to achieve independence with their help. These calculations were frivolous. Destroying the states of some peoples, the great Genghis Khan did not at all intend to create states for others. For example, the Eastern Liao, which broke away from the Jin, lasted only twenty years. The Mongols skillfully made temporary allies. Dealing with their opponents with their help, they also got rid of these "friends".

In 1215, the Mongols captured and burned Beijing (then known as Zhongdu). For several more years, the steppes acted according to the tactics of raids. After the death of Genghis Khan, his son Ogedei became the kagan (great khan). He switched to conquest tactics. Under Ogedei, the Mongols finally annexed the Jin to their empire. In 1234, the last ruler of this state, Aizong, committed suicide. The invasion of the Mongols ravaged northern China, but the destruction of the Jin was only the beginning of the triumphal march of the nomads across Eurasia.

Xi Xia

The Tangut state of Xi Xia (Western Xia) was the next country conquered by the Mongols. Genghis Khan conquered this kingdom in 1227. Xi Xia occupied territories west of the Jin. It controlled part of the Great Silk Road, which promised rich booty to the nomads. The steppes besieged and ravaged the Tangut capital Zhongsin. Genghis Khan died while returning home from this campaign. Now his heirs had to finish the work of the founder of the empire.

Southern Song

The first Mongol conquests concerned states created by non-Chinese peoples in China. Both Jin and Xi Xia were not the Celestial Empire in the full sense of the word. Ethnic Chinese in the 13th century controlled only the southern half of China, where the Southern Song empire existed. The war with her began in 1235.

For several years, the Mongols attacked China, exhausting the country with incessant raids. In 1238, the Song pledged to pay tribute, after which the punitive raids ceased. A fragile truce was established for 13 years. The history of the Mongol conquests knows more than one such case. Nomads "put up" with one country in order to concentrate on conquering other neighbors.

In 1251, Munke became the new great khan. He initiated a second war with the Song. Kublai Khan's brother was placed at the head of the campaign. The war went on for many years. The Sung court capitulated in 1276, although the struggle of individual groups for Chinese independence continued until 1279. Only after that the Mongol yoke was established over the entire Celestial Empire. As early as 1271, Kublai Khan founded the She ruled China until the middle of the 14th century, when she was overthrown as a result of the Red Turban Rebellion.

Korea and Burma

On its eastern borders, the state created in the course of the Mongol conquests began to coexist with Korea. A military campaign against her began in 1231. A total of six invasions followed. As a result of devastating raids, Korea began to pay tribute to the state of Yuan. The Mongol yoke on the peninsula ended in 1350.

At the opposite end of Asia, the nomads reached the limits of the Pagan kingdom in Burma. The first Mongol campaigns in this country date back to the 1270s. Khubilai repeatedly delayed the decisive campaign against Pagan because of his own setbacks in neighboring Vietnam. In Southeast Asia, the Mongols had to fight not only with the local peoples, but also with an unusual tropical climate. The troops suffered from malaria, which is why they regularly retreated to their native lands. Nevertheless, by 1287, the conquest of Burma was nevertheless achieved.

Invasions of Japan and India

Not all wars of conquest started by the descendants of Genghis Khan ended successfully. Twice (the first attempt was in 1274, the second - in 1281) Habilai tried to launch an invasion of Japan. For this purpose, huge fleets were built in China, which had no analogues in the Middle Ages. The Mongols had no experience in navigation. Their armadas were defeated by Japanese ships. In the second expedition to the island of Kyushu, 100 thousand people took part, but they did not manage to win.

Another country not conquered by the Mongols was India. The descendants of Genghis Khan had heard about the riches of this mysterious land and dreamed of conquering it. North India at that time belonged to the Delhi Sultanate. The Mongols first invaded its territory in 1221. The nomads devastated some provinces (Lahore, Multan, Peshawar), but the matter did not come to conquest. In 1235, they annexed Kashmir to their state. At the end of the 13th century, the Mongols invaded the Punjab and even reached Delhi. Despite the destructiveness of the campaigns, the nomads did not manage to gain a foothold in India.

Karakat Khanate

In 1218, the hordes of the Mongols, who had previously fought only in China, turned their horses to the west for the first time. Central Asia turned out to be on their way. Here, on the territory of modern Kazakhstan, there was the Kara-Kitai Khanate, founded by the Kara-Kitai (ethnically close to the Mongols and Khitans).

This state was ruled by Genghis Khan's longtime rival Kuchluk. Preparing to fight against him, the Mongols attracted to their side some other Turkic peoples of Semirechye. The nomads found support from the Karluk Khan Arslan and the ruler of the city Almalyk Buzar. In addition, they were assisted by settled Muslims, who were allowed by the Mongols to conduct public worship (which Kuchluk did not allow to do).

