Battle of the Kalka River

Battle of Kalka River
Part of the horse archers
Date 31 May 1223[1] Location Kalka River (now Ukraine) 47°15′03″N 37°29′44″E / 47.25083°N 37.49556°E / 47.25083; 37.49556 Result Mongol victory
Belligerents
Mongol Empire Brodnici	Principality of Galicia-Volhynia Principality of Chernigov Principality of Smolensk Cumans
Commanders and leaders
Jebe Subutai Ploscânea	Mstislav Mstislavich Mstislav III (POW)  Daniel of Galicia (WIA) Mstislav II Svyatoslavich † Khan Köten
Strength
20,000–23,000 men[2][3]	80,000[4][5][6][7][8][9]
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Around 60–90% of Coalition force killed[10]

The Battle of the Kalka River

The combined Rus' army defeated the Mongol rearguard at first. The Rus' pursued the Mongols, who were in a feigned retreat, for several days, which spread out their armies. The Mongols stopped and assumed battle formation on the banks of the Kalka River. Mstislav the Bold and his Cuman allies attacked the Mongols without waiting for the rest of the Rus' army and were defeated. In the ensuing confusion, several other Rus' princes were defeated, and Mstislav of Kiev was forced to retreat to a fortified camp. After holding out for three days, he surrendered in return for a promise of safe conduct for himself and his men. Once they surrendered, however, the Mongols slaughtered them and executed Mstislav of Kiev. Mstislav the Bold escaped, and the Mongols went back to Asia, where they joined Genghis Khan.

In 1219, in retaliation for the murders of his

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.^[14]

While awaiting Genghis' reply, Jebe and

At the same time, Jebe's and Subutai's attention had turned elsewhere. In January and February 1221, they made a

In March 1221, the Mongols returned to Azerbaijan and besieged Maragheh, using prisoners as the vanguard to take the brunt of each assault on the city. 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 defenders inflicted many casualties upon the Mongol forces before the Mongols captured and plundered the city.^[17]

In late 1221, the Mongols advanced north into Georgia once again, entering through the Kura River. A 30,000 men strong Georgian—Armenian army was assembled near Tbilisi.^[18] The Mongols were also reinforced, numbering 30,000 and received further support from local Turkmen tribes.^[19] Jebe set up an ambush with 5,000 men while the main Mongol army feigned retreat. The Georgian cavalry pursued Subutai's army after defeating the Turkmen and were destroyed when Jebe closed the trap. The Georgian army suffered a heavy defeat at Khunan, and King George was mortally wounded. The Mongols proceeded to plunder southern Georgia.^[20]

Genghis Khan eventually granted Jebe permission and with Subutai as his second-in-command,

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.^[24] The Mongols began pursuing the Cumans as they fled in a north-westerly direction.^[25]

The

The move by the Rus' army was detected by the Mongols, who were on the east side of the Dnieper River waiting for reinforcements from Jochi, Genghis Khan's eldest son, who was campaigning around the Aral Sea. Jochi, however, had become ill, which meant no reinforcements would be coming.^[28]

At the same time, the Rus' attempted to trap the Mongols. The princes of Galicia and Volhynia transported their armies south down the river, while the princes of Kiev and Chernigov advanced north up the river, and the army of Kursk advanced from the front. At the same time, the Cumans attempted to attack the Mongol army's rear.^[28] When Jebe learned of this, he sent 10 envoys to the Prince of Kiev. The envoys stated that the Mongols had no feud with the Rus and were only attacking the Cumans; they added that the Mongols were marching east, away from the Rus' cities. Mstislav of Kiev had the envoys executed, and the Mongols responded by sending another set of ambassadors, who declared war.^[31]

When Jebe and Subutai heard of the Rus' movements, they began moving east, away from the Rus, which was the only direction in which they could move. However, they left a rearguard of 1,000 under the command of an officer, Hamabek, to report of the Rus movements and act as bait. Soon, Mstislav the Bold reached the river opposite the rearguard, and it became apparent that no prince had been appointed commander-in-chief. Thus, all the princes could act as they pleased. Eventually, Mstislav crossed the river under heavy arrow fire. When the Rus landed, however, their numbers were too great, and the Mongols were killed to the last man.^[31]

After drawing out the Rus armies for nine days in a feigned retreat, the Mongol army turned to face their pursuers along the

The Russian primary sources give only a very general account of the battle itself and the pursuit of the princes back across the steppe. The chronicles 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 (Cumans) broke and ran without having fought and that their flight through the Rus’ ranks led to mass confusion and resulted in their slaughter by the Mongols.[33]

The Mongols attacked the coalition army when most of it had crossed the Kalka River. The Mongols appear to have caught the coalition forces by surprise in a fast transition from horse archer fire to massed cavalry charges, because the coalition rout began incredibly quickly: the Rus forces bringing up the rear had not yet arrived on the battlefield by the time the front ranks were dissolving. The armies of Volhynia and Kursk made a gap in their line so that the fleeing Cumans could retreat. However, the Mongol heavy cavalry charged through the newly formed gap and also enveloped them. The army of Chernigov, which was not aware that the battle had started, was advancing when they collided head-on with the retreating Cumans. Using smoke bombs to disrupt the coalition's ability to coordinate, the Mongol cavalry took advantage of the confusion in the Chernigov line and attacked, causing the line to collapse. This, in turn, led to the death of Prince Mstislav of Chernigov.^[34][35]

At the same time, the Mongol wings closed around the shattered Rus' army, cutting off its retreat. The surrounded Rus' were hit by volley after volley, accompanied by cavalry charges at any weakness in the formation. As the Mongols were carrying this annihilation out, some of the army – led by Mstislav the Bold – managed to cut their way through the Mongol ring and escape.^[36] Mstislav of Kiev arrived to see what remained of the Rus' army fleeing. With his contingent of 10,000 men, he retreated to his stockaded camp, on a hill by the Dnieper. The pursuing Mongol army caught up with Mstislav of Kiev's forces and started to besiege the camp.^[28]

The battle was a very costly defeat for the Rus' princes, with Richard Gabriel claiming that they lost 50,000 men, while the Mongol losses were minimal. All the engaged coalition forces were caught with their backs to the river, and thus had no feasible line of retreat. Only Mstislav the Bold was able to save some of his army. Out of the Rus' primary sources, The

The Mongols executed Mstislav of Kiev and the Kievan nobles with the traditional Mongol caveat reserved for royalty and nobility: without shedding blood. Mstislav and his nobles were buried and suffocated under the Mongol general's victory platform at the victory feast.[40] Meanwhile, Mstislav the Bold managed to reach the western side of the Dnieper with what remained of his army. To stop the Mongols from crossing to the western side of the Dnieper, Mstislav destroyed all the boats he could find.^[41] After the battle, the people of Rus trembled in fear of this unknown scourge who had emerged from the frontier and destroyed the flower of their army. However, the Mongols were not there to conquer, and merely marched east after plundering.

What the Rus' feared would happen did not come to pass, as the Mongols pursued the prince of Galicia and plundered a few towns in the south before turning around. The Mongol army crossed the

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 generals' achievements and heaped praise on Jebe and Subutai. Jebe, however, did not survive the campaign long; he died soon afterwards.^[44] 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'.^[45]

In 1237, Subutai together with Batu led another attack, and with 120,000 men, conquered the Kievan Rus'.^[46]