Genghis Khan and the Mosquito Hordes: How Insects Destroyed the Invincible Mongol Empire

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

In the summer and fall of 1241, most of the Mongol troops rested on the Hungarian plains. Although previous years were unseasonably warm and dry, the spring and summer of 1241 were unusually wet, with more rainfall than usual, turning the previously dry Magyar meadows of Eastern Europe into a swampy bog and a veritable minefield of malaria mosquitoes that made history.

The inhospitable, remote high steppes and meadows of the harsh and windy North Asian plateau were occupied by warring tribal clans and two-faced groups, and the alliances were as capricious and whimsical in their actions and decisions as a gusty wind. Temujin was born in this unforgiving region in 1162 and grew up in a clan society that revolved around tribal raids, looting, revenge, corruption, and of course horses. After the capture of his father by rival clans, the boy and his family found themselves in terrible poverty, and all that was left for them was to collect wild fruits and herbs, as well as feed on the corpses of dead animals, occasionally hunting marmots and small rodents. And the death of Temujin's father played an important role in the boy's further fate. And despite the fact that his clan had lost prestige and influence in the larger alliances and political arenas of Mongolian tribal power, at this moment of despair Temujin could not even imagine that, thanks to the current situation, he would soon gain fame, wealth, and a new name that will strike fear into the hearts of his enemies and rivals.

Trying to restore the honor of his family with all his might, fifteen-year-old Temujin was captured during a raid by his father's former allies. Having successfully escaped enslavement, he vowed to take revenge on all those who betrayed him. Despite his obstinacy and unwillingness to share power, the boy understood and recognized the fact that the highest power and prestige (as taught by his mother in childhood) were based on numerous strong and stable alliances. In his quest to unite the warring factions, Temujin broke with Mongol tradition. Instead of killing or enslaving those he conquered, he promised them protection and spoils of war against future conquests. Senior military and political appointments began to be based on merit, loyalty, and intelligence rather than clan affiliation or nepotism.

Rise of Genghis Khan

This social ingenuity strengthened the cohesion of his Confederation, inspired the loyalty of those he conquered, and increased his military power as he continued to include the Mongol clans in his increasingly powerful alliance. As a result, by 1206, Temujin united the warring tribes of the Asian steppes under his rule and created a formidable, cohesive military and political force that eventually annexed one of the largest empires in history. Ultimately, he fulfilled Alexander's dream of connecting the "ends of the earth" from Asia to Europe, associated with mosquitoes. However, the mosquitoes haunted his own visions of greatness and glory, just as they haunted Alexander 1,500 years ago.

By this time, his Mongol subjects gave Temujin a new name - Genghis Khan, or "Great ruler". Having completed their coalition of rival and warlike Mongol tribes, Genghis Khan (or Genghis) and his skilled horse archers began a flurry of swift outdoor military campaigns to secure their living space. Mongolian expansion under Genghis Khan was partly the result of a mini ice age. This mercury climate change drastically reduced the pastures that supported their horses and a nomadic lifestyle that, for the Mongols, began to expand and at the same time expire. The astonishing speed of the Mongol advance was due to the military ability of Genghis Khan and his generals, an impressively cohesive structure of military command and control, extensive flanking techniques, specialized compound bows and, above all, their unsurpassed skill and agility as horsemen.

By 1220, the Mongol Empire stretched from the Pacific coast of Korea and China southward to the Yangtze River and the Himalayan Mountains, reaching the Euphrates River in the West. The Mongols were the true masters of what the Nazis later called the blitzkrieg or "lightning war." They surrounded their hapless foes with breathtaking, unrivaled speed and ferocity.

In 1220, Chingiz divided his army into two parts and achieved what Alexander could not do - unite together the two halves of the known world. For the first time, the East officially met the West, albeit under violent and hostile circumstances. The great Mongol led the main army east through Afghanistan and North India to Mongolia. The second army, consisting of about three hundred thousand horsemen, fought its way north through the Caucasus and into Russia, plundering the Italian trading port of Kaffa (Feodosia) on the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine. Throughout European Russia and the Baltic States, the Mongols defeated Russia, the Kievans and the Bulgars. The local population was ruined, killed or sold into slavery, and wherever the army of the Great Khan appeared, it entailed death, sweeping away everything in its path. The Mongols explored Poland and Hungary to gather intelligence before quickly retreating east in the summer of 1223 and joining Chingiz's column heading for Mongolia.

Mongol hordes break into Europe

Under the son and successor of Chingiz Ogedei, the Mongols launched a rampant counterclockwise offensive against Europe between 1236 and 1242. Mongol hordes quickly broke through eastern Russia, the Baltics, Ukraine, Romania, Czech and Slovak lands, Poland and Hungary, reaching Budapest and the Danube River at Christmas 1241. From Budapest, they continued their western route through Austria before heading south and eventually back east, making their way through the Balkans and Bulgaria.

