Describing historical events

On April 11, 1241, Hungarian soldiers lined up along the haphazardly fortified banks of the Hernad and Sajo rivers to await the arrival of the Mongols.

Although the Hungarians’ numbers were vastly superior, the odds were stacked in favor of their opponent. The “Mongol storm” had been raging through Central Asia and Eastern Europe for roughly two decades at this point, swallowing up the Khwarazmian Empire in modern-day Afghanistan, the principalities of Kievan Rus’, and, most recently, the Kingdom of Poland.

Thanks in part to their unrivaled horsemanship and archery skills — Mongolian bows were lighter, faster, and more precise than their European counterparts — the Mongols plowed through armies many times their size, and Hungary proved no exception.

The lines at Sajo and Hernad were breached, cities burned to the ground, crops and livestock confiscated, and an estimated 25% of all Hungarians slaughtered.

The Hungarian king, Béla IV, fled to the Dalmatian coast, which was part of Croatia at the time, where he and his kingdom would have surely been crushed were it not for Ogodei Khan, whose sudden death later that year compelled Mongol forces everywhere to return home to elect a new leader.

The Mongol invasion of Europe, left unfinished, left its mark on the survivors.

“The entire precious kingdom,” the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II wrote of Hungary, “was depopulated, devastated and turned into a barren wasteland.”

The invasion is also believed to have facilitated the spread of the bubonic plague, leading to the deaths of up to 200 million people worldwide.

But while the crimes and casualties of Mongol conquest are too great to count, so, too, are the downstream effects it had on the development of civilization.

Poland, Hungary, and particularly Russia bounced back stronger, building the foundation for nation-states that are still around today.

With the lands of Asia united under a single ruler, ideas and inventions could travel more freely and safely from one end of the world to another.

In a weird way, the Mongols even had a hand in events as distant as Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Dharasana Salt Works

On May 21, 1930, Gandhi's followers attempted to raid the Dharasana Salt Works. Since Gandhi had been arrested on May 5th, and he was no longer able to take part in the demonstrations.

However, under the leadership of Indian poet and political activist Sarojini Naidu, a group of 2,500 supporters walked up to the gates of the Salt Works.

However, the 2,500 non-violent protestors were met with violence from the British-hired guards who were armed with steel-tipped lathis (clubs).

Over the next two hours, the guards beat hundreds of peaceful protesters.

The attack was so brutal that it was covered by international news outlets such as The New York Times and Time Magazine.

American journalist Webb Miller was an eyewitness to the event, and he wrote about it for The New York Times:

"Not one of the marchers even raised an arm to ward off the blows. They went down like ten-pins. From where I stood I heard the sickening whacks of the clubs on unprotected skulls... An injured man lay groaning on the road, too weak to move under his own power. A woman was being helped away, her face streaming with blood from a deep gash in her forehead."

The Dharasana Salt Works raid resulted in international condemnation of the British authorities in India.

The violent response by the British only served to further Gandhi's cause and rally more support for Indian independence.

Following the overwhelming negative response to the treatment of the non-violent protestors, the British authorities eventually released Gandhi from prison in 1931.

Legacy

The legacy of the Salt March continues to this day. In India, salt is seen as a symbol of liberty, and the anniversary of the march is still celebrated every year.

The memory of Gandhi and his protest against British rule also inspired other liberation movements around the world, including Martin Luther King in the American Civil Rights movement.

The Salt March was a significant step in the Indian independence movement and helped to solidify Gandhi's reputation as a powerful political leader.

The non-violent protest also showed the world that India was united in its quest for freedom from British rule.

The memory of the march still resonates today, both in India and around the world.

In the mid-fourteenth century, Egypt suffered grievously from the Black Death, the pneumonic plague that tore through the Afro-Eurasian land mass.

In eighteen months, the plague killed perhaps a quarter of Egypt’s population.

An Egyptian chronicler, al-Magrizi, wrote: ‘Cairo became an empty desert, and there was no one to be seen in the streets. A man could go from the Zuwalya Gate to the Bab al-Nasr without encountering another soul. The dead were so numerous that people thought only of them.’

Ibn Khaldun, who lost his mother and father to the Black Death, believed that it threatened the very foundations of civilisation. ‘Cities and buildings were laid waste, roads and way signs were obliterated, settlements and mansions became empty, dynasties and tribes grew weak. The entire world changed.’

Egypt’s fate was worse than in many other countries. Unlike in Europe, the plague remained recurrent, breaking out twenty-eight times over the next 160 years.

In a weakened state, Egypt was vulnerable to foreign predators once more.