How Hungary Finally CRUSHED the Mongols - DOCUMENTARY

in the 13th century the mongols achieved a string of virtually unbroken victories gaining the largest contiguous land empire in history in the 1240s they devastated hungary destroying the army of king bella iv at the famous battle of mohi this experience profoundly impacted the hungarians and caused them to fundamentally alter many aspects of their society for they feared that the mongols would one day return as it turned out they did in 1285 a vast mongol army again drove into the lands of the hungarians how would hungary fare this time in fact the result of the second mongol invasion of hungary presents one of the most striking and surprising episodes in the history of the mongols we'll find out how the hungarians dealt with this second terrifying invasion today on real crusades history [Music] in 1241 at the battle of mahi an enormous mongol invasion force defeated the hungarians and their allies for a year the mongols pillaged and ravaged the countryside when the invaders finally withdrew a quarter of hungary's population had been slaughtered and virtually all of the towns and villages had been destroyed after this disaster the king of hungary bella iv was left to pick up the pieces he recognized that his kingdom had been poorly prepared for the mongol invasion for one hungary had few fortified positions indeed many of its cities had no walls at all only the kingdom's few stone castles had managed to resist the mongols also the kingdom's army had been made up primarily of lightly armoured horsemen in 1241 only a small contingent of knights templar and teutonic knights garbed in heavy armor had managed to inflict serious damage on the mongols what if a vast army of heavily armored knights had been present to face the mongols taking note king bella began to implement major reforms first and foremost bella reorganized his kingdom's horsemen into a new class of heavily armoured mounted knights in the western style in 1247 he struck a deal with the crusading order known as the knights hospital granting them his southeastern frontier in exchange for their help in bringing in more heavily armoured knights and raising new stone castles in 1248 the king extended the privilege of knighthood allowing the kingdom's middle strata to serve in a barren's cavalry provided they were equipped with armor and a horse he encouraged new settlers to move to hungary granting them rights of knighthood and nobility if they could outfit themselves for combat another lesson from the battle of mahi crossbowman who'd been scarce during the first mongol invasion had nevertheless performed well against the mongols in 1241. king bella struck a deal with the venetians famed for their crossbowmen by this deal at least one thousand venetian crossbowmen entered into the hungarian kings service finally king bella offered grants and incentives to every hungarian city that outfitted itself with stone fortifications these reforms paid off resulting in the construction of some 100 new fortresses all of hungary's important cities were now surrounded by stone walls the kingdom of hungary was transformed by the end of king bella the fourth's reign king bella wouldn't live to see the fruit of his efforts he died in 1270 in 1285 his reforms would be tested that winter nogai khan de facto leader of the golden horde pointed his army westward and invaded central europe the golden horde representing the north western sector of the mongol domain had operated as an essentially independent carnate since the fragmentation of the mongol empire in 1259 given its location central europe was the golden horde's logical grounds for expansion [Music] nogai khan was eager to subdue hungary once and for all nogai believed that the hungarians were weak he'd heard rumors of internal strife in hungary which seemed confirmed when a large number of humans were driven from the kingdom and sought service with the mongols as in 1241 the mongols struck at hungary on two fronts nogai led a force through prashov into transylvania while his kinsmen talabuka marched by the veric pass in modern ukraine into transcarpathia at the time the mongol empire was at peace mostly free of internal power struggles therefore no guy was able to field a very large invasion force which historians estimate numbered somewhere between 30 and 50 000 men as usual the mongols focused on speed and surprise it was winter and no guy expected to catch the hungarians off guard he expected to easily annihilate whatever resistance he encountered [Music] initially there were signs that the invasion might not go so well as planned talabuka who led the largest contingent into the north of hungary had difficulties provisioning his men this was owed to the improved fortifications in hungary many local villagers had fled to the regional castles where they hoarded their livestock and food supplies the mongols found themselves marching through territory devoid of plunder as they passed stone castle after stone castle the mongols began to suffer hunger and talabuka lost thousands of men to starvation early in the campaign the mongols attacked the town of pesht but the town had already been abandoned its inhabitants having taken refuge in the local castles once again the mongols found nothing to plunder from their well-fortified base at buddha a contingent of hungarian knights launched a successful harassment attack on the mongol column and sources reveal that the hungarian queen elizabeth of sicily was able to observe the action from the walls of the city talabuka grew frustrated his men were able to raid territory as far as the danube in some places they inflicted heavy casualties on the civilian populations but in many areas villagers were scarce having taken refuge behind the walls of a nearby fortress the mongols were unable to capture any of the regional castles and they kept encountering well-armored contingents of hungarian knights with well-defended fortresses nearby the hungarians could attack inflict casualties on the mongols and then withdraw to safety before talabuka could launch an effective counter-attack one such battle took place near the castle of terusco here the mongols suffered a serious defeat and heavy casualties the hungarian knights were able to inflict devastating charges on the mongols the victorious hungarians captured around 1 000 prisoners during this engagement the decisive encounter came in the hills of western transylvania here talabuka's weakened army suddenly met the royal hungarian army led by king ladislaus iv unlike the army encountered by the mongols in 1241 this hungarian force contained many heavily armored knights their numbers reduced and their morale low the mongols were soundly defeated by the determined well-timed charge of the hungarians recognizing that his situation was hopeless talabuka now ordered a retreat from hungary but on the return trip his army was ambushed by the ck people who struck a swift light cavalry this final disaster all but destroyed talabuga's army and by the time the general returned to mongolian territory his forces had ceased to exist chronicler even commented that talabuka returned with nothing but his wife and a single horse an exaggeration surely but one that highlighted the level of destruction of his army khan fared only slightly better he remained in transylvania until the spring of 1286 and managed to plunder the towns of reggie brashov and bistrita but like talibuga nogai was unable to capture any major castles or cities after defeating talibuga's army king ladislaus advanced with his force to attack nogai's host however by the time the king had caught up with nogai the local hungarian and romanian troops led by roland borsa had mostly destroyed the mongol army ladislavs had only to harass the remnants of nogai's army as it limped away in retreat the second mongol invasion of hungary of 1285 stands in stark contrast to the first one in 1241 despite serious civilian casualties in some regions the hungarians soundly defeated the mongols and the mongol leaders were fortunate to escape with their lives the reforms carried out across the kingdom of hungary enabled this decisive victory over the invasion strong castles impeded the progress of the two mongol armies and denied them plunder indeed starvation just as much as the military might of the hungarians crippled nogai khan's campaign the adoption of western-style armor and the use of heavy cavalry also gave the hungarians an important edge never again would the mongols launch a major invasion of hungary or indeed central europe in general the results of the second mongol invasion of hungary are an important reminder that lessons learned from a major defeat can create the opportunity for reform recovery and future victory indeed in the future a hungarian army would invade mongol territory and ultimately seize moldavia from the golden horde [Music] thanks for watching now watch our documentary on the 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Channel: Real Crusades History

Views: 2,477,611

Keywords: mongols, medieval hungary, history of hungary, history of the mongols, mongol invasions, mongol invasion of europe, mongol hungary war, mongol hungary, nogai khan, talabuga, battle of mohi, king bela iv of hungary, king ladislaus iv of hungary, king of hungary, hungarian knights, medieval knights, sword, military history of hungary, mongol military history, buda, battle of buda, mongolia, kingdom of hungary, golden horde, golden horde documentary, mongol empire

Id: t-022t9VbFU

Length: 12min 28sec (748 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 13 2022