Episode 9 Ogedei Khan’s Western Campaigns

The Mongol Empire

Dr Craig Benjamin (2020)

Film Review

Chingiss Khan’s son Ogedei was approved as Great Khan at a 1229 kuritai. In the celebration that followed, a large number of horses and 40 noble wives were sacrificed for his father’s use in the afterlife.

Believing the sky god Tingari had ordained the Mongols’ conquest of the entire earth, Ogedei immediately launched a three pronged military campaign:

1. He and his brother Tolui renewed the attack on the Jin Dynasty in China;
2. He appointed General Subitai to lead his troops along the Siberian steppes to secure northern territories Jochi had conquered during the Khwarazmian campaign (see Chinggis Khan’s Khwarazmian Campaign)
3. He appointed Generals Chormaqan Noyen and Davir to lead a campaign against Jalal Al-din (son of the deceased Khwarazmain caliph Mohammed Shah), who had returned to Persia.

After fleeing north to Iran, then to the Caucasus, Jalal Al-din wa slaughtered by Kurdish peasants. In 1233, the Mongols defeated Azerbaijan and invaded Georgia and Armenia, which quickly surrendered and agreed to pay duty. They also began military raids into Iraq for booty.

Following Tolui’s sudden mysterious death, Ogedei recalled General Subitai from the Volga River to join the campaign against the Jin Dynasty. The latter ceased to exist after the capitol Kaifong fell in 1234. Mongols then attacked the southern Song dynasty when they attempted to occupy former Jin territory.

Withdrawing from military duties to consolidate the empire, Ogedei called a kuritai in 1234 to approve his plans to extend the Mongol military campaign to the principalities of Rus* in Eastern Europe.

The 150,000 Mongol warriors that set out for Eastern Europe split into two divisions and easily surrounded the 20,000 troops hastily mustered by the princes of Rus. They also used siege engines (built for them by Chinese engineers) to lob boulders and flammable naphtha bombs at the major Russian cities. In 1240 Chinggis Khan’s sons Tolui and Batu led the attack on Kiev. After the capitol was looted and burned to the ground, the other Russian cities were quick to surrender.

Batu and General Subitai then led the campaign against Hungary, which controlled large areas of Eastern Europe, while Generals Adan and Baidar attacked Poland. Thanks to intelligence the Mongols received (most likely from the powerful city-state of Venice**), they knew that Bohemian and Prussian knights were mobilizing to support Poland and attacked before reinforcements arrived.

Soon after Mongol scouts appeared outside the walls of Vienna, Ogedei died in December 1241 (most likely from complications of chronic alcoholism). During the decade it took to appoint his successor, the military campaign against Eastern Europe was put on hold.

*In Russian history, Mongols are referred to as Tatars.

**Mongols signed a trade treaty with Venice (which held colonies across the Eastern Mediterranean, in 1221. Assistance with intelligence is believed to be one of its benefits. See Venice and the Mongol Hordesf

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https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/watch/video/12373094/12373112