Mongol Invasion of Europe

The Mongol attack of Europe in the 13th century took place between the years 1220 and 1240. The Mongols occupied Volga Bulgaria, Cumania, Alania, and the Kievan Rus' state in Eastern Europe. The Mongol armies invaded fractured Poland, culminating in the Battle of Legnica on 9 April 1241, and the Empire of Hungary, culminating in the Battle of Mohi on 11 April 1241. Invasions were also launched against the Kingdom of Georgia and the Chechens and Ingush in the Caucasus and Croatia, the Second Bulgarian Empire, and the Latin Empire in the Balkans. General Subutai (from 1175 to 1248) prepared the operations led by Batu Khan and Kadan. Both guys were Genghis Khan's grandsons. Much of Eastern Europe was included in the Golden Horde's Empire as a result of their conquests. In the face of a Mongol invasion, warring European princes understood they had to work together. Therefore local wars and conflicts were put on hold in portions of central Europe, only to be restarted when the Mongols had departed. Following the initial invasions, attacks and punitive expeditions were carried out until the late 13th century.

In 1235, Ogedei Khan sent Batu Khan to conquer Rus'. In December 1237, the main troop, led by Jochi's sons and their cousins, Mongke Khan and Guyuk Khan, arrived in Ryazan. The Mongols sacked Ryazan and then stormed Suzdalia after it refused to submit. The forces of the Rus were routed in large numbers. On 4 March 1238, Grand Prince Yuri was murdered on the Sit River. Vladimir, Torzhok, and Kozelsk were among the major cities seized. Following that, the Mongols moved to the steppe, crushing the Kypchaks and Alans and sacking Crimea. In 1239, Batu invaded Kievan Rus', sacking Pereiaslav and Chernihiv. On 6 December 1240, the Mongols attacked Kiev, burned Sutiejsk, and seized Galich and Volodymyr-Volynskyi. Before moving on to Central Europe, Batu dispatched a small unit to investigate the Poles. The Poles routed one column while the other defeated and returned with the Polish troops.

Subutai, who acquired arguably his most lasting glory with his successes in Europe, planned and conducted the raid. After destroying the numerous Rus' realms, he dispatched spies to Poland and Hungary and eastern Austria in preparation for an assault on Europe's heartland. He planned an attack purportedly led by Batu Khan and two other familial-related princes after gaining a clear picture of the European realms. Batu Khan, Jochi's son, was the overall commander, but Subutai was the strategist and field commander, and as such, he was present in both the northern and southern wars against Rus' princes. He was also in charge of the core column that attacked Hungary. Subutai was yearning for them on the Hungarian plain, while Kadan's northern force won the Battle of Liegnitz and Guyuk's army triumphed in Transylvania. After that, the freshly reunited army fled to the Sajo River, where they defeated King Bela  IV of Hungary in the Battle of Mohi. Subutai orchestrated the operation once more, and it would prove to be one of his most significant triumphs.

Attack of Poland

Three armies of Mongols invaded Central Europe. In the Battle of Liegnitz, one army defeated an alliance led by Henry II the Pious, Duke of Silesia, which included soldiers from partitioned Poland and their allies. A second army marched via the Carpathians, while a third followed the Danube. In 1241, the troops regrouped and destroyed Hungary at the Battle of Mohi, defeating the Hungarian army on 11 April 1241. Half of Hungary's population was killed in the Mongol invasion. Over the summer, the army swept the plains of Hungary, regaining momentum in early 1242 and extending their power into Dalmatia and Moravia. However, the Great Khan had died in December 1241, and upon hearing the news, all of the "Princes of the Blood" returned to Mongolia, against Subotai's advice, to pick a new Khan. After storming Kiev, Batu Khan dispatched a smaller force to Poland, where they destroyed Lublin and defeated a weak Polish army. Other Mongol forces that were not part of the main force encountered difficulties along the Polish-Galich border. On the Czarna Hancza, the Mongols arrived in Polaniec and set up camp. The Voivode fought them with the few remaining Cracovian knights, adamant about defeating the invader or dying. The Poles gained an early edge due to their surprise, and they were able to kill a large number of Mongol soldiers. When the attackers learned the Poles were numerically weak, they reorganized, burst through their ranks, and defeated them. Many Polish prisoners of war managed to flee and hide in the neighbouring woods during the fighting. The Polish defeat was influenced partly because the first triumphant Polish knights were distracted by plundering.

