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| - Byzantine Empire, Caucasus: Baba Ishaq, an inspired preacher, originally from the Alevi Shi'ite sect and later a convert to Myriamism, leads a revolt in Cappadocia and Anatolia, establishing a religious state and converting most fellow Alevis and several half-pagan Turkic tribes to the new creed. Northern Europe: Alexander, a Rurikid temporarily elected as prince of Novgorod, routs the Finns and the Swedish crusaders of Birger Jarl on the Neva river (hence his surname, Nevskij); he also fends off the Danes and the Estonian tribes attacking Pskov. Central-Eastern Europe: Three powerful Mongol armies invade central Europe:eek: : one into Poland and Bohemia, one across the Carpatians into Hungary, the third along the Danube against Megavlakia. The last one is stopped and actually defeated before the walls of Drystra/Silistra, the Megavlakian capital, where Czar Theophilus the Saint dies just after being briefed the enemy was repulsed. In Poland, instead, the Mongols led by Ögedei's son Kadan and his nephew Kaidu quickly advance and accept the submission of the dukes, crushing at Legnica a Bohemian army led by Henry II, the Piast duke of Silesia-Wroclaw, who dies on the battlefield. A few days later in Hungary the main Mongol army, led by Subotai gains a total victory at Mohi on the Sajò river. Then the army from Poland devastates Moravia and reunites with Subotai and Batu Khan in Hungary. Again they divide to raid the Sklaviniai (*OTL Balkans) up to Greece, easily bringing Serbia to submission. The Megavlakian state proves a tougher nut to crack, but autumn brings along the fall and destruction of Vidin Bulgaria and Drystra/Silistra also Bulgaria at the hands of Kadan's detachment and the submission of the country, which is divided between local voivods (dukes) and despots under Mongol suzerainty. In Bosnia, instead, ban Matej Ninoslav and the pro-Bogomil party retake power in the face of the crumbling Hungarian power.and whats hapens in Bulgariaat that moment look the maps::)) Central-Eastern Europe, Northern Europe: After ravaging Dalmatia, besieging Spalato/Split and Ragusa/Dubrovnik and extorting tributes, the Mongols resume their attack on Europe during the winter months. King Wenceslaus I of Bohemia is made an offer he can't refuse (Lusatia, Austria, Bavaria and the lands down to Trieste and Fiume:eek: ) and allies with the invaders. Also the Piast dukes of Poland supply troops for the double planned submission of Germany and Lombardy. The Mongol-Bohemian army easily takes Vienna (the captured duke of Austria, Frederick II, dies in captivity, extinguishing the Babenberg house), then advances right into Bavaria, crushing the Welf army of Otto the Handsome at the battle of Hordebruck (*OTL Landshut). In the north, a Mongol-Polish army under Kaidu defeats and kills John I of Brandenburg at the Spreewald; Otto of Brunswick, the Staufen duke of Saxony, surrenders to be later beheaded in captivity at Brasta/Berestye (*Brest-Litovsk). Germany is no more, as the court with young king Frederick III flees to France; the Mongols routinely leave in place existing rulers, provided they submit. Bavaria, Austria, Lusatia, are annexed to Bohemia :eek: as crown fiefs. Hundreds of thousands of Germans flee west into Luxemburg and France, a similar number perish in the indiscriminate plunder wrought by the Mongol armies:eek: :eek: :eek: . Southern Europe: Urban V dies (legend has he was poisoned on orders of Ezzelino, but there's no proof); he is succeeded after an entire year of vacancy by the Genoes Sinibaldo Fieschi, who styles himself Urban VI (*OTL he was Innocent IV), and soon calls Europe to defence against the Mongol onslaught. Stefan Uroš I overthrows his brother Stefan Vladislav in Serbia, but is in turn removed and exiled to Zeta (*later Melanoria, OTL Montenegro) by the powerful landlord Dragomir I, a descendant of a German knight from the Second Crusade, who takes power as a Mongol vassal founding the Harjemanoviċ dynasty. Byzantine Empire: Count Adolf II of Thebes, one of the “Latin” (Catholic) masters of central and southern Greece, tries to enlarge his lands to the expense of Turcopolia but his forces are mauled and his state destroyed. Northern Europe, Southern Europe: Count Rudolph I of Habsburg, a powerful feudatory, gains the duchy of Alamannia (*northern Switzerland) after the extinction of the Zähringen house (whose last heir fell at the battle of Hordebruck). He'll build a sizable domain also in Alsace and Swabia through a mix of diplomacy and petty wars. 1242 Northern Europe: The Swordbearer Knights, reduced to Riga and Livonia, are absorbed into the Teutonic Order by Papal decree. Northern Europe, Western Europe: Luxemburgian forces occupy the archbishoprics of Cologne, Trier and Mainz to keep the Mongols from crossing the Rhine. Batu Khan, with fresh forces from the steppes plus Bohemian and Polish levies, invades Alsace and thence heads north to trounce the Luxemburgians at the battle of Merzig. King Henry VII of Luxemburg is killed along with his brothers and sons, leaving only a minor branch of the Limburg-Brabant-Arlon