The campaign against the Kara-Khitay Khanate was led by one of the main temniks of Genghis Khan, Jebe. He conquered the entire East Turkestan and Semirechye. Defeated, Kuchluk fled to the Pamir Mountains. There he was caught and put to death.

Khorezm

The next Mongol conquest, in short, was only the first stage in the conquest of all of Central Asia. Another large state, in addition to the Kara-Khitay Khanate, was the Islamic kingdom of Khorezmshahs inhabited by Iranians and Turks. At the same time, the nobility was in it. In other words, Khorezm was a complex ethnic conglomerate. Conquering it, the Mongols skillfully used the internal contradictions of this great power.

Even Genghis Khan established outwardly good neighborly relations with Khorezm. In 1215 he sent his merchants to this country. Peace with Khorezm was needed by the Mongols to facilitate the conquest of the neighboring Kara-Khitay Khanate. When this state was conquered, it was the turn of its neighbor.

The Mongol conquests were already known to the whole world, and in Khorezm, the imaginary friendship with the nomads was treated with caution. The pretext for breaking off peaceful relations by the steppes was discovered by accident. The governor of the city of Otrar suspected the Mongol merchants of espionage and executed them. After this thoughtless massacre, war became inevitable.

Genghis Khan went on a campaign against Khorezm in 1219. Emphasizing the importance of the expedition, he took all his sons with him on the journey. Ogedei and Chagatai went to besiege Otrar. Jochi led the second army, which moved towards Dzhend and Sygnak. The third army aimed at Khujand. Genghis Khan himself, together with his son Tolui, followed to the richest metropolis of the Middle Ages, Samarkand. All these cities were captured and plundered.

In Samarkand, where 400 thousand people lived, only one in eight survived. Otrar, Dzhend, Sygnak and many other cities of Central Asia were completely destroyed (today only archaeological ruins have survived in their place). By 1223 Khorezm was conquered. The Mongol conquests covered a vast territory from the Caspian Sea to the Indus.

Having conquered Khorezm, the nomads opened for themselves a further road to the west - on the one hand to Russia, and on the other - to the Middle East. When the united Mongol Empire collapsed, the Khulaguid state arose in Central Asia, ruled by the descendants of Genghis Khan's grandson Khulagu. This kingdom lasted until 1335.

Anatolia

After the conquest of Khorezm, the Seljuk Turks became the western neighbors of the Mongols. Their state, the Konya Sultanate, was located on the territory of modern Turkey on the peninsula. This region also had another historical name - Anatolia. In addition to the state of the Seljuks, there were Greek kingdoms - the ruins that arose after the capture of Constantinople by the Crusaders and the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1204.

The Mongol temnik Baiju, who was the governor in Iran, took up the conquest of Anatolia. He called on the Seljuk Sultan Kay-Khosrov II to recognize himself as a tributary of the nomads. The humiliating offer was rejected. In 1241, in response to the demarche, Baiju invaded Anatolia and approached Erzurum with an army. After a two-month siege, the city fell. Its walls were destroyed by catapult fire, and many inhabitants died or were robbed.

Kay-Khosrow II, however, was not going to give up. He enlisted the support of the Greek states (Empires of Trebizond and Nicaea), as well as Georgian and Armenian princes. In 1243, the army of the anti-Mongolian coalition met with the interventionists in the mountain gorge of Kese-Dag. The nomads used their favorite tactic. The Mongols, pretending to retreat, made a false maneuver and suddenly counterattacked the opponents. The army of the Seljuks and their allies was defeated. After this victory, the Mongols conquered Anatolia. According to the peace treaty, one half of the Konya Sultanate was annexed to their empire, while the other began to pay tribute.

Near East

In 1256, the grandson of Genghis Khan Hulagu led a campaign in the Middle East. The campaign lasted 4 years. It was one of the largest campaigns of the Mongol army. The Nizari state in Iran was the first to be attacked by the steppes. Hulagu crossed the Amu Darya and captured Muslim cities in Kuhistan.

Having won a victory over the Khizarites, the Mongol khan turned his gaze to Baghdad, where Caliph Al-Mustatim ruled. The last monarch of the Abbasid dynasty did not have sufficient forces to resist the horde, but he self-confidently refused to peacefully submit to foreigners. In 1258 the Mongols laid siege to Baghdad. The invaders used siege weapons and then launched an assault. The city was completely surrounded and deprived of outside support. Baghdad fell two weeks later.

The capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, the pearl of the Islamic world, was completely destroyed. The Mongols did not spare the unique architectural monuments, destroyed the academy, and threw the most valuable books into the Tigris. Plundered Baghdad turned into a heap of smoking ruins. His fall symbolized the end of the medieval Golden Age of Islam.

