After a crushing defeat at the hands of Genghis
Khan's Mongol army in the Battle of the Kalka river (in 1223), remnants of the
Cuman nation fled towards Europe. Some of the refugees made it to Hungary and
were allowed to settle within the kingdom. Over the next two decades they were largely integrated into the Hungarian army and converted to Christianity,
by King Bela IV and his father Andrew II. Meanwhile, Genghis Khan had established a
large empire, stretching from the Korean peninsula to the Caspian sea, which
continued its' economic and territorial expansion under the rule of his son, Ogodei. Elected Supreme Khan in 1229, Ogodei is as
pragmatic as his father, a proficient administrator, and a shrewd politician. He keeps things stable among the Mongol elite,
overhauls the empire's bureaucracy, improves tax collection and the efficiency of
government institutions. He also fully utilizes his generals, giving
them operational autonomy on the strategic and tactical level,
and heeds their advice on all military matters. This open-minded meritocratic approach enables
Ogodei to wage war on all fronts and to greatly expand the empire he inherited
from his father. In 1236 Ogodei sends Batu to oversee the invasion
of Europe, accompanied by many notable Mongol commanders, but the
overall command of the army is given to Subotai, arguably the greatest of Mongol commanders. The military campaign sees most of the Russian
principalities either subjugated or vassalized, and by late 1240, Mongol envoys
seek an audience with King Bela of Hungary, demanding the surrender of Cuman citizens. The envoys argue that the Cumans
are Mongol slaves who escaped after their defeat in 1223, and later when their khanate
was conquered in 1239. Seeing how, by now, thousands of Cuman troops
are de-facto under direct command of the Hungarian Bela flatly refuses Mongol requests, giving Subotai his casus belli. Nicknamed "Bahadur", meaning "the Valiant",
Subotai reaches the Hungarian and Polish border in early 1241, and stops to make
final preparations. He divides the army, sending 10,000 horsemen
towards the fragmented Polish lands and another 10,000
towards the Carpathian mountains, while he commands the remaining 30,000 Mongol troops
directly into Hungary. King Bela mobilizes his army, including
the Cumans, and orders them to assemble at Pest. But the mobilization doesn't go as
planned. The Cuman Khan Koten was recently murdered
while under personal protection of the King. Feeling betrayed, the
Cumans desert the army and move southwards, pillaging and looting Hungarian lands as they
go. To the north, the Mongol detatchment sweeps
through Poland in a three-pronged attack, winning numerous smaller encounters
and sacking many towns, thus tying down the northern European forces and preventing them
from aiding Hungary. The invaders
leave in their wake, scenes of apocalyptic destruction as they continue west towards
Silesia. Around the same time, in the Carpathians,
one half of the Mongol southern detatchment pushes through the heavily boobytrapped Radna
pass, while the other half passes through the mountains further south and defeats a
Hungarian-Transylvanian army, before both halves join forces and begin
overruning Transylvania. Meanwhile in the center, after breaking through
the fortified Verecke pass, Subotai's main army defeats Count Palatine,
decimates his army, and advances towards central Hungary. Back in Pest, King Bela's mobilization
plans have gone from bad, to worse. Many army contingents are unable to reach
Pest. In Transylvania they are mostly trapped
or overrun by Mongol forces. In the south of the country, the rampaging
Cumans have tied down much of the Hungarian troops To make matters worse, many nobles simply
hate King Bela due to his policies and refuse to answer his call to arms. As a result, Bela's army lacks the usually
high numbers of heavy knights and their retinues, and is predominantly comprised of
infantry. Severely undermanned, Bela frantically seeks help from other European rulers. In response to his request for aid, Frederick
II, the Duke of Austria, arrives with his troops,
along with a small contingent of Teutonic Knights and Knights Templar, but the Duke
soon returns to Austria after winning a small encounter
against Mongol raiders. With his army gathered, around 25,000 strong,
King Bela marches out of Pest on April 2nd. Right after leaving the city, the
Hungarians are met with the first of many Mongol raiding attacks as they advance to
meet the main Mongol army, which is by now retreating, as Subotai wants to draw the Hungarians
out to a more suitable location. Meanwhile, in Silesia, the invaders give up
their attempts to take Wroclaw and rush to intercept the 8,000-strong army of Henry
II, the Duke of Silesia, after learning that, in just two days time, he will be joined by
a much larger army, commanded by King Wenceslaus of Bohemia. On April 9th, the Mongols close-in on Henry
near Legnica and nearly wipe out his army. When Wenceslaus hears about Henry's
defeat in the Battle of Legnica, he turns his army and heads back to Bohemia. A day later in Hungary, on April 10th, Bela's
troops reach the flooded Sajo river after a week of forced marches and repeated
attacks by Mongol raiders. But before continuing to pursue the invaders,
the king decides to encamp south of the town of Mohi to
allow further reinforcements and supplies to reach him. Hungarians finish setting up the camp by late
morning. The troops are allowed to rest, after scouting
reports indicate that the Mongols are not in the vicinity. By noon, the place is buzzing with activity. However, around mid-afternoon, a minor Mongol
party is spotted near the Sajo river, but the flooded swampy terrain prevents
Hungarian scouts from venturing further, leaving King Bela without any conclusive
information on Mongol whereabouts. To make matters worse, Bela lacks a proper
vantage point from the flat plain, and his line of sight is greatly restricted by the
surrounding hills, heavy forest, and swampy terrain around the flooded rivers. Fearing a surprise Mongol attack, the King
orders a fortification to be built - a wall of
