Unexpectedly, the mighty Mongol army of Genghis Khan had to falter in Europe because of this small creature .
Genghis Khan (1162 – 1227) was one of the most prominent and influential military leaders in world history. He was the one who founded the powerful Mongol Empire after uniting the tribes of northeastern Asia in 1206.
Under the leadership and planning of military strategies of Genghis Khan, the Mongol army was extremely skilled and once turned the world over. The territory of Mongolia during the reign of Genghis Khan also spread from Asia to Europe. The great army of this khan was not only elite and fierce, but also famous for invincible victory, becoming the obsession of many countries at that time.
Genghis Khan is one of the most prominent military men in the history of the world. (Photo: Alamy).
Genghis Khan’s real name is Thiet Moc Chan. He had a very difficult childhood because his father, the military leader Da Toc Cai, died suddenly and his family was abandoned on the steppe.
Experiencing many hardships during his childhood years, Tiemu Chan understood that in order to survive in Mongolia, it was necessary to make alliances with others. From then on, he always had in mind the intention of the unification of the tribes in Mongolia.
In the process of uniting alliances and factions, Genghis Khan broke with the long-standing tradition of the Mongols. Specifically, instead of killing or enslaving the losers, he pledged to protect and persuade them to participate in future conquests with the spoils. In particular, unlike the traditional way, instead of favoring members of the tribal and clan alliances, Genghis Khan is ready to use and appoint talented people with loyalty and sensitivity to the positions. important mind.
Genghis Khan had his own way of organizing his army and unique military tactics, creating the success of the invincible Mongol army.
Thanks to these divergent ideologies that helped strengthen the cohesion, the military power of Genghis Khan’s alliance continued to grow stronger and stronger. By 1206, Genghis Khan had fulfilled his dream of uniting the Mongol tribes, thereby forming one of the largest empires in world history.
After the unification of the Mongol tribes, Genghis Khan and his mighty army initiated a series of military campaigns out from Asia to Europe. The Great Mongols were masters of lightning strike tactics. The ability to ride horses, archery and combat speed of the Mongol cavalry also became an obsession with many people on the battlefield.
In 1220, Genghis Khan divided his army in two. Specifically, the mainland army led by Genghis Khan personally fought through Afghanistan and northern India to return to Mongolia. The second army, consisting of about 30,000 cavalrymen, led by Toc Bu Dai and Triet Biet, led troops through the Caucasus and into Russia…
In addition, Genghis Khan also sent a small army to conduct reconnaissance in Poland and Hungary with the ambition of being able to advance west and into Europe. However, in the summer of 1223, the army quickly retreated to Mongolia.
Why did the Mongol army decide to give up conquering Europe? This is a controversial topic. According to historians, the Mongol army was invincible, but powerless when attacked by mosquitoes. The malaria-causing mosquito attacks troops stationed in the Caucasus and along the Black Sea.
Moreover, during this time, Genghis Khan himself also suffered from chronic malaria. As evidenced by most historians, Genghis Khan died at the age of 65 (in 1227) due to various diseases because his immune system was weakened after contracting a fever. cold.
To this day, the burial place of Genghis Khan remains a mystery.
After Genghis Khan’s death, his third son, Wau Kuotai, succeeded and took power, launched a campaign to conquer Europe from 1236 to 1242. Accordingly, the Great Mongol Army. made its way through eastern Russia, and captured the Baltic states, and advanced to Budapest, Hungary, and the Danube in December 1241.
Then, from Budapest, the Mongol army continued deep into Austria, hitting south, and finally east in the Balkans in 1242.
Mr. Winston Churchill, the late British Prime Minister, once shared: “At times it seemed as if the whole of Europe would fall into the hands of the Mongols from the East. The Mongol army had cavalrymen who were skilled in horseback riding, archery, and archery. proficient, overran Russia, Poland, and Hungary in 1241, and defeated the Germans and European cavalry near Buda, but they suddenly withdrew. Western Europe was lucky to escape.”
The Mongol army was extremely friendly.
According to experts, the Mongol army decided not to go deep into Western Europe for the following two reasons .
The sudden departure of Wakutai was one of the reasons why the Mongol army missed the opportunity to turn Europe into a colony. (Photo: Public Domain).
The Mongol army was good at fighting, but their weakness was that they were difficult to adapt to hot and humid climates. Moreover, due to heavy rains, the Magyar grasslands located in eastern Europe became swamps. It also becomes an ideal habitat for mosquitoes that transmit malaria. It was these disease-causing mosquitoes that were part of the reason that prevented the Mongol army from invading Western Europe.
On the other hand, the unusually high rainfall in Eastern Europe during the spring and summer of 1241 inadvertently robs the Mongols of the grazing grounds and pastures essential to the numerous warhorses of the Mongol army. This is considered the key to the military strength of this invincible army.
Although the Mongol army had achieved some success in the process of conquering Europe, these skilled soldiers were also repeatedly forced to withdraw in the face of malaria and other epidemics, with the defense of the European Union.
Historian John Keegan, who has spent many years studying Mongolia, said : “The great Mongol army failed to project military power from the semi-temperate and desert regions to the heavy rain regions of the country. Europe. They had to accept defeat.”
By 1368, besides the division and civil war, the malaria-causing mosquito was still mentioned as one of the main reasons for the disintegration of the mighty Mongol empire.