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The gorge of Thermopylae

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Trojan War

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Genghis Khan in China

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Genghis Khan ( año 1209-1215)

Conquista del imperio Xi Xia y del imperio Jin de China 

  In 1,209 Genghis Khan undertook his campaign to really conquer Western Xia. Li Anquan requested the help of the Chinese Jin dynasty, but the new prince of Shao Wei refused to send aid. He confronted forcefully led by Kao Liang-Hui outside of Wulahai, Genghis captured by taking the city and pushing them along the Yellow River, conquering several cities in its path, until he reached the Kiemen fortress that guarded the only step to through the Helan Mountains to the capital, Xingching (Yinchuan).

With an army of some 70,000 troops plus some 50,000 reinforcements, the fortress proved very difficult to capture, and after a two-month siege, the Mongols simulated a retreat by attracting the garrison, led by Wei-ming Ling-kung, out from the walls to the open field, where it was easily destroyed.

With the road open, Genghis advanced to the Xingching capital, which was well fortified, where an army of some 150,000 soldiers had gathered, almost twice the size of the Mongol army. The Mongols had no experience or means for a siege war. They arrived in the city in May, and in October they had not succeeded. Genghis tried to flood the capital, by diverting the river and its network of irrigation channels to the city, and by January 1210 the walls of Xingching were almost destroyed. However, the dike used to divert the course of the river broke, and the flood that followed ended the Mongol camp, forcing the Mongols to occupy higher ground.

Despite this setback, the Mongols still pose a formidable threat to Western Xia, and with the crops destroyed and without reinforcements from the Jin Dynasty, Li Anquan agreed to submit to Mongol rule, demonstrating his loyalty, giving him one of his daughters, Chaka, in marriage and paying a tribute of camels, hawks, and textiles. Imposing what he wanted, a reduction in tariffs, which the tanguts imposed on trade, and turned to Mongolia.

In 1210, a delegation arrived at the court of Genghis Khan to proclaim the rise of a new Emperor Jin to the Jurchen throne in northern China and demanded the presentation of the Mongols as a vassal state, demanding the corresponding tributes. Genghis refused and this was a declaration of war. Genghis brought together the chiefs of the clans who decided to attack the Jin empire.

In the year 1211, Genghis Khan gathered all his forces in the headquarters located in the city of Karakorun (city of the Black Sands), in the desert of the Gobi, in order to start the march against the Jin empire. In front of 65,000 men in two hordú or hordes separated by 300 km each other. They attacked the north of China. Ala Qush, head of the onguts, supported Genghis and showed him the way into the empire.

The forces of the Jin empire were 100,000 troops on the border under Prime Minister Du Qiannu, the main force with some 250,000 troops under Marshal Wanyan Chenyu was around the capital, and emergency forces hurriedly assembled throughout the country. kingdom of about 150,000 under the command of Marshal Hersle Whosawho.

The forces led by Jebe confronted the forces of Du Qiannu who had established defensive positions along the border being Wushabao (now Ulanqab). Jebe takes the fortress (May-June), the general withdrew all his forces to Juyongguan (Juyong Pass) on the Great Wall, which led to the capital to stop the advance.

Du Qiannu withdrew soldiers from the cities for hundreds of kilometers, resulting in a combined force of approximately 200,000 soldiers stationed at the Juyong Pass, confident in the defensive position. Genghis evaded the defenses by sending his men through the peaks surrounding the pass, which allowed him to surround the Jin army, attacking the bases of supply to the rear, massacring many of his soldiers. The Jin army retreated from the attack by being attacked in pincers and massacred. Genghis went south and Jebe went into Manchuria and captured Mukden (Shenyang). At the end of the autumn they withdrew to Mongolia with the booty obtained.

In the spring of the following year 2012, after recovering, Genghis again invaded China with 3 hordes of about 90,000 troops, Jochi, the eldest son of Genghis in the northwest, he in the center and his other sons in the east, looting everything at his step, when the summer was over, the horses were weak and was camped near the walls of Yen-King (now Datong), where the emperor was with his army, his officers urged him to assault it, but refused. During the siege, he was severely wounded by an arrow and the Mongols were forced to return to the steppes. Once inside the desert he killed all the slaves he brought except artisans and sages. This act of extreme cruelty was common among the Mongols to kill the slaves in the autumn so as not to have to feed them in winter.

The following year 2.013, returned with 150,000 troops, leaving only 2,000 troops in Mongolia, tried a new incursion for the Juyong Pass but this, in view of the recent attacks of the previous year, was strongly defended by what the invading army saw forced to take a big detour to find another place of access, along the way were looting and conquering other important cities such as Ningjiang, in Manchuria and reach the sea in Fengzhou. In November he managed to pass through the footsteps of Juyong and Zijingkou, devoting all winter to looting the north of China. Thanks to the engineering knowledge of Chinese prisoners, he was able to manufacture siege machines, and train his troops conveniently.