wagons chained together around the camp. But while the Hungarian leadership doesn't
know where the enemy is, Subotai watches their every move from a nearby
hill. Luckily for B�la, as the sunset approaches,
an escaped Ruthenian slave reaches the Hungarian camp The King and his advisers
learn that the Mongols plan to cross the Sajo river during the night. Immediately, the King's brother, Duke Coloman,
takes a mounted contingent and rushes towards the bridge near Mohi, to guard
it against a possible enemy crossing. They arrive around midnight only to discover
that the Mongols already began crossing the bridge. Coloman wastes no time and
orders an attack. After a fierce melee, his better-armoured
retinue forces the Mongols to retreat. He leaves a small contingent of
infantry and crossbowmen to guard the bridge, and returns to the main camp to celebrate
with his men. But back across the river, Subotai changes
tack and quickly sets his new plan into motion. Before first light, he orders Shiban
to ride west and ford the river, while Subotai himself leads a larger detatchment south to
find a spot where he can build a pontoon bridge. In the meantime, Batu is to cross the stone
bridge with the main body of the army and hold position on the other side of
the river until the two flanking detatchments get into position. Batu deploys siege engines close to the riverbank. Catapults hurl stones at the Hungarian crossbowmen,
forcing them to back away from the river. With the crossbowmen neutralized, Batu's
troops begin to cross. Unable to hold back the Mongol advance, Hungarian
infantry is pushed off the bridge. As they keep fighting on the back foot, they
spot the Mongol right flank approaching from the north. Together with their crossbowmen, Hungarian
infantry immediately retreats back to the camp some time after sunrise. Once word reaches Bela that the Mongols
are crossing, Duke Coloman, Archbishop Ugrin, and the Templar heavy cavalry, rush
towards the bridge to intercept the invaders before they amass numbers on the western riverbank,
and to also buy some time for the rest of the Hungarian army to assemble. But once the crossing point comes into view,
the large number of Mongol troops alarms Coloman. Undeterred, the outnumbered
Hungarians vigorously charge towards the enemy. This time, however, the invaders are better
prepared. Even though Coloman's
heavily armoured cavalry presses the enemy hard, the Mongols beat back the Hungarians
due to the sheer number of troops that already crossed. Coloman orders a retreat, not wanting to risk
being enveloped, and rides back to camp. After repelling the Hungarian charge, Batu
finishes the crossing around early morning, and arrays his troops in battle formation,
bracing himself for the main Hungarian attack. Upon returning to camp, Coloman finds that
Bela hasn't issued proper orders for the army to prepare for battle. Incensed at his
monarch's apparent incompetence, Archbishop Ugrin publically scolds the King. Nevertheless, Hungarian commanders order the
troops to march north to meet the Mongols, despite being disorganized and not
in battle formation. Not until some TWO HOURS later do the Hungarians
finally form up on the battlefield.Seeing he is outnumbered, Batu is concerned that
his light cavalry cannot withstand for long against a direct assault from the
Hungarian heavy cavalry, and he hopes that Subotai will reach him soon. But Subotai is still in the process of crossing
the river, after having to move through the heavy forest, away from the river bank in
order to avoid detection, only to be further delayed while attempting to build the make-shift
bridge across the overflowing river. Back at the bridgehead, King Bela orders
his troops to charge the enemy. He directs the best troops at his disposal
towards Batu�s position. Heavy fighting ensues, with the Hungarians
getting the better of the action. Unable to maneuver with their backs
against the river, lighter armoured Mongol troops are forced to stand and fight, taking
many losses while being pushed further and further back. Such is the ferocity of the hand-to-hand combat
that Batu himself comes under pressure, with 30 members of his
personal bodyguard falling during the fighting. Finally, as noon rolls on, Subotai's flanking
force appears. Seeing the Mongols to their rear, the Hungarian
troops flee in panic back to their fortified camp. The invaders chase the enemy, striking down
many Hungarian infantrymen on their way back. After reaching the camp, Hungarian
commanders order the troops to take up defensive positions, but Subotai orders his troops not
to attack the wagon fort directly. Instead, they surround the hapless Hungarians,
and begin peppering the camp with showers of flaming arrows and Chinese
firecrackers, while they wait for their siege-engines to arrive. Once brought up to the front line, the catapults
launch barrages of missles, wreaking considerable havoc among the entrapped
Hungarians. Throughout the afternoon, Hungarian commanders
launch a few sorties in an attempt to drive the Mongols away, but the invaders
simply gallop away from the attacks and regroup elsewhere on the camp perimeter. Finally, Hungarian morale breaks and they
begin fleeing in large groups southwards, through a portion of the Mongol line, deliberately
left open. Mongol archers harrass the fleeing enemy,
killing scores of them during the pursuit. In the chaos, Archbishop Ugrin is killed and
Duke Coloman is severely wounded, (he would die of his wounds several days later), and
King Bela retreats with the remnants of his army. By nightfall, the Battle of the Sajo river,
is over. Mongol losses were 3 to 5000 in total. But on the Hungarian side casualties were
horrendous: nearly 85 to 90 percent of the army was killed or
severely wounded. King Bela fled first to Bratislava, then
to Hainburg on the Austrian border, and later to Dalmatia. He was captured by Duke Frederick II of Austria
and was forced to cede three western counties to
Austria before he was released. It would take many years for Hungary to recover
from the devastation that the Mongols caused in
the aftermath of the battle.
