Battle of the Kalka River

Battle of Kalka River
Part of the Mongol invasions
Mongol horse archers
Date May 31, 1223 Location Kalka River Result Mongol victory
Belligerents
Mongol Empire	Kievan Rus' Galich Cumans
Commanders and leaders
Jebe, Subutai	Mstislav the Bold, Mstislav III of Kiev
Strength
20,000 men	30,000-80,000
Casualties and losses
Minimal	50,000

The Battle of the Kalka River (Russian: Битва на реке Калке) took place on May 31, 1223, between the Mongol Empire (led by Jebe and Subutai) and Kiev, Galich, and several other Rus' principalities and the Cumans, under the command of Mstislav the Bold and Mstislav III of Kiev. The battle was fought on the banks of the Kalka River and ended in a decisive Mongol victory.

Following the Mongol invasion of Central Asia and the subsequent collapse of the Khwarezmian Empire, a Mongol force under the command of generals Jebe and Subutai advanced into Iraq-i Ajam. Jebe requested permission from the Mongol leader, Genghis Khan, to continue his conquests for a few years before returning to the main army via the Caucasus. While waiting for Genghis Khan's reply, the duo set out on a raid in which they attacked Georgia and killed its king. Genghis Khan granted the duo permission to undertake their expedition, and after making their way through the Caucasus, they defeated a coalition of Caucasian tribes before defeating the Cumans. The Cuman Khan fled to the court of his son-in-law, Prince Mstislav the Bold of Galich, who he convinced to help fight the Mongols. Mstislav the Bold formed an alliance of the some 18 Rus' princes including Mstislav III of Kiev.

The Rus' princes killed the Mongol envoy who had arrived to warn them that their fight was with the Polovtsy, not the Russians. When Mstislav of Kiev crossed over the Dnieper with 1,000 men, the Mongol force withdrew. Assuming they had broken the spirits of the Mongols, the whole Russian force crossed over and pursued the Mongols for nine days out onto the step before the Mongols turned to face them at Kalka River. The Polovtsy, according to the Russian sources, broke and fled through the Russian forces, causing mass confusion and a general slaughter ensued. Mstislav of Kiev's forces (including two other princes), which had chosen not to cross the river, were then attacked and besieged by the main Mongol force after it had taken a stand on a hilltop above the river where the grand prince had hastily constructed a stockade. The stockade was assaulted for three days before it was finally taken. The Mongols showed no mercy to the survivors. The three princes taken prisoner were stretched out under a wooden platform and crushed to death while the Mongols held their victory banquet atop them. They were killed in this way because it was forbidden by Mongol beliefs, to shed royal blood. In the same way, upon taking Baghdad in 1358, Hulegu Khan had the last Caliph wrapped in a blanket and kicked to death rather than being beheaded or stabbed.

Six other princes were killed in the pursuit back to the Dnieper River, although it is thought that nine ultimately did escape, including Mstislav Udaloi, who cut the boats loose on the Dnieper so the Mongols could not pursue him. Template:FixBunching

Background

Further information: Mongol invasion of Central Asia

In 1219, in retaliation for the murders of his ambassadors, the Mongol Khan, Genghis Khan, invaded the Khwarezmian Empire. In a campaign that lasted three years, Genghis Khan and his generals destroyed the Khwarezmian armies and caused the empire to disintegrate. The Khwarezmian Sultan Ala ad-Din Muhammad succumbed to disease on an island in the Caspian Sea, leaving his son and heir Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu landless.

When Jebe (one of the Mongol generals pursuing Muhammad) heard of Ala ad-Din Muhammad's death, he asked Genghis Khan for a year or two to continue his conquests before returning to Mongolia via the Caucasus'.

While awaiting Genghis' reply, Jebe and Subutai led their army of 20,000 men, with each general commanding a tumen. They left behind a trail of destruction as they moved through Iraq-i Ajam and Azerbaijan, sacking the cities of Rayy, Zanjan and Qazvin. The city of Hamadan surrendered without a struggle. Meanwhile, Özbeg, the Atabeg of Azerbaijan, saved his capital, Tabriz, and prevented his country's destruction by offering to the Mongols a large amount of money, clothing and horses.

From Tabriz, the Mongols advanced north and made their winter base in the Mugan Steppes. There, the army was strengthened by the arrival of Kurd and Turcoman freebooters, who offered their services to the Mongols.

