Social:Battle of Caucasus Mountain
| Mongol invasion of the Caucasus[1] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Mongol Invasion of Europe[1] | |||||||
 Mongol under Subotai clash with christian knights | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Mongol Empire |
 Kingdom of Georgia | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Subotai[1] |
 King George IV of Georgia[1] | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 20,000 light cavalry [2] |
60-70,000 (likely highly exaggerated)[1]
| ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| minimal[1] | thousands killed[1] | ||||||
The battle of the Caucasus mountains was fought in the spring of 1222, between the Kingdom of Georgia, led by King George IV, and the Mongol army led by Subotai. The result was a Mongol victory.
Subotai's reconnaissance
Subotai received orders to head north from Iran to find Muhammad II of Khwarezm. He wintered his army in eastern Armenia,[6] and with reinforcements sent by Genghis Khan, marched into Georgia.[7] King George IV of Georgia hearing of the Mongol invasion, immediately assembled all of his mounted troops to face the horde.[8]
Battle
Subotai sent his mounted archers to attack, who launching arrows then feigned retreat.[7] Sensing an opportunity, the Georgian cavalry charged after them.[7] As Subotai had planned, the mounted archers led the Georgian cavalry that was tired at that point into an ambush killing the vast majority of them.[7]
Aftermath
King George IV of Georgia retreated to Tiflis to prepare for another Mongol attack, but it never came. Subotai, continuing to march his army north, had orders to conquer the Polovtian Khanate.[7]
References
- Alexander, Bevin. How wars are won:the 13 rules of war from ancient greece to the war on terror P/117. Three River Press. ISBN 1-4000-4948-2.
- McLynn, Frank. Genghis Khan: His conquest, his Empire, his legacy. Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-82396-1.
- Craughwell, Thomas J.. The Rise and Fall of the Second Largest Empire in History: How Genghis Khan almost conquered the world. Fair Winds. ISBN 9781616738518. https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1616738510.
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "Genghis Khan: his conquest, his empire, his legacy"by Frank Lynn
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Early Ukraine: A Military and Social History to the Mid-19th Century" By Alexander Basilevsky
- ↑ Frank McLynn, ‘’Genghis Khan: his conquest, his empire, his legacy’’, (Da Capo Press, 2015), 326-327.
- ↑ 'How wars are won:the 13 rules of war from ancient greece to the war on terror P/117'by Alexander, Bevin
- ↑ "The Armenians in the Medieval Islamic World: Armenian Realpolitik in the Islamic World and Diverging Paradigms Case of Cilicia Eleventh to Fourteenth Centuries"by Seta B. Dadoyan
- ↑ A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East, ed. Spencer C. Tucker, (ABC-CLIO, 2011), 275.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Alexander Basilevsky, Early Ukraine: A Military and Social History to the Mid-19th Century, (McFarland & Co., 2016), 163.
- ↑ "The Rise and Fall of the Second Largest Empire in History: How Genghis Khan almost conquered the world"by Thomas J. Craughwell
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