In 1235 AD, the Great Mongol Khan WoKoutai sent Batu as the commander-in-chief, leading 150,000 Mongolian troops and Mongol princes on a western expedition, known in history as the eldest son's western expedition.
Western expedition to train troops
Mongolia as a military empire was based on military power, so it was extremely necessary for the Great Khan of Wokoutai to organize a western expedition to train the military strength of his descendants. Mongolia's choice of this time is also clear, that is, today's vast Russian territory.
Choosing a Russian territory has the following advantages:
1, can occupy suitable for nomadic Chincha steppe, the army march can not be separated from logistics, for the nomadic people this supply is a vast steppe, take Russia is to take the Chincha steppe, which laid a land for Mongolia for generations.
2. The countries on Russian soil are easy to conquer, and in the first western expedition, the Russian countries were slaughtered and their national strength was greatly reduced. The Russian states could only choose to hold the city to resist the Mongol army, but the Russian cities were mostly civil structures, which were vulnerable to the siege equipment of the Mongol army.
3. Russia's geographical environment is conducive to Mongolia's mobile operations. Everyone knows that the Eastern European Plain, where Russia is located, is a land conducive to large-depth combat, there is no mountainous terrain that is not conducive to the Mongolian iron horse, and the river swamps that can limit the Mongol army will also freeze in winter, and after freezing, it will become a boost for the Mongol army to maneuver and intersperse.
4. The rigid tactics of the Russian army. Now Russia has the title of a fighting nation, and it is also very spiritual in terms of war. However, at that time, Russia was deeply influenced by the set of head-on duels in Western Europe, the army was mainly frontal impact defense, long-distance mobile combat Russian large army had never been in contact, and the magic of light cavalry was not understood. This kind of army was the most favorite opponent of the flexible Mongol army, and the Mongolian army defeated the army that adopted this tactic more than once on the battlefield.
5. The power of division. Today's Russian nationalism is strong, and so is the centripetal force of the state. But in the time of the Mongols, Rus' was nothing more than the title of a group of countries, and the relationship between the Rus' was more enemies than relatives and friends, and it was completely impossible for the states to unite against Mongolia. This also gave the Mongol army, which was good at strategic maneuvering, the possibility of breaking through each one.
expedition
In 1236, four Mongol princes led four large armies to gather at the commander-in-chief Batu Dae, the four princes were Batu, the son of Shuchi, Guiyu, the eldest son of Wokoutai, Möngke, the eldest son of Torre, and The Prince of Chagatai. The four princes each led their father's headquarters soldiers and horses to participate in the sweeping war against russia.
At that time, there were three forces in the Russian land, one in Briar in the north, one in Chincha in the south, and finally in the west. According to the situation on the battlefield, Batu set a military strategy of first striking two wings and then advancing westward.
The Western Expeditionary Army attacked Briar first, and Batu sent the veteran general Subutai and Möngke to fight for Briar. Subutai attacked the capital of Briar with a surprise attack strategy. The inhabitants of Briar fled to the mountains and forests to take shelter, but in the end they were all captured and killed by Subutai, and the northern wing of the Mongol army was safe, and Batu immediately began to march against Theros.
In the winter of that year, the Mongol army began to continue the offensive. The Mongol army chose the duchy of Vladimi, located north of The Rus'. Battus intended to swallow up the Rus' states one by one, north and south, and when Grand Duke Vladimi heard of the arrival of the Mongol army and abandoned the capital and fled north, he fled directly to the upper Volga River to the north, hoping to escape from the town and wait in the wilderness for the arrival of reinforcements. However, in the first western expedition more than a decade ago, the Rus' countries suffered heavy losses, including the contradiction between the North and the South Rus' and the South Rus' and the south Rus' who still had the power did not want to save their former enemies, and the Rus' who were broken by the Mongols did not dare to go to support, and the Principality of Vladimir could only rely on itself.
The Mongol army burned and plundered the land of Vladimir without hindrance, and the wooden towns of Rus could not resist the Mongol trebuchets, and few cities could resist the Mongol army for ten days. Eventually, the Mongol army reached the capital of Vladimir, and the princes in charge of defending the city did their best to resist the Mongols, but in less than three days the city was breached and the entire population was slaughtered. After the siege of the city, the Mongols rushed to the Volga River, where the Grand Duke of Vladimir was located, and the weak Grand Duke was surrounded and annihilated by the Mongol army. The Mongol army intended to continue northward, but in the spring the roads became muddy, and the Mongol army had to abandon its plan to march on the Baltic Sea, and the army returned to Chincha to suppress the Chincha.
The nomadic Chincha put up stubborn resistance to the Mongols, and they used their geographical advantages to wage guerrilla warfare against the Mongols, but Chincha's efforts could not withstand the continuous sweeping of the Mongol army. Over time, the Mongol army also grasped the law of the Chincha people's activities, and the Mongol army gathered in the Chincha settlement, the Chincha people were not rivals of the Mongols, the entire Chincha tribe suffered a catastrophe, and only some chincha people fled west to Hungary.
After taking the Chincha steppe, the Mongols began to recuperate, and after a whole summer of rest, the Mongol army was rejuvenated, and their next target was Kiev. As the birthplace and capital of the Rus' nation, Kiev is connected to the Black Sea by the Dnieper River, and is a commercial destination with excellent connections, and the wealth here is coveted by the Mongols.
Battus ordered a large army to set out to besiege Kiev, and the army crossed the Don River in three ways to advance towards Kiev. The army reached the city of Kiev all the way, and the face of the golden dome of Kiev was moved. However, in the face of the fierce Mongol army, the inhabitants of Kiev bravely said no, and they killed the Mongol emissaries to express their determination to defend the city to the death. But the commanders and kings of Kiev fled cowardly, leaving the inhabitants of the city without shame.
When the river froze, the Mongol army began to cross the Dnieper River behind Kiev, and more than 100,000 Mongol troops formed a siege of Kiev. In less than ten days, Kiev fell, the inhabitants were killed, and the glorious golden dome was destroyed. The princes of Kiev did not escape the fate of death, they were crushed alive by the Mongol army under the table, and the glorious Rus' people fell into the Dark Ages, and did not expel the Golden Horde until hundreds of years later.
In a sense, Mongolia's second western expedition was to train its children and grandchildren and accumulate practical combat experience, but it swept through Russia, leaving Russians in a century-old nightmare, and always remembering this humiliating history, which is still reluctant to mention.