The Mongol Invasions of Europe and the Middle East

The Mongol invasions of Europe and the Middle East in the thirteenth century were among the most dramatic and consequential events of the medieval period. Within a single generation, the Mongol armies conquered the largest contiguous land empire in the history of the world, and the political and cultural map of Eurasia was transformed. The invasions began with the conquest of the Russian principalities in the late 1230s, continued with the invasion of Eastern Europe in the early 1240s, and culminated with the conquest of the Abbasid Caliphate and the establishment of the Ilkhanate in Persia in the 1250s and 1260s.

This page is a complete overview of the Mongol invasions of Europe and the Middle East. The narrative below is drawn from the chronicles of European observers such as John of Plano Carpini and William of Rubruck, from the chronicles of Middle Eastern observers such as Ibn al-Athir and Rashid al-Din, from the chronicles of Russian observers such as the Novgorod Chronicle, and from the modern scholarship that has reshaped our understanding of the Mongol invasions in the last fifty years.

The Invasion of Russia (1237-1240)

The first major phase of the Mongol invasions of Europe was the invasion of the Russian principalities in the late 1230s and early 1240s. The Russian principalities were a patchwork of small, independent states that had been weakened by internal divisions and external pressures, and they were unable to mount a coordinated resistance to the Mongol invasion.

The invasion was led by Batu Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, and it was carried out by a Mongol army of perhaps 100,000 to 150,000 men. The Mongol army moved with terrifying speed, and within a few years, it had conquered the major Russian principalities, including Vladimir, Rostov, Tver, and others. The major Russian cities, including Moscow, were taken and destroyed.

The most important of the Russian cities was Kiev, the capital of the old Kievan Rus’. Kiev was taken in 1240, and the city was destroyed so completely that it never recovered its former status. The destruction of Kiev marked the end of the Kievan Rus’ as a major power, and it marked the beginning of a long period of Mongol rule over the Russian principalities.

The Invasion of Eastern Europe (1241-1242)

The second major phase of the Mongol invasions of Europe was the invasion of Eastern Europe in 1241 and 1242. The invasion was led by two Mongol armies, one in the north under the command of Baidar (a son of Jochi) and Kadan (a son of Ögedei), and the other in the south under the command of Subutai and Batu (with the experienced Subutai as the senior tactician).

The northern army moved into Poland, where it defeated a combined Polish-German-Moravian army at the Battle of Legnica on 9 April 1241. The battle was a decisive victory for the Mongols, and it established the Mongols as the dominant military power in Central Europe. The battle was also significant for the death of Henry II the Pious, the Duke of Silesia, who was killed in the battle. (The popular assertion that the Mongols later advanced to the walls of Vienna is not supported by contemporary sources; the Mongols reached the Wiener Neustadt area, but the chroniclers do not record a march on Vienna itself.)

The southern army moved into Hungary, where it defeated the Hungarian army at the Battle of Mohi on 11 April 1241. The battle was a decisive victory for the Mongols, and it established the Mongols as the dominant military power in Eastern Europe. The Mongols then swept through much of the Hungarian countryside. The withdrawal of the Mongols from Europe in 1242 was triggered, not by any European victory, but by the news that Ögedei Khan had died on the Mongolian steppe in December 1241. By Mongol custom, all princes of the blood were required to attend a kurultai to elect a new great khan, and Batu, the senior prince, refused to leave Europe without the title being settled. Modern scholarship (Jackson 2005) adds a second factor: the unusually wet spring of 1242 had turned the Hungarian plain into a marsh, and the Mongol horse-archers could not operate effectively in it. The withdrawal of 1242 saved Western Europe from further immediate conquest but did not constitute any kind of Mongol defeat.

The Conquest of the Abbasid Caliphate (1258)

The third major phase of the Mongol invasions of the Middle East was the conquest of the Abbasid Caliphate in 1258. The conquest was carried out by Hulagu Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan and the brother of Kublai Khan, and it culminated in the sack of Baghdad in February 1258.

The sack of Baghdad was one of the most consequential events of the medieval period. The Abbasid Caliphate, which had been the major power in the Islamic world for five centuries, was destroyed, and the city of Baghdad, which had been one of the largest and most culturally rich cities in the world, was devastated. The death toll was enormous, and the cultural treasures of the city were plundered or destroyed.