dynasty to rule as counts over much diminished lands around Luxemburg proper. Louis II of Flanders-Hainault soon yields, accepting Mongol suzerainty in exchange for a sizable part of vanquished Luxemburg:mad: , among which the duchy of Champagne, and pledging help in a last expedition west to overthrow the Greater Norman empire. Central-Eastern Europe: Given the extent of the Mongol conquests west, a new khanate, Berestia, is organized with its center in the former Lithuano-Ruthenian capital of Brasta/Berestye (*Brest-Litovsk). Berke Khan, Batu's brother, is made khan of the most westerly Mongol khanate – holding domain over vassals in Poland, Slovakia, Galicia, Hungary and Cumania (*OTL Moldavia) and a wide strip of land from the Baltic to the Black Sea and the Danube, plus all the vanquished European rulers. Berke in turn formally acknowledges Batu Khan's Golden Horde and the Great Khan in Karakorum as his superiors. Tens of thousands of German prisoners are brought in by Mongols, Poles and Bohemians to resettle devastated areas in Poland, Hungary and Moravia as serfs. Southern Europe: A smaller Mongol force under Subotai plunges on the Patriarchate of Aquileia, razing Udena (*OTL Udine) and capturing Patriarch Berchtold of Andechs-Merania. The Mongols then assault and burn Treviso and Padua until Ezzelino da Romano pledges submission:eek: , gaining Friul as a Mongol vassal. Byzantine Empire: Basileus Theoktistos I Megas Branas negotiates a lasting alliance (in a subordinate position, the only possible one) with the Mongols, perhaps saving the empire from destruction. Northern Europe, Western Europe: In ten years after the Mongol onslaught, Germany loses around one-third of its population to massacres, famine and emigration. The Mongol invasions prompt the so-called Drang nach West:D , as a multitude of Germans escape their homeland to find more tolerable conditions, colonizing vast areas in France and Flanders-Hainault. Thousands of German refugees reach also England, Northumbria and the Scandinavian countries, especially Sweden. 1243 Western Europe: A Mongol-European army 100,000 strong under Batu Khan and Subotai invades France, evicting the Greater Normans from the European mainland. Emperor William VI flees to England rather than fighting: his brother Gerbert the Pious tries to stem the Mongol tide in the battle of Morienval but is mangled to death under the enemy cavalry. His corpse, with those of the feudatories who dared resist the invaders, is later launched by means of a trebuchet inside Rouen's walls :eek: to obtain the surrender of the city. Paris is set ablaze, as Tours, Chartres, Caen and other towns; hundreds of thousands are slain or transported as slaves to astoundingly distant places, never heard of before (some even to China!). Local rulers who put arms down are however spared and preserve their domains, provided they pay due homage to the Great Khan and the Khan of Berestia. Louis II of Flanders-Hainault, now nicknamed (not in his presence:D ) the Turncoat, gains further territorial enlargements. At least half a million of people flees in desperation to England by any seaworthy means; many others flee to Brittany, untouched by the Mongols, or Flanders. Southern Europe: A Mongol detachment under Berke Khan reaches Lombardy in support of Ezzelino. Towns in Emilia are ravaged, setting an example of terror with the total destruction of Modena and the extermination of its 10,000 inhabitants:eek: :eek: :eek: . The Mongol army then helps Ezzelino to overcome and destroy Pavia, whose days as a capital are now put at an end. A subsequent incursion south is made by the Mongols, who plunder severely Florence. Pope Urban VI (*OTL Innocent IV), with a hastily assembled force of Papal militias, Lesser Normans and Sicilians in tow just in case, heads north and meets Berke Khan in a poor peasant hut near Arezzo. The Pope – or his sizable army – persuade the Mongol khan to withdraw accepting a symbolic tribute and Papal legates to be sent to the court of Great Khan Ögedei in Karakorum: Rome is spared. Mongol forces help Venice to subdue (read: annihilate) the restive Dalmatian town of Zara/Zadar, again risen in rebellion, which is afterwards largely resettled with Venetians. Byzantine Empire: A new wave of Muslim Turkic tribes ravages the heart of Anatolia, establishing there the sultanate of Kirikkale, in constant attrition with Byzantium, the Miryamite theocracy centered at Tephrike/Divrigi and the Akrite Order in Caesarea/Mazhak. Middle East: Sungur Beg wrests back Aleppo from the Templars and makes it his capital. Khayun Beg of Mosul sacks Saifid-held Baghdad, but cannot keep it for long. India: Narasimha Deva, the Ganga ruler of Kalinga (Orissa) is defeated and killed at the battle of Tigiria by emperor Anishadharma I of Patna's forces. The Dharma empire annexes the former Ganga holdings. Far East: The Chinese block the Mongol onslaught at the fortress of Diaoyucheng (*near Chongqing) in Sichuan. A long war of siege and attrition begins, where the Mongol might will bite the dust and firearms will be employed on large scale for the fist time, with cannons, mines and rockets used to notable effect, mainly by the Chinese but also, increasingly, by the Mongols. Western Europe: Mongol raids wreak havoc and enforce submission in Aquitaine/Occitania and parts of former Burgundy; Poitiers is burnt to ashes. The Norman viceroyalty of Toulouse is crushed and local Cathar sympathizers :D are put in charge of Gadary/Languedoc by the Mongol raiders; then, all Mongol forces quickly withdraw west for the incredible ride to Mongolia upon news of the death of Great Khan Ögedei. 