After the events in Baghdad, the Mongol campaign began in Palestine. In 1260, the battle of Ain Jalut took place. The Egyptian Mamluks defeated the foreigners. The reason for the defeat of the Mongols was that on the eve of Hulagu, having learned about the death of the kagan Mongke, he retreated to the Caucasus. In Palestine, he left the commander Kitbugu with an insignificant army, which was naturally defeated by the Arabs. The Mongols could not advance further deep into the Muslim Middle East. The border of their empire was fixed on the Mesopotamia of the Tigris and Euphrates.

Battle on the Kalka

The first campaign of the Mongols in Europe began when the nomads, pursuing the fleeing ruler of Khorezm, reached the Polovtsian steppes. At the same time, Genghis Khan himself spoke about the need to conquer the Kipchaks. In 1220, an army of nomads came to Transcaucasia, from where it moved to the Old World. They devastated the lands of the Lezgin peoples on the territory of modern Dagestan. Then the Mongols first encountered the Cumans and Alans.

The Kipchaks, realizing the danger of uninvited guests, sent an embassy to the Russian lands, asking the East Slavic specific rulers for help. Mstislav Stary (Grand Duke of Kyiv), Mstislav Udatny (Prince Galitsky), Daniil Romanovich (Prince Volynsky), Mstislav Svyatoslavich (Prince Chernigov) and some other feudal lords responded to the call.

The year was 1223. The princes agreed to stop the Mongols in the Polovtsian steppe even before they could attack Russia. During the gathering of the united squad, the Mongolian embassy arrived to the Rurikovichs. The nomads offered the Russians not to stand up for the Polovtsians. The princes ordered the ambassadors to be killed and advanced into the steppe.

Soon, on the territory of the modern Donetsk region, a tragic battle took place on the Kalka. 1223 was a year of sadness for the entire Russian land. The coalition of princes and Polovtsy suffered a crushing defeat. The superior forces of the Mongols defeated the united squads. The Polovtsy, trembling under the onslaught, fled, leaving the Russian army without support.

At least 8 princes died in the battle, including Mstislav of Kyiv and Mstislav of Chernigov. Together with them, many noble boyars lost their lives. The battle on the Kalka became a black sign. The year 1223 could turn out to be the year of a full-fledged invasion of the Mongols, but after a bloody victory, they decided that it was better to return to their native uluses. For several years in the Russian principalities, nothing more was heard about the new formidable horde.

Volga Bulgaria

Shortly before his death, Genghis Khan divided his empire into areas of responsibility, each of which was headed by one of the sons of the conqueror. Ulus went to Jochi. He died prematurely, and in 1235, by the decision of the kurultai, his son Batu set about organizing a campaign in Europe. The grandson of Genghis Khan gathered a gigantic army and went to conquer countries far away for the Mongols.

The Volga Bulgaria became the first victim of the new invasion of nomads. This state on the territory of modern Tatarstan has been waging border wars with the Mongols for several years. However, until now, the steppes have been limited to only small sorties. Now Batu had an army of about 120 thousand people. This colossal army easily captured the main Bulgarian cities: Bulgar, Bilyar, Dzhuketau and Suvar.

Invasion of Russia

Having conquered the Volga Bulgaria and defeated its Polovtsian allies, the aggressors moved further west. Thus began the Mongol conquest of Russia. In December 1237, the nomads ended up on the territory of the Ryazan principality. His capital was taken and mercilessly destroyed. Modern Ryazan was built a few tens of kilometers from Old Ryazan, on the site of which only a medieval settlement still stands.

The advanced army of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality fought the Mongols in the battle of Kolomna. In that battle, one of the sons of Genghis Khan, Kulkhan, died. Soon the horde was attacked by a detachment of the Ryazan hero Yevpaty Kolovrat, who became a real national hero. Despite stubborn resistance, the Mongols defeated every army and took more and more new cities.

At the beginning of 1238, Moscow, Vladimir, Tver, Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, Torzhok fell. The small town of Kozelsk defended itself for so long that Batu, having razed it to the ground, called the fortress "an evil city." In the battle on the City River, a separate corps, commanded by the temnik Burundai, destroyed the united Russian squad led by Vladimir Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich, who was beheaded.

More than other Russian cities, Novgorod was lucky. Having taken Torzhok, the Horde did not dare to go too far to the cold north and turned south. Thus, the Mongol invasion of Russia happily bypassed the country's key commercial and cultural center. Having migrated to the southern steppes, Batu took a short break. He let the horses feed and regrouped the army. The army was divided into several detachments, solving episodic tasks in the fight against the Polovtsians and Alans.

Already in 1239 the Mongols attacked South Russia. Chernigov fell in October. Glukhov, Putivl, Rylsk were devastated. In 1240 nomads besieged and took Kyiv. Soon the same fate awaited Galich. Having plundered the key Russian cities, Batu made the Rurikovich his tributaries. Thus began the period of the Golden Horde, which lasted until the 15th century. The principality of Vladimir was recognized as the senior inheritance. Its rulers received permission labels from the Mongols. This humiliating order was interrupted only with the rise of Moscow.

