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Hungary in 1301
Notes:
Slavonia and Croatia - Andrew's duchies
Syrmia - Vassal kingdom of Stefan Dragutin
Bosnia - Hereditary banate ruled by Stephen I Kotromanic.
 
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King Béla IV of Hungary became very concerned, when in 1237, frier Julian warns him about the Mongol threat. For this reason, he temporarily ceased his recentralising efforts against the barons, and instead he began to concentrate on the fortifications of the passes of the Carpathian Mountains.

After the Cuman defeats against the Mongols, the Cuman khan, Köten sought refuge for his people in Hungary in 1239. Béla IV set only one condition, the conversion of the pagan Cumans to Roman catholicism, which Köten accepted.

Béla's move, to let the Cumans in enraged Batu Khan, who viewed them as his subjects. He wrote Béla a threatening letter, inwhich he demanded Béla to surrender to him and expel the Cumans from Hungary. He got no response, thus the plan of invasion of Hungary was set in motion.

In March of 1241, the Mongols led by Batu attacked Hungary from 4 directions through the Carpathians. However by that time, the fortifications of the passes were already complete and the Mongols had to lay siege on them.

Unaware of the lag of the other armies, a fifth Mongol army, which fought against the Poles and Czechs prior, broke into Hungary from Moravia in late April and besieged Turócz and Nyitra. The two forts succesfully resisted the Mongols until 12th May, when a Hungarian army led by prince Kálmán, the younger brother of Béla IV approached Nyitra. In response, the Mongols left the siege and retreated towards Turócz, where they united with the other portion of the army. The Hungarians followed them and engaged in battle at there on 18th May. The Mongol army consisted of roughly 6000 men, while the Hungarian around 8000. In the end, the Hungarian arms triumphed and the remnants of the Mongol army retreated to Moravia, while the Hungarian army returned to the gathering camp of the main Hungarian army in Pest.

By the end of May, when Kálmán's forces returned, Béla managed to gather around 65 000 men at Pest, 10 000 of which were Cumans. There were many Templars and Hospitallers as well, while the Duke of Austria, Frederick also brought 5000 men. On 27th May, Béla's army began to march to Ungvár. The army got there on 10th June, just in time, because on the previous day, the main army of Batu Khan managed to completely destroy the defenses of the Verecke Pass and 50 000 Mongol warrior broke into the country.

The two army met on 11th June near Munkács, but except for minor skirmishes, the two didn't engage in battle yet. The real battle began, when the Mongols launched their attack at night, to catch the Hungarians offguard. The Hungarians were indeed surprised, but fortunately they could form their lines in time thanks to the crossbowmen, who managed repel the first wave of the Mongol attack. Regardless, Frederick, Duke of Austria after the initial shock of the Mongol attack, fled the battle, which he thought to be lost with many of his soldiers. This hurt the Hungarians and hindered their efforts against the Mongols, but as the fight went on, the tides slowly started to turn. The battle eventually lasted until early afternoon, when due to the severe losses, Batu Khan decided to withdraw his army and retreat, thus ultimately, the battle ended in a decisive Hungarian victory.

In the battle, the Hungarians lost around 15 000 men (not counting Frederick's fled forces), while the Mongols the double of it. The Hospitallers and Templars fought very well, just as the Cumans, who were led by their Khan, Köten himself, but Prince Kálmán deserved the most credit, whose unmatched bravery and military skill were essential for the Hungarian victory.

After the Battle of Munkács, the Hungarian army split to many pieces and went to reinforce to defenders of the attacked passes. Within weeks, all sieges of the passes were abandoned by the Mongols, and the war was over. Batu Khan never ever bothered with Hungary again.

The victory furthermore gained significant prestige for the Hungarian Crown both internally and in Europe, which gave a huge boost to Béla IV's recentralising aims. However Béla also took note of the effectiveness of the heavily armed knights in battle and of the usefulness of the fortifications in wartime, thus his another goal became to raise the numbers of both of these in his realm.

Edit: Corrected some ugly parts

Very interesting. Im not an expert of the Árpád period but the numbers for the hungarian (allied) army seem too high for me. Bela's recentralizing policy made the barons very uncooperative with him and even with them I would think that number too much. Without them completly commiting which I think is unlikely for said reasons its unlikely. Also even if we accept a number of 65,000 for the Hungarian army the mongol forces should be of much higher quality which makes a hungarian victory unlikely.

Also Hungary had a border defence system called Gyepü in place - the border areas were intentionally left as wasteland and made to marhes etc. OTL the mongols managed to go thourg this by following the fleeing border defender who new the way and basically led them through. Exchanging that to proper fortifications on such a short notice and without the knowledge of what will work best against the mongols seems a bit of hindsight to me - not impossible mind you just unlikely. Before the mongol invasion Hungary barely had any stone forts - most were of earth and they proved pretty inadequate against the mongols. It was only after the experience of the mongol invasion - when only some of the stone fortified places had withstood the sieges - that Bela adopted a policy of building stone fortifications. This was achived by giving up on his recentralizing policies and in exchange of landgrants demanding the building of stone fortifications. This naturally led to the barons becoming much stronger and thanks to the fortifications much more independent.
 
Very interesting. Im not an expert of the Árpád period but the numbers for the hungarian (allied) army seem too high for me. Bela's recentralizing policy made the barons very uncooperative with him and even with them I would think that number too much. Without them completly commiting which I think is unlikely for said reasons its unlikely. Also even if we accept a number of 65,000 for the Hungarian army the mongol forces should be of much higher quality which makes a hungarian victory unlikely.
Maybe you could view the numbers as romantic exageration, but according to what I read, Béla's army did reach ~50-60 000, which with the Cumans could easily reach my numbers. As for that the Mongol army would have had better quality, I don't see why would that be the case. Furthermore Béla TTL "ceased" his centralising policy some years prior to the Mongol attack, which would make more nobles willing to aid the king, imo.