1243-1264 Southern Europe: Stefan Uroš I and his brother Stefan Vladislav, former rulers of Serbia, fight over Zeta (later Melanoria, OTL Montenegro) with the former gaining control of most of the land and the latter holding an own realm at Scutari/Shkodēr. 1244 Northern Europe: Mongol and Polish forces, allied with the pagan Prussians, defeat the Teutonic Order at the battle of Marienburg. The valiant knights are spared their lives and allowed to keep their holdings, but not to enlarge them; they are to cut ties with the Danish crown and swear loyalty to Berke Khan of Berestia over anyone else, including the Pope. Those who disagree are spared their lives, but forced in exile into Scandinavia. Western Europe: Maurian forces support the rebellion of duke Elpidio the Younger of Elbira (*OTL Granada) against his cousin, king Ramiro I of Andalusia. The decisive battle of Castro del Rio marks Elpidio's victory: the new king trasfers the Andalusian capital from Sevilla to Cordoba. The Inquisition is expelled from Gadary/Languedoc, where the Cathars feel now stronger. Infighting begins between several contenders for the crown, as the county in in a state of flux. Southern Europe: Ezzelino da Romano torches Alessandria and defeats marquis Bonifacio II of Montferrat at Felizzano, but his campaign proves indecisive as the loyalist coalition, knowing the Mongols have left and won't be back so soon, rallies. Venice defeats and subdues the rival Histrian Comune of Pola, then pays a tribute to the Mongols herself. Byzantine Empire: Byzantine forces, along with the remains of the Megavlakian army, move against Turcopolia: they fail in the siege of Serrai but gain from despot George Korizenos the formal recognition of Theoktistos I Megas Branas as sole basileus and overlord of all “Romans”. Middle East: Sungur Beg, now allied with the Miryamite kingdom of Galilee against the Crusaders, plunders Jerusalem :eek: - a fact little noted in the shocked Christian world, still reeling under Mongol blows. North Africa: A Templar-Sicilian force of 12,000 is annihilated in the battle of al-Fayyum by the new sultan of Aswan and upper Egypt, Malik Nasreddin Ghazi bin Qurtuz; Cairo falls back to the Muslims, and Crusader control of Lower Egypt is made more difficult. Far East: The Mongols enthrone Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyaltsen as a viceroy of their liking for Tibet, enforcing a measure of unity in the country. When Great Khan Ögedei dies, Batu Khan, back in Karakorum with immense booty and a powerful army (he left behind his brother Berke to watch the West), is elected by the Khuriltai (Great Assembly) as the next Great Khan, despite claims about his father Jochi's legitimacy (*indeed Jochi very likely wasn't Genghis' son:rolleyes: , though raised as such). Soon afterwards Töregene Khatun, one of Ögedei's widows and Batu's first enemy-in-chief, is quietly liquidated along with her sons Güyük and Kadan and her grandson Kaidu. Western Europe: In the void created by the Mongol invasion a bitter civil war is fought in France between rival landlords (the Anarchy), with the country remaining deeply scarred, isolated and in economic and social ruin. Arabia: Templars, Sicilians and Genoese from Lower Egypt take the ports of Aden and Mocha in Yemen as waypoints to Western India on the Spice Route. They manage to hold the ports for some years by allying with the Mervid rulers of Yemen and providing mercenaries for defence against the Saifids of Medina, but are eventually ousted by local Muslim forces. Western Europe: The early death without heirs of king Ramiro IV Diogo dooms the Mabinardo dynasty of Gallastria; his sister Fionna Breinga Maria, sole survivor of the royal branch of the family and sworn to chastity, takes over as queen. Southern Europe: Ezzelino da Romano welcomes some 20,000 Cumans into ravaged Friul as mercenaries. They settle the arid upper western plain, whence the later name Comagne will come. Ezzelino's siege of Novara comes to nothing and he himself is wounded. Central-Eastern Europe: King Béla IV of Hungary emerges from his hideout in Trogir/Traù (Dalmatia) and comes back to his country, taking residence in Buda and accepting Mongol suzerainty. He sends his young son Stephen as a hostage to Berke Khan of Berestia. Berke Khan entrusts the area at the mouth the Danube to voivod Kunpany and his mixed Slavo-Cuman-Vlach tribe, the Brodnici. Byzantine Empire: A Pisan fleet defeats the navy of king Demetrios of Cyprus and Armenia Minor at Paphos. The winners gain the ports of Attalia (Pamphilia) and Famagusta/Ammochostos (Cyprus) plus trade privileges.
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