Let’s do this chronologically. I’ll cover the invasion of Russia first and then we can talk about the Middle East. First, we need to talk about how the Mongols continuously improved their sieging capabilities, something they quickly realized when they invaded the Xi Xia Kingdom in 1209, and something they will not stop doing until the end of their invasions. You can learn more about their sieging technology and how they learned it in this thread HERE, where I talk about Mongol military tactics; if you don’t want to, no problem…just keep in mind that they continued to advance their sieging abilities and they were used to sieging large cities because of their basically non-stop wars in China.

The Mongol invasion of the Rus

In the book of war, page 1, rule number 1 is: DO NOT MARCH ON MOSCOW!

During what I consider to be the greatest cavalry raid in history, an expedition lead by the great Mongol generals Subutai and Jebe through Western Khwarezm, the Caucasus and Southern Russia, it seemed as if the Mongols always planned to return, at least from their perspective. It didn’t seem that way for the Rus however, the Chronicles of Novgorod give us a very confused reaction from the side of the Rus, almost like a one off…they write:

in that year (1224), for our sins, unknown tribes came, whom no one exactly knows, who they are, nor whence they came out, nor what their language is, nor of what race they are, nor what their faith is; but they called them Tartars

Our Rus friend here was in for a terrible surprise as the lands raided by the generals were now open to a nightmare that would descent upon them like nothing they’ve ever seen. In 1235 at the Great Mongol Kurultai, it was decided that Batu, the son of Genghis Khan’s illegitimate son Jochi, was to command an army with the purpose of expanding West. One of the main reasons was obvious, though the Rus forests were probably of no interest to the Mongols the grasslands of the Kipchak Turks definitely was. This army is estimated to be anywhere between 100,000-150,000, there are historians that argue whether the army was sent in that size or whether tribes were recruited along the way, I don’t see why both can’t be possible. Either way, this army was no joke and the Mongols sent with Batu the sons of the Khans: Guyuk, Mongke, Kaidu, Kedan and alongside them the great general Subutai, the mastermind behind all of this. The Mongols will split their armies, Mongke will head for the lands of the Kipchak Turks, Batu and Subutai will head for the Volga Bulgars and by 1237, all of these people were subdued. Sources claim that Subutai personally wanted to get back at the Bulgars for an entanglement he got into with them on his way back to Mongolia from his expedition with Jebe, the other likely factor is that having that angle from the East would be very beneficial for the Mongols while expanding West, and it will prove to be so.

The political situation of the Rus Principalities was complex to say the least, I’d say it’s pretty fair to say that united they would have been able to raise a large army; however, united they were not. Historical jokes about invasions of Russia due to the failures of Karl XII, Napoleon and Hitler’s Wehrmacht are popular, but the Mongols will do on purpose the opposite of the first rule on the first page of the book of war, they will invade the modern day lands of Russia at the height of winter, a winter so cold that supposedly, the Mongol military will use the frozen rivers as highways, and once they see the fortifications of the Principality of Vladimir-Suzdal, Subutai will look to get a flank by using a common tactic of theirs, which was to run past the city. They will move on Ryazan first, which will submit after a 5-day siege, next was Moscow, and with the Volga Bulgars already defeated, the Mongols now had a full flank on Vladimir-Suzdal. Keep in mind that Ryazan and even Moscow at this point was no more than a settlement. The Grand Duke of Vladimir-Suzdal, Yuri II who had initially declined uniting with some of his Rus neighbors had now fled North to the River Sit once the Mongols had arrived at his doorstep. Because of the Winter, the Mongol leadership invaded using columns, giving the idea that their armies were split, and although this is partially true, the columns operated pretty closely with each other and they were able to outnumber their Rus opponents.

Pereyaslav and Chernigov were conquered in 1239, the losses were massive for these Rus Principalities and though it is often said that the civilian losses were part of Subutai’s tactics of instilling fear, I’m more inclined to believe that a lot of these deaths were also in part due to the fact that these Principalities were fortified by wooden fortresses, causing fire to spread and take the lives of many civilians. Though I’m not going to make any excuses, you can see for yourself from a contemporary in Ryazan who writes:

No eye remained open to weep for the dead

The Mongols used their successful campaigns as a “diplomatic tactic” to subdue some of the other Principalities such as Smolensk and Novgorod as they accepted Mongol superiority by this point. Kiev was also sent ambassadors by Batu demanding subjugation, the Kievan aristocrats were more confident in their defenses than their neighbors’ as they actually had stone fortifications. This angered the Mongols and as they waited for Winter to begin again they recruited warriors from Kipchak tribes near the pasturelands of the Don River as they had suffered many losses in these campaigns and by November they had focused their military on the grand city of Kiev, a cultural center of the Orthodox faith. Subutai took his time preparing his forces, he ordered the main army to cross the frozen Dnieper River with the siege engines and the rest of his army was either in reserve or given the task of patrolling the area, the bombardment of Kiev began in December. Mongol scouts found an extremely important piece of information, I like to compare it to Star Wars and how the rebels found the one weak point in the Death Star where (spoiler alert) Luke Skywalker attacked; likewise, the Mongol scouts had reported to Batu and Subutai that in this stone fortified city, there was a wooden gate known as the Polish Gate. Immediately the siege engines were ordered to blow a hole through the wall by attacking this one weak point where the Mongol heavy cavalry was ordered to rush through and engage. Though the people of Kiev mounted a gallant defense there was little they could do in the long run as the Mongols blew right through the hole in the side of the city and destroyed the city of Kiev. This one weakness in the fortifications of Kiev allowed for the Mongols to significantly speed up their conquest, or rather in this case, destruction of the Principality. Shortly after, the Principalities of Volhynia and Galicia were run over by the same Mongol army and in the following year Batu will campaign against Poland and Hungary where the famous battles of Legnica and Mohi will take place.

The destruction of the Rus will be notated and obviously painfully visible by Friar Giovanni del Pian di Carpini who writes:

…countless skulls and dead men, there are so many dead the people who are alive are not enough to clean

and

the inhabitants greeted us as if we were risen from the dead

This is terrifying considering he traveled these lands SIX YEARS later.