Mosquitoes Save Europe

But as you know, all good things come to an end sooner or later. Due to high humidity in 1241, bogs and high water tables deprived the Mongols of the necessary pasture for their countless horses, which were the essence of their military prowess. The unusually high humidity also caused Mongolian bows to flinch. The stubborn glue refused to curl and dry in the humid air, and the reduced tension and the expanding bowstring negated the Mongolian archers' advantage in increasing speed, accuracy, and distance. These military shortcomings were exacerbated by the growing population of anopheles mosquitoes mercilessly attacking the army.

While the Mongols and their accompanying traders such as Marco Polo finally united East and West, the mosquito invasion helped prevent a complete conquest of the West by driving the Mongol horde out of Europe. Continuing eastward, the Mongols left Europe in 1242, never to return. The invincible Mongols, as it turned out later, simply could not resist the mosquitoes.

Winston Churchill wrote about this seemingly impulsive and unexpected retreat.

It still remains a mystery why the Mongols actually decided to leave Europe. It is widely believed that the final blows of this campaign were to be little more than reconnaissance missions for a future full-scale invasion of Europe. Historians have also suggested that the decision to postpone the invasion was based on weakening the Mongol army from malaria that had erupted in the Caucasus and along the river systems of the Black Sea, exacerbated by nearly twenty years of constant warfare.

It is known that Chingiz himself at this time suffered from habitual attacks of malaria. The most generally accepted theory is that his death at the age of sixty-five was the result of stubborn, festering wounds caused by a severe weakening of his immune system as a result of chronic malaria infection. The great warrior died in August 1227 and, according to cultural norms, was buried without fanfare or markers. Legend has it that a small funeral group killed everyone they met along the way to hide his final resting place, diverted the river over the grave, or, conversely, branded it into historical oblivion by running horses. As in the case of Alexander, the body of the great khan was lost to legends and traditions. All attempts and expeditions to find his grave ended in disappointment.

Malaria devastated armies

While mosquitoes sucked out their dreams of conquering Europe, the Mongols, led by Kublai Khan, the grandson of Chingiz, began their first campaign to the Holy Land in 1260, adding another rival to the ongoing but dying Crusades. Their entry into this competition occurred during the interval between the seventh (1248-1254) and eighth (1270) crusades. Over the next fifty years, which witnessed four major Mongol invasions, alliances between Muslims, Christians and Mongol factions changed, and loyalties were regularly rebuilt and changed. In fact, in many cases, the branches of each power lined up on opposite sides, as internal disorder irritated and destroyed the cohesion of the three dominant groups.

Although the Mongols had some limited success, including brief stops in Aleppo and Damascus, they were repeatedly forced to retreat in the face of malaria, additional diseases, and powerful defensive coalitions. General Anopheles, the guardian of Christian Rome, also garrisoned the Holy Land for Islam. As in previous Christian campaigns, including the Third Crusade of Richard the Lionheart, she helped stop the Mongol threat to the Levant. The Holy Land and its consecrated city Jerusalem remained in the hands of Muslims.

Rejected by mosquitoes in both Europe and the Levant, Khubilai sought to counter these setbacks by conquering the last independent remnants of mainland Asia east of the Himalayas. He unleashed all his might on southern China and Southeast Asia, including the mighty Khmer civilization, or the Angkor Empire. Since its inception around 800, Angkorian culture has spread rapidly across Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, reaching its zenith in the early thirteenth century. Agricultural expansion, poor water management, climate change, frequent severe monsoons and floods have created an ideal area for mosquito-borne spread. dengue fever and malaria. During his southern campaigns beginning in 1285, Khubilai neglected the usual tactics of withdrawing his troops to the non-malarial north during the summer months. As a result, his marching columns of about ninety thousand people were met by a horde of mosquitoes. Malaria devastated his armies throughout southern China and Vietnam, inflicting heavy casualties and forcing him to completely abandon his plans in the region by 1288.

Scattered, morbid forces, numbering only twenty thousand survivors, moved north into Mongolia. This retreat from Southeast Asia and the corresponding collapse of the powerful Hindu-Buddhist Khmer civilization were provoked by the mosquito. By 1400, Khmer civilization had been washed away, leaving only fragments of awe-inspiring and stately ruins, including Angkor Wat and Bayon, as a reminder of the once flourishing Khmer sophistication and splendor. Like the Khmer, after the misadventures in South China and Southeast Asia, vast The Mongol kingdom collapsed, shattered, and collapsed over the next century, becoming politically and militarily irrelevant by 1400. By this time, political strife, war casualties, and malaria had depleted the once invincible Mongol Empire. The remnants of the Mongolian provinces existed until 1500, and one in the backwaters of the Crimean Peninsula and the North Caucasus limped until the end of the eighteenth century.

Read also about those around which the controversy continues to this day.