Attack of Domains of the Bohemian Crown

The Mongols continued plundering throughout Poland's neighbouring kingdoms, particularly Silesia and Moravia, after defeating European armies at Liegnitz. After arriving late and finding the destruction the Mongols had wrought in those locations, King Wenceslaus I of Bohemia hurried back to preserve his country, recruiting soldiers from Thuringia and Saxony as he retreated. He stationed his forces in Bohemia's mountainous terrain, where the Mongols' cavalry could not be used efficiently. By that time, Mongolian armies had split into two groups, one led by Batu and Subutai and plotting an invasion of Hungary. The other led by Baidar and Kadan and ravaging Silesia and Moravia. When they came in Bohemia to attack, the kingdom's defences dissuaded them, and they withdrew to the town of Othmachau. The crucial location on the approach to the mountain passes into the Bohemian Silesian town of Glatz was attacked by a small force of Mongolians. Still, the Bohemian cavalry under Wenceslaus managed to repel them. The Mongols then attempted to seize Olmuetz, but Wenceslaus was able to enlist the help of Austrian Babenbergs, who could repel the attack. In a raid at Olmuetz, a Mongol leader was captured. Although most of the kingdoms around it, such as Poland and Moravia, were ravaged by the Mongols, Bohemia remained one of the few European kingdoms that were never captured and disturbed by the Mongols under Wenceslaus' leadership during the Mongol invasion. His accomplishment was such that chroniclers informed Emperor Frederick II of his successful resistance. Following these failed raids, Baidar and Kadan continued invading Moravia via the Moravian Gate route into the March Valley, eventually reaching the Danube and reuniting with Batu and Subutai in Hungary.

Attack of Hungary

In 1229, when King Andrew II granted sanctuary to several escaping Ruthenian boyars, the Hungarians first learned of the Mongol danger. Some Magyars (Hungarians) left behindhand throughout the main migration to the Pannonian basin resided on the upper Volga's banks. Their descendants are the modern-day Bashkirs, who speak a Turkic language rather than Magyar. Julianus, a Dominican monk, set out on an expedition to return them to King Bela in 1237 and was sent back with a message from Batu Khan. In this letter, Batu urged the Hungarian king to submit his country to Tatar warriors or suffer annihilation fully. Bela did not respond, and two additional messages were sent to Hungary later. The first was sent in 1239 by the defeated Cuman tribes, who sought and were granted shelter in Hungary.

The vanquished Polish lords despatched the second in February 1241. Then King Bela summoned his magnates to join his army in defending the country. He also sought assistance from the church and Western European rulers. A tiny knight-detachment led by Frederick II, Duke of Austria, provided foreign assistance, but it was insufficient to affect the campaign's outcome. The bulk of Hungarian magnates were similarly unaware of the importance of the situation. Some may have believed that a royal army defeat would force Bela to abandon his centralization plans, bolstering their influence. Even though the Mongol threat was genuine and imminent, Hungary was unprepared to face it. An invasion appeared unthinkable to a people who had lived free of nomadic incursions for hundreds of years, and Hungary was no longer a largely army population. Only the wealthiest nobility was allowed to train as heavy-armoured cavalry. The Hungarians had long forgotten their predecessors' light-cavalry strategy and tactics, which were identical to those utilized by the Mongols today.

Individual knights with tactical knowledge, discipline, and outstanding commanders made up the Hungarian army, which numbered roughly 60,000 on the eve of the Battle of Mohi. King Bela welcomed the Cuman King Kuthen, also known as Kotony, and his troops since his army lacked experience in nomadic warfare. On the other hand, the Hungarians were harmed by the Cuman invitation because Batu Khan used this acceptance of a people he considered rebels as grounds for his invasion of Hungary. After accusations that the Cumans were Mongol agents began to circulate in Hungary, some enraged Hungarians invaded the Cuman camp and killed Kotony. This incensed the Cumans, who rode south robbing, ruining the countryside, and murdering the Magyar populace. Shortly after, the Austrian troops fled to Austria to obtain additional western assistance. The Hungarians were now on their own in defending their homeland.

Attack of German Lands

Following a significant Mongol victory at the Battle of Liegnitz in Poland, Mongol detachments entered Meissen and Lusatia on 9 April 1241. The Mongol light reconnaissance soldiers, led by Orda Khan, pillaged Meissen and set fire to most cities. These attacks are documented in the Annales Sancti Pantaleonis.

