Mongols Invade Russia and India: Is it Possible?

While thinking about it my world history class, I wondered whether or not if the Mongols could capture Russia/Siberia and/or India.

Could it be possible with or without having to recruit foreigners into their army?
 
While thinking about it my world history class, I wondered whether or not if the Mongols could capture Russia/Siberia and/or India.

Could it be possible with or without having to recruit foreigners into their army?

Well they did invade European Russia. And a descendant of theirs (Babur of the Mughals) invaded India as well so why not. All you need is fewer early deaths for the Mongol khans (esp. Ogadei and Mongke), or they actually stop using the kurultai as a means of choosing successors.

Depends on what you mean by foreigners. I think as powerful as the Mongols were, they needed some amount of Korean/Chinese/Persian levies to be cannon fodder for assaulting fortified towns and castles. And they would see a lot of that in Russia and India.
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
Could it be possible with or without having to recruit foreigners into their army?

The Mongols wouldn't have gotten nearly as far IOTL if they had not recruited foreigners into their army. Why do you think they could go farther than that without doing so?
 
While thinking about it my world history class, I wondered whether or not if the Mongols could capture Russia...

They did. The Russian states were tributary to the Mongols for centureis.

and/or India.

They did invade India but China and Russia were their initial primary focus. The Delhi sultanate got bloodied by the Mongols but ultimately managed to hold out against them. If the Mongols had been focused on India, however, they probably could have sacked Delhi, as Timur did a couple centuries later. The Mongols
(as they were under Genghis) probably wouldn't have stayed, though- India isn't good terrain for nomad horse armies.
 
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