By 1214 the majority of the northern area of ​​the Huang (Yellow River) was in Mongolian hands, many cities were assaulted and many more surrendered. The capital Zhongdu (Beijing or Beijing) was put under siege, had a perimeter of 28 km with 12 gates, 900 towers and triple wall with 12 m in height. After letting many fugitives take refuge in it, Genghis employed civilians for the siege works, as well as to lead the attacks. After several unsuccessful assaults, he decided to surrender the city due to hunger. The Emperor of the Jin Dynasty decided to move the court to the southern capital, Kaifeng (Nanjin), protected to the north by the Yellow River, leaving a general defending the capital.

After several months of siege, the inhabitants began to go hungry, it is said that they sacrificed one in ten to feed the others. The siege was so long that Genghis had to return to Mongolia to quell some rebellions that were taking place, leaving General Mukali in charge, shortly after the city opened its doors to the Mongols, who did not show the least mercy and looted savagely the city. Mukali continued with the systematic domination of this territory.

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Attila the Hun vs. Rome

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Attila the Hun vs. Rome

To end of the fourth century d. C., the great Roman Empire heard stories about a bloodthirsty tribe that no one knew until then where it had emerged, and that devastated and dominated all the places that were in its path. On these dates and in this way began to speak of the Huns.

The Huns

      The Huns were excellent riders, who trained for riding from a young age.

Until today, it is not known with certainty what is the origin of the Hun people, although many studies and investigations place it by central Asia; specifically, in the area of ​​Mongolia. Of them it is known that they were nomads, although every time they besieged a place, a group of them settled in it, in order to create their empire, the Hun empire.

Because of their nomadic tribe status, the Huns depended heavily on their horses. For this town, the horse was like one more member of his body, depended on him, and, without the horse, this wandering people felt vulnerable. As it can be deduced, the Huns were excellent riders, who trained for riding from a young age, and it is believed that they were the first to use the stirrup, an element of great importance to increase the fighting power of a man on horseback; and thus, it was said that, standing and supported in the stirrups, they could shoot from the front, from the sides and from behind.

They were very skilled in the art of war. His tactics were surprise attacks, so that the invaded peoples did not have time to react. Moreover, when some people knew the next arrival of the barbarians, they did not wait to face them, they fled without further ado, provoking during the time of their invasions numerous migrations of peoples terrified of encountering such demons.

It is known that the Huns were not very clean, they did not like water, and they used to spend weeks without touching it, at least to wash themselves. Also, their clothes, made of rat skin, should not smell very good. Throughout history, many historians have ironically argued if the peoples fled from the Huns because of the destructive capacity of the Huns or because of its unbearable smell.

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Trojan War

It all began with a prediction by Kassandra, daughter of Priam King of Troy, who predicted the destruction of Troy because of the birth of his brother, Prince Paris. This is why Paris was abandoned to her fate when she was a baby to die, something that never happened since Paris was picked up and raised by a shepherd. Years later after learning of his true origin Paris returns to the Trojan court where he is already given all the honors as a prince. Paris is invited to a party at the palace of Menelaus, King of Sparta de Tíndaro and recently married to the most beautiful woman on Earth, Helena. It was at this meeting that Paris with the supposed help of Aphrodite seduces Helena and both escape to Troy where Helen of Troy would be from then on. Menelao takes the flight like a kidnapping and summons to a great coalition of Greek polis to attack Troy since the main leaders of the polis had agreed before all they would defend the marriage of that one that chose Helena. The war was served, and Troy had to prepare to be attacked by a large fleet that would soon reach the famous city walls, which no enemy had been able to overcome. The great Greek army was led by the brother of Menelaus, Agamemnon, and had the help of Achilles, the best warrior of ancient times divinely protected, as well as his cousin and disciple Patroclus.

