Subudai Was Probably History’s Most Successful (and Overlooked) General
Who is the only general in history to have won over 20 campaigns, conquered or overran over 30 nations, and won over 60 battles? That would be Subudai (1175 – 1248), the Mongols’ most brilliant and successful general, and the main military strategist of both Chinggis Khaan and his successor, Ogedei. He holds the distinction of having conquered more territory than any other commander in history.
He joined the Mongol army at 14, and was appointed Chinggis Khaan’s door attendant. From that close proximity to power, Subudai learned strategy and the Mongol art of war. In his first assignment, he convinced an enemy garrison that he was a deserter from the Mongol army, and after lulling them into letting down their guard, signaled the Mongols to attack. Deception played a huge role in his military career, as he exhibited on a bigger stage in 1211. That year, he secured a major victory in China by surprising the enemy with a flank attack, after having convinced them that he was hundreds of miles away.
Subudai also led the Mongol vanguard in the conquest of Khwarezm, and chased its ruler to his death. After that campaign, he led a reconnaissance in force through the Caucasus, where he twice defeated the Georgians, then subjugated the Cumans. That brought him into conflict with the Cumans’ Rus allies, who came after him with a force four times greater than his own. So he led them a merry chase for days in a feigned retreat, before destroying them at the Battle of Kalka River in 1222.
He then returned to the east, to conduct successful campaigns against the Chinese for the next decade, before returning to the west and subjugating the Rus in the late 1230s. Subudai then invaded Eastern Europe in 1241, and coordinated the operations of Mongol armies separated by hundreds of miles. He brought them to victory over their respective opponents, in Poland and Hungary, within one day of each other.
Subudai was in command of the Mongols at the second victory, the Battle of Mohi, which destroyed the Hungarian army and left Central Europe open. He was drawing plans to advance on Vienna and subjugate the Holy Roman Empire, when news arrived of Khan Ogedei’s death. Although he wanted to press on into Europe, politics necessitated the return of Subudai and his forces to Mongolia to participate in choosing a new Khan. Europe was spared, as Subudai never returned, and instead spent his final years campaigning in southern China.