I'm going to butt in here with an observation that might be 'uncool', but it needs to be voiced.
Mongols didn't just 'withdraw' and leave Europe alone. The article mentions they brought Chinese gunpowder - so they left behind a valuable technological legacy.
They killed one million Hungarians, but that was just one nation. The overall conquest(s) effected a vast death toll across Europe and near Asia.
What else did they leave behind? Not mentioned: a genetic legacy. This was a living legacy as impactful as anything else, arguable even more so...
And what's involved in that? Conquering armies tend to kill men and boys, and rape women and girls. (The most comprehensive recent record of similar events is from post-war Germany: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_during_the_occupation_of_...) A significant proportion of those rapes resulted in pregnancies. In medieval Europe, we can assume that abortion was mostly unavailable.
So actually, in one sense Mongols remained in Europe, spreading their genes through the most vile and traumatic acts inflicted on the hidden victims of conflict: women.
Women are half of humanity. It's wrong to neglect that aspect of invasion.
The article mentions they brought Chinese gunpowder - so they left behind a valuable technological legacy.
Looking at the history of artillery in Europe, and the fact that it first developed in the West, it's far more likely that gunpowder technology was introduced from the Islamic world in the context of the Crusades and the Latin Kingdoms.
Women represent at most 2% of the victim of every war that we have data on. Trying to reframe the suffering of men, and only men, as a women problem is one the most vile things done by the modern zeitgeist. Shame on everyone who doesn't remember who really fights in war, and that is not women.
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I'm going to butt in here with an observation that might be 'uncool', but it needs to be voiced.
Mongols didn't just 'withdraw' and leave Europe alone. The article mentions they brought Chinese gunpowder - so they left behind a valuable technological legacy.
They killed one million Hungarians, but that was just one nation. The overall conquest(s) effected a vast death toll across Europe and near Asia.
What else did they leave behind? Not mentioned: a genetic legacy. This was a living legacy as impactful as anything else, arguable even more so...
And what's involved in that? Conquering armies tend to kill men and boys, and rape women and girls. (The most comprehensive recent record of similar events is from post-war Germany: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_during_the_occupation_of_...) A significant proportion of those rapes resulted in pregnancies. In medieval Europe, we can assume that abortion was mostly unavailable.
So actually, in one sense Mongols remained in Europe, spreading their genes through the most vile and traumatic acts inflicted on the hidden victims of conflict: women.
Women are half of humanity. It's wrong to neglect that aspect of invasion.
Looking at the history of artillery in Europe, and the fact that it first developed in the West, it's far more likely that gunpowder technology was introduced from the Islamic world in the context of the Crusades and the Latin Kingdoms.
Most recent example is Russians
https://theins.ru/confession/257790 https://theins.ru/en/confession/258330
The war in Ukraine is still in flux.
Conversely, there are comprehensive (but still insufficient) records of the aftermath of atrocities committed in Germany against women: https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Crimes+Unspoken:+The+Rape+of+Ger...
Women represent at most 2% of the victim of every war that we have data on. Trying to reframe the suffering of men, and only men, as a women problem is one the most vile things done by the modern zeitgeist. Shame on everyone who doesn't remember who really fights in war, and that is not women.
As I wrote in my comment, women are the hidden victims in almost every conflict: https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/our-bodies-their-battle...