In November and December of 1240, the Mongols placed a siege of the city of Kiev as part of the invasion of Rus. This ended in a decisive Mongol victory, and devastating blow to the Rus armies, especially as this conquest allowed the Mongols to expand westward into Europe. In 1237, the Mongols, under the […]
Author: Stephen Cory
Japan
The Mongols were not content with simply ruling over the Eurasian continent. The also sought to conquer abroad, namely to conquer Japan. After the lengthy invasions of Korea ended in a treaty in 1259 with Korea becoming a Mongol vassal, and after Kublai Khan became Great Khan of the Empire in 1260, the Mongols set […]
Timur Leng
Immortalized in Christopher Marlowe’s Tamburlaine the Great (written in 1587–88), Timur Leng was not a Mongol but a Turk. Though he was said to be lame (hence the name “Leng”) he quickly became one of the world’s greatest conquerors. To legitimize his rule, Timur married the Chagatayid princess Saray Mulk-khanum, daughter of Qazan, the last […]
Battle of Blue Waters
By the mid-fourteenth century, the power and influence of the Golden Horde had begun to weaken. Following the deaths of their dynamic leaders, the western Mongol empire became overly involved in succession disputes for nearly twenty years. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania took advantage of the political instability and attacked the Golden Horde in the […]
Great Stand on the Ugra River
Considered the cause of Mongol retreat from Russia and the end of foreign rule in Moscow, the Great Stand on the Ugra River has been romanticized in Russian literature. Though historians downplay the battle’s importance, it remains ingrained in Western minds as the end of Tatar reign in Europe. Following two centuries of Mongol control […]
Tabriz
After Persia was conquered by Muslims in the 8th century, Yemenite immigrants inhabited the small village of Tabriz and developed it into a thriving city. Tabriz continued to flourish under the Muslim Abbasid caliphate. According to legend, after a devastating earthquake in 791 C.E., the wife of the caliph, Zubaidah, rebuilt and beautified the city […]
Cairo
After conquering Syria and the eastern Mediterranean basin, the Mongols tried to push southward toward Egypt. Just two years after sacking Baghdad, the Mongols were positioned in Gaza ready to invade Egypt. In 1260 the Mongol military commander Hulegu sent a message to Cairo demanding that the ruling Mamluks surrender. Instead the Mamluk leader, Qutuz, […]
Battle of ‘Ain Jalut
The Battle of ‘Ain Jalut was a major military defeat for the Mongols. The battle took place in early fall of 1260 in the Jezereel Valley of modern-day Israel. This battle marked a distinct turning point for the Mongols, as it was the first conquest which they not only lost, but never avenged. It also […]
Damascus
Damascus has a long and rich history, dating well into antiquity. It is one of the only continuously inhabited cities for over 5,000 years. Since it served as the capital of the second Islamic Empire of the Umayyads, Damascus was a wealthy city filled grand mosques, immense libraries, and many scholars and artisans. It was […]
Sack of Baghdad
A major political and cultural center, Baghdad was sacked and nearly entirely destroyed by the Mongols in 1258. Baghdad had been the capital of the third Islamic caliphate, the Abbasids, since the eighth century. Located along the Tigris River, it was well-known across the medieval world for its intellectual centers and artistic hubs. The House […]
Alamut
Located in the fertile and well-fortified region of Elburz just south of the Caspian Sea, Alamut was a medieval fortress city inhabited by Nizari Ismaili Muslims. Upset with the Sunni Seljuk governance which dominated the Middle East in their day, Ismailis gradually migrated toward Persia, finding refuge with the Shiite rulers there. Some developed a […]