The conquest of the Abbasid Caliphate was followed by the establishment of the Ilkhanate in Persia. The Ilkhanate was a Mongol state that ruled over Persia, Mesopotamia, the Caucasus, and parts of Anatolia, and it was one of the four major khanates of the Mongol world. The Ilkhanate gradually converted to Islam, and it became a major power in the Islamic world.

The Battle of Ain Jalut (1260)

The fourth major phase of the Mongol invasions of the Middle East was the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260. The battle was fought between the Mongol army of the Ilkhanate and the Mamluk army of Egypt, and it was the first major defeat that the Mongols had suffered in decades.

The battle was fought in the Jezreel Valley, in present-day Israel, and it was a decisive victory for the Mamluks. The Mongol army was defeated, and the Mongol advance into Egypt was halted. The battle was a major turning point in the history of the Mongol world, and it marked the limit of the Mongol westward expansion.

The battle was also significant for the role of Sultan Baibars, the Mamluk ruler of Egypt, who led the Mamluk army to victory. Baibars was one of the most able military commanders of the medieval world, and he is credited with halting the Mongol advance into the Middle East.

The Mamluk-Mongol Wars (1260-1323)

The fifth major phase of the Mongol invasions of the Middle East was the Mamluk–Ilkhanid Wars, which lasted from 1260 to 1323. The wars were fought between the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt and the Mongol Ilkhanate, and they were a major feature of the political landscape of the Middle East in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries.

The wars were fought primarily in the Caucasus and in the Levant, and they were marked by a series of major battles. The Mamluks won at Ain Jalut (3 September 1260, the first major Mongol defeat in generations); the Ilkhanids won at Homs (1281, after which the Mamluk Sultan Qalawun was forced to negotiate) and at Wadi al-Khaznadar / Marj al-Saffar (22 April 1303, a major Ilkhanid victory that nevertheless did not open the road to Egypt). The last major campaign was the failed Ilkhanid invasion of 1323, after which Abu Sa’id effectively stopped the war. There was no single peace treaty, and the frontier remained contested. The Mamluk–Ilkhanid conflict is sometimes called a “stalemate”; the more accurate description is a sequence of Mamluk defensive victories and Ilkhanid offensives that, in the long run, the Ilkhanate could not sustain.

The Aftermath of the Invasions

The Mongol invasions of Europe and the Middle East had a profound effect on the political, cultural, and economic life of the regions that they affected. The invasions brought about the destruction of many of the major cities of Russia and the Middle East, and they brought about a long period of Mongol rule over the conquered territories.

The invasions also brought about a major change in the political geography of Eurasia. The political map of the region was redrawn, and a number of new states emerged in the wake of the Mongol conquests. The most important of these was the Ilkhanate in Persia, which became a major power in the Middle East for the next century.

The invasions also had a major effect on the cultural life of the regions that they affected. The Mongol conquests brought about a major exchange of ideas and technologies between East and West, and the invasions were a major factor in the development of the Pax Mongolica. The Pax Mongolica made it possible for merchants, missionaries, and other travelers to move across Eurasia with unprecedented freedom, and it was a major factor in the development of the modern world.

Sources

Peter Jackson, The Mongols and the West, 1221–1410 (London: Pearson Longman, 2005) — the standard scholarly treatment of the western campaigns.
James Chambers, The Devil’s Horsemen: The Mongol Invasion of Europe (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1979) — the most readable modern account, in print for over 40 years.
David Morgan, The Mongols (2nd ed., Oxford: Blackwell, 2007), ch. 4.
Marie Favereau, The Horde: How the Mongols Changed the World (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2021), ch. 5–10.
Timothy May, The Mongol Conquests in World History (London: Reaktion, 2012), ch. 6.
John Man, Genghis Khan: Life, Death and Legacy (London: HarperCollins, 2004), ch. 14.
Christopher Dawson, ed. and trans., The Mongol Mission: Narratives and Letters of the Franciscan Missionaries in Mongolia and China in the 13th and 14th Centuries (New York: Sheed & Ward, 1955) — for Carpini and Rubruck.