me and my dad ( he has a bachelor degree in history) discussed mongol history the other day, and he said that there was a russian force that managed to defeat the mongols due to some special heavy infantry that the mongols did not know how to deal with.
he said that it only worked one time due to the surprise factor, and thats it. but he did not remember the name of this infantry unit, any idea?
what are some other major/minor battles that the mongol lost? would any of them that will leave me very impressed by the winning side?
It sounds like he was talking about Kulikovo Battle. Russians had a hidden cavalry that took Mongols, commanded by Mamai, by a surprise and shattered their forces. It is considered as a turning point in decline of Golden Horde and it's influence over Rus.
I am not sure about any special infantry units in that battle, at least I don't recall anything out of the ordinary last time I've read about this battle. Most likely he is mistaken because like I mentioned above there was a surprise attack but it wasn't a special unit or anything like that.
I'm not sure what battle your father is talking about. The first battle between the Kievan Rus and the Mongols was at Kalka in 1223. During the battle an expeditionary force (admittedly led by Genghis Khan's best two generals) crushed the combined army of the princes of Kiev as well as the tribes of the Russian Steppe. Perhaps this happened under the rule of the Golden Horde, but I have never heard of it.
The most significant defeat of the Mongols happened at Ain Jalut when they were beaten back for the first time by a force of Mamluks, who Egyptian slave soldiers, originally taken from the steppe and probably employed fighting styles similar to those of the Mongols.