Editing Medieval warfare (section)

===Mongols===
{{Main|Mongol invasions|Tatar invasions}}
[[File:Clissa, principal fortezza del Turcho nella Dalmatia - Camocio Giovanni Francesco - 1574.jpg|right|thumb|During The [[Mongol invasion of Europe]], [[Tatars]], under the leadership of [[Kadan]], experienced a major failure in March 1242 at [[Klis Fortress]] in southern [[Croatia]].<ref name="Povijest Klisa">{{cite web | url=http://portal.klis.com.hr/povijest-klisa/ | title=Povijest Klisa | last=Listeš | first=Srećko | work=klis.hr | publisher=Službene stranice Općine Klis | language=hr | access-date=2010-05-16 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323064005/http://portal.klis.com.hr/povijest-klisa/ | archive-date=2010-03-23 }}</ref><ref name="Archdeacon 299">Archdeacon (2006), p. 299.</ref>]] By 1241, having conquered large parts of Russia, the Mongols continued the invasion of Europe with a massive three-pronged advance, following the fleeing [[Cumans]], who had established an uncertain alliance with King Bela IV of [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungary]]. They first invaded [[Kingdom of Poland (1025–1385)|Poland]], and finally, Hungary, culminating in the crushing defeat of the Hungarians in the [[Battle of Mohi]]. The Mongol aim seems to have consistently been to defeat the Hungarian-Cuman alliance. The Mongols raided across the borders to Austria and Bohemia in the summer when the Great Khan died, and the Mongol princes returned home to elect a new [[Great khan|Great Khan]].

The [[Golden Horde]] would frequently clash with Hungarians, Lithuanians and Poles in the thirteenth century, with two large raids in the 1260s and 1280s respectively. In 1284 the Hungarians repelled the last major raid into Hungary, and in 1287 the Poles repelled a raid against them. The instability in the Golden Horde seems to have quieted the western front of the Horde. Also, the large scale invasions and raiding that had previously characterized the expansion of the Mongols was cut short probably in some part due to the death of the last great Mongol leader, [[Timur|Tamerlane]].

The Hungarians and Poles had responded to the mobile threat by extensive fortification-building, army reform in the form of better-armoured cavalry, and refusing battle unless they could control the site of the battlefield to deny the Mongols local superiority. The Lithuanians relied on their forested homelands for defence and used their cavalry for raiding into Mongol-dominated Russia. When attacking fortresses they would launch dead or diseased animals into fortresses to help spread disease.