They beat Poland and Hungary in 48 hours, then rode home | WHAT STOPPED THE MONGOLS? Part 4

History Onion · Part 4 · 2:58

In 1219, before he rode west, Genghis Khan's wife Yisui asked him which of his four sons would rule when he died — and his second son called the eldest a bastard in front of the court. The compromise was Ögedei, who drank. Part 4 follows that crack one generation down: Ögedei sends the grandsons west in 1235; Ryazan, Vladimir and Kiev fall winter by winter; at the victory feast Ögedei's own son insults Batu and the quarrel starts again; in April 1241 two Mongol columns destroy the armies of Poland and Hungary within two days and scouts ride within a day of Vienna. Then, on 11 December 1241, Ögedei dies after a night of drinking, and in the spring the army turns around and never comes back. Why is still argued. Güyük is crowned in 1246 with a papal envoy watching, answers the Pope with a demand for submission, and dies in 1248 marching west — most historians think toward Batu. Numbers & sources: the council scene and the feast quarrel are in the Secret History of the Mongols (§§254–255, 275–277), the dynasty's own chronicle. Legnica (9 April 1241) and Mohi on the Sajó (11 April) per Peter Jackson, The Mongols and the West; Henry of Silesia's head paraded on a spear is in the Polish sources and the Hedwig Codex. Ögedei's death after a drinking bout is Juvayni's account; poisoning rumours also circulated. The 1242 withdrawal: the traditional reading is the succession recall; Büntgen and Di Cosmo (2016) argued a wet spring drowned the pasture, a reading other climate historians dispute; Stephen Pow argues the stone fortresses. The video dates the events and gives all three causes without ranking them. Carpini's description of Kiev's bones is from his own report; Güyük's letter of November 1246 survives in the Vatican Archives. Names use familiar English spellings (Genghis Khan = Chinggis Khaan; Ögedei = Ögödei; Güyük = Güyüg). Some scenes are cinematic reconstructions of documented events. All quotes, dates, and sources are historically verified. #history #mongols #genghiskhan #historyshorts #documentary #hungary #poland