After the complete conquest of Russia by the Mongol army in 1240, Eastern Europe was hit. But under the weakened blow, for the heroic defense of Russian cities “wiped out” the best warriors of the steppes in endless battles and assaults of defensive structures. But, in spite of everything, the Mongolian army led by Batu Khan and 13 tsarevich-chingizids was still a formidable force and could number up to 150 thousand sabers (at Kolomna Khan Kulkan — the 14th Chingizid — died, which had never happened before). Therefore, according to the classical scheme, the invasion forces three streams invaded the new lands, simultaneously hitting Poland, Hungary and other countries and duchies on the northern shore of the Mediterranean Sea.
Hungary, in spite of exactly the same disunity of the nobility, together with the Polovtsians who arrived there, was able to offer the most worthy resistance. But Poland, on the expanse of which in 1241 rolled 3 tumen (a little more than 30 thousand horsemen), clearly underestimated the strength of the invasion, and therefore lost and desperately sought allies for the decisive battle.
Battle Plan.
It is a good thing that the surrounding states and state entities came to the aid of Henry II the Pious. And so at the city of Legnica, by April 1241 began to accumulate a significant number of troops.
Henry II’s side was represented by the army of the Kingdom of Poland, the Silesian army, the Opole-Ratibor army and a foreign detachment, which included German mercenaries and representatives of the three northern knightly orders — Teutons, Hospitallers and Templars. All this allowed to collect in the region of Silesia about 40 thousand soldiers, which was (in plans) more than enough to resist 30 thousand horsemen under the leadership of Temnik Baydar. Except that the assembled Eastern European army made the same mistake as the Russian princes in the Battle of the River Kalka in 1223. Namely have considered that numerical superiority and knight cavalry are two trump cards which completely overlap absence of unity of command in an army. In turn, the Mongols have always been famous for their iron discipline. And obeyed unconditionally the appointed head of the united forces.
The battle as depicted by a medieval artist.
It should be noted that Baidar was a super-experienced Mongol commander, who was little inferior in his skills to the legendary Subudai. Therefore, he marched to Legnica, taking Sandomir, Zawihost and Lublin, as well as literally wiping out the Polish militia in the Battle of Toursk. That is why by April 9, 1241 the leader of the right wing of the invasion knew everything about his opponents and even a little more than everything.
There was no anxiety in the camp of the assembled European army, despite the sad news. Thus, by March 18, the resistance of voivodes Pakoslaw and Vladimierz, as well as the castellan Jakub Ratiborowicz had fallen — the combined forces tried to block the road to Kraków, but were defeated, and on March 22 the city itself fell. Further on, the advanced units of the Mongol army broke through Opole and Ratiburg to Wrocław, which directly spoke of the soonest beginning of the decisive battle. But it was as if the leaders of the united Eastern European army did not care about the approaching massacre — they preferred to argue with each other until they were blue in the face, and few paid attention to Henry II, who actually commanded one Lower Silesian militia. Much stronger and more authoritative in military terms seemed Sulislav or Margrave Dipold, the leader of the assembled foreign detachment.
Jan Matejko. Henry II’s departure from Legnica
The fact that the Czech King Wenceslas I and his army were rapidly approaching the place of the future battle added to the arrogance. And the inhabitants of the small town of Wroclaw performed a real feat — they did not allow the Mongol warriors to take the fortifications, thanks to which at least a little slowed down the pace of the invasion and turned out to be a Polish stronghold in the rear of the invaders, who rushed further.
The catastrophic mistake of the united Eastern European army was the unwillingness to wait for Czech reinforcements. As the main version of the long-past events says — Henry II wanted to achieve the glory of the winner of the Mongols, and therefore on April 9, 1241 insisted on the withdrawal of the united forces from the camp. And this despite the fact that Wenceslas I was only one day’s march away from Legnica!
The battle of Legnica. Picture from 1630.
The battle began with remote firing at each other, during which the Mongols showed their qualitative superiority in bow skills (crossbows were decisively inferior in speed of fire and could not oppose very fast maneuvering of the eastern shooters). Moreover, Baidar resorted to a very rare technique of that time — closed part of his maneuvers with a smoke screen.
The German knights, who were suffering hurtful (and more rehearsed) damage from the enemy’s accurate shots, rushed blindly into the smoke screen in a classic multi-row broad formation. They relied too much on the strength of their armor and on the fact that a directed blow can sweep away any obstacle. And indeed, the Mongol vanguard, almost without suffering losses, scattered under the rolling mass of “the best cavalry in Europe” and turned to flight. But the Mongols also had their own heavy cavalry, which collapsed on the right flank of the German horsemen, who were too carried away by the “successful attack” and were not ready for such a turn of events.
The mixing of ranks resulted in defeat.
Moreover, according to many testimonies of that time, at the time of the attack the Mongols did not shout their standard battle cry, somewhat resembling the modern, but more guttural “Hurrah”, but in Polish shouted the same phrase: “Save yourselves”! — which caused even more confusion in the ranks of the best cavalry in Europe.
The knights trembled and began to retreat, suffering very heavy losses. And at some point “rolled” on their own ranks and on their shoulders “brought” the best Mongolian cavalrymen, who kept the battle formation. There was a general mixing of orders of the united Eastern European army. And it was from this point that the battle turned into a very inglorious and pitiful beating of a huge crowd of frightened men.
Dan Escott’s drawing of the event.
Henry II did not survive the battle — he was killed somewhere near his own banner. The body was later narrowly identified by a very rare congenital anomaly — the Polish ruler had 6 toes. But it was identified not by their own, but by Mongolian soldiers who brought the head of the fallen ruler to the gate of Legnica.
The exact information on total number of the fallen East European warriors is not and cannot be. But judging by the fact that the Mongols always took “for accountability” one ear from the fallen opponents, they destroyed the whole color of the enemy host, for they collected 9 very large bags of the mentioned trophies.
An individual duel between two completely equal warriors in strength and armament.
In a sense, Poland and the whole north of the mentioned region was very, very lucky, considering that Batu Khan was threatened with a serious defeat at the Hungarian city of Pest, and therefore summoned all available forces to the Hungarian kingdom. And Baidar was forced to withdraw from Silesia and set out by the highest order to the aid of the Central Wing. And the fact that to this day and every year in the monastery of Opatovice on April 9 there is a service in memory of the fallen in the battle of the first quarter of the XIII century!