In 1241, the Mongols launched an invasion of the kingdoms of Hungary and Poland, causing widespread destruction and defeating every army sent against them. With advancing troops on the outskirts of Vienna, western Europe appeared to be at the mercy of the Mongol juggernaut. But then, suddenly, they were gone. The Mongol emperor, \u00d6g\u00d6dei, had died and his armies returned home to elect a new leader.<\/p>\n

Christendom\u2019s worst nightmare was averted. But not for long. Now, in 1247, a new assault appeared imminent and Carpini fully recognised that western Europe\u2019s rulers could not offer much of a defence. It was for this reason that he had refused the Mongols\u2019 request that he should return to Europe with a group of their envoys \u2013 he didn\u2019t want them to witness just how divided Christendom had become.<\/p>\n

The Mongols were exceptionally dangerous \u2013 and now they were preparing for a second wave of assaults on Europe <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>
Carpini had every reason to fear for Europe\u2019s fate. After all, the Mongols rarely suffered defeat. They occasionally experienced setbacks yet for the most part their armies were overwhelmingly successful, achieving victory against an astonishingly wide range of commanders and civilisations.<\/p>\n
Still Carpini was not utterly without hope. He spent much of his journey speaking to individuals from across Eurasia and, amid his many enquires and conversations, he had a single underlying question: how could the Mongols be stopped?<\/p>\n
Great massed hunts<\/h3>\n
The root of the Mongols\u2019 success lay in their way of life. As a predominantly nomadic people living in the central Asian steppe, their children learned to ride, shoot, hunt and corral herds from an early age. These skills were essential for their survival, but they also provided an excellent basis for a powerful army, while the Mongols\u2019 great massed hunts taught their riders to co-ordinate their efforts over a broad geography.\nThese martial qualities were longstanding strengths for the nomadic peoples of central Asia, but the Mongols\u2019 former leader Genghis Khan<\/a> (died 1227) had proved especially adept at enhancing these advantages. He achieved this by drawing upon the military expertise of specialists from conquered societies \u2013 such as siege engineers from China \u2013 or by inducting defeated warriors into the Mongol army.<\/p>\n
The Mongols also became famous for their military stratagems. A favoured tactic when besieging a fortress was to drive a group of prisoners against their enemy\u2019s defences in the first wave of the assault. These prisoners absorbed the defenders\u2019 ammunition and energies prior to the Mongols\u2019 main assault. Another advantage enjoyed by the Mongols was that their mounted armies could cross huge distances at speed and, because they brought their own herds with them, they didn\u2019t require cumbersome supply lines.<\/p>\n
Read more | Genghis Khan: the Mongol warlord who almost conquered the world<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
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Dusty dogs of war<\/h3>\n
So, given these conspicuous strengths, how were the Mongols to be defeated? Carpini gathered numerous theories that promised to solve this riddle, some more workable than others. According to one story, there was a place far to the north where men were born in the form of dogs. When threatened by the Mongols, these dog-men defended themselves by rolling on the ground until their fur was thick with dust. Next, they jumped into an icy stream that froze their dirt-thickened fur into a solid carapace. They then charged at the Mongols whose arrows couldn\u2019t penetrate this icy armour.<\/p>\n
Carpini also heard that the Mongols encountered problems while crossing a mountain range composed of enormous lodestones whose magnetic power made it impossible for their warriors to direct their metal-headed arrows accurately.<\/p>\n

The Mamluks had nowhere to go and no place to retreat. They either had to defeat their Mongol enemies, or be destroyed <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>
The papal envoy diligently recorded all these stories, but such countermeasures could scarcely be replicated. His own recommendations were more down-to-earth. \u201cWhoever wishes to fight against the Tartars,\u201d he counselled, \u201cought to have the following arms: good strong bows, crossbows, of which they are much afraid, a good supply of arrows, a serviceable axe of strong iron or a battle-axe with a long handle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just as significantly, he suggested that any army sent into the field should be organised in the same way as the Mongols\u2019 own armies. Mongol armies were structured according to the decimal system, whereby its forces were grouped into units of 10 soldiers. Ten such units were led by a commander of 100 troops; 10 groups of 100 troops were led by a commander of 1,000 troops and so on. This was a highly effective structure, and one that Carpini felt Christendom\u2019s commanders should emulate.<\/p>\n
Carpini was right. Defeating the Mongols required an army with similar strengths in war. But Christian armies wouldn\u2019t be the ones to prove his point. That task was left to an Egyptian-based power that waged a 60-year war against the Mongols, starting in 1260. That power was the Mamluk empire.<\/p>\n
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