Heaven On Earth
Emperor Manuel II: The Descent Of Empires: IV
(Mood Music)
The Siege of Baghdad has cost the Mongols 30,000 men. Thus it stopped their advance in the Middle East, if only for a short while. Manuel II remained apprehensive about sending his troops out of the walled cities. So the majority of the armies remained in Constantinople, Greece, and Anatolia, while the regions around them were allowed to fall, much to the dismay of the populace. Yet the Imperial population knew that such actions were necessary for the Empire to survive, and sending out armies in the open field would mean certain death for thousands of men, and possibly, the entire Empire.
An unusually hot summer struck the Middle East in 1239. This extreme weather stopped all Mongol operations for the summer. Yet, in the north, the Mongols continued to ravage Russia. They sieged, massacred, and burned cities in the same fashion as Chersonesos, Baghdad, and Kiev. Moscow and Novgorod fell in the fall of 1239, with little resistance. The far north of Russia, and even the now stoutly Orthodox Finland collapsed in disarray without any order. Nobles divided up those lands and proclaimed their independence from the Empire. This did not come as a surprise, considering they were completely separated from Constantinople by the Mongol Empire.
Finally, as the winter of 1239 passed and the world entered the spring of 1240, the Mongols finally resumed operations in the Middle East. Some thousands of men came down from Russia into the Caucasus, meeting much resistance along the mountains. It was here that the Mongols were first turned back and that force of about 5,000 Mongol men was massacred along the Caucasian Mountain range by many Armenian and Georgian militias and partisans.
Farther to the south, the Mongols were poised to invade the Holy Land. This was the action that the world had feared the most, since the Mongols had arrived. But it was inevitable. Cities to the north of the Levant like Antioch, Aleppo, Damascus, etc fell to the Mongols with thousands dying on both sides. By the time the Mongols reached the walls of Jerusalem, they were down to 100,000 men. Still, 100,000 men heavily outnumbered the 10,000 Orthodox defenders of the city. For awhile, the commanders of Jerusalem considered resisting the Mongols but they could not bring themselves to it. In any other city, it would be easy to make the decision to defend it, but Jerusalem was different. Visions of all the Holy Sites being burned were too much to them. So the city of Jerusalem surrendered to the Mongols without a fight. The Mongols slowly marched in, announced their subjugation of the Levant, and left, without burning a single building or killing a single person.
A Mongol leader peacefully subjugating the populace of Jerusalem
Then, the Mongols moved farther to south with the goal of conquering Egypt. At the Sinai, the total forces of the Orthodox Empire in Egypt were waiting for them. Egypt was too rich a land to abandon. Over 75,000 heavily-armored Orthodox soldiers were waiting for 100,000 Mongol soldiers on horseback. But the Orthodox forces did not engage the Mongols on open ground. Instead, they spread themselves throughout the peninsula constantly harassing the Mongols forces. From canyons and mountains and hills, they fired upon the Mongols, unseen. Small Mongol parties that were detached from the main group were ambushed and massacred. Scouts were captured, tortured until they gave information, and sent back to the Mongol camp with one eye put out and their tongue and hands gone. Their appearance gave the Mongols all the information they needed to know; the Orthodox army was ready to use the Mongol tactics of fear against them.
Mongols being held back at the Sinai
Finally, whittled down to 70,000 men, while the Orthodox had only lost a few hundred, the Mongols left the Sinai and started their march to Anatolia. It was the greatest Orthodox victory so far, 30,000 Mongols dead while only a few hundred Orthodox soldiers had been killed. Egypt was saved. Meanwhile, the Mongols were ready to invade both Poland and Anatolia.