A great victory!
Year 1277, Mongols vs. Bagan kingdom (Burma, present day Myanmar)
12,000 Mongol horsemen vs. 60,000 Burmese horsemen protected with 2000 war elephants.
After unifying China, the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan sent envoys to neighbouring kingdoms, obliging them to accept Mongol vassalage. The Pagan King Narathihapate (reigned 1254-87) shunned the first Mongol embassy and massacred the members of the second and sent back the heads to the great Khan. Confident of victory because of recent Burmese conquests of the territory up to Nanchao, Narathihapate advanced boldly into Yunnan in 1277, accompanied by scores of elephants and soldiers. He met the Mongol troops at Ngasaunggyan, where he was decisively defeated.
Marko Polo arrived in Burma as the official envoy of Kublai Khan in 1278, one year after the big battle between the kings of Burma (Bagan) and the Mongol army. He describes that great event which took place in the plain of Vochan. The Mongols were approaching that valley with 12,000 well-equipped horsemen to face a much bigger Burmese army of 60,000 horsemen and infantry-men and 2,000 elephants. When the Mongol soldiers saw the elephants they were so scared that they turned back and started to gallop to the rear. Then the Mongol captain had the salutary idea of making the horsemen dismount from the horses and tie them to trees in the nearby wood. His soldiers then started to shoot at the elephants hitting their vulnerable parts with numerous arrows, which was the Mongol's favourite weapon. The elephants started to run away towards the wood with enormous noise, while the wooden "castles" on their backs, holding twelve to sixteen well-armed warriors, were falling down while striking the branches of the trees. When the Mongols saw that the elephants ran away, they mounted their horses again and began to chase the enemy. Then a fierce battle occurred. "Then might you see swashing blows dealt and taken from sword and mace; then might you see knights and horses and men-at-arms go down; then might you see arms and hands and legs and heads hewn off: and beside the dead that fell, many a wounded man, that never rose again, for the sore press there was. The din and uproar were so great from this side and that, that God might have thundered and no man would have heard it!" After the battle the Mongol commander took some elephants to Kublai Khan and from that time he always included them in his armies...
Thereafter Burmese opposition disintegrated. The border fortresses near Bhamo fell in 1283, thus opening the Irrawaddy River valley to invasion. Narathihapate fled southward to Bassein, where he decided to submit to Mongol vassalage, but he was assassinated by his son in 1287.
Thereafter King Nara Thihapathe was given a nick name as "Run-away King from Chinese" (Myanmar people generally consider Mongols as Chinese.), as he let the first Myanmar dynasty fall in his hands. This king's appetite was also remarkable in Myanmar history. His cook got a royal order to cook no less than 100 dishes every meal he had! As he lived for food, he died eating. His son gave him a choice between the sword and poisoned food to die, the king chose poisoned food!
Full Version: Great Mongol victories!
Nice topic - now for the European theater 
Summarised from Wikipedia
The Battle of Legnica/Liegnitz (1241)
A combined force of Poles and Germans under the command of Henry II the Pious, Duke of Silesia, supported by feudal nobility and knightly military orders sent by the Pope, attempted to halt the Mongol invasion of Europe.
MONGOL FORCES
The Mongol diversionary force, a detachment (no more than two tumens) from the army of Subedei, demonstrated the advantages of the tactical mobility and speed of horseback archers over heavily armored but slow opposition. The Mongol tactics were essentially a long series of feints and faked withdrawals from widely dispersed groups, which were 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 used in virtually all of their major battles; they were made possible by continual training and superb battlefield communication, which used a system of flags. The Mongol commander found the highest ground at the battle site, seized it, and used it to communicate to his noyans and lesser commanders their orders for troop movement. The Mongol system was a stark contrast to the clumsy European systems, in which knights advanced with basically no communication 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. These gross overestimates were excuses for the slaughter of the elite Polish gentry and knights of the military orders sent by Pope Gregory IX to halt the invaders. However, the Mongols were almost certainly outnumbered - given the weaknesses of 13th century Mongol logistical support, current estimates suggest the Mongol force numbered, at most, 20,000 in a mix of light and very light archer-cavalry. The Historia Tatarorum by the Franciscan C. de Bridia Monachi suggests a Mongol force of 10,000 troops which would have been reduced to 8,000 after casualties suffered earlier in the campaign.
What Mongol sources remain state that the Polish invasion was a raid in force, of two tumens (20,000 men), and part of Subotai's ( ) master plan to destroy the European armies one at a time, rather than allowing them to mass in force.
