Battle of Legnica
From Free net encyclopedia
{{Infobox Military Conflict
|conflict=Battle of Legnica
|partof=the Mongol invasions
|image=
|caption=
|date=April 9?, 1241
|place=Legnickie Pole (near present day Legnica, Poland)
|result=Mongol victory (although the invasion was cancelled)
|combatant1=Mongols
|combatant2=Poland
Teutonic Knights
|commander1=Kaidu
|commander2=Henry II the Pious
|strength1=20,000
|strength2=28,000
|casualties1=Unknown
|casualties2=10,000-40,000
}}
Template:Campaignbox Mongol invasions
The Battle of Legnica (also Battle of Liegnitz) took place in 1241 in Legnickie Pole near the city of Legnica between the invading Mongols and the Poles under Henry II the Pious, Duke of Poland (Silesia), supported by the feudal nobility including the Teutonic Knights.
Contents |
Historical Conflict and Revision about this Battle
The date of the battle is usually given as occurring sometime in early April, although the exact date is uncertain - the 9th is popular. Also, as with many historical battles, the exact details of force composition, tactics, and the actual course of the battle are woefully lacking and usually contradictatory.
The battle has undergone some historical revisionism, in 1911 the battle was where "Henry II was broken by the force of the Mongol invasion."
Events leading to the Battle
The Mongol force, a detachment (no more than two tumens) from the army of Subedei under the command of Kaidu, demonstrated the advantages of the tactical mobility and speed of horseback archers over very heavily armoured but slow opposition. The Mongol tactics were, essentially, a long series of feints and faked withdrawals from widely dispersed groups - designed to inflict a constant slow drain by ranged fire, disrupt the enemy formation, and draw larger blocks away from the main body into ambush and flank attacks. These were standard Mongol tactics, which were used in virtually all of their major battles, and made possible by continual training, and superb battlefield communication, using flags - the Mongol Commander found the highest ground at the battlesite, sized it, and used it to communicate to his Noyans and lesser commanders their orders for troop movement. Compare this to the clumsy European advance by Knights in their battles, with virtually no communication at all with other battles, (groups of Knights with supporting forces).
The numbers involved are difficult to judge. European accounts are prone to outrageous estimates of Mongol numbers - some accounts suggest in excess of 100,000 at Legnica alone. This was an excuse for the slaughter of the elite Polish gentry, and a number of the finest fighting men Europe had to offer: the Knights Templar and the Teutonic Knights, both sent by the Pope's order to halt the Mongols. But the Mongols were almost certainly outnumbered -- Given the weaknesses of 13th century Mongol logistics, current estimates suggest the Mongol force numbered, at most, 20,000 in a mix of light and very light archer-cavalry.
What Mongol sources remain state that the Polish invasion was a raid in force, of two tumens (20,000 men) under one of Ghenghis Khan's grandson's, Kaidu, and part of Subutai's master plan to destroy the European armies one at a time, rather than allowing them to mass in force.
Henry's force combined German and Polish units, although some authors believe that the German presence (especially the vaunted knights) was very small or even non-existent. At an estimate, and assuming a substantial German force, Henry's force was maybe 28,000 - split into 10,000 heavy infantry, 8,000 bowmen and 10,000 heavy cavalry.
The battle
The actual course of the battle is, again, almost unknown. The link below gives a detailed account of charges, counters and ambushes which may be true. Suffice to say the army of Henry II was almost destroyed - Henry was killed and estimates of casualties range from 10,000 to 40,000, essentially the entire army. Mongol casualties are unknown; a perfect execution of the described tactics would have minimised losses but most reports state that their losses were high - even higher than expected. This might be accounted for by the stories that some of the Knights Templer and Teutonic Knights were able, though unhorsed by Mongol archers who simply killed their less protected horses -- to make a stand, and though finally overwhelmed, inflicted relatively high causalities on the Mongols, who supposedly fought them hand to hand, instead of merely standing off, and continuing to pick them off, by archery. If this account is true, and the Mongols closed with the Knights, they would have suffered heavy casualities.
Conclusion
Despite the Mongol victory, this was the furthest west their forces reached. They retreated after hearing the news that Ogedei Khan had died, because Genghis Khan made clear that all descendants of the Khagan (Grand Khan) should return back to the Mongol capital for election of the next Khan.
After Batu Khan returned from Mongolia, his relations with his cousins were so poor that not until the election of Möngke Khan did he again think about turning west, into Europe, and he died in 1255 before those plans could be put into motion. There is little doubt it was the death of the Great Khan alone that saved Europe. The almost complete destruction of the Hungarian nobility and the flower of their fighting men at the Battle of Mohi, along with the Polish defeat at Legnica left two of Europe's foremost powers devastated in the span of two days, with relatively minimal losses to the Mongols (only 20,000 of their 150,000 men were engaged at Legnica.) Had the Great Khan not died, all of Europe could have suffered the same fate. Batu Khan had told Subutai to plan to conquer all the way to "the great sea," (the Atlantic), and they were putting the final touches on a plan to begin that conquest with an attack on Austria and Germany the following winter. While the Poles still celebrate this battle as their saving of Europe, current history has it a bitter defeat for the Poles, and the saving of Europe as possibly fate and luck, the death of Ogedei Khan, and the subsequent power struggle that tied up Mongol armies in internal struggles.
References
- Amitai-Preiss, Reuven. The Mamluk-Ilkhanid War, 1998
- Chambers, James, The Devil's Horsemen: The Mongol Invasion of Europe
- Hildinger, Eric, Warriors of the Steppe: A Military History of Central Asia, 500 B.C. to A.D. 1700
- Morgan, David -- The Mongols, ISBN 0-631-17563-6
- Nicolle, David, -- The Mongol Warlords Brockhampton Press, 1998
- Reagan, Geoffry, The Guiness Book of Decisive Battles , Canopy Books, NY (1992)
- Saunders, J.J. -- The History of the Mongol Conquests, Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd, 1971, ISBN 0-8122-1766-7
- Soucek, Svatopluk -- A History of Inner Asia, Cambridge, 2000
External links
See also
de:Schlacht bei Wahlstatt fr:Bataille de Legnica ja:ワールシュタットの戦い nl:Slag bij Legnica pl:Bitwa pod Legnicą ru:Битва под Легницей