Who Could Have Stopped the Mongols Prior to Ain Jalut?

Who Could Have Stopped the Mongols?

  • Khwarezmian Empire: Battle of Indus

    Votes: 10 40.0%
  • Kievan Rus: Battle of Kalka River

    Votes: 2 8.0%
  • Sultanate of Rum: Battle of Kose Deg

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Kingdom of Hungary: Battle of Mohi

    Votes: 1 4.0%
  • Volga Bulgaria: Battle of Samara Bend

    Votes: 1 4.0%
  • Jin Dynasty: Battle of Yehuling

    Votes: 5 20.0%
  • Abbasid Caliphate: Siege of Baghdad

    Votes: 3 12.0%
  • Kingdom of Poland: Battle of Legnica

    Votes: 1 4.0%
  • Other

    Votes: 2 8.0%

  • Total voters
    25
  • Poll closed .
Who Could Have Stopped the Mongols Prior to Ain Jalut?

Under the leadership of Genghis Khan and Subutai the Mongols conquered nation after nation winning dozens of massive battles. The Mongols, until 1260 when they were defeated by the Mamluks at Ain Jalut, they looked unstoppable. I'm curious to know what nation could have beat the Mongols prior to Ain Jalut? Which of the following nations had the best chance of stopping the Mongols?

Khwarezmian Empire: Battle of Indus
Kievan Rus: Battle of Kalka River
Sultanate of Rum: Battle of Kose Deg
Kingdom of Hungary: Battle of Mohi
Volga Bulgaria: Battle of Samara Bend
Jin Dynasty: Battle of Yehuling
Abbasid Caliphate: Siege of Baghdad
Kingdom of Poland: Battle of Legnica
Other
 
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Well, you just forgot the Mamluks who actually defeated and stopped the Mongols OTL in the battle of Ain Jalut in 1260.
 
Why not go from the beginning Genghis Khan fails to unite the Mongolian tribes.

That stops him right in his tracks.
 

longsword14

Banned
Well, you just forgot the Mamluks who actually defeated and stopped the Mongols OTL in the battle of Ain Jalut in 1260.
Ain Jalut is overblown in actual importance. It is remarkable from the perspective of those who lost to the Mongols ,but some people tend to elevate it to an extent that makes it seem as if the main Mongol capacity of waging war was finished.
 
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I planned to respond to this thread a week ago, but was kicked so, that is my excuse for practicing light necromancy. As well, this is a thread that if others of knowledge were to discuss, could be a very interesting thread.


I voted for the Abbasid state a week ago instead of the Kwarezmshahs, for numerous reasons. While I could make an argument against the other European or Asian kingdoms listed, I would not do it justice thus I will compare the circumstances briefly between the Kwarezmshahs and the revived Abbasid state.

1. The Kwarezmshahs despite a vast land and effective leadership, was in terrible positioning for an all out war against nomadic invaders unless they were superior or relatively only interested in raiding as the Qara Khanid or Qara Khitan were.

- the key positioning of cities in the Kwarezm realm was cities such as Urgench, Samarqand, etc.. all of which are steppe horde based cities situated on the trading ruotes. This is unfortunate as the natural defense against cavalry is non existent within the Kwarezm powerbases, which due to the nature of the state is centered to the northern steppe as opposed to the previous Ghaznavid and Ghurid states situated in Afghanistan.

- due to this terrible position, the Kwarezmshahs relied on three strategies to repel hordes coming from the east.

1.) To simply defeat them at battle and using superior numbers from levied Pashtun warriors and other Islamic peoples to defeat the somewhat lightly numbered invaders. This strategy will not work as the Mongols posses superior leadership and larger or roughly equal numbers to the Kwarezm.

2.)Tribute based defense. This is rejected as the Kwarezm at this point in their development is too proud to surrender tribute to an unknown.

3.) To outsmart the opponent. This was the plan the Kwarezm implemented against the Mongols. Previously, hordes would invade and if the walls were closed and were forced into a long drawn siege, they would like many times before (think of the Avars) disintegrate into infighting and pointless squabbles. This was the false assumption by the Kwarezmshahs that the Mongols were disorganized, the problem was that they were wrong and they payed dearly for their mistake.

Outside of these situations, which are all going to fail, the Kwarezmshahs have no way to face the Mongols and is condemned to be defeated decisively.

The Abbasids on the other hand had serious advantages over the Mongols in many different ways.

1. The Abbasids were feared by the Mongols, not only due to their title or position but the impenetrable walls of Baghdad and the difficulty in facing the militia around Iraq which could break the siege of Baghdad or cut off Mongol supplies. Thus the decision by the Mongols to ravage Basra before attacking Baghdad. Further, Hulagu sought out the loyalty of Shia and Christians within Iraq, something Musta'sim neglected and was too preoccupied with his luxurious decadence to realize the threat.

2. The Mongols previously having feared the Abbasids requested an alliance with them, before proceeding to Alamut to battle the Hashashin. This was given by the Abbasids despite the foolhardy decision and reasoning and the disagreement from numerous military advisors, who advised the caliph to assist the Hashashin and defeat the Mongols before they became too strong, "They believe matters to be simple, yet it is the sword which is sharpened for the encounter", the plea by the Abbasid marshal to attack the Mongols anyone they had a chance. In response, Musta'sim simply relied on Allah to bring down calamity upon the pagans or that he could negotiate his way out of war. His negotiating would lead to the wholesale slaughter of all that he loved.

3. As well, instead of attacking the Mongols at Basra and in the South, he missed the golden opportunity to attack the Momgols from the marshlands and inflict the same sort of defeat the Zanj previously did to the horse riding armies of the Saffarids. Had he and his army sallied forth and attacked the Mongols south of Batihah then he could've taken the head of the Mongols before they ever reached Baghdad.

4. The aspect of foreign warriors. By this I refer to the Kwarezmian warriors who arrived in Mamluk dominion and served under them. Musta'sim denied their requests for refuge and any alliance. He was in fact delighted in the Mongols, seeing them as his pawns in destroying the Abbasid's chief rival in the region, this made him complacent and unwilling to seriously ever accept the Mongols as a threat. This is stacked on to his that no enemy could cross Iran effectively without some unlucky event too cut cutting the enemies advance short as happened to the Kwarezmshah-Abbasid war.


Had Abbasid authorities taken this threat seriously, the Mongols would've been stopped in Iraq or at Alamut by a Abbasid-Hashashin alliance. Whereas I give Kwarezm near no shot at defeating the far superior Mongol foe.
 
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