EUROPEAN FORCES
According to James Chambers, Henry's force consisted of at most 25,000 troops. Lesser trained troops included an army from Opole under Duke Mieszko II the Fat, Moravians led by the Margrave of Moravia's son Boleslav, conscripts from Greater Poland, volunteer Bavarian miners from Goldberg (Złotoryja). Henry's better trained troops were his own Silesians, mercenaries, and small contingents of French Knights Templar and Hospitallers.
The historian Marek Cetwiński estimates the allied force to have been 2,000 strong, while Gerard Labuda estimates 7,000-8,000 soldiers in the Christian army.
A contingent of Teutonic Knights of indeterminate number is traditionally believed to have joined the allied army. However, recent analysis of the 15th century Annals of Jan Długosz by Labuda suggests that the German crusaders were added to the text after the chronicler Długosz had completed the work. A legend that the Prussian Landmeister of the Teutonic Knights, Poppo von Osterna, was killed during the battle is false, as he died at Legnica years later while visiting his wife's nunnery.
BATTLE
Henry divided his forces into four sections: the Bavarian miners led by Boleslav of Moravia; the conscripts from Greater Poland along with some Cracovians led by Sulisław, the brother of the killed palatine of Kraków; the army of Opole under Mieszko, possibly with some Teutonic Knights; and under Henry's personal command the Silesians, Moravians, Templars, and Hospitallers.
According to Chambers' description of the battle, the Silesian cavalry initiated combat with the vanguard (mangudai - someone please discuss this term in the other thread) of the Mongol army. After the Silesians were repelled, the cavalry of Greater Poland, led by Sulisław, and the cavalry of Opole attacked the Mongols next. The vanguard feigned a retreat, inducing the allied cavalry to pursue, although this separated them from the Polish infantry. Although the mangudai fled, Mongol light cavalry flanked the Polish forces. A smoke screen was used to hide the Mongol movements and confuse the Europeans. While the Mongol light cavalry attacked from the flanks and the heavy cavalry attacked from the front, the Mongol archers peppered the Polish forces with arrows.
Erik Hildinger indicates the levies of Boleslav led the attack instead of the Silesians. He adds that after the Polish cavalry began their pursuit during the Mongols' feigned retreat, a rider shouted "Run! Run!" to the Polish forces, inducing Mieszko to withdraw the Opole contingent from the battle. This withdrawal led Henry to order his own reserves and cavalry into the battle.
The Mongols had much success in the battle by feigning their retreat. After the European knights detached from the main body of allied forces in pursuit of the fleeing Mongols, the invaders were able to separate the knights from the European infantry and defeat them one by one. Knights with heavy armor first had their horses shot out from under them, and were then slain by the lances of the Mongol heavy cavalry.
The Annals of Jan Długosz also describes the battle, although it was written in the 15th century, not when the battle actually occurred. The army of Henry II was almost destroyed - Henry and Boleslav of Moravia were killed and estimates of casualties range from 2,000 to 40,000, essentially the entire army. The Templar Grand Master Ponce d'Aubon reported to King Louis IX of France that the military order lost nine brothers, three knights, two sergeants, and 500 men-at-arms. Mongol casualties are unknown; a perfect execution of the described tactics would have minimised losses, but the Mongols endured sufficient casualties to dissuade them from attacking the Bohemian army.
The Mongols cut the right ear off of each fallen European in order to count the dead; supposedly they filled nine sackfuls. Henry was struck down and beheaded while attempting to flee the battlefield with three bodyguards, and the Mongols paraded his head before the town of Legnica on a spear.
Summarised from Wikipedia
The Battle of Legnica/Liegnitz (1241)
A combined force of Poles and Germans under the command of Henry II the Pious, Duke of Silesia, supported by feudal nobility and knightly military orders sent by the Pope, attempted to halt the Mongol invasion of Europe.
MONGOL FORCES
The Mongol diversionary force, a detachment (no more than two tumens) from the army of Subedei, demonstrated the advantages of the tactical mobility and speed of horseback archers over heavily armored but slow opposition. The Mongol tactics were essentially a long series of feints and faked withdrawals from widely dispersed groups, which were 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 used in virtually all of their major battles; they were made possible by continual training and superb battlefield communication, which used a system of flags. The Mongol commander found the highest ground at the battle site, seized it, and used it to communicate to his noyans and lesser commanders their orders for troop movement. The Mongol system was a stark contrast to the clumsy European systems, in which knights advanced with basically no communication 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. These gross overestimates were excuses for the slaughter of the elite Polish gentry and knights of the military orders sent by Pope Gregory IX to halt the invaders. However, the Mongols were almost certainly outnumbered - given the weaknesses of 13th century Mongol logistical support, current estimates suggest the Mongol force numbered, at most, 20,000 in a mix of light and very light archer-cavalry. The Historia Tatarorum by the Franciscan C. de Bridia Monachi suggests a Mongol force of 10,000 troops which would have been reduced to 8,000 after casualties suffered earlier in the campaign.