. La lucha se reanuda y el siguiente en caer sería Paris de un flechazo a manos de Filoctetes, un gran amigo de Heracles.Héctor VS AquilesPero la guerra, que ahora parece ya favorable a Troya se decidirá con una treta que idearon los griegos quienes construirían un gran caballo de madera que en su interior llevaría oculto a Ulises junto con un centenar de sus mejores hombres, que a modo comando abrirían las puertas de la ciudad dejando entrar al grueso del ejército griego que ocultos aguardaban su momento para actuar.Sinón, pariente de Ulises, era un espía griego que convenció a los troyanos de que el caballo era un presente para la diosa Minerva. Pero el caballo es tan grande que los troyanos hasta derriban una parte de su muro para meterlo en la ciudad, en toda la cuidad se celebra con gran júbilo la victoria troyana, de forma que toda la ciudad esta inmersa en una vorágine de alcohol y desenfreno, ni si quiera los centinelas están vigilando las zonas próximas a las murallas. Sinón cuando estimó que la situación era la idónea abrió el vientre del caballo dejando salir a los soldados griegos quienes hicieron una gran señal de fuego que advertía al grueso del ejército aqueo de que era la hora de atacar la ciudad.Los griegos pronto entraron en Troya sin apenas resistencia, saqueándola matando (incluyendo al Rey Príamo) y tomando a todos los supervivientes como prisioneros, tan solo unos pocos afortunados, entre ellos Helena pudieron escapar por medio de pasadizos secretos. Tras 10 años, para los griegos ya era hora de volver a casa, algo que no iba a ser ni mucho menos un camino de rosas pero eso ya es otra historia, la historia de la Odisea.

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The Battle of Qadesh

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The Battle of Qadesh

Throughout the centuries, the Battle of Qadesh, fought in the year 1278 a. C., has been taken as one of the greatest warlike deeds of Ramses II, although recent studies both archaeological and epigraphic now give us a very different version of the official, given by the pharaoh himself in his "Poem of Pentaur."

Considered the oldest of the great battles of which it is known, the conflict between the sovereign of Egypt Ramses II and the king of the Hittites Muwattali took place on the banks of the Orontes River, in the vicinity of Qadesh, the city from which name.

At a time of delicate balance between the Middle East and the Middle East, the Hittites expanded their borders by taking control of Qadesh (Syria), which had previously been under Egyptian sovereignty. When Ramses II was crowned pharaoh at the age of 25, he had already been instructed by his father about the inevitability of a war with the Hittites, then in possession of the lands that traversed the trade routes. Without free trade routes, Egypt could see its wealth and future jeopardized.

Muwattali managed to form a coalition between states and provinces, and gather an army of approximately 36,000 men and about 2,500 tanks. For his part, Ramses II had 20,000 men grouped into four divisions, each dedicated to an Egyptian god (Amón, Ra, Ptah and Sutekh), as well as his personal guard and numerous tanks. On the way to the valley of the Orontes River he added to his troops an elite body of Asian soldiers, known as Nearin.

When Ramses was near the city of Qadesh, he managed to capture and interrogate two Ahasu Bedouins, and they told him that Muwattali and his army were 200 kilometers north in Aleppo. They also told him that the Hittite king was afraid of Pharaoh's advance. This information was false although it was taken as true, and was part of the strategy of Muwattali, who was waiting east of Qadesh waiting for the moment to attack the Egyptian army.

Ramses crossed the Orontes and advanced to the west of Qadesh along with one of its divisions (Amon), while the other three had been left behind. He decided to build a camp to wait for his other divisions and regroup the army, and then attack the city. As luck would have it, Ramses captured two Hittite soldiers, who revealed Muwattali's true intentions, but Pharaoh did not have time to gather his divisions in time.

When the Hittites attacked, crossing the Orontes, they took the Ra division by surprise and ended up with it, scattering and chasing the few remaining survivors. Then it was the turn of the division Amón, that before the surprise arrival to the camp of the Hittite cars could not react in time. Meanwhile, and although the situation was desperate, Ramses II tried to regroup all the possible soldiers to counterattack, but the battlefield was a complete chaos, and the Hittites were more concentrated in looting the booty than in continuing to attack, which gave some time to Ramses.

According to Pharaoh's account, his counterattack was unstoppable, and ramming his chariot easily toppled the Hittite ranks, although this version seems quite distant from reality. Perhaps we should attribute Pharaoh's survival and success to the fact that the enemies were busy looting, and the field space did not leave much room for maneuver to the 2,500 Hittite cars.

At this moment of the battle the Nearin arrived, attacking the enemy in a closed formation and provoking their dispersion and flight to the south. Once regrouped they sent a second attack with their cars, but also failed in their attempt. The Hittites fled across the river, in which many unfortunate people drowned, while the Ptah division ended with the last days of fighting.

As to whether there was a later confrontation with the Hittites before the return of Ramses to Egypt, the historians do not agree, but the Pentaur Poem tells us that there was. Muwattali surrendered his troops and offered peace, an offer that Ramses accepted, due to the serious difficulties that would be involved in continuing the campaign based on the recent losses. This peace was never signed by a written agreement, but was simply a cessation of hostilities agreed between the two.

You can not judge Ramsés harshly for presenting as a great victory a conflict that can be considered a forced draw, it is true that he won but was not even in his description of the facts, but his position as Pharaoh and perhaps his youth They took him to it.

