The good professor is somewhat revisionist in his thinking. Funny how he left out the fact that the Mongols were kicking everybody's butt, Christian and Muslim alike,
GENGHIS KHAN, THE MONGOLS AND ASIA, TO 1300. A careful reading will illustrate the role of the Mongols in the Professor's two dimensional view of the 12th Century.
The one exception to Mongol victories was their defeat by Egyptian forces, but heck, the Crusaders also took a licking along the Nile!
"The one exception to Mongol victories was their defeat by Egyptian forces, but heck, the Crusaders also took a licking along the Nile!"Actually, I thought it was the Turks that stopped the Mongols dead in their tracks. They were every bit the Mongols' equals in warfare.........and damned well knew it. Their first engagement (a nasty affair) ended in a draw, but it managed to halt the Mongols' advance. They never quite regained their momentum.