I'm trying to get a grasp of how much credit the Lithuanians, Poles, and Hungarians(?) (but especially Lithuanians) should get for 'saving the West from Mongol destruction'.
How intense was the Mongol onslaught at this point? Did they just get bored(*), so it was no great feat to repulse them? How exactly did Lithuania gain so much of the former Kievan Rus' states? Was it 'consensual' (a la the Rurik dynasty & the Vikings), or did Lithuania essentially say, "we're the boss now... you got spanked, we turned the tide, now we're picking up the pieces & keeping them for ourselves"...?
(*) I doubt it, so what enabled the Lithuanians (& Poles) to turn the tide, when no one else could? Did they discover a brilliant counter-tactic to the Mongol "ride away whilst shooting arrows backward at the enemy"? Was it the terrain? Were the Mongols simply out-manned & over-powered by beastly, masculine pale people?
So how great was this feat, how much credit should be given, and to whom? And what were the dynamics of the diplomacy which led to Lithuania becoming so huge? It seems like Lithuania had a massive period of 'glory days', and no one really ever seems to know/talk/care about it. Help me understand!
How intense was the Mongol onslaught at this point? Did they just get bored(*), so it was no great feat to repulse them? How exactly did Lithuania gain so much of the former Kievan Rus' states? Was it 'consensual' (a la the Rurik dynasty & the Vikings), or did Lithuania essentially say, "we're the boss now... you got spanked, we turned the tide, now we're picking up the pieces & keeping them for ourselves"...?
(*) I doubt it, so what enabled the Lithuanians (& Poles) to turn the tide, when no one else could? Did they discover a brilliant counter-tactic to the Mongol "ride away whilst shooting arrows backward at the enemy"? Was it the terrain? Were the Mongols simply out-manned & over-powered by beastly, masculine pale people?
So how great was this feat, how much credit should be given, and to whom? And what were the dynamics of the diplomacy which led to Lithuania becoming so huge? It seems like Lithuania had a massive period of 'glory days', and no one really ever seems to know/talk/care about it. Help me understand!