Middle Mongol Puns

Möŋke Teŋgeri-yin küčün-dür

Yeke suu zali-yi irgegün-dür

Özbek qan-un zarliγ

ken ülü bisirekü aldaqu ükükü

how much did you understand? can you try a translation on the comments? (well I don't need it, just to see similarity) and what would be it in modern Mongol?

I've been reading the works of several medieval historians about the Mongol invasions of Eastern Europe, and one thing keeps popping up in every source: The stone castle.

Apparently the Mongols weren't able to take a single one in several invasions of Hungary and Poland. Hungary was also said to have constructed over 60 stone castles in the years following the first invasion, and they seemed to have worked flawlessly against the 2nd invasion. Historian Andrej Janes even notes that "well-fortified castles were impenetrable to the Mongol army".

So why is this? Historian Stephen Pow points to natural terrain advantages, but that doesn't seem like it's the whole answer.

Sources:

A Phantom Menace Did the Mongol Invasion Really Influence Stone Castle Building in Medieval Slavonia, Papers of the conference Fortifications, Defence Systems, Structures and Features in the Past by Andrej Janes

Hungary’s Castle Defense Strategy in the Aftermath of the Mongol Invasion (1241-1242) by Stephen Pow

Deep Ditches and Well-built Walls: A Reappraisal of the Mongol Withdrawal from Europe in 1242 by Stephen Pow

I was reading that temperatures on the Eurasian steppe can get as low as -55 C during the winter. I imagine the nomadic people who lived in this region could deal with this by wearing warm clothing and living in portable felt dwellings like a yurt or a ger. Settled societies could build barns. But for Mongolic and Turkic tribes who depended heavily on horses (lacking the thick wool or other cold weather adaptations of, say, sheep), how did they keep the herds from freezing to death during the winter? Did the horses have their own tents? Are steppe horses just way more resilient to extreme temperatures? Did they knit them little sweaters? Light bonfires - which seems really unsafe in the middle of a grassland?

Although intrigued by the tales of Subutai's great raid into Russia, Batu Khan decides to invade the far wealthier Middle East and sees it as a continuation of his grandfather's war against the Islamic civilizations. How would the course of Islam change when the mongols conquer the Middle East and destroy the Ayyubid dynasty? Would the Middle East be as islamic today if the Mecca and Medina are sacked and holy Islamic relics are carted off to Mongolia as war trophies? Would the crusader states survive longer if the christians gave nominal allegiance to the Great Khan and joined them in the war against the Muslims?

The Mongol Empire is famous for adopting and adapting technology from each region and culture they conquered so that they could better conquer more places and use their technology to conquer more places to get new technology to conquer more places...

When the Empire pushed against a new foe, how did they respond to the new technology the Mongols brought? Were some areas quicker to copy the new weapons arriving on their border? If so, did that make a significant difference in how well they held out? And how does a pre-modern society go about copying technology from an invading army? What kind of scholars and engineers were responsible? Was espionage a part of this process? Finally, what technologies the Mongols brought had the biggest effect on the overall technological development of the conquered territories?

Responses from anywhere in the Empire's path are welcome!

I'll set the scene.

It is the begining of Fellowship of the Rings when The Roman Millitary and Mongol Millitary at their peak show up somewhere in Condor far away from Each Other. This is a Millitary battle only, no Gandalf ex machine here.

R1. The Empires will be working against each other and every other kingdom in Middle Earth.

R2. The Empires will work together against A still fractured Middle Earth

R3. Mongols and Romans vs United Middle Earth

Bonus Rounds

B1. R1 but with the British (1880s) and Spanish (1570s) Empires instead

B2. R1 adding British and Spanish too but also including the Vikings as a United force.

B3. B2 but with The Fire Nation from Avatar included.

As I understand, mongols rule could be divided into 4 areas: Russia, Persia, Mongolia, and China.

In China, Kubilai Khan, tried to assimiliate in chinese culture to be accepted by Chinese. This later on backfired and Ming rebels forced Mongols to leave from China. However, In Russia and Persia, the mongols leadership converted to Islam over time and carried Islam forward at the global stage in the form of Gunpowder Empires (Ottoman, Safavid, and Moghuls.)

The question is why Mongols converted to islam in Middle east as opposed to chrisitanity, or Hinduism, Buddhism, other religions?

I believe the Mongol didn't get much further into Europe than Hungary and I think they took some of the middle East but I'm not sure. Just curious as to what was happening in western Europe and the Mediterranean as a whole, kings wars etc, around the same time?

Firstly, is this true ?

If so, for a culture that was so centered around horses, I instinctively think that they might have actively search the best breeds, buying or looting the best horses, in hope to better their armies. Would I be right in this aspect ?

And, lastly, a follow-up question : did the horse-driven Mongol Empire expand the numbers of horses in the world, seeing that they had the biggest Empire yet, while it being structured around cavalries?

Thanks !!

I'd also be interested in what local Muslim armies, particularly cavalry, did about water when travelling across deserts.