Why did the Mongols Leave Europe? DOCUMENTARY

Kings and Generals is Unraveling the Mystery: Why Did the Mongols Suddenly Withdraw from Europe in 1242? Dive deep into history's enigma with us as we explore the perplexing reasons behind one of the most baffling military maneuvers of all time. After a year of dominating Eastern Europe, the Mongol army's unexpected retreat sparked intrigue and speculation. Was it political intrigue, environmental challenges, limited goals, or military weakness? Join the debate as we dissect the four major theories, backed by historical evidence and expert analysis. Delve into the secrets of the past and uncover the truth behind the Mongols' puzzling departure from Europe, 800 years later.

Script: Stephen Pow
Artwork: Vyacheslav Sheo

#Documentary #Mongols #Europe

[katireei]

Batu 1241: My stomach hurts. Let's go home...
Historians centuries later: WHY???

[ronjohnson]

Interesting. I'd always assumed that the "Great Khan death" theory was settled history.

[stephenbaluran]

This is excellent. Historical events rarely have a single, tidy cause. Having multiple theories that don't agree with each other reflects how history actually is as a field of study.

[arvinalz]

Apparently, escaping to an island was the preferred choice of Kings running from the Mongols. The Khwarizmid Sultan also escaped to an Island in the caspian sea

[xleax]

An interesting fact is that there is a Mongolic people that still live in Europe: the Kalmyks. Kalmyks live between the Volga river and the Caucasus in Russia, and its republic Kalmykia is the only place in Europe where Buddhists are the dominant religion group.

[FranciscoRosa-em]

This Kings and Generals channel is pure wealth.

[terry]

Short version: “We don’t know. Thanks for watching.”

[InquisitorXarius]

“Will we see a continuation of the Mongol invasion of Europe on your Wizards and Warriors channel?”

[conworldus]

I just can't imagine the logistic and administrative challenges the Mongols were facing. This was the age when you rely on horses for transportation, across the entire Eurasian continent. It is not like Batu could just send a Whatsapp message to the Mongol court and have reinforcements and supplies flying in the next day.

[XCARZ]

When I feel bummed out that YouTube has turned into a platform for A.I.-overloaded generic content, a Kings and Generals notification appears to raise my spirits.

[peterbalogh]

Recent Hungarian archeological findings have established that, in addition to some major battles and sieges, there were many pockets of resistance - ultimately reducing the number of Mongol troops which, together with the escape of King Bela IV and the survival of Hungarian forces in teritories in unoccupied Hungary (NB. NOT the entire country was occupied, but mostly its lowland central area/Great Plain).

[ValeTheOwl]

From what I gathered from multiple sources, the most likely option is that a number of factors made the conquest of western Europe not worth the effort for the mongols, and Batu was smart enough to quit while he was ahead.
For starters, there was a HUGE distance between Europe and the core of the Mongolian empire, which meant that any army that tried to conquer Europe would have essentially been on its own, unable to receive substantial reinforcements. Moreover the amount of resources that could be diverted to attack Europe were limited, since the Mongols had to patrol and control a huge empire already.
In addition to this, Europe proved to be a tough nut to crack. While the mongols achieved significant military successes in Eastern Europe, they didn't really fare well in sieges against stone castles (which they often left alone) and Western Europe had many more stone castles compared to Poland and Hungary. The Mongols certainly had the means to perform successful siege operations (like the did in China) but it would have slowed down considerably, making them lose their main advantage (mobility). Moreover, due to the decentralization of Europe due to the feudal system, they couldn't just strike the enemy capital and cut the snake's head, so to speak, but they'd be stuck sieging castle after castle just to bring down a single region. In addition to this, Western Europe was not suitable at all for their style of warfare, since the hilly and rugged terrain would reduce their mobility and make their cavalry vulnerable.

To summarize, the Mongols would have certainly tried to conquer Europe if they thought that they could do so easily. Invading Poland and Hungary was almost certainly an attempt to establish a beachhead from which they could stage further campaigns into Europe. But after taking a better look at the western part of Europe, not to mention after suffering significant casualties due to the resistance of the locals, Batu most likely realized that trying to proceed further west would have been incredibly hard and would have resulted in a pyrrhic victory at best, so he did the smart thing and turned away.

[tobcotab]

When I learned history in college, I had to write the local effects and happenings of the mongol invasion of 1241. In the hungarian plains it was quite common practice for the people who lived there to flee into the swamps in time of need. They did so during the mongol invasion too, and with one mongol party some local hungarian peasants lured them into the swamps, by saying that they are starving and they are willing to surrender, so they guided them into the middle of the swamp, then set the whole thing on fire. All of them burned and choked there.

[FinnishDragon]

I wonder how well Mongols knew about Europe politically. AFAIK, Mongols did usually gather very much intelligence about their target countries before attacking. It would be prudent to assume that Mongols knew Hungarian, Polish and Balkan lands quite well but how well did they know about the capabilities Holy Roman Empire or France in detail?

[josesoria]

My theory, which I almost always use when there are many theories, is "a little bit of everything" and it has never failed me.

[riseofpersia]

If for nothing else they were at the end of their logistical line, because even the Mongols as the equestrian nomads they were, had their logistical limit. All empires and military campaigns have it, and theirs ended in Hungay and Poland. No military force or army expanded as far as they did on land, a record achievement before the advent of the steam powered and gasoline fuel engines.

[jiyuhong]

This channel and Wizards and Warriors are my favorite war channels

[MuchButteR]

Lithuania did throw out Mongols from Eastern Europe at Battle of Blue Waters in 1362.

[stephenjackson]

I just thought that they realised that, with so many losses, they would be stretched far too thin to conquer, secure and maintain the land. So, they left on a high note, knowing that they had spread fear, and leaving the door open to come back again.

[sartazaziz]

00:12 The Mongols withdrew from Europe for unknown reasons.
02:23 Mongol withdrawal from Europe
04:36 Debate on the mystery continues 800 years later
07:04 The Mongols had different theories for leaving Europe
09:17 Mongols withdrew from Europe due to leadership issues and logistical challenges.
11:34 The Mongols' retreat from Europe in 1242 is controversial and possibly related to environmental factors.
14:00 Mongols faced major military challenges and may have withdrawn due to stretched forces.
16:19 The Mongols' withdrawal from Europe remains a mystery.