Siege of Kiev (1240)
Historical representation of the siege of Kiev
| date | November 28 to December 6, 1240 |
|---|---|
| place | Kiev |
| output | Mongolian victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
Voivode Dmytro |
|
| Troop strength | |
| unknown | about 1000 |
| losses | |
|
unknown |
approx. 28,000 including civilians (approx. 2,000 survivors) |
The siege of Kiev took place from November 28th to December 6th, 1240. With the conquest of the city, the Mongols inflicted a heavy defeat on the Kingdom of Halych-Volhynia and were able to continue their campaign of conquest towards Europe.
background
In 1237 the Mongol invasion of the Rus began . Under Batu Khan , the Mongols conquered the northern areas of Halych-Volhynia, Ryazan and the principality of Vladimir-Suzdal , then in 1239 southern Rus with the cities of Pereyaslav and Chernihiv .
When the Mongols repeatedly demanded the surrender of the city in 1239, their delegations were executed by Michael von Tschernigow .
In 1240 Batu Khan and his troops reached the city limits, which were only defended by about 1,000 soldiers. Daniel Romanowitsch of Galicia , the prince of the city, fled west when the battle looked not going well for him. Therefore, the voivode Dmytro was in command of the defenders.
The siege
The vanguard of Batu's cousin Möngke Khan had again asked the Kievans to surrender the city without a fight, but they again refused. Several Mongol delegations were executed. Möngke Khan then began the siege of the city and also defeated the allies Chorni Klobuky of the Rus, who wanted to relieve the besieged.
On November 28, 1240, the Mongols began to bombard the tree-covered walls of the city near the Polish gates with catapults. On December 5th the walls had collapsed and the besiegers advanced into the city. In the street fighting that followed, the Kievans suffered heavy losses, and Dmytro was hit by an arrow.
When night fell, the Kievans withdrew to the city center, the Mongols held their positions in the outskirts. Many people had retired to the Church of Tithing . When the Mongols attacked the next day, the overcrowded galleries of the church collapsed and many of the city's residents were buried under them. The Mongols eventually took the entire city, looted it, and massacred the city's up to 30,000 residents. Only Dmytro and 2,000 residents were left alive. The city was burned down with the exception of a few buildings when the Mongols withdrew.
After his victory, Batu Khan continued the campaign of conquest in the direction of Halych-Volhynia and Poland .
Footnotes
- ↑ Janet Martin: Medieval Russia, 980-1584. P. 139.
- ↑ Stephen Turnbull: The Mongols. P. 81.
- ^ Jean-Paul Roux: Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire. P. 131.
- ^ So modern estimates (cf. Paul Bairoch, Christopher Braider: Cities and economic development. Drom the dawn of history to the present. University of Chicago Press, 1991, ISBN 0-226-03466-6 , p. 171), contemporary sources exaggerate by 50,000.