Attack of Austria

Hungary's conquest paved the door for the Mongol Horde to invade Vienna. Using tactics similar to those used in previous Mongol operations in Eastern and Central Europe, small squadrons of Mongols attacked isolated towns on the outskirts of Vienna to instil fear and terror among the inhabitants. The Mongols ravaged Wiener Neustadt and its surrounding areas, located south of Vienna, in 1241. The onslaught was focused on Wiener Neustadt, and the Mongols, like in previous invasions, committed horrific atrocities against the largely helpless population. Korneuburg, close north of Vienna, was pillaged and destroyed as well. Frederick II, Duke of Austria, had previously fought the Mongols in Olomouc in the early phases of the Battle of Mohi. Unlike Hungary, however, Vienna, led by Duke Frederick and his knights, rallied quickly and annihilated the small Mongolian squadron with the help of their foreign friends. According to the Duke, the Mongols lost 300 to 700 men in the combat, while the defending Europeans lost 100. Following that, Austrian knights beat the Mongols on the banks of the River March in the area of Theben. Following the failure of the initial raids, the rest of the Mongols retreated after learning of the death of the Great Khan Ogedei.

Attack of Bulgaria

Part of Batu Khan's army invaded Bulgaria as he retreated from Hungary to Ruthenia. The Bulgarian army led by Tsar Ivan Asen II destroyed a Mongolian force. The following year, a larger force raided Bulgaria again. However, little is known about what occurred. Rendering to the Persian historiographer Rashid-al-Din Hamadani, the Bulgarian capital of Tarnovo was sacked. This is implausible, yet the rumour travelled extensively, and Bar Hebraeus repeated it in Palestine. Other contemporary sources, such as Philippe Mouskes, Thomas of Cantimpre, and Ricoldo of Montecroce, mention the Bulgarian invasion. Kaliman I was a honour-paying vassal of the Mongols by 1253, according to contemporary documents, a status he had most likely been forced to accept after the invasion in 1242.

When used against the Mongol army, the conventional European battle of melee combat amongst knights resulted in disaster because the Mongols could preserve a safe distance and advance with superior numbers. According to the New Encyclopaedia Britannica, Volume 29, Knightly warfare failed even more disastrously for the Poles at the Battle of Liegnitz and the Hungarians at the Battle of Mohi in 1241 when used against the Mongol invasions of Europe. The sudden death of the Mongols' supreme ruler, Ogedei, and the subsequent eastward retreat of his army rescued feudal Europe from following China and Muscovy's footsteps. However, during the original Mongol invasion and subsequent raids, highly armoured knights and cavalry proved to be more effective than their light-armoured counterparts in combating the Mongols. While Mongol forces crushed the Hungarian light cavalry and infantry during the Battle of Mohi, the heavily armoured knights in their employ fared far better. The Knights Templar, who numbered between 65 and 88 at the time of the conflict, lost only three knights and two sergeants. The Mongol invasion of Vienna was also fought better by Austrian knights under Duke Frederick. In grounding for the Second Mongol invasion of Hungary, King Bela IV enlisted the assistance of the Knights of St. John and trained his better-armed local knights. Following the Mongolian invasions on European villages, Western armies, particularly Hungary, began to adapt to Mongol tactics by constructing siege fortifications and heavy cavalry. When the Golden Horde tried their next invasion of Hungary after the Mongol Empire was divided into four sections, Hungary had raised their number of knights, led by Ladislaus IV of Hungary. They quickly beat the main Golden Horde Army in the hills of western Transylvania. Many Eastern and Central European countries had also halted their conflicts with one another by this time and had banded together to expel the Golden Horde's remnants eventually. Guerrilla warfare and tenacious resistance also aided many Europeans, especially those in Croatia and Dzurdzuketia, in keeping the Mongols from establishing a permanent foothold and pushing them out.

Several sources claim that the Mongols used firearms and gunpowder weapons against European forces at the Battle of Mohi, including catapult-launched bombs. Professor Kenneth Warren Chase attributes the introduction of gunpowder and associated armaments into Europe to the Mongols. Later in Europe, a tale evolved about a mysterious Berthold Schwarz, attributed to the development of gunpowder in literature from the 15th through the 19th centuries.

