The Mongol conquests, prosecuted without regard to creed, devastate Asia and Eastern Europe but will ultimately make the Silk Route safe for commerce once again.

The battlefield communication tactics of the Mongols, effected with flags, confound their enemies and revolutionize warfare in the final quarter of the age.

Möngke, taking seriously the legacy of world conquest, decides to place primary emphasis on completing the conquest of Asia, particularly China; Europe is to be dealt with later.

Because the Song have had the benefit of a lull of nearly ten years in which to recover
and to reorganize, conquering Asia has become more difficult than it would have been earlier.

Möngke himself takes command, but he also places great responsibility on his younger brother, Kublai.

Another brother, Hulagu, is sent to Iran to renew the expansion of Mongol control in Southwest Asia.

Möngke encourages Batu to raid Central Europe, but does not send him additional resources.

Thus, although Batu's armies raid deep into Poland, Lithuania, and Estonia, and again overrun Serbia and Bulgaria, these campaigns are not so important as the ones being undertaken in Southeast Asia and Southwest Asia.

Ögedei's widow, Töregene, holds power between 1242 and 1246 as regent in preparation for the selection of her son, Güyük, as the new khan.

Present during the kuriltai is the Franciscan friar, Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, a papal envoy sent to ascertain the intentions of the Mongols.

He recognizes that the Mongols plan the conquest of Europe, and he belatedly urges Europe's monarchs to adopt Mongol strategy and tactics to oppose the coming onslaught.

Güyük apparently is torn between completing the conquest of China and continuing the conquest of Europe.

The latter project is complicated, however, by Güyük's continuing rivalry with Batu.

Just as civil war seem imminent in 1249, Güyük dies.

 

The yasaq explicitly provides that after the death of the ruler all offspring of the house of Chinggis Khan, wherever they might be, must return to Mongolia to take part in the election of the new khan.

From the outskirts of Vienna and Venice, the tumen countermarch, never to reappear.

They move through Dalmatia and Serbia, then eastward where they virtually destroy the kingdoms of Serbia and Bulgaria before crossing the lower Danube.

They evacuate Hungary for lack of sufficient pasture and move into the southern Russian steppes.

Advances into India also cease.

The European expedition is to be a major Mongol effort, comparable in scope to the war against China.

It is to become a catastrophe of monumental proportions for medieval East Europeans, who are confronted with devastating wars and serious social disruption.

Nominal command is to be exercised by Batu, because this is the part of the world he has inherited from Chinggis.

The actual commander is the aging, but still brilliant, Subutei.

He is probably the most gifted of all Mongol generals, after Chinggis himself, and he had been one of the commanders of the momentous reconnaissance that had swept through southern Russia fifteen years earlier.

East Europe (1108 – 1251 CE): Fragmented Rus’, Steppe Pressures, and Mongol Invasions

Geographic and Environmental Context

East Europe includes Belarus, Ukraine, the European portion of Russia, and the sixteen Russian republics that lie west of the Urals.

• The Dnieper, Volga, and Don river systems connected forests and steppes, serving as major arteries of trade and movement.

• The Carpathian foothills, Black Sea steppes, and northern forests shaped both agriculture and pastoralism.

• The region was a frontier between Slavic agricultural societies and nomadic steppe confederations.

Climate and Environmental Shifts

• The Medieval Warm Period favored longer growing seasons, expanding cereal agriculture in forest-steppe zones.

• Stable climatic conditions supported population growth, but steppe nomads remained vulnerable to droughts, prompting migrations and raids.

• Forest and riverine resources provided a buffer against agricultural shortfalls.

Societies and Political Developments

• Kievan Rus’: By the early 12th century, Kievan Rus’ fragmented into competing principalities (Kiev, Novgorod, Vladimir-Suzdal, Galicia-Volhynia).

• Novgorod: Emerged as a powerful commercial republic, dominated by boyar elites and connected to the Hanseatic trade.

• Vladimir-Suzdal: Rose in northeastern Rus’, laying foundations for the future Muscovite core.

