1. The Arrow’s Masterpiece
Jebe’s masterpiece occurred during the great cavalry raid into the Caucuses and southern Russia, at the Battle of Kalka River in 1223. He and Subutai conducted a feigned retreat before a numerically superior army of Kievan Rus and Cumans. They lured their pursuers into following them for nine days, before turning on and slaughtering their foes, nearly to a man.
That raid set the stage for a Mongol return fifteen years later, this time in a full-force invasion that conquered Kievan Rus and overran Eastern Europe. Jebe, however, died in 1225, soon after his return from that raid, and did not live to harvest what he had planted or see the fruits of his work.
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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading
Allen Brown, Reginald – The Architecture of Castles: A Visual Guide (1984)
Big Think – Vikings Unwittingly Made Their Blades Stronger by Trying to Imbue Them With Spirits
British Battles – Battle of Agincourt
DeVries, Kelly – Military Medieval Technology (1992)
Encyclopedia Britannica – Hulegu
Encyclopedia Britannica – Jacquerie
Gonick, Larry – The Cartoon History of the Universe III (2002)
Grousset, Rene – The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia (1970)
Keegan, John – The Face of Battle: A Study of Agincourt, Waterloo, and the Somme (2011)
Liddiard, Robert – Castles in Context: Power, Symbolism, and Landscape, 1066 to 1500 (2005)
Medieval Castles – The Brilliance of Machicolations
Medieval Chronicles – Castle Murder Holes
My Armory – Call to Arms: The German Longsword
Odyssey – Feminist Muslim Warrior Series: Khawla bint al Azwar, the Muslim Mulan
Order of Medieval Women – Sikelgaita, Heiress of Salerno
Peers, Chris – Genghis Khan and the Mongol War Machine (2015)