The majority of the Mongol armies were resting on the Hungarian Plain in 1241. They began to retire in late March 1242. The death of the Great Khan Ogedei on 11 December 1241 is the most popular cause offered for this departure. After a binge of drinking in a hunting expedition, Ogedei Khan died at the age of fifty-six, forcing the majority of the Mongolian army to withdrawal to Mongolia so that the leading figure of the blood could be present for the election of a new great khan. This is supported by one major source. Giovanni da Pian del Carpine's chronicle, which claims that the Mongols retreated for this reason after visiting the Mongol court. He went on to speak that God had agreed for the Great Khan's death to protect Latin Christianity. According to Stephen Pow's research of this issue, if we believe Carpini's claim, a messenger would have to be able to travel from Mongolia to Central Europe in less than three months. The representative would have to arrive in March, taking about three months from when the khan died in the middle of winter. In 1246, Carpini accompanied a Mongol group on a slightly shorter voyage from Kiev to Mongolia. The party used multiple horses per person and rode all day and night to arrive in time for the voting ceremony. It took five months to complete. When the Mongols began their departure, Rashid Al-Din, a historian of the Mongol Ilkhanate, expressly states in the Ilkhanate's official history that the Mongols were not even aware of Ogedei's death. According to John Andrew Boyle, Rashid Al-description Din's evacuation from central Europe was derived directly from Mongolian sources, based on spelling. Another argument is that weather data preserved in tree rings alludes to a sequence of warm, dry summers in the region from 1242 onwards. The local climate transformed to a wetter and colder environment as temperatures plummeted and rainfall rose. As a result, the previously dry grasses were flooded, resulting in a marshy landscape. The nomadic Mongol cavalry and their encampments would have been less than ideal in those conditions, limiting their mobility and pastureland, constraining their incursion into Europe west of the Hungarian plain, and hastening their departure.

The real reasons for the Mongol retreat are unknown, but there are various probable possibilities. The Mongol invasion had devolved into a series of costly and frustrating sieges, during which they secured little treasure and encountered formidable opposition. Despite their wins, they had lost a considerable number of men. Finally, they were overworked in the European theatre, and the Cumans were revolting against them. Others claim that Europe's terrible weather played a role: Hungary has a high water table, making flooding a common occurrence. According to tree ring analyses, Hungary had cold, rainy weather in early 1242, which likely converted Hungary's central plain into a massive swamp. As a result, the Mongols would have had to return to Rus' quest for better pastures for their horses. Whatever their reasons, the Mongols had fully withdrawn from Central Europe by mid-1242, though they continued to pursue military operations in the west, most notably the Mongol invasion of Anatolia from 1241 to 1243. Batu chose to stay in Europe rather than attend the kurultai, which caused the event to be postponed for several years. According to historian Jack Weatherford, the Mongols' refusal to fight in the more densely populated German states, where the weather harmed the glue and sinew of the Mongol bows, led to European survival. However, the Mongols were willing to battle in heavily inhabited parts of Song China and India, which contradicts this assertion.

Furthermore, the Mongols conquered Southern China, located in a tropical climate zone, and saw significantly more rainfall and humidity than anywhere else in Europe. Western Europe's territory had more forests and fortresses than the Mongols were used to, and the European heavy horsemen had possibilities to counter-attack. The Avars and early Hungarians were also defeated by Western nations in the 9th and 10th centuries, despite their steppe tactics. In Hungary, a substantial number of key castles and towns had also resisted the Mongol siege techniques, which were both formidable and infamous. According to John Keegan, Europeans had an edge because they had higher food surpluses, which allowed for better campaigns and larger horses. Some historians say Batu's decision to stop at the Mohi River was due to his lack of desire to continue. He'd secured the new Rus' conquests for the foreseeable future, and when the Great Khan died, and Batu hastened back to Mongolia to stake his claim to rule, his westward expedition came to an end. With the accession of Mongke Khan as Great Khan, the tumult following Ogedei's death had finally abated. He was no longer interested in invading Western Europe, although he was capable of doing so.

Mongol Wrangling

Between 1241 and 1248, there was a state of near-open conflict between Batu, son of Jochi, and Guyuk, son of Ogedei. The Mongol Empire was headed by Toregene Khatun, Ogedei's widow, whose sole objective was to secure the Great Khanate for her son Guyuk. The two branches of the family were so bitterly divided that when Guyuk died in 1248, he was on his way to approach Batu and force him to acknowledge his authority. Batu also clashed with the Principality of Halych-Volhynia in his final years, whose ruler, Danylo of Halych, pursued a strategy of confrontation with the Golden Horde and thwarted some Mongol raids in 1254. Berke ruled the Horde at the time, and he was only conquered in 1259. After Mongke became Great Khan in 1251 and mended his relations with the Great Khanate, Batu Khan could not turn his army west until 1255. However, he perished just as he was about to complete the invasion of Europe. Because his son did not live long enough to carry out his father and Subutai's plan to invade Europe, Batu's younger brother Berke succeeded him as Khan of the Kipchak Khanate.