European hike

The devastating Mongol invasion of Russia was not the last for the European campaign. Continuing their journey to the west, the nomads reached the borders of Hungary and Poland. Some Russian princes (like Mikhail of Chernigov) fled to these kingdoms, asking for help from the Catholic Monarchs.

In 1241, the Mongols took and plundered the Polish cities of Zawikhost, Lublin, Sandomierz. Krakow was the last to fall. Polish feudal lords were able to enlist the help of the Germans and Catholic military orders. The coalition army of these forces was defeated in the battle of Legnica. Prince Heinrich II of Krakow was killed in the battle.

The last country to suffer from the Mongols was Hungary. Having passed the Carpathians and Transylvania, the nomads ravaged Oradea, Temesvar and Bistrica. Another Mongol detachment marched with fire and sword through Wallachia. The third army reached the banks of the Danube and captured the fortress of Arad.

All this time, the Hungarian king Bela IV was in Pest, where he was gathering an army. An army led by Batu himself set off to meet him. In April 1241, two armies clashed in the battle on the Shayno River. Bela IV was defeated. The king fled to neighboring Austria, and the Mongols continued to plunder the Hungarian lands. Batu even made attempts to cross the Danube and attack the Holy Roman Empire, but eventually abandoned this plan.

Moving west, the Mongols invaded Croatia (also part of Hungary) and sacked Zagreb. Their forward detachments reached the shores of the Adriatic Sea. This was the limit of the Mongol expansion. The nomads did not join Central Europe to their power, being satisfied with a long robbery. The borders of the Golden Horde began to pass along the Dniester.

In order to understand why the medieval Mongols managed to subdue and keep completely civilized and strong states in subjection, one needs to return briefly to the origins of Mongolian society.

By the XII century. the “bright” Mongols (we use this term to clearly separate the ethnic composition, as explained in) have already developed a military aristocracy, the army was built on a tribal basis, like the Scythian-Sarmatians. Each warrior was a member of the family and the decisions made at the general meeting were binding. The leaders of the tribes knew all the weaknesses and strengths of their warriors, so during the war they could use all the potential to the maximum.

Brave and strong warriors were called "bahadur"(bægaatær - hero, hero, hero). This is an ancient Scythian-Sarmatian title, about which academician V. Abaev wrote. The word also entered the Russian language (bogatyr).

If you think about the meaning of the names of the tribes translated from the Ossetian (Alanian) language, originating from Alan-khoa (i.e. "light" Mongols), it becomes clear that half of them have a name– praise of human dignity:

• artakan– hardened by fire;
• barulas– dressed in power, strong-willed;
• will be– spiritual and religious;
• yisut – true, worthy;
• nikus– they look up to us, exemplary;
• sijut– calling for something, active;
• urut– solid, reliable;
• Nutakin– those who can be trusted;
• quinirgen– reconciling;
• chinos– performing a religious cult;
• honghoyot– respected.

Probably, the “bright” Mongols had another rare human quality– objectivity. How else can one explain the names that were given to six closely related tribes:

• adarkin- strangers, indifferent, and therefore unreliable;
• conversations- with all my heart with property, i.e. mercantile;
• saljiud- indifferent;
• duclad- damaging;
• bugunot - offended, indignant
• durban- obstructive.

Here we see not just a desire to call a spade a spade, but also a contemptuous attitude towards those who indulged their base instincts, not striving for spiritual and moral growth. The translation into Russian of the names of the tribes showed that the name itself became a reward for some, a punishment for others, while others received a certain guideline that should not be forgotten when interacting with the first or second. If the name of the tribe gave the impression of a “reward”, it had to be confirmed throughout life with worthy deeds, without dropping the achieved bar. This became possible only if each Mongol cared about the authority of the tribe as a whole, and the tribe was responsible for the actions of each of its members. The hardest thing was to restore the lost good name.

The validity of the Russian proverb “take care of honor from a young age”, apparently, was fully tested not in words, but in deeds by members of tribes with a damaged reputation and a contemptuous brand name.

Artist: Pavel Ryzhenko

The Mongols of Genghis Khan were brought up within the framework of certain social rules and norms: they deeply revered their parents and senior members of the family, tribe and clan, were modest and even ascetic in food and drink. At the feast, they adhered to strict rules of etiquette.

Names, titles and nicknames carried an important emotional, semantic and educational load. "Light" Mongols had several names: one name was given at birth, with age the names changed and turned into characteristic words that most fully reflected the properties of temperament, predilections, individual qualities of a person, sometimes transforming into nicknames.

