The horde of Kaidu Khan, three tumen strong, is to the north of the main body, protecting the right flank .

Kaidu sweeps through Lithuania and Poland; on March 18 he destroys the Polish army at Kraków.

He detaches a tumen to raid along the Baltic coast and with the remainder heads westward into Silesia.

On April 9, 1241, at Liegnitz (Legnica, in Poland), the more disciplined Mongol army decisively defeats a numerically superior combined European army in a bitterly contested battle.

The traditional European warfare method of hand-to-hand combat between knights ends in catastrophe when it is deployed against the Mongol forces, as the Mongols are able to keep a distance and triumph with superior tactics.

The Mongol diversionary force, a detachment (no more than two tumens) from the army of Subutai, demonstrates the advantages of the tactical mobility and speed of horseback archers.

The Mongol tactics are essentially a long series of feigned attacks and faked withdrawals from widely dispersed groups, which are designed to inflict a constant slow drain by ranged fire, disrupt the enemy formation and draw larger numbers away from the main body into ambush and flank attacks.

These standard Mongol tactics, used in virtually all of their major battles, are made possible by continual training and superb battlefield communication, which uses a system of flags.

The Mongol commander finds the highest ground at the battle site, seizes it and uses it to communicate to his noyans and lesser commanders their orders for troop movement.

The Mongol system is a stark contrast to the European systems, in which knights advance with basically no communication with supporting forces.

Henry divides his forces into four sections: the Bavarian miners led by Boleslav of Moravia; the conscripts from Greater Poland along with some Krakovians led by Sulislaw; the brother of the slain palatine of Kraków; the army of Opole under Mieszko, possibly with some Teutonic Knights; and, under Henry's personal command, the Silesians, Moravians, Templars and Hospitallers.

The Mongols have much success in the battle by feigning their retreat.

After the European knights detach from the main body of allied forces in pursuit of the fleeing Mongols, the invaders are able to separate the knights from the European infantry and defeat them one by one.

The army of Henry II is almost destroyed—Henry and Boleslav of Moravia are killed and estimates of casualties range from two thousand to forty thousand, essentially the entire army.

The Templar Grand Master Ponce d'Aubon will report to King Louis IX of France that the military order had lost five hundred of their number, among them nine brothers, three knights and two sergeants.

Mongol casualties are unknown; a perfect execution of their standard tactics would have minimized losses, but the Mongols endured sufficient casualties to dissuade them from attacking the Bohemian army.

Henry had been struck down and beheaded while attempting to flee the battlefield with three bodyguards, and the Mongols parade his head on a spear before the town of Legnica, which resists entry.

The Mongols flatten it.

The Mongols do not take Legnica castle, but have a free rein to pillage and plunder Silesia, before moving off to join their main forces in Hungary.

Boleslaw II had died on December 26, 1278 and Henry had then been able to succeeded him as a Duke in Legnica.

Shortly afterwards, Henry in turn had given lands to his younger brothers: Bolko I and Bernard had received Jawor and Lwówek as co-rulers, but Henry had retained the town of Środa Śląska, a town obtained in 1277 in exchange of Henry IV's freedom.

Henry has continues the hostile relations with the other Piast Silesian Dukes characteristic of his father's rule.

In 1281, he makes the mistake of accepting the invitation of Henryk IV Probus to a meeting in Sadowel.

Henry IV imprisons the Duke of Legnica together with his former allies Henry III of Głogów and Przemysł II of Greater Poland, in order to obtain political concessions from them.

Henry regains his freedom only in return for the recognition of Henry IV as Duke of Wroclaw.

However, Henry IV will not maintain his sovereignty for very long, as the Duke of Legnica immediately enters into close communication with the King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia, who will assert his own claim to that land.

The Habsburg Monarchy had inherited the Bohemian Crown Lands, including the Legnica fiefdom, after the death of Louis II at Mohács in 1526.

Silesian mystic and reformer Caspar Schwenckfeld, born in Ossig near Liegnitz to noble parents in 1489, had studied in Cologne from 1505 to 1507, then enrolled at the University of Frankfurt on the Oder.

Between 1511 and 1523, Schwenckfeld had served the Duchy of Liegnitz as an adviser to the successive Duke Charles I, George I, and Frederick II.

Schwenckfeld had experienced an awakening in 1518 or 1519 that he called a "visitation of God."

Luther's writings had had a deep influence on Schwenckfeld, and he had embraced the "Lutheran" Reformation and become a student of the Scriptures.

Schwenckfeld had begun to preach the gospel in 1521, and in the following year had won Duke Frederick II over to Protestantism.

The population of Legnica, following their ruler, had become Lutheran.

Duke Frederick II of Legnica, who has been a strong supporter of the Reformation from 1523, establishes in 1526 the first Protestant University here; however, because of the controversies between Luther and Schwenckfeld, it will not be until 1530 that the University finally opens.

Schwenckfeld had organized a Brotherhood of his converts for the purpose of study and prayer in 1523, his Neoplatonic and mystical interests leading him to a highly spiritualized view of the Lord's Supper.

In 1525, he had rejected Luther's idea of Real Presence and had come to a spiritual interpretation of the Lord's Supper, which Luther subsequently rejected.

Schwenckfeld had begun to teach that the true believer ate the spiritual body of Christ.

He takes strong efforts toward reformation wherever he goes, but also criticizes reformers who he thinks go to extremes.

He emphasizes that for one to be a true Christian, one must not change only outwardly but inwardly.

Because of the communion and other controversies, Schwenckfeld breaks with Luther and follows what has been described as a "middle way".

Some of the teachings of Schwenckfeld include opposition to war, secret societies, and oath-taking, that the government has no right to command one's conscience, that regeneration is by grace through inner work of the Spirit, that believers feed on Christ spiritually, and that believers must give evidence of regeneration.

He rejects infant baptism, outward church forms, and "denominations".

His views on the Eucharist prompts Luther to publish several sermons on the subject in his 1526 The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ—Against the Fanatics.

Frederick had learned while heading back to Silesia that Breslau had fallen on November 22; he and his men cover one hundred and seventy miles (two hundred and seventy-four kilometers) in twelve days and, at Liegnitz, join up with the Prussian troops who had survived the fighting at Breslau.

Frederick the Great's Prussian army collides with the Austrian army under Ernst von Laudon on August 15, 1760 around the town of Liegnitz (now Legnica, Poland) in Lower Silesia.

Laudon's Austrian cavalry attacks the Prussian position in the early morning but are beaten back by General Zieten's Hussars.

An artillery duel emerges that is eventually won for the Prussians when a grenade hits an Austrian powder wagon.

The Austrian infantry now proceeds to attack the Prussian line, but is met with concentrated artillery fire.

A Prussian infantry counterattack led by the Regiment Anhalt-Bernburg on the left forces the Austrians into retreat.

Shortly after dawn the major action is over but Prussian artillery fire continues to harass the Austrians.

General Leopold von Daun arrives and, learning of Laudon's defeat, decides not to attack despite his soldiers being fresh.

...Katzbach and ...