Berke was more concerned with stopping his relative Hulagu Khan from devastating the Holy Land than attacking Europe. Berke had converted to Islam and had watched in horror as his cousin destroyed the Abbasid Caliphate, which Berke considered to be the spiritual leader of Islam. The Mamluks of Egypt, having learned through spies that Berke was both a Muslim and disliked his cousin, appealed to him for assistance and took great care to maintain their ties with him and his Khanate. Both entities had Turkic ancestors. Many Mamluks were Turkic, and Berke's Khanate was almost entirely Turkic as well. Jochi, Genghis Khan's eldest son, was of questionable origin and began his Khanate with barely 4,000 Mongol warriors. Almost all of his roughly 500,000 warriors were Turkic people who had surrendered to the Mongols. As a result, the Khanate was Turkic in culture and shared more in common with their Muslim Turkic Mamluk brethren than with Hulagu and his Horde of Mongol shamanists. When Hulagu Khan began assembling an army for war against the Mamluk-controlled Holy Land, they quickly turned to Berke Khan, who dispatched soldiers against his cousin and forced him to protect his northern lands. By 1262, Hulagu had returned to his homeland. Still, instead of avenging his defeats, he had to turn north to confront Berke Khan, suffering a crushing defeat in an tried attack north of the Caucasus in 1263, after Berke Khan had tempted him north and away from the Holy Land. As a result, the Kipchak Khanate never invaded Europe, instead of maintaining a close eye on the south and east. In two very small incursions in 1259 and 1265, Berke only deployed men into Europe to acquire the treasure for his Hulagu wars from 1262 to 1265.

The Papacy had turned down Georgia's petitions in support of crusades in Iberia and the Middle East and preached a Crusade against Kievan Rus in 1238 for declining to join his previous Balkan Crusade. Meanwhile, Emperor Frederick II, a well-educated monarch, desired to acquire Italy to unify his Holy Roman Empire and Sicily kingdoms. Frederick was excommunicated four times and called the Antichrist by Pope Gregory IX and his successor Innocent IV and convened a council to remove the Holy Roman Emperor. By the 1240s, Christendom's energies had been split between five Crusades, only one of which was directed against the Mongols. When Bela sent messengers to the Pope requesting a Crusade against the Mongols, the Pope attempted to persuade them to join his Crusade against the Holy Roman Emperor. Pope Gregory IX eventually promised a Crusade, and the Church helped sanction a minor Crusade counter to the Mongols in mid-1241, but it was diverted when he died in August of that year. After the German lords rose against the Holy Roman Emperor's son Conrad in September 1241, the Crusade's resources were diverted to conduct a Crusade against the Hohenstaufen Dynasty rather than battling the Mongols.

The invasions of the Golden Horde in the 1280s in Bulgaria, Hungary, and Poland were far larger than anything seen since the invasion of 1241–1242. Thus, the second Mongol invasion of Europe, or the second Mongol invasion of central Europe, has been referred to as a group.

Counter to Poland

After attacking Lithuania, two tumens (about 20,000 soldiers) from the Golden Horde, led by Berke, assaulted Poland eighteen years after the attack. General Burundai led the attack, which included youthful princes Nogai and Talabuga. Sandomierz, Lublin, Sieradz, Zawichost, Krakow, and Bytom were all plundered and ravaged. Berke had no desire to colonize or conquer Poland. Following the raid, Pope Alexander IV attempted but failed to organize a crusade against the Tatars. In 1287, Talabuga and Nogai Khan launched an unsuccessful attack. Thirty thousand soldiers in two columns led by Nogai, 10,000 Mongol cavalries, and 20,000 Mongols and Ruthenians ravaged Lesser Poland, plundering the region and meeting north of Krakow. Lublin, Mazovia, and Sieradz were successfully ravaged. Still, the Mongols were unable to conquer Sandomierz and Krakow, and when they attempted to assault the cities, they were repulsed with severe fatalities. At the Battle of Lagow, Talabuga's main army was defeated by Duke Leszek II. Following this setback, Talabuga rejoined the raiding party and escaped Poland with the loot that had already been seized. After losing men during the attack on Krakow, Nogai's column split up to plunder the territories north and south of the city. One detachment was sent to Stary Sacz, another to Podolinec, and another to the Duchy of Sieradz. The Poles and their Hungarian allies surprised and defeated the first group in the Battle of Stary Sacz. In contrast, the second detachment ravaged the Podhale region while skirmishing with the locals. Nogai's entire column retreated into Ruthenia after the defeat at Stary Sacz.