Caucasus raid

Further information: Mongol invasions of Georgia and Armenia

Meanwhile, Jebe's and Subutai's attention had turned elsewhere. In January and February 1221, they made a reconnaissance into the Kingdom of Georgia, entering through the Kura River. The goal of the Mongols was not to conquer the country but to plunder it, and the Kurds and Turcoman freebooters were sent off in the vanguard. However, the King of Georgia, George IV Lasha, advanced with 10,000 men and drove the Mongols back near Tbilisi. The Mongols withdrew but continued to launch counter-attacks on the Georgian army. The Mongols then launched a full-scale attack and defeated the Georgian army, which Richard Gabriel states was made up of 70,000 men.

In March 1221, the Mongols returned to Azerbaijan and besieged Maragheh, using prisoners as cannon-fodder. By the end of the month, they had captured the city and put most of the population to death. Jebe and Subutai planned to advance south and capture Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, and hold it for ransom while the Caliph was in Iraq-i Ajam with a small army. Instead, the Mongols turned once again to Hamadan. This time, however, the city's leaders failed to surrender, and its protectors inflicted large casualties upon the Mongol forces before their capture and plunder of the city.

In autumn 1221, the Mongols advanced north into Georgia once again, entering through the Kura River. A Georgian army was waiting near Tbilisi, and when Subutai advanced, he feigned retreat. At this point, the Georgian cavalry followed Subutai's army into an ambush set by Jebe. The Georgian army suffered a heavy defeat, and King George was mortally wounded. The Mongols proceeded to plunder southern Georgia.

Prelude

A map showing the Cuman Khanate and the Rus principalities

Genghis Khan eventually granted Jebe permission and with Subutai as his second-in-command, the Mongols advanced to the city of Derbent, which refused to surrender. Jebe promised to spare the city in return for the services of 10 guides to take them through the Caucasus. To warn the guide against playing any tricks, the Mongols executed one of them. The crossing of the Caucasus was costly for the Mongols, who had to abandon their siege engines and lost hundreds of men to the cold.

After making it through the Caucasus, the Mongols were met by an alliance consisting of the Lezgians, the Alans and the Cherkesses, tribes who were living north of the Caucasus who had mustered an army of around 50,000 men. They were joined by the Cumans, a Turkish people who owned an expansive khanate stretching from Lake Balkhash to the Black Sea. The Cumans also convinced the Volga Bulgars and Khazars to join. The Cuman Khan, Koten, placed his army under the command of his brother, Yuri, and his son, Daniel. The first battle between the league and the Mongols was indecisive, but the Mongols managed to persuade the Cuman to abandon the alliance by reminding them of the Turkish-Mongol friendship and promising them a share of the booty gained from the Caucasian tribes.

With this arrangement settled, the Mongols attacked the alliance's army and routed it. The Mongols then proceeded to attack the Cumans, who had split into two separate groups as they were returning home, destroying both armies and executing all the prisoners before sacking Astrakhan. The Mongols began pursuing the Cumans as they fled in a north-westerly direction.

Meanwhile, the Venetians sent a delegation to the Mongols, and they concluded an alliance in which it was agreed that the Mongols would destroy any other European trading post they came across. As the Mongols pursued the Cumans, Jebe sent a detachment to Crimea, where the Genoese had trading stations. The Mongols captured and plundered the Genoese city of Soldaia. Meanwhile, Koten fled to the court of his son-in-law, Prince Mstislav the Bold of Galich. He warned Mstislav: "Today the Mongols have taken our land and tomorrow they will take yours". However, the Cumans were ignored for almost a year as the Russians had suffered from Cumans raids for decades. But when news reached Kiev that the Mongols were marching along the Dniester River, the Russians responded.

Mstislav gathered an alliance of the Kievan Rus' princes including Mstislav III of Kiev and Prince Yuri II of Vladimir-Suzdal, who promised support. The Rus princes then began mustering their armies and going towards the rendezvous point.

The battle

File:Danylo Halyckyi.jpg

A monument to Daniel of Halych, one of the Rus' commanders

The detailed reports of the mustering armies, their sizes, and the precise routes taken to the battleground are simply not known. Indeed, the precise location of the Kalka River itself is not known, although it is thought to be a similar named river that flows into the Sea of Azov. The Russian sources name six princes killed in pursuit, three after being captured, and apparently nine others who escaped, including Mstislav the Daring. How large each princes contingent was, is usually not known. Historian Leo de Hartog gives the size of the Rus' army as 30,000, while Richard Gabriel and Hector Hugh Munro claim that the size of the Rus' army was 80,000, although Gabriel cites Michael Prawdin as his source and Prawdin does not cite where he gets this information. It must also be said that Munro (who usually wrote under the pen name Saki) was a literary figure and not a trained historian. de Hartog also estimates the size of the Mongol army as 20,000, while Gabriel estimates that it was around 23,000 men. John Fennell, however, calls much of this into doubt, saying the numbers given in the Russian sources (there are no Mongol or Polovtsian sources, at least none that have survived, and other sources from other cultures are rather dubious) are formulaic or exaggerated and the chronicles contradict themselves. The Russian Primary Chronicle gives a number of 10,000 killed while the much later (and much less reliable) Nikonian Chronicle cites 60,000 killed. Fennell concludes that it is simply not known (and will never be known) how large the armies were that took part or how many casualties there were. Historians such as Gabriel, Hartog, and others cite older sources that often repeat numbers in the chronicles (or never cite where they get their information) without critically analyzing the sources.

