Battle of Legnica - Conclusion

Conclusion

Wenceslaus I of Bohemia fell back to gather reinforcements from Thuringia and Saxony, but was overtaken by the Mongol vanguard at Kłodzko. However, the Bohemian light cavalry was able to ambush a Mongol detachment. As Baidar and Kadan's orders had been to serve as a diversion, and they were facing a regrouping opponent, they turned away from Bohemia and Poland and headed southward to join Batu and Subutai, who had soundly defeated the Hungarians at the Battle of Mohi. After the battle the Mongols had great success in seizing the cities of Germany and Poland. However, when Subutai heard in 1242 that Grand Khan Ögedei had died the previous year, the Mongol army retreated again eastward. As was traditional, Subutai and his army returned to the capital to elect a new Great Khan.

After Batu Khan returned from Mongolia, his relations with his cousins were so poor that not until the election of Möngke Khan as Khagan did he again consider turning westward to Europe. However, he died in 1255 before those plans could be put into motion. Under the rule of his brother Berke, the Golden Horde was preoccupied with the conflict with their cousins in the Ilkhanate, led by Hulagu Khan, whom Berke Khan despised for the Battle of Baghdad and the murder of Caliph Al-Musta'sim.

The Mongols never again seriously looked westward for conquest, only raiding for loot, and even then they were not able to commit the bulk of their forces, which had to guard against other Mongols. Led by Burundai, the Mongols successfully raided Poland in 1259. They raided again under the leadership of Tulabuga and Nogai Khan, successfully in 1286 and unsuccessfully in 1287. Because these raids were not aimed at conquest, Poland and Hungary were not seriously threatened again after 1241, although the Russian lands to their east remained under the rule of the Golden Horde for the next two centuries. However, Subutai and Batu Khan were finalizing a plan for a winter invasion of Central Europe, potentially leading to the "Great Sea" (the Atlantic Ocean), when Ögedei died.