How an Untimely Death Saved Europe From Annihilation

The Mongols were a season and a funeral away from devastating Western Europe

The Battle of Blue Waters (Orlenov / CC BY-SA 4.0)

In 1241CE, the Mongol armies had passed through Poland and entered Hungary. The mounted armies of Ögedei Khan were cutting through Eastern Europe with little resistance. In their wake they destroyed towns and villages, ate and torched crops and…