Medieval Mongols believed in one God. In addition to God, they worshiped eleven natural spirits. It was a harmonious system with its own holidays and cults, so there can be no talk of any shamanism, primitive paganism or the Tibetan black faith.

Artist: V.Matorin

The Mongols of Genghis Khan believed in life after death, honored their dead daily, so death on the battlefield was treated as the best choice of any brave warrior. Courage, endurance, fearlessness, elevated to a cult, the support of supporters constituted the code of honor of the "bright" Mongol, who knew that his sons and grandsons, all who knew him, and those who were not, would remember his heroism and valor.

Genghis Khan treated his warriors with care. The dead were brought to the Horde ( ærdæ- gender, biol.; Osset) and arranged memorial ceremonies. Idaji ( idædz - widowed; oset.) carried out a complex set of cult events related to farewell. Sugurchi directly buried the body in the ground. Argamchi ( argauæn- church) and bitikchi supported the family of the killed warrior, collected donations and determined the content for the orphans. Some of the Keraite Mongols were Nestorian Christians.

The main part of the life of the warriors of Genghis Khan took place in the saddle and campaigns. To a superficial glance, it may seem that they only did what they barbarously destroyed the cities built by others, leaving behind the ruins of fortresses and rivers of blood. Not true. You can not put the costs of war in the basis of the image of the conqueror.

Before storming, the Mongols offered the city to voluntarily surrender, explaining the advantages of a peaceful solution to the issue. This mission was carried out by Mongolian ambassadors. If the ambassadors were killed or the city did not surrender, the assault began. These are the rules of war.

Warriors storming the cities died in huge numbers. Thus, during the siege of the fortress of Bamiyan, the beloved grandson of Genghis Khan Mutugen died, struck by an arrow. During the capture of the Russian principalities, the son of the founder of the Mongol Empire, Kulkan, was also killed. So everything is fair.

This is not today's war for you, when entire cities are wiped off the face of the Earth from a safe distance from Grad installations or with the help of carpet bombing. But this is, after all, the barbarity of our time, and therefore, as it were, not barbarism at all, not savagery, not cruelty.

Of course, for the peoples whose territories were invaded by the Mongols of Genghis Khan, they were enemies. Their way of life, and most importantly, the harsh, if not cruel, way of restoring order seemed frighteningly alien, which could not but leave a corresponding imprint on the formation of the image of the conquerors. But if you stop demonizing the Mongols and try to be objective, strictly adhering to dry historical facts, you will have to admit that the collective image of medieval Mongolian warriors has a completely human face with character traits that could do honor to any ethnic group.

If we separate historical truth from fiction, it turns out that the “bright” Mongols brought with them law and order, an end to civil strife, peace and the possibility of stable economic development to the conquered lands. At the same time, the conquered country by no means became a distant province of Genghis Khan's homeland, retaining political independence and religious independence. This is what happened with Russia.

Source: beam-truth.livejournal.com

Before the attack on the Russian principalities, tormented by internecine wars, the Mongols gained vast military experience: internal and external. Genghis Khan had to suppress and subdue a number of tribes. Tatars were destroyed, which originated from a certain river Tartar (tar- dark, cloudy; Osset.). The Tatars were once a very strong tribe, but internal contradictions weakened this tribe and prepared the prerequisites for its total destruction.

Therefore, you need to understand that there were no Tatars in the troops, there were only individual representatives who were saved in childhood and raised in a Mongolian environment. And the concept of "Tatars" in Russian chronicles is just a confusion in identifying the invaders.

The state of Khorezm Shah, Tangut, Northern China (Jin) was conquered, the Polovtsian-Slavic army on the Kalka was defeated, etc. Did the Russian land know that the death of the color of its army could happen again? I knew. This is evidenced by the letter of the Hungarian monk-missionary Julian:

“Many pass it on as true, and the prince of Suzdal conveyed verbally through me to the king of Hungary that the Tatars are conferring day and night on how to come and seize the kingdom of the Hungarian Christians. They, as the Russians themselves verbally conveyed to us, the Hungarians and Bulgarians who fled before them, are waiting for the earth, rivers and swamps to freeze with the onset of the coming winter, after which it will be easy for the whole multitude of Tatars to plunder the whole of Russia, the whole country of the Russians.

Photo: metod-kopilka.ru

Before the attack on the area, reconnaissance detachments from 5 to 20 people left. Their tasks included collecting information about the enemy army, its fortifications, numbers, geographical features, and the search for supporters. For forcing rivers, there was a position of nion (nayæn- ford, pass nyun- cross the river; Osset.).

The noyons had a huge responsibility for the lives of thousands of soldiers, it was they who determined the movement of the army over rough terrain with potholes, ravines, swamps, mountain crevices. Genghis Khan proudly called his son Tula Yehi noyon (yæhi- your own; Osset.), i.e. your own wanderer.

