Plausibility Check: Mongols in Europe

I have heard the geographic-determinist argument for why the Mongols could not have taken Europe, but to my mind it doesn't hold; the Mongols did in fact rule in places beyond the grasslands, notably Song China.
Well, so far as I know, nobody made this argument so far. It would be indeed a bit weird, critically considering that Mongols used as well native troops as auxiliaries (with more or less actual grasp on their loyalties, arguably).
That said, Song China was closer to their traditional bases than Europe, had a far more important agricultural production, something that made supplying and adapting more easily (while they did adapted IOTL in different places, usually by taking on local usages rather than using traditional Mongol warfare, such as in Middle-East after the XIIIth century).

Their campaigns in eastern Europe against Poland and Hungary show just how unprepared the squabbling fiefdoms at the edge of (at that time) the world's greatest empire were.
Comparing medieval Eastern Europe situation to Western Europe is a bit like comparing USSR and China in the 70's because they were both authoritarian, large and socialists.
Demographically (or even structurally wise) the differences were quite important.

So, what if they actually tried to conquer Europe and were united under Batu Grand Khan and conducted by Subutai Khan?
Well, they did actually tried, and did well, in Hungary (they didn't made coins proclaiming their domination just for giggles). So it's not impossible, obviously, that they'd have tried to go deeper there.
Technically, would it be only by crushing Europeans by sheer numbers (Feudal levies, in some circumstances could reach as far as 30 000, or 40 000 men gathered, but that's exceptionnal and there's no way that they could have reached a full Mongol army, China-scale).

But I don't think it would have been doable, geopolitically and structurally wise. China infrastructures allowed to supply on the long run such army, while European agricultural production had already an hard time to supply its own population : I don't think Mongols would have cared that much for their well being, but it would have represented a huge limitation to their armies eventually (critically remembering that we're talking of an army using cavalry on a large scale).

Communications lines would have been eventually not fitting the size of Mongols, IMO. Medieval warfare in Europe largely involved siege warfare rather than battles (meaning that large armies battles were rare, and didn't based themselves on the existance of a great road network). It's some of the reasons medieval armies in Europe usually weren't bigger than some thousands, less than demographical limitation, it was a strategical one.

Eventually the matter is less to wonder if Mongols could have won with their full force, than how they could have used their full force.
Now, restricting to Batu Khan domination in the western part of the Mongol ensemble, it's less a problem. What becomes a problem is that Middle-East is more interesting to take-over (more wealthy and eventually more divided).

If you manage to have a strong Arabo-Persian entity in the region (of course, such would ask a PoD that would definitely change the western Mongol conquests in first place), turning against Europe would make more sense, and you could admittedly see Western Europe turned into a situation not unlike Russian principalties, at least in a first time.
 
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Adverse terrain, limited grazing and mounting losses that weren't as easily replaced in the west would have slowed them, but once they secure a more permanent occupation of Hungary, they can launch new conquests and greatly reduce their logistics. South China was also even more inhospitable for steppe ponies than Western Europe.

You have to keep in mind that while the mongols did conquer South China it took them almost 50 years! And if you look a bit closer at how their conquest proceeded you'll note that first the conquered the plains around the yellow river which were well suited for horses. Then they absorbed the Chinese civilization there, used it to build a fleet and siege weapons and then set out to reduce the southern song, which still took them decades.
By the time they had conquered all of china they were no longer horse riders from the steppe but sinicized rulers fielding large fleets and conducting multiyear sieges.

So, what if they actually tried to conquer Europe and were united under Batu Grand Khan and conducted by Subutai Khan?

Probably something similar as in China: in a first wave they conquer the eastern plains particularly Hungary, which they chose as a base for further raiding. Then they assimilate the existing structures and technologies while also importing them from conquered Chinese/Middle eastern areas. Then over the course of half a century they start to conquer Germany and Italy castle by castle/city by city using levies from occupied eastern Europe and siege engines constructed by captured engineers from Italy and Germany.
 
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