Also Hungary had a border defence system called Gyepü in place - the border areas were intentionally left as wasteland and made to marhes etc. OTL the mongols managed to go thourg this by following the fleeing border defender who new the way and basically led them through. Exchanging that to proper fortifications on such a short notice and without the knowledge of what will work best against the mongols seems a bit of hindsight to me - not impossible mind you just unlikely. Before the mongol invasion Hungary barely had any stone forts - most were of earth and they proved pretty inadequate against the mongols. It was only after the experience of the mongol invasion - when only some of the stone fortified places had withstood the sieges - that Bela adopted a policy of building stone fortifications.
The gyepű at this point was already a bit obsolete, "it was going out of fashion", and many areas began to being populated. The defences in the Carpathians are not that proper stone fortresses, which you probably imagine, but more like very well made blockades in contrast with the existing, but very poorly made OTL version. They were built from mixed materials, stone, wood and mud. THeir primary objective was to slow down the attacking forces, while the country could gather its strength, that's jus the icing of the cake, that they did actually withstand the Mongols. Béla knew his country was vulnerable at the time, so building/upgrading those defenses not necessarily needs hindsight.

It was only after the experience of the mongol invasion - when only some of the stone fortified places had withstood the sieges - that Bela adopted a policy of building stone fortifications. This was achived by giving up on his recentralizing policies and in exchange of landgrants demanding the building of stone fortifications. This naturally led to the barons becoming much stronger and thanks to the fortifications much more independent.
Béla still notes the usefulness of fortifications TTL, because of the success of the Carpathian blockade, which needs to be replaced with forts anyway, since the blocked paths hurt the trade in the area. However apart from defense, Béla finds another trait of the forts much more appealing, which is the control. The defences allowed him to gain important information on his foes, for example, tha which army was their main army. After the war, the king begins his fort-building policies to gain better grasp of knowledge on the local lords of the surrounding areas. Also, a noteworthy difference to OTL is, that he only builds forts on royal domains, and it still remains forbidden/ heavily regulated for the barons and for the other privileged. This means that together with the resumed, but milder centralisation, Béla IV manages to keep the barons in check.
 
Chapter VII: Anjou Ambitions and Andrew III's Reign.

Within his country, Andrew III might have stood unopposed, but the situation was different abroad. The Anjous of Sicily backed Pope didn't recognise Andrew as legitimate successor of Ladislaus IV and claimed the throne for themselves. Otto III from the Wittelbachs also claimed the throne for himself, but through his father-in-law, who was the German King, Albert, Andrew managed to make him withdraw his claim. The conflict with the young Caroberto d'Anjou however, was inevitable, who by this time even allied with the Venetians, whom he promised to return of the Dalmatian possessions from Hungary. Caroberto landed with his small army at Zengg in 1302, and began marching Northwards. With some local lords joining Caroberto, his army became a force, which Andrew III simply couldn't ignore anymore, and he began to amass his forces as well. The two opposing armies finally met near Gradec, the centre of the Banate of Slavonia. The battle was won by Andrew, but Caroberto and his supporters successfully prevented high losses, when they withdrew. The warfare in the South continued through the year as Andrew failed to force Caroberto to a decisive battle. The change came in March of 1303, when Caroberto received some Venetian-hired mercenaries to aid him, and with a newly found confidence, he decided to face Andrew and his forces. The decisive battle was fought on the 21th, near Zengg, where Caroberto landed not even a year earlier. While Caroberto fought bravely, and the forces were near equal, 10 000 men on both sides, ultimately the lack of his experience resulted in Andrew III's victory. Caroberto, who lost his chance to seize the throne, was forced to recognise Andrew as legitimate King of Hungary, and returned to Naples.

When his realm was finally secured, Andrew III proved to be an effective ruler. With his Venetian education, he understood well the importance of trade and the development of the towns and cities, which he, just like his predecessors, aided with gifting rights and privileges. Andrew's goal was to strenghten the cities, so they could become a reliable powerbase, onwhich he could rely on. The king also approached the lesser nobility for similar reasons. These measures of Andrew continued through his reign, which laid down the foundations of the estates system in Hungary. During Andrew III's reign, the incomes of the royal treasure began to grow significantly, after the generations of royal support of the cities and towns finally began to show its results. The trade flourished, which with the reformed royal duties provided Andrew a steady revenue alongside the regale and the royal domains' incomes.

In 1316, upon Stefan Dragutin, Syrmian King's death, war broke out between his son Vladislav, and his younger brother Stefan Milutin over the kingdom. Stefan Milutin, who was also King of Serbia as Uros II, gained quickly the upperhand, which forced Vladislav to turn to Andrew III for help, which the Hungarian King did provide after Vladislav reassured his loyalty to him. Eventually Vladislav managed to defend his realm from his uncle, and was crowned King of Syrmia.

Andrew III reigned for another four years, when in early 1321, he died in a cold. He lived 55 years and reigned 19 years. He was buried in the Royal Basilica in Fehérvár beside other Kings of Hungary. On the throne, he was succeeded by his 17 years old son, Stephen VI.
 
What Hungarians did about Wenceslaus' expansion into Poland? Increase of Premyslid power is not in Hungarian interest and Hungarians backed Poles against Czechs IOTL. Would Hungarians be able to stop Wenceslaus from claiming Cracow?
 
What Hungarians did about Wenceslaus' expansion into Poland? Increase of Premyslid power is not in Hungarian interest and Hungarians backed Poles against Czechs IOTL. Would Hungarians be able to stop Wenceslaus from claiming Cracow?
I know I missed that part. There will be an update about that soon.
 
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