And, no matter how the Russian principalities strengthened their borders, the wooden walls of the cities could not resist arrows, on the shaft of which tow with oil and vessels filled with it burned. Filled with water canals, cities surrounded by a tyne, on which captives and Mongol warriors climbed, stone-throwing and ramming machines, ambushes and feigned retreat - everything worked for the victory of the Mongols.

Offensive tactics provided for psychological impact. Mongol warriors uttered loud cries, arrows had whistling tips, drums beat, trumpets blared. If the assault began, then it went around the clock. For the defenders, the possibility of respite was excluded.

Source: storm100.livejournal.com

According to R.G. Skrynnikov, Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich of Kyiv and Novgorod had the greatest military power, but he did not join the Russian princes, which weakened the resistance to the invaders.

The military leaders of the Mongols directly led the battles, but they were not protected from the wrath of the khans. In the "Secret Tale" the words of Ogedei addressed to the son of Guyuk are preserved:

“They say about you that on a campaign you didn’t leave the back of the people, who only had it intact, that you so tore the skin from the soldiers’ faces. Haven't you also brought the Russians into obedience with this ferocity of yours? By this it is clear that you imagined yourself the only and invincible conqueror of the Russians..

The disunity of the Russian princes, their weak interaction with each other, the use of foot militia armed with spears, less often with spears and swords, played their part.

Why did the Tatar-Mongols, having conquered the vast expanses of Eurasia (from China to Russia), suddenly stop their campaign “to the last sea” and spare Western Europe? One of the most important mysteries of world history has not yet been unequivocally explained. Recently, scientists, relying on chronicle sources and the "archives" of nature itself (tree rings), recreated the microclimate of Eastern Europe and pointed to the decisive role of natural factors in the Mongolian strategy. The cold and rainy spring of 1242, the swamping of the Middle Danube Plain, coupled with the plunder of the region, made it difficult to supply the army, and as a result, the Mongols chose not to risk returning to the southern Russian steppes.

The task of conquering the Polovtsy and reaching Kyiv was set by Genghis Khan (in 1221), but the Mongols began to implement these plans only under his son Ugedei after the kurultai (congress of khans) in 1235. An army under the command of Batu (Batu), the grandson of Genghis Khan, and an experienced commander Subedei, numbering about 70 thousand people, moved to the west. The details of the campaign against northeastern and southern Russia are well known to everyone from school. After the burning of Kyiv, Batu captured the cities of southern and western Russia, up to Galich and Przemysl, where he settled down for the winter of 1240/1241.

The next goal of the Mongols is obvious - Hungary, located on the Middle Danube Plain, the extreme western part of the great belt of the Eurasian steppes. In addition, it was there, to King Bela IV, that the defeated Cumans, old enemies of the Tatar-Mongols, migrated. But the army was divided: the 30,000th army victoriously passed the Polish lands, defeating the Polish-German army in the battle of Legnica (April 9). However, the Mongols did not move against Germany, turned south and ended up in Hungary through Moravia, where the main forces of the nomads had invaded even earlier.

Batu's corps moved through the Veretsky Pass in the Carpathians, Kadan's corps - through Moldavia and Transylvania, Buchek's detachment - through the southern route, through Wallachia. Such a formation was planned by Subedey to force the Hungarians to split their forces and break them piece by piece. The main forces of Subedei moved more slowly, acting as a reserve. After the capture of many cities and complex maneuvers on April 11, the Mongols utterly defeated the Hungarian-Croatian army on the river. Chaillot and began the administrative restructuring of the conquered part of Hungary.

After resting for several months, in the winter of 1242, Batu's army crossed the frozen Danube and began besieging cities, while Kadan's corps set out to ravage Croatia, where the Hungarian king had hidden. However, the Dalmatian fortress of Klis did not submit to the Mongols. In the spring of 1242, for a still unknown reason, Baty and Subedey turned back and returned to the southern Russian steppes through Bosnia, Serbia and Bulgaria.

RETRACT MYSTERY

What made the Mongols stop their victorious invasion deep into Europe and even leave conquered Hungary, where they had already appointed Baskaks (tribute collectors) and minted coins? Most often, Batu's retreat is explained by the sudden death of Khan Ogedei in December 1241 - Genghisid wanted to arrive at the kurultai in Mongolia as soon as possible in order to participate in the election of the great khan. However, this hypothesis is opposed by the fact that Batu never reached the kurultai, but remained on the territory of his ulus (the future Golden Horde).

There is an opinion that the Tatar-Mongols were not going to conquer Europe, but only wanted to punish their Polovtsian enemies, already defeated at the river. Kalka. The Kypchaks were sheltered by the Hungarian king, who ignored the demands of the Mongols to extradite them. This version is supported by Batu's purposeful hunt for Bela IV, for the pursuit of which in the winter of 1242 a whole corps was allocated. However, this version does not explain why the Mongols began to include Hungary in their state and why they then abandoned this project.