The Russian sources give only a very general account of the battle itself and the pursuit of the princes back across the steppe. The chronicles, again, name which princes took part and which died, but not much more in terms of the size of armies or casualties. As to the actual battle itself, the chronicles report that the Polovtsy broke and ran without having fought at all and that their flight through the Russian ranks led to mass confusion and resulted in their slaughter by the Mongols. Any attempt to draw up a detailed order of battle or give specific accounts of the chronological order of certain maneuvers or actions is thus impossible despite rather fanciful efforts by Gabriel, Nicolle and Shpankovsky, and others to do just that.

Aftermath

The route of the expedition can be seen in the top left corner

Despite the general lack of detailed information, the battle was probably a very costly defeat for the Rus' princes insofar as nine princes were killed and another nine fled in disgrace. Even though the number of casualties is not known, given the size of the entries in various Russian chronicles dedicated to the battle, it must have had a devastating impact on Kievan Rus' government and society. While casualty figures are, again, not known, historian Robert Marshall is probably correct in describing the raid as follows: "The rest of Subedai's campaign has entered the annals of military history as one of the greatest adventures of cavalry warfare."

In additon to their pursuit of Mstislav the Daring, the Mongols plundered a few towns in the south before turning around and thus did not devaste Kievan Rus' territory much. The Mongol army then marched east, crossed the Volga River near modern day Volgograd, turned north and passed through the Volga Bulgar, where they were defeated in an ambush by the Bulgars. The Mongol army encountered the Bulgars in another battle in which they routed the Bulgars. The Mongols followed this up by attacking the Kanglis Cumans, who had supported their fellow Cumans in the Caucasus a year before. They fought against the Cuman army near the Ural Mountains, defeating and killing the Khan before making them pay tribute.

Following this victory, the Mongols turned east and met Genghis Khan and the rest of the Mongol army in the steppes to the east of the Syr Darya River. Genghis Khan showed great appreciation for his general's achievements and heaped praise on Jebe and Subutai. Jebe, however, did not survive the campaign long; he died soon afterwards. The importance of the expedition was immense. The expedition was history's longest cavalry raid, with the Mongols riding 5,500 miles (8,900 km) in three years. Subutai also stationed numerous spies in Rus, who provided frequent reports on what was happening in Europe and Rus. In 1237, Subutai together with Batu led another attack on Rus, this time with 120,000 men, and with this army he conquered Kievan Rus'.

Sources

Printed sources

• Richard Gabriel, (2004). Subotai The Valiant: Genghis Khan's Greatest General. Praeger Publishers. ISBN 0-275-97582-7
• Leo de Hartog, (1989). Genghis Khan: Conqueror of the World. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 1-85043-139-6
• Peter Jackson, (2005). The Mongols and the West, 1221-1410. Pearson Education Limited. ISBN 0-582-36896-0
• Robert Marshall, (1993). Storm from the East: From Genghis Khan to Khubilai Khan. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-08300-8
• Janet Martin, (1995). Medieval Russia: 980–1584. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-39276-8
• Hector Hugh Munro, (1900). The Rise of the Russian Empire. G. Richards.
• Robert Wallace, (1967). Rise of Russia. Time-Life Books. ISBN 900658-37-1
• Golitsin, N.S., Russian military history, St.Petersburg, 1877, Vol. 4, Part I, pp. 107–109. (Russian: Голицын Н.С. Русская военная история. —СПб.,1877. —4.1. — С. 107–109.)
• Chronicle tales of Tatar-Mongol invasion/Military tales of Ancient Rus, Moscow, 1985, pp. 70–95 (Russian: Летописные повести о татаро-монгольском нашествии // Воинские повести Древней Руси. — М., 1985. С. 70–95.)

On-line sources

• Rossabi, Morris (October 2004). "All the Khan's horses" (PDF). Columbia University. Retrieved 2008-04-04.