Mongol
The Mongol threat to the Latin West down to 1323
In its interventions in each of these areas, the Golden Horde was active on behalf of, or exerting pressure upon, schismatic rulers, and hence constituted an additional obstacle to the ambitions of popes and Western secular princes. But to what extent did the Mongols threaten the security of Latin states themselves? The incidence of Mongol raiding during the first two…
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KESHIG
Above all his various warrior groupings, Chinggis created an elite force originally formed from his most loyal and longest serving companions. This bodyguard, whose size reflected the Great Khan’s prestige and power rather than any imminent danger to his life, numbered 10,000 men at the time of the 1206 quriltai.…
BATTLE OF UGRAÂ RIVER
Standing on the Ugra River. 1480. Miniature in Russian chronicle. XVI century. The decisive moment of the defensive campaign led by Ivan III against the horde of Khan Ahmad, in October-November 1480. Relations between the Great Horde and Moscow entered a crisis in the 1470s. Ivan III refused to acknowledge…
Battle of Hakata Bay
The Japanese warrior Takezaki Suenaga attacks Mongol bowmen, though his horse is wounded. A bomb explodes in the air at centre. An example of tetsuhau, the world’s oldest anti-personnel explosive, excavated from a ship wrecked during the battIe. tetsuhau is a primitive Mongol grenade. Ceramic bombs found on the 1281…
Vietnam and the Mongols
Model of a warship by Dai Viet. Shown in Keo Pagoda, Thái Bình Province, Việt Nam While Vietnam was a Mongol tributary from 1258, Qubilai Khan’s effort to integrate Vietnam into the Yuan Empire resulted in a great defeat. In 1225 Tran Thu Do (d. 1264) placed his nephew Tran…
Siege of Kiev
The siege of Kiev, which ended on December 6, 1240, with the sack of the city, was the final great blow in the Mongol conquest of Russia. On the eve of the Mongol invasion, Kiev was, despite political turmoil, still the mother-city of Russia (including Ukraine and Belarussia); whichever prince…
Battle of Huan’erzui
Mongol army storming a Chinese city. The achievements of Genghis Khan remained a popular subject for stories and illustrations throughout the Turco-Persian world and the Mogul emperors of India looked to Genghis Khan as their great forebear. At the Battle of Huan’erzui (Badger’s Mouth) in February 1212, the Mongols under…