The explanations of a military nature are more substantiated: the difficulty of taking fortresses in the transdanubian part of Hungary, large losses in manpower and the poverty of the Pannonian plain, which is not able to feed the troops, forced the Mongols to turn back. However, all this did not stop the Avars and the Hungarians three or four centuries ago.

DIRT, SLUD AND HARVEST

The authors of the new study rightly point out that all these explanations are too general. To understand the logic of Batu and Subedei, one must at least have a clear idea of ​​the geography, climate and weather of 1240-1242. in the theater of war. The Mongol military leaders followed the natural conditions very closely (this is known from the letter of Khan Hulagu to the French king) - and scientists admit that rapid climatic shifts influenced both the successful conquest of Hungary and the decision to leave it a year later.

So, in the spring and autumn of 1241, the Mongols quickly moved across the Hungarian lands, capturing one fortress after another. No one offered organized resistance to the invaders, and they freely robbed, killed and captured the local population. The summer was early (the chronicler mentions the heat during the Battle of the Chaillot River - April 11) and warm. The chronicle says that the Mongols did not burn cereals in the fields, took care of fruit trees and did not kill peasants who were harvesting. That is, they did not turn agricultural land into pastures because their horses did not lack food.

But the cold and snowy winter of 1242 came early. First, she helped the Mongols: the Danube froze, the nomads crossed the river and began to besiege the fortresses of Bela IV (usually the Mongols did not start campaigns in winter). But luck turned away from them: because of the early thaw, they could not take Szekesfehervar. “The snow and ice melted, and the swampy area around the city became impregnable,” writes the Hungarian chronicler. Due to the same impassable mud, the Kadan corps sent to Dalmatia was forced to retreat from the city of Trogir.

Soil scientists know that the lowlands of Hungary are very easily flooded. If the winter is snowy and the spring is rainy, then the vast plains quickly turn into a swamp. By the way, the Hungarian steppes “dried up” only in the 19th century. thanks to the drainage projects of the Habsburgs, until then, the spring floods of numerous rivers formed many kilometers of swamps. Swamp and mud nullified the effectiveness of siege weapons and reduced the mobility of the cavalry.

The cold rainy spring, the late appearance of grass and the swamping of the plains sharply reduced the area of ​​pastures - the Mongolian horses, already weakened by the hard winter, did not have enough food. The Mongols realized that there was no need to wait for a big harvest in 1242. And so it happened: in the autumn a terrible famine broke out in Hungary.

So the decision of the Mongols to retreat looks quite reasonable. Weather conditions also influenced the choice of the route for returning to the southern Russian steppes - through Serbia and Bulgaria. Batu's army preferred the drier and higher mountain areas along the foothills of the Carpathians to the swampy plains.

HISTORY DRIVEN CLIMATE ANOMALIES?

When recreating the "weather history" of the western campaign, the authors of the article did not limit themselves to random facts from medieval chronicles. Tree ring data from northern Scandinavia, the Central Eastern Alps, the Romanian Carpathians, and the Russian Altai helped determine European summer temperatures from 1230-1250. Judging by the mountains closest to Hungary, in 1238-1241. the summer was long and hot - this, in particular, could attract the Mongols there. However, 1242-1244. have colder summers. Moreover, in 1242 Bohemia, southern Poland, western Slovakia, northwestern Hungary and eastern Austria - and only there, in the territory of the conflict - received anomalous rainfall.

Scientists emphasize that the influence of climate on history is not total and static, but random and dynamic. Thus, a fleeting anomaly in 1242 (a cold spring plus a lot of precipitation) played a serious enough role for the Mongols, who were always distinguished by the flexibility of their goals and objectives, to decide not to go ahead, but to retreat, saving people and horses. Similarly, the typhoons (“kamikaze”, divine wind), generated by strong El Niño, twice swept the Mongolian fleet off the coast of Japan, saved this country from conquest at the end of the 13th century.

One way or another, the Tatar-Mongols limited themselves to the South Russian steppes in the West. Scientists carefully note: it is not yet possible to finally establish whether the nomads retreated due to political factors (the death of Ogedei) or, having decided that the Hungarian lands, too vulnerable to weather fluctuations, are not suitable for them as a springboard (and rear base), is still impossible. It is worth studying the environment of the 13th century more carefully: for example, excavate the fortresses besieged by the Mongols (and the mud near their walls), deal with the state of the rivers and swamps of the Pannonian Plain and other regions of Eurasia that the Mongols (including Russia) walked through.

1. Tell us about the features of the social structure and economic activity of the Mongols. How was the power of Genghis Khan created? What laws fixed the military nature of the state?

