21 Dec 1237 — Ryazan is the first Rus city to fall, after five days of siege in midwinter. The Rus had thought war impossible in this season. The Mongols had chosen it deliberately: frozen rivers gave their riders roads across the country. “And not an eye remained open to weep for the dead,” writes the chronicler.
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The force that struck Volga Bulgaria in 1236 was sent to conquer, with resources far greater than those of the earlier raid. From Bulgaria the Mongol armies entered the Rus lands. Their rulers faced the invasion as separate principalities, and the season did not give them the protection they might have expected. Frozen rivers offered routes toward settlements, although uncertain ice, snow and the need to feed horses made winter a burden as well.
Why it happened — The resources of a dynasty. The expedition that reached the Kalka in 1223 had roughly 20,000 riders. In 1236 Batu led a campaign backed by a kurultai decision and princes from…
The turn — Legnica and Mohi, 9–11 April 1241. Legnica and Mohi fell two days apart, on 9 and 11 April 1241. Separate Mongol forces had won battles hundreds of kilometers apart while their…
What it changed — Rus under the Horde. The Rus principalities retained their princes and faiths, but the Horde required tribute, censuses and the khan’s approval for rule. This…
