Mongol raid on Meissen

The Mongols had decisively won the battle of Legnica. Almost all of the combined Polish and German forces in Legnica had been annihilated. Wenceslaus I of Bohemia with a standard army of 50,000 strong heads for Legnica to meet with Henry II the Pious. When he heard that the Mongols had won the Battle of Legnica and killed Henry II the Pious, The Mongols raid to his Kingdom in Saxony, Wenceslaus I of Bohemia pull back its forces to make haste against the Mongol raid of his kingdom.[1]

One of the Mongol light reconnaissance units had pillaged through Meissen, Germany and destroyed most of the town before the army of Wenceslaus I of Bohemia came for its relief. Later it was revealed the attack of Meissen and parts of Bohemia was part of Orda Khan's plan to trick Wenceslaus I of Bohemia to avoid facing its large army, and to accomplish his mission to meet with the main Mongol force. The destruction of Meissen had forced Henry Raspe, Landgrave of Thuringia, to write a letter to his father-in-law Henry II, Duke of Brabant describing the raid of the Mongols.

"For a cruel and countless horde of people lawless and wild is now invading and taking possessions of the territories adjoining ours and has now roving through many other countries and exterminating their inhabitants extended their incursions as far as the polish territory of these matters we our fully informed by our own messengers as well as by the letters of our own beloved cousin the king of Bohemia and have been called to prepare ourselves with all the haste to proceed to his assistance and the defense of all Christians for we our truly and fully informed by our messengers that this said race of people the tartars is will cruelly and impetuously invade the Bohemian territory about the octaves of Easter and if seasonable assistance is not given to the bohemians an unheard slaughter will take place and as our house adjoining our own is already on fire and as the neighboring country is open to devastation while some countries are now being ravaged we on behalf of the church universal anxiously invoke and beg assistance and advice from God and our neighboring brother princes and as delay as pregnant with danger we beg of you with all possible deligence to take arms and to hasten our aid for the sake of our freedom as well as for that of your own and to use strenuous endeavors to prepare a powerful force by arousing the powerful and brave nobles with people subject to them to hold them ready and prepared until we again send it our messengers to you."[4][5][1][6]

Wenceslaus I of Bohemia was horrified by the raid, sought reinforcements in Thuringia and Saxony that he hid its forces in the mountains of Bohemia paralyzed by fear (A most common reaction to a Mongol threat). By the end of April 1241, Orda Khan entered Moravia and successfully pillaged the wealthy villages of the Kingdom of Bohemia easily without an army on sight. A cunning victory for the Mongols before combining forces with the main Mongol army in Hungary. A large European force are virtually non-existent to deal with a small Mongol attack that depopulated Troppau, Mahrisch-Neustadt, Freudenthal, and among other towns in Moravia to Slovakia.[6]

The main Mongol army won the Battle of Mohi and forced Europe in a vulnerable position. The ravaging of Saxony, Moravia, Bohemia and Mongol offensive in the suburbs around Vienna. Only the death of Ögedei Khan stopped the Mongol advance further west.[1]

• Peter F. Sugar, Péter Hanák, Tibor Frank—A History of Hungary
• Stephen Pow, Lindsay—Deep Ditches and Well-built walls
• Alexander, Bevin (September 2003). 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.
• Howorth, Henry H. (January 2008). The Mongols Proper and the Kalmuks p.150. Cosimo Classics. ISBN 978-1-60520-133-7.
• McLynn, Frank (14 July 2015). Genghis Khan: His conquest, his Empire, his legacy. Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-82396-1.
• Craughwell, Thomas J. (February 2010). The Rise and Fall of the Second Largest Empire in History: How Genghis Khan almost conquered the world. Fair Winds. ISBN 9781616738518.