In the period preceding the creation of the empire of Genghis Khan, the Mongols lived by nomadic pastoralism, alternating seasonal pastures to feed livestock. They lived in tribes, the tribes often raided each other, stealing cattle. Herds were owned by individual clans, but pastures were considered the common property of the tribe. The Mongol tribe was headed by a khan, but the main circle of the most important issues was under the jurisdiction of the council of elders (kurultai). There was also a noyon elected by the kurultai - a military leader who led the squads of warriors (nukers). As a result of wars, the losing tribe sometimes took on something like a vassal oath in relation to the winners. So strong tribes began to gradually form uluses from subordinate tribes. Noyon Ulus already had a significant military force.

The military character of the organization of Mongolian society was fixed by the laws of Genghis Khan, who subjugated all other uluses and united the Mongols. In particular, he introduced administrative units of division corresponding to the military - "tens", "hundreds", "thousands" and "tumens". This correspondence was not accidental: each administrative unit had to put up a certain military unit and provide for its needs during the campaign. However, these needs were kept to a minimum for the sake of speed of movement, which would be hindered by significant convoys.

2. What allowed the Mongols to conquer vast territories in China? Why was their power over this country short-lived?

China was weak because it was divided. A war was in full swing between the traditional Chinese Song dynasty and the Manchurian tribes of the Jurchens who invaded China and created their own state led by the Jin dynasty. Also, smaller states existed on the territory of China, for example, the Tangut kingdom in the northwest. At the same time, all sides were weakened by frequent uprisings of ruined landless peasants.

These reasons helped the Mongols conquer China. But when all the patriotic forces consolidated against the invaders, they managed to throw off the foreign yoke relatively quickly thanks to their numbers and technical achievements.

3. List the reasons for the crisis of the Mongol Empire.

In the process of the growth of the Mongol empire, the control of the central government over the uluses turned out to be fragile, the absence of a bureaucratic apparatus affected;

Part of the uluses converted to Islam, and religious contradictions with the central government supplemented political ones;

The tribal aristocracy gained too much power: successful commanders from among them became actual rulers in some uluses, while the descendants of Genghis Khan, remaining in power only formally, became their puppets, or even lost power;

Parts of the subject lands, such as China, managed to overthrow the power of the Mongols.

4. Tell us about the initial stage of the formation of the Ottoman Empire.

In the XI century. Turkic tribes began to arrive in the Arab Caliphate, having passed along the steppes approximately the same way as all the peoples of the Great Migration. At first they served the Arabs as mercenaries, but soon began to rebel against them and create their own states, only formally dependent on the supreme Arab rulers, by that time already greatly weakened. It was the onslaught of the Turkic tribes that created the Seljuk Sultanate that pushed the Byzantine borders in Asia Minor far to the west and forced them to ask for help from the Pope, which led to the era of the Crusades. When the Arab Caliphate was destroyed by the Mongol invasion in the 1250s, the Turks were completely independent. But the Seljuk Sultanate was not strong, but broke up into many small principalities.

Among such small Turkic principalities in Asia Minor, one stood out, which, thanks to a series of reasonable rulers, starting with Osman I (1281-1326), was able to unite the rest of the principalities of Asia Minor under his rule. This new state is called Ottoman after the founder of the dynasty that ruled there until the beginning of the 20th century. In the XIV century. Ottoman rulers received from the Byzantine emperors a small barren peninsula of Gallipoli and used it as a springboard for further advance to the European mainland. By the end of the XIV century. The Ottoman state captured Bulgaria and most of Serbia, Byzantium (that is, by that time only Constantinople with its environs) was actually in the Ottoman ring. It is characteristic that the Ottoman conquerors used any strife and contradictions between their enemies to expand their territory. At the same time, their opponents used their own dynastic feuds and serious defeats of the Ottoman dynasty only as a respite: even a terrible defeat from Timur did not lead to the activation of the opponents of the Turks. By the middle of the XV century. The Ottoman Empire included all of Asia Minor along with Constantinople (which was renamed Istanbul), the entire Balkan Peninsula and other territories, the Crimean Khanate recognized itself as a vassal of the Ottomans.

5. What were the features of the development of India during the period of the Arab conquests and the Mongol invasion?

Peculiarities:

Due to climatic conditions, India was at that time one of the most densely populated territories on Earth;

India was a source of spices and incense for many other parts of the world, due to which she grew rich;

India was a territory inhabited by many peoples who spoke different languages ​​and professed different religions;

Representatives of the original Indian princely dynasties were not able to create large states;

Foreign invaders periodically created large states (the Delhi Sultanate, the Mughal Empire, etc.), but they did not cover the entire territory of the peninsula, the power of many of them was short-lived (especially the Mongol conquerors).