Heaven On Earth: Part One

The new update is mostly written. But imageshack seems to broken. Whenever I try to upload a picture, the page seems to load and then goes back to the main screen.

I'll try later or tomorrow....



asd

The Mongol army was exhausted. After 3 years of constant war, they needed a break. They had conquered all of the Middle East and Russia in just 3 years and had been whittled down from their original 250,000 to 190,000. They needed a little time to reorganize their supply lines and stabilize their lands. So, the entire year of 1241 was spent organizing their newly conquered lands and setting up new supply lines into Mongol Russia and the Mongol Middle East. The only time the Mongols ever fought was to protect their new borders from the small attacks of the Orthodox Empire.

Finally, by 1242, the Mongols felt they were rejuvenated enough to resume their assault on Europe. They had 120,000 men in Russia and 70,000 men in the Middle East. They sent 15,000 from Russia and 20,000 from the Middle East into the Caucasus. Another 20,000 moved into Cilicia and 30,000 into central Anatolia. Up north, 40,000 moved into Orthodox Hungary. And in Poland, 40,000 headed for Warsaw, while 25,000 went for Krakow.


The armies of Poland were overpowered. They did not follow the Orthodox strategy of staying in cities. Instead, they sent out their best warriors to fight to Mongols on open ground. Thousands upon thousands of Polish knights and foot soldiers marched out into the open fields of Bialystok to face the Mongols. They were met with 40,000 Mongol soldiers. The heavy knights charged after them. But they were massacred. The Mongol horsemen simply rode away, while turning backwards and firing on the Poles.

The only area in which the Poles were victorious was when they massacred the few thousand Mongol foot soldiers. Otherwise, the Mongol horse archers simply rode around the Polish army and fired their arrows. Each time the Poles charged, the Mongols retreated while firing. By the end of the day, 20,000 Poles were dead compared to about 5,000 Mongol casualties. The majority of the Polish army was either captured or dead. Not long after, the cities of Krakow and Warsaw, now lightly defended, fell to the Mongols.

Sorry for not updating, I've been pretty busy for the past couple of days.

I'll try to update again as soon as possible...



asd

Sorry this update took so long, I've been pretty busy... enjoy!


After the fall of Poland, the militias that had turned back the Mongols in the Caucasus were being destroyed by the combined power of 35,000 Mongols coming from all directions. Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan all fell easily. Meanwhile, the 50,000 Mongols in Anatolia were facing 75,000 Orthodox troops. For the first time, the Orthodox outnumbered the Mongols and had the bravery to meet them on open ground.

Outside the city of Ankyra, the two armies met on a lightly forest field on May 12th 1242. The Orthodox took the high ground and overlooked the Mongol army while on top of a hill. The Mongols began by firing their arrows up to the Orthodox. The Orthodox responded by firing their own arrows. Both sides lost a considerable amount of men due to the exchange of volleys, which went on for about 2 hours.

Finally, the Orthodox could not stand and idly take casualties. So they took the initiative and charged the Mongol forces. The two lines collided with much force. It is said that the charging Orthodox made so huge an impact against the Mongol lines that grown Mongol men flew into the air.


The Mongol light infantry was not prepared to fight the heavily armored Orthodox soldiers. While the infantry were fighting, the Mongol horse archers were firing upon the Orthodox. But the Orthodox cataphracts were sneaking behind the Mongols. Finally, when the Orthodox infantry routed the Mongol infantry, the Mongol horse archers tried to run away, while firing arrows of course. But they found themselves squished in between Orthodox heavy infantry, and the famous cataphracts.

Both sides put up a good fight, but in the end the Orthodox came out on top. Both sides had lost many men in the massacre. The Orthodox army was reduced from 75,000 to 55,000. The Mongols suffered even more casualties, going from 50,000 to 20,000. Both armies weren’t ambitious enough to move further into each others land, so Anatolia was split down the middle between the Orthodox and the Mongols. This is because, had the Orthodox moved further into Anatolia, they would face Mongol reinforcements from the Caucasus.

The victory boosted Orthodox morale on all fronts. The Mongols had been incredibly weakened in the Middle East. Now while the Orthodox were equally weakened and could make no counterattacks into the Mongol occupied Middle East, at least the Mongols could not advance any further into the Orthodox Empire. The victory quelled the opponents of Manuel II’s policies. He had at least saved the prosperous western Anatolia from the Mongols, and in the times of fear and destruction, that was more than enough for the tired people of Orthodoxy. All fronts had been stabilized by the end of 1242, except for one, the Balkan front. And it was the Balkan front that would prove most dangerous to the Empire.