<< Chapter < Page Chapter >> Page >

There were still some nine separate principalities in Poland under four dukedoms.

In 1241 the northern prong of the invading Mongols defeated both the Poles and the Teutonic Knights. The Mongols had sent only two tumens to take Lithuania and Poland with an aim to draw the northern European armies away from Hungary, but the Polish armies, under Vladimir, the Palatine of Sandomir and Cracow were no match for them and Cracow was abandoned on their approach and burned by the invaders. King Boleslav fled with his family and treasures to Hungary. The Mongol generals, Baidar and Kadan, met at Breslau, the capital of Silesia, where the citizens had already burned their own city and retired into a citadel. A final battle developed at Liegnitz (now known as Legnica) where the invaders met a 25,000 man army assembled by Henry of Silesia, many untrained and ill-equipped, contingents from Oppeln and Moravia, similarly poorly prepared, conscripts from Great Poland and detachments of the Knights Templar from France and the Hospitallers. The Mongols won and after the battle they cut an ear from each dead enemy's body and sent nine large sacks of them to General Batu, as a present. Although some European historians refer to Liegnitz as a Polish victory, this is untrue and due to misunderstandings encountered in translating oriental characters and reports. (Ref. 27 )

After the invasion and the Mongol withdrawal the Germans immigrated into Poland, giving a strong admixture of the German language, laws and blood. At the same time Poland welcomed thousands of Jews fleeing from pogroms in Germany. At the end of the century Poland united with Bohemia to form a single country- under King Wenceslas II of Bohemia.

Russia

"The Mongol invasion was perhaps the most traumatic event in Russian history."

Quotation from Times Atlas of World History, (Ref. 8 ), page 114
After smashing the central Asian Khwarizm, the first wave of Mongols, led by generals Jebe
Another authority, Lamb (Ref. 87 ), spells this name "Chepe")
and Subedei, sent a corps to reconnoiter southern Russia in 1221, delivering crushing defeats to Georgians, Alans, Cumans and south Russian princes. (Ref. 137 ) This was not easily done, however. The main Mongol force crossed the Caucasus mountains in the winter with some difficulty and descended the north slope to find a Cuman army of 50,000 men, led by the sons of Khan Kotian, awaiting them. With the Cumans were Bulgars, Khazars and Alans (descendants of the Scythians). Bribed by the wily Mongols with gold and horses, the Cumans retreated in the night, leaving their allies to be slaughtered by the Asians. The latter then simply followed the Cumans and massacred them just north of the Sea of Azov, in 1222. (Ref. 8 , 27 ) While Subedei was defeating those Cumans, Jebe rode west to the Don River. It is of interest that while on the shores of the Sea of Azov, Subedei came across some Venetians, who discovered that the Mongols rode with fine silk under their light weight armor and carried physicians, diplomats and interpreters with them and had an Armenian bishop and merchants who were already printing cheap Bibles and selling them to the locals. All this impressed the Venetians who then offered themselves as spies in the west. To seal this new alliance, Subedei raized the Genoese trading station at Sudak.

Get Jobilize Job Search Mobile App in your pocket Now!

Get it on Google Play Download on the App Store Now




Source:  OpenStax, A comprehensive outline of world history. OpenStax CNX. Nov 30, 2009 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col10595/1.3
Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google Inc.

Notification Switch

Would you like to follow the 'A comprehensive outline of world history' conversation and receive update notifications?

Ask