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MongoliaConquest of Khwarizm and Reconnaissance into Europe
In 1218 the governor of an eastern province of Khwarizm
mistreated several Mongol emissaries. Chinggis retaliated with a
force of more than 200,000 troops, and Khwarizm was eradicated by
1220. A detachment of about 25,000 Mongol cavalry, as part of the
Khwarizmian campaign, had crossed the Caucasus Mountains, had
skirted the Caspian Sea, and had briefly invaded Europe.
After defeating the Georgians and the Cumans of the Caucasus,
the small Mongol expedition advanced in 1222 into the steppes of
the Kuban. Combining rapid movement with guile, the Mongols again
defeated the Cumans, captured Astrakhan, then crossed the Don
River into Russia. Penetrating the Crimea, they stormed the
Genoese fortress of Sudak on the southeastern coast, then turned
north into what later became known as the Ukraine.
The Mongol leaders now thought they had accomplished their
mission. Before returning to Mongolia, however, they decided to
rest their troops and to gain more information about the lands to
the north and the west. They camped near the mouth of the Dnieper
River, and their spies soon were scattered throughout eastern and
central Europe.
Meanwhile, a mixed Russian-Cuman army of 80,000 under the
leadership of Mstislav, prince of Kiev, marched against the
Mongol encampment. Jebe and Subetei, another great Mongol
general, sought peace; however, when their envoys were murdered,
they attacked and routed Mstislav's force on the banks of the
Halha River. Historian Charles Halperin estimated that by this
time the "destructive power of the Mongol war machine eclipsed
anything the Russians had seen before," and the Kievan Russians
found themeselves faced no longer with a renewal of the sporadic
raids of the past but with the threat of subjugation and foreign
domination. In compliance with a courier message from Chinggis,
the expedition then marched eastward. As the Mongols were
marching north of the Caspian Sea, Jebe died of illness. In 1224
Subetei led the expedition back, after a trek of more than 6,400
kilometers, to a rendezvous with the main Mongol armies, that
were returning from their victories over the Khwarizm.
Data as of June 1989
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