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The gorge of Thermopylae

The year 480 a. C. seven thousand Greeks under the command of the Spartan King Leonidas bravely resisted in the passage of Thermopylae the push of the Persian Army commanded by Xerxes, son of Darius. The Greeks defended the passage of Thermopylae until Efialtes, a traitorous peasant, showed the Persians a path that led to the other side of the gorge. When Leonidas warned that he was going to be surrounded, he withdrew the bulk of his forces and remained with only 700 Thespians, 300 Thebans and 300 Spartans. The Thebans surrendered, but Thespians and Spartans fought to the death. On the battle site a monument was erected with the following inscription: "Walker sees Sparta say we have died here for obeying its laws."

On September 13, 490 a. C. Athenians, supported by the neighboring city of Plataea had defeated the Persians of Darius I at the Battle of Marathon.

Darío I dies the 486 a. C. and he is succeeded by his son Xerxes, who intends to incorporate Greece into his Empire. The Greeks are preparing for the new war. In Athens, the archon Temístocles, consults the oracle of Delphi that responds in an enigmatic way: «trust in the wooden walls». 

Themistocles interprets the oracle as that the gods are ordering the Athenians to build a powerful fleet, precisely what he recommended. Athens builds 200 warships and fortifies the port of Piraeus. Some thirty Greek cities founded the year 481 a. C. the "League of Corinth", so named because its headquarters was in Corinth.

At the beginning of April of the year 480 a. C., Xerxes launches a powerful army of 250,000 men against Greece. In May it crosses the Strait of the Dardanelles (Helesponto) by means of two bridges built with wooden boats. A fleet of 700 ships, supplies the army from the sea. In the month of July the army of Xerxes crosses Thrace and Macedonia, kingdoms vassals of the Persians.

The Corinthian League studies where to stop the Persian army and decides to raise battle in places that are easy to defend. By land, in the gorge of Thermopylae. By sea, at the same height, at Cape Artemisio, northwest of the island of Euboea.

The war on land was assumed lost, given the size of the Persian army so that the Hellenic generals (strategists) sought to defeat the Persian fleet to gain control of the sea and cut off the supply of the Persian army that would be forced to retreat.

The Hellenic fleet had 270 ships, 200 Athenians, and prepared for the naval battle in the strait between the island of Euboea and the continent, where the huge Persian fleet could not maneuver.

The Persian army was obliged to move near the sea, so that the fleet could supply it. The gorge of Thermopylae was the obligatory passage to Central Greece. 

The pass was then only 20 meters wide, later the Esperqueo River has extended it to a width of about 1.5 - 5 kilometers. In that small space, the Persian army could not deploy its army and its cavalry would not be effective. There, 7,000 Greek soldiers were placed under the command of the Spartan King Leonidas with the mission of stopping the Persians for as long as possible. Reinforced a fortress "the wall focense", partially in ruins, to facilitate the defense of the place.

Xerxes tried to surround the Greek fleet, which could not attack in the narrow place where it anchored. A storm destroyed 150 of its ships. Faced with such annoyances, he decided to force the terrestrial passage. The Persian army arrived at Thermopylae on August 20, 480 a. C.

Leónidas y sus hombres resistieron durante dos días, causando graves daños a los persas. La batalla naval de Artemisio estaba en una situación indecisa. Cuando la flota griega recibió la noticia de la muerte de los defensores de las Termópilas y del avance del ejército persa hacia el sur, partió hacia las costas del Ática. En septiembre de 480 a. C. el ejército de Jerjes avanzó sin oposición y destruyó Atenas, cuyos habitantes habían sido evacuados a la isla de Salamina. Los restos de la flota griega, unas 180 naves, se apostaron en el estrecho de Salamina. Temístocles fingió una retirada y atrajo las naves de Jerjes hacia el estrecho donde la pericia ateniense y la maniobrabilidad de sus naves infligieron una fuerte derrota a la armada persa, unos 400 barcos, que tuvo que retirarse. Un año más tarde los griegos sorprendieron a la flota persa en Micala (20 de agosto de 479 a. C.), varada y desguarnecida y la destruyeron. Ese mismo día el ejército persa al mando de Mardonio, cuñado de Jerjes, fue derrotado en la batalla de Platea. La guerra continuó treinta años más, pero el dominio del mar fue decisivo. En el 477 a.C. se creó la «Liga de Delos» entre Atenas y las ciudades-estado de las islas del mar Egeo y de la costa de Asia Menor. En el 467, en la desembocadura del río Eurimedonte (Panfilia, sur de Asia Menor) las fuerzas de la Liga de Delos inflingieron, por mar y por tierra, una doble derrota a los persas. En el 449, tras la conquista de la mayor parte de Chipre se negoció la paz entre persas y griegos, acordando que los persas dejarían libre el mar Egeo y las costas de Asia Menor, mientras que los griegos deberían renunciar a intervenir en Egipto y Chipre.