Posted on 05/29/2022 10:11:56 AM PDT by Borges
From the King of Kings of the East and West, the Great Khan. To Qutuz the Mamluk, who fled to escape our swords. You should think of what happened to other countries and submit to us. You have heard how we have conquered a vast empire and have purified the earth of the disorders that tainted it. We have conquered vast areas, massacring all the people. You cannot escape from the terror of our armies. Where can you flee? What road will you use to escape us? Our horses are swift, our arrows sharp, our swords like thunderbolts, our hearts as hard as the mountains, our soldiers as numerous as the sand. Fortresses will not detain us, nor armies stop us. Your prayers to God will not avail against us. We are not moved by tears nor touched by lamentations. Only those who beg our protection will be safe. Hasten your reply before the fire of war is kindled. Resist and you will suffer the most terrible catastrophes. We will shatter your mosques and reveal the weakness of your God and then will kill your children and your old men together. At present you are the only enemy against whom we have to march.
— Hulagu
Quite modern as well as ancient. Thanks for posting this.
An odd fact about the Mongols, they were terrified by blood. It may explain their wonderful archery skills but they much preferred to kill at a distance so there was little chance they would touch blood.
Sabre-rattling at its best. Always worth trying. Even God uses it in His warnings about His impending Great Tribulation.
Thanks for posting this, and yes, good point. The Muslims did the west a huge favor by defeating the Mongols. The Muslims of that era (13th century) were progressive, tolerant rulers compared to the utter savagery of the Mongols.
So it wasn’t an invitation to a weekend bar-b-q
The Han Chinese used this method to obtain submission without battles when they could, as did the Chinese emperors with Koreans and others when they could - we are superior and better you be a vassal than your people be slain by us.
Putin wanted Ukraine leaders to behave that way.
With best regards, always, your friend
— Hulagu
Did the mongol king submit a retraction?
The Battle of Ain Jalut was the beginning of the end for the Mongol empire. The Mamluk innovation of the horseshoe was an important factor in that battle. Another interesting fact is that the Mamluk Sultanate consisted of Russians, Turks, and Caucasians (original term: people of the Caucasus region) who were former slave soldiers that revolted and overthrew the Arab Caliph in Egypt just 10 years earlier in 1250. Mamluk literally means “slave” in Turkish.
I was thinking this sounds like something Putin the Merciful would write.
Some extra context - Actually this battle was a bit more complicated. The Mongol army was accompanied by (but not allied with) some late Crusader Christian. The Crusaders stayed neutral and recognized Mongols as the greater threat than the Egyptian Mamluk Muslims.
The Mongols were generally fine if you submitted. If you put up resistance or kill their messengers then they would wipe the floor with you and everything you owned.
They went back and forth on the Mongols. Remember that that the latter got as far west as Poland the Holy Roman Empire so it’s not like they hadn’t seen them up close. But they did romanticize the brutal Mongol derived warlord Timur or Tamerlane as something of an ally. Marlowe wrote plays about him.
Yes, and the back and forth presumably comes from rapidly changing local accounts and local perspectives, and the lack of a uniform strategic position on the Mongols across Christendom. They had that unity of purpose with the Crusades, but after their defeats, there was not a similar position vis-a-vis the Mongols.
The Mongols also cut off what later became Russia from mainstream European civilization. The Kievan Rus was integrated enough to have Vladimir the Great’s granddaughter Anna of Kiev marry King Henry I of France. So actually Felipe Vi, the current King of Spain, is a direct descendant of Vladimir the Great and therefore of Rurik. But under the “Tatar Yoke” Russian culture became more authoritarian. Ivan the Terrible saw himself as a Genghis Khsn type more than as a European King.
Davy Crockett wrote that letter and just pretended it was from the great Khannnnnnn!
That pretty much describes ancient warfare as a whole. First, they gave you a chance for total surrender. Then they would give you a chance to send out the non-combatants before they attacked your city (the Mongols may have skipped this step, but the Crusaders were sticklers about it). If you refused to do that, then everyone in the city was considered a hostile and were fair game in the ensuing battle. No one was spared because it was assumed they if they had refused to surrender, they would also kill you if they could. There was no way to create POW or refugee camps so they just killed you, or if they had the opportunity made you a slave.
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