Here is another take with more details of the lead up and battle at the
Battle of the Kalka River, its in two parts...
Part One...
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Part Two...
The American Legion is the nation’s largest wartime veterans service organization aimed at advocating patriotism across the U.S. through diverse programs and member benefits.
www.burnpit.us
snip...
Aftermath
Since no reliable figures for either army's composition exist, there are equally no reliable statistics for the casualties.
It can be speculated, however, that the Kievan Rus' lost at least 50 percent of their total forces, if not 75 percent. Some chroniclers record that several Rus' princes managed to escape annihilation,
including Prince Mstislav the Bold. Mongol losses were probably very light, maybe 2000 or less.
Footnote #1: Despite Mongol assurances of leniency, the captured Rus' nobles were subjected to a nefarious brand of justice. The Mongols believed that if the blood of an enemy's rulers were spilt, then the earth would be offended by the Mongols. Therefore, they developed many ingenious methods of executing their vanquished enemies. After the Mongol victory at the Kalka River, Subotai and Jebe held a victory feast.
The captured Rus' princes were buried in the ground, with their heads exposed. A wooden platform was built above them. As the Mongol leadership and their men celebrated, the weight eventually crushed the Rus' princes to death.
Footnote #2: It would be 16 years before the Mongols would return to these lands. This time the steppe horsemen were bent on the conquest of the Kievan Rus'. Led by Batu Khan, grandson of the original Great Khan Genghis, the Mongols would destroy the various principalities of Kiev, move on into Poland, and devastate Hungary
. Meanwhile, the principality of Novgorod would escape the Mongol yoke – but still pay tribute – and would evolve into the Grand Duchy of Muscovy. This entity was the ancestor to the Russian nation as we know it today.