Counter to Byzantine Thrace

There was also an attack on Thrace during Berke's reign. Constantine Tych, the Bulgarian monarch, urged Mongol help in the Balkans against the Byzantines in the winter of 1265. As a result, a Mongol raid of 20,000 cavalries led by Nogai Khan was launched against Byzantine eastern Thrace. Michael VIII Palaeologus fought the Mongols in early 1265, but his smaller squadron had low morale and was quickly beaten. As they fled, the majority of them were killed. While Nogai's army plundered all of Thrace, Michael was forced to leave to Constantinople on a Genoese ship. Following this loss, the Byzantine emperor allied with the Golden Horde that benefited the latter greatly, marrying his daughter Euphrosyne to Nogai. In addition, as a gift to Golden Horde, Michael delivered a large amount of costly cloth. During the reign of Uzbeg Khan, Thrace was also subjected to raids in 1324 and 1337.

Counter to Bulgaria

Tsar Ivan Asen II's heirs, the Kaliman Asen I regency, chose to pay a levy to the Golden Horde. As a result, Nogai Khan conducted a victorious raid against the country in 1271, a Golden Horde vassal until the early 14th century. In 1274, 1280, and 1285, the Tatars ravaged Bulgaria once more. Tsar Ivailo led the Bulgarian army in 1278 and 1279, crushing Mongol invasions before being cornered at Silistra. After a three-month siege, he finally broke through the elite Mongol warriors, forcing them to retire north of the Danube. In 1280, Ivailo was left without much backing due to a Byzantine-inspired insurrection, so he went to Nogai's army and begged him for assistance before being slain by the Mongols. Tsar George I, on the other hand, became a Mongol vassal before Theodore Svetoslav put a stop to the Mongol danger.

Counter to Hungary

In 1285, Nogai Khan and Talabuga led an invasion against Hungary. Nogai led a victorious army that ravaged Transylvania. Reghin, Brasov, and Bistrița were all pillaged and ravaged. However, Talabuga, who led the major army in Northern Hungary, was halted by the Carpathians' severe snowfall. The invasive force was defeated near Pest by Ladislaus IV's royal army Szekely then ambushed. Nogai's column took a lot of damage. It was easily resisted, with the Mongols losing a large portion of their invasion force, as with following invasions. The result was a dramatic contrast to the invasion of 1241, owing largely to Bela IV's reforms, which included innovations in military tactics and, most crucially, the general construction of stone castles, both in response to the destruction of the Hungarian Kingdom in 1241. The Golden Horde's military power was greatly reduced due to the failed Mongol attack on Hungary, and they stopped disputing Hungarian borders.

Counter to Serbia

A massive Mongol-Bulgarian alliance stormed Serbia in 1291, killing Serbian monarch Stefan Uros II Milutin. When Nogai vowed to lead a punitive expedition himself, the Serbian king acknowledged Nogai's power and sent his son as a hostage to prevent future hostility.

Counter to Germany

During the years 1340-1341, the Mongols attacked Hungary, the March of Brandenburg, and Prussia, according to contemporary Swiss historian John of Winterthur.

Counter-invasions of Europe

The Golden Horde's hold on Central and Eastern Europe had begun to wane by the mid-14th century. Several European kingdoms launched expeditions into Mongol-controlled territory to regain captured provinces and gain new ones from the Empire. Under the guidance of King George V the Brilliant, the Kingdom of Georgia reestablished Georgian authority in their regions. It even wrested control of the Empire of Trebizond from the Mongols. Taking advantage of internal strife in the Golden Horde, Lithuania launched its invasion, defeating the Mongols at the Battle of Blue Waters and conquering Golden Horde territories such as the Principality of Kiev to the Dnieper River before being halted at the Battle of the Vorskla River. The Duchy of Moscow began to recapture numerous Rus' domains, eventually becoming the Russian Tsardom. The Kingdom of Hungary took the initiative in 1345, sending an invasion force into Mongolian territory and seizing Moldavia. By this time, certain Western European troops were also encountering the Mongols in their seized lands. When the Mongols under Janibeg besieged Caffa in Crimea after a huge struggle between Christians and Muslims broke out, an Italian army relief force arrived and beat the Mongols, killing 15,000 of their warriors and abolishing their barrier engines. A year later, the Italians obstructed Mongol docks in the area, forcing Janibeg to negotiate, and the Italian colony in Tana on the Sea of Azov was reestablished in 1347.