The Mongols took the road toward Tibet, but after some days they turned back from that difficult region and went to Peshawur, where were the roads along which they had come in the first place. As he passed Balkh on the Samarkand road Jinghis Khan issued orders to slay all who had made their way back to that city.
After the death of Shah Mohammed, Chepé Noyon and Subotai, two of the three who had hunted him down to extinction, plundered [[133]]Persian, that is Eastern, Irak and ruined it, and also the lands between that vast province and the Caspian. On the west they went great distances inland, including parts of Armenia, and also Georgia as far as Tiflis. In 1222 those commanders received from Jinghis reinforcements with a command to conquer the Polovtsi, a people akin to the Mongols.
These Polovtsi led a nomad life in that region which stretches westward from the Caspian to the Dnieper; they were neighbors of the Russians whom they had harassed for centuries. The Mongols had obtained from the Shirvan Shah ten guards to conduct them. The commanders began very strangely. They cut off the head of one of these ten and declared that the other nine would die by the same kind of death if they should deceive them or use any treachery. Despite this cruel act the guides led the army into ambush among northern foothills of the Caucasus, and slipped away safely.
The Mongols, astray in mountains and woods, were attacked upon all sides by various strong peoples; among these were the Polovtsi, to whom they were bringing destruction. Pressed hard at all points they sent to those Polovtsi this message: “Ye and we are one people, why war with us? Make peace. We will give all the gold that ye need, and many rich garments. Ye and we can work together with great profit.”
Seduced by these words and by presents the Polovtsi gave help and aid to the Mongols, gave them victory first, and then led them out to the open country. When towns in the Caucasus foothills and near them were ruined the Mongols turned on the Polovtsi, slew their chief men and numbers of others, took back the bribes to treachery, took every other thing of value and cut down and slaughtered on all sides. The Polovtsi fled and spread terror with their accounts of the Mongols. The whole people left the best pastures and moved toward their northern and western boundaries. Ten thousand families passed into Byzantine regions. John Ducas, the Emperor, took those people then to his service and gave them land in Macedonia and Thrace. Great numbers fled into Russia, which for two centuries had been scourged with their raids and their outrages. Among the fugitives was Kotyan, a Khan whose daughter had married the Galitch prince Mystislav the Gallant. Kotyan implored his son-in-law [[134]]to help him: “To-day,” said he, “the Mongols have taken our land, they will take yours to-morrow. Assist us; if not we shall be beaten on one day and you the day following.”
Mystislav called the Russian princes to a council, at which they resolved to give aid to the Polovtsi. “Unless we help them,” said Mystislav, “they will go with the Mongols and strengthen them.” A deputation went north to ask aid of the princes in Suzdal. Troops were collected and the Russian princes moved against the enemy in confidence. On the way they met Mongol envoys who delivered this message: “We have heard that, convinced by the Polovtsi, ye are marching against us, but we have not come to attack you. We have come against our own horse boys and slaves, the vile Polovtsi; we are not at war with you. If the Polovtsi flee to your country drive them out of it, and seize all their property. They have harmed you, as men tell us; they have harmed us also; that is why we attack them.” The Russian princes gave answer by killing the envoys.
Some distance down that great river the Dnieper, a new Mongol embassy met the Russian princes with these words: “If through obedience to the Polovtsi ye have cut down our envoys, and are now bringing war on us, Heaven will judge your action; we have not harmed you.” This time the princes spared the envoys.
When the Russians and Polovtsi had assembled at the Dnieper Mystislav crossed with one thousand men. He attacked the Mongol outposts and scattered them. After some hesitation the Mongols retired. Moving eastward, they lured on the Russians, who soon met a larger detachment of warriors. These they attacked and defeated, driving them far into the steppe land and seizing all their cattle. Encouraged by this success, the Russians moved forward eight days in succession till they neared the river Kalka. Then came an action with outposts and a third Russian victory. Mystislav ordered Daniel of Galitch, son of Roman, to cross the Kalka; after him went all the other princes and encamped on the steppe beyond the river. The Polovtsi were posted in advance, some of them serving as sentries. Mystislav rode forward to reconnoitre. Being satisfied with what was revealed to him he returned hastily, ordered out his own men and also Daniel, giving no command to other princes who were left in their camp awaiting orders; there was keen rivalry between [[135]]him and them. Mystislav thought, as it seems, to win victory without them and believed that he had power thus to win it. He knew not that he was to meet Chepé Noyon who had hunted to death both Gutchluk and Mohammed, the sovereigns of two Empires; he knew nothing of the Mongols, their numbers, their power or their methods.
The battle was opened by Daniel who, in the forefront himself, attacked with great valor and was wounded very early in the action, which was obstinate. Observing the danger, Mystislav supported him, and the Mongols were repulsed to some extent. At this point, for some unknown cause, the whole force of the Polovtsi stampeded, turned, rushed back in panic terror and filled the Russian camp with disorder. The Mongols rallied quickly, brought up fresh forces, and swept all before them. The Russians, not engaged for the greater part, were waiting near the river. The Polovtsi not only left the field, but in fact helped the enemy, hence victory was perfect for the Mongols. “Never in Russia,” states the chronicler, “was there a defeat so disastrous as this one (1224).”
Three Russian princes, who had not taken part in the battle, held their ground firmly near the river, on a hill which they fortified with palisades. They fought there with two divisions of Mongols, which remained at the Kalka—the others followed Mystislav toward the Dnieper. Three days did those brave men fight at the river, till assured that they would be freed on surrender, if ransomed. They trusted the plighted word of the Mongols and yielded.