• Steppe nomads: The Cumans (Polovtsy) dominated the southern steppes, pressing against Rus’ principalities.

• Mongol invasions: Beginning in 1223 (Battle of the Kalka River) and culminating in 1237–1240, Mongol armies under Batu Khan conquered Rus’, sacking Kiev in 1240 and establishing dominance through the Golden Horde.

Economy and Trade

• Agriculture: Rye, wheat, barley, and oats cultivated in the forest-steppe; hunting and beekeeping were important in northern zones.

• Trade: Novgorod thrived on fur, wax, honey, and fish exports, linking to the Hanseatic League. Kiev controlled Dnieper routes to Byzantium until decline.

• Tribute systems: Under Mongol rule after 1240, tribute payments were imposed on Rus’ princes.

• Pastoralism on the steppe supported Cumans and later Mongols, who profited from horse and livestock economies.

Subsistence and Technology

• Agrarian tools: Iron ploughshares and watermills supported expanding cultivation.

• Military technology: Composite bows, cavalry tactics, and siegecraft defined steppe warfare; Rus’ fortresses (kremlins) adapted to invasions.

• River craft: Flat-bottomed boats enabled transport of grain, honey, and furs along major rivers.

• Architectural styles: Rus’ churches combined Byzantine influences with local wooden construction.

Movement and Interaction Corridors

• The Dnieper River was a historic trade route to Byzantium, though its importance waned after the 12th century.

• The Volga corridor linked Rus’ to the Caspian and Islamic world.

• The steppe corridor allowed rapid Cuman and Mongol movements, shaping geopolitics.

• Novgorod’s trade routes tied northern Rus’ to the Baltic and Scandinavia.

Belief and Symbolism

• Eastern Orthodox Christianity dominated Rus’, with monasteries as cultural and spiritual centers.

• Kiev remained the metropolitan seat until Mongol conquest; the Church provided continuity during political decline.

• Cumans practiced Tengri shamanism, blending Turkic traditions with elements of Christianity and Islam through contact.

• Mongols remained religiously pluralist, though shamanistic traditions guided their conquest period.

Adaptation and Resilience

• Fragmentation weakened Rus’, but regional centers like Novgorod and Vladimir-Suzdal adapted through trade and fortification.

• Tribute systems under the Mongols allowed survival, though autonomy was curtailed.

• Steppe nomads adapted flexibly to climate stress, integrating conquered peoples into military and tribute systems.

• The Orthodox Church provided cohesion and resilience under foreign domination.

Long-Term Significance

By 1251 CE, East Europe had been transformed by the Mongol conquest. Kievan Rus’ was shattered, Kiev reduced to ruin, and power shifted toward northeastern principalities. Novgorod survived as a commercial republic, while Vladimir-Suzdal became a core of future Muscovy. The integration of East Europe into the Mongol imperial system reshaped political, economic, and cultural trajectories, ensuring the region’s role as both a frontier and a bridge in Eurasian history.

Kievan Rus' sees a final resurgence under the rule of Vladimir II Monomakh (1113–1125) and his son Mstislav (1125–1132), but the thirteenth century Mongol invasion devastates the region, and Kiev is totally destroyed in 1240.

The Mongols defeat the Volga Bulgars in 1236, and in December 1237 Subutai and Batu lead an army of six hundred thousand across the frozen Volga River.

The Mongols spread destruction and death through Russia.

Moscow, Vladimir, and other northern Russian principalities are destroyed before summer 1238.

Subutai now turns south to the steppe region around the Don, to allow his army to rest, to regain strength, and to prepare for new advances.

Apparently his timetable is delayed for a year by a dispute between Batu and other royal princes commanding various hordes.

Nonetheless, this additional time gives Subutai an opportunity to accumulate still further information about central and western Europe from his spies.

The Mongol army crosses the Dnieper River in November 1240, after the rivers and marshes of what, in modern times, is the Ukraine had frozen enough to take the weight of cavalry.

On December 6, it conquers Kiev, the seat of the grand prince and the Metropolitan See of Rus'.

Subetai continues westward, his army advancing, typically, on a broad front in three major columns.