What Mongol sources remain state that the Polish invasion was a raid in force, of two tumens (20,000 men), and part of Subotai's (
) master plan to destroy the European armies one at a time, rather than allowing them to mass in force.EUROPEAN FORCES
According to James Chambers, Henry's force consisted of at most 25,000 troops. Lesser trained troops included an army from Opole under Duke Mieszko II the Fat, Moravians led by the Margrave of Moravia's son Boleslav, conscripts from Greater Poland, volunteer Bavarian miners from Goldberg (Złotoryja). Henry's better trained troops were his own Silesians, mercenaries, and small contingents of French Knights Templar and Hospitallers.
The historian Marek Cetwiński estimates the allied force to have been 2,000 strong, while Gerard Labuda estimates 7,000-8,000 soldiers in the Christian army.
A contingent of Teutonic Knights of indeterminate number is traditionally believed to have joined the allied army. However, recent analysis of the 15th century Annals of Jan Długosz by Labuda suggests that the German crusaders were added to the text after the chronicler Długosz had completed the work. A legend that the Prussian Landmeister of the Teutonic Knights, Poppo von Osterna, was killed during the battle is false, as he died at Legnica years later while visiting his wife's nunnery.
BATTLE
Henry divided his forces into four sections: the Bavarian miners led by Boleslav of Moravia; the conscripts from Greater Poland along with some Cracovians led by Sulisław, the brother of the killed palatine of Kraków; the army of Opole under Mieszko, possibly with some Teutonic Knights; and under Henry's personal command the Silesians, Moravians, Templars, and Hospitallers.
According to Chambers' description of the battle, the Silesian cavalry initiated combat with the vanguard (mangudai - someone please discuss this term in the other thread) of the Mongol army. After the Silesians were repelled, the cavalry of Greater Poland, led by Sulisław, and the cavalry of Opole attacked the Mongols next. The vanguard feigned a retreat, inducing the allied cavalry to pursue, although this separated them from the Polish infantry. Although the mangudai fled, Mongol light cavalry flanked the Polish forces. A smoke screen was used to hide the Mongol movements and confuse the Europeans. While the Mongol light cavalry attacked from the flanks and the heavy cavalry attacked from the front, the Mongol archers peppered the Polish forces with arrows.
Erik Hildinger indicates the levies of Boleslav led the attack instead of the Silesians. He adds that after the Polish cavalry began their pursuit during the Mongols' feigned retreat, a rider shouted "Run! Run!" to the Polish forces, inducing Mieszko to withdraw the Opole contingent from the battle. This withdrawal led Henry to order his own reserves and cavalry into the battle.
The Mongols had much success in the battle by feigning their retreat. After the European knights detached from the main body of allied forces in pursuit of the fleeing Mongols, the invaders were able to separate the knights from the European infantry and defeat them one by one. Knights with heavy armor first had their horses shot out from under them, and were then slain by the lances of the Mongol heavy cavalry.
The Annals of Jan Długosz also describes the battle, although it was written in the 15th century, not when the battle actually occurred. The army of Henry II was almost destroyed - Henry and Boleslav of Moravia were killed and estimates of casualties range from 2,000 to 40,000, essentially the entire army. The Templar Grand Master Ponce d'Aubon reported to King Louis IX of France that the military order lost nine brothers, three knights, two sergeants, and 500 men-at-arms. Mongol casualties are unknown; a perfect execution of the described tactics would have minimised losses, but the Mongols endured sufficient casualties to dissuade them from attacking the Bohemian army.
The Mongols cut the right ear off of each fallen European in order to count the dead; supposedly they filled nine sackfuls. Henry was struck down and beheaded while attempting to flee the battlefield with three bodyguards, and the Mongols paraded his head before the town of Legnica on a spear.
And that battle was just a raid
QUOTE(Subotai @ Mar 10 2007, 11:36 PM) [snapback]2782160[/snapback]
And that battle was just a raid
Da steppe warfare is specialised in raids that was the original goal Why govern if you can wait untill they gather the $hit and then jut raid it?
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