{{Infobox Militärischer Konflikt
|KONFLIKT=Schlacht bei Wahlstatt
|TEILVON=Invasion Europas durch Mongolen
|BILD=Bitwa pod Legnicą.jpg
|BILDBREITE=
|BESCHREIBUNG=Schlacht bei Wahlstatt
|DATUM=9. April 1241
|DATUMBIS=
|ORT=Liegnitz
|CASUS=
|GEBIETE=
|AUSGANG=Sieg der Mongolen
|FOLGEN=
|FRIEDENSSCHLUSS=
|KONTRAHENT1=Mongolen
|KONTRAHENT2=Tempelritter<br>Johanniter
|BEFEHLSHABER1=Orda, Baidar
|BEFEHLSHABER2=Heinrich II., Herzog von Polen 
|TRUPPENSTÄRKE1=8-20.000
|TRUPPENSTÄRKE2=5-20.000
|VERLUSTE1=?
|VERLUSTE2=?
|NOTIZEN=
}}

In der '''Schlacht bei Wahlstatt''' besiegte ein mongolisches Heer am 9. April 1241 eine polnisch-deutsche Streitmacht. Sie wird auch als ''Schlacht bei Liegnitz'' bezeichnet.

== Vorgeschichte ==

Nach dem Fall Dschagateis) und Orda zog nach Nordwesten, Batu selbst mit dem Hauptheer nach Süden.

== Schlachtverlauf  ==

Auf der Seniorherzog Heinrich II. der Fromme von Goldenen Horde, das zur Absicherung des Angriffes auf Templern und vielleicht auch Johannitern bestehenden Armee entgegen. Der Herzog erwartete überdies noch Unterstützung von König Wenzel I. von Böhmen, der zu ihm stoßen wollte. Am Tag der Schlacht war dieser allerdings noch einen Tagesritt entfernt; lediglich eine böhmische Vorhut war eingetroffen. 

Das Heer Heinrichs wurde von den Mongolen vernichtet, und der Herzog fiel in der Schlacht. Sein Kopf wurde auf einer Lanze als Trophäe vor die Stadttore von Liegnitz getragen. Die Mongolen aber stießen trotz des Sieges nicht weiter nach Norden vor.

== Folgen der Schlacht ==

{{Infobox Military Conflict
|conflict=Battle of Legnica
|partof=the Mongol invasions
|image=250px
|caption=Battle of Legnica by Matthäus Merian (1630)
|date=April 9, 1241
|place=Legnickie Pole <br>(near present day Legnica, Poland) 
|result=Decisive Mongol victory
|combatant1='''Mongol Empire'''
|combatant2='''Alliance'''<br>Polish states<br>military orders
|commander1=Baidar,<br>Kadan,<br>Orda Khan
|commander2=Henry II the Pious †
|strength1=Estimated between 8,000-20,000 (max of two tumen) diversionary force
<ref name="Empires">''AllEmpire.com''. "[http://www.allempires.com/article/index.php?q=battle_liegnitz The Battle of Liegnitz (Legnica), 1241]". Accessed October 5 2006.</ref>
|strength2=Unknown, estimates have ranged from 2,000 to 25,000<ref name="Empires"/> or more
|casualties1=Unknown, but supposedly heavier than expected.
|casualties2=Unknown, but obliterated; <br> Estimates have ranged from 2,000 to 10,000 to even 40,000.
}}

The '''Battle of Legnica''' (), also known as the '''Battle of Liegnitz''' () or '''Battle of Wahlstatt''' (), was a battle which took place at Legnickie Pole (''Wahlstatt'') near the city of Legnica (''Liegnitz'') in Silesia on April 9 1241.

A combined force of Poles and Germans under the command of the Polish duke Henry II the Pious of Silesia, supported by feudal nobility and a few knights from military orders sent by the Pope, attempted to halt the Mongol invasion of Europe. Despite the Mongol victory in the ensuing battle, this was the furthest west their forces reached due to political destabilization inside the Mongol Empire.

==Dispute==
As with many historical battles, the exact details of force composition, tactics, and the actual course of the battle are lacking and sometimes contradictory.

The historical interpretation of the battle has been revised. Traditionally, the battle was seen as a Pyrrhic victory for Henry, who sacrificed his own life, as the Mongols did not advance further westward. However, the battle is now seen as a crushing defeat for the allied forces; the Mongols had no intentions at the time of extending the campaign westward, because they went to the Kingdom of Hungary to help the main Mongol army in the conquest of the country.

One of the Mongol leaders, Kadan, was frequently confused with Ögedei's grandson Kaidu by medieval chroniclers, and thus Kaidu has often been mistakenly listed as leading the Mongol forces at Legnica.<ref name="Chambers">James Chambers. ''The Devil's Horsemen: The Mongol Invasion of Europe''. Atheneum. New York. 1979. ISBN 0-689-10942-3</ref>

==Background==

The Mongols considered the Cumans to have submitted to their authority, but the Cumans fled westward and sought asylum within the Kingdom of Hungary. After King Béla IV of Hungary rejected Batu Khan's ultimatum to surrender the Cumans, Subutai began planning the Mongol invasion of Europe. Batu and Subutai were to lead two armies to attack Hungary itself, while a third under Baidar, Orda Khan and Kadan would attack Poland as a diversion to occupy northern European forces which might come to Hungary's aid.

Orda's forces devastated northern Poland and the southwestern border of Wenceslaus I of Bohemia was two days away with an army of 50,000. The Mongols turned from Wrocław to intercept Henry's forces before the European armies could meet. The Mongols caught up with Henry near Legnica at Legnickie Pole (Polish for "Field of Legnica"), also known as Wahlstatt.

== Composition ==
=== Mongols ===

The Mongol diversionary force, a detachment (no more than two ''tumens'') from the army of Subutai, demonstrated the advantages of the tactical mobility and speed of horseback archers over heavily armored but slow opposition. The Mongol tactics were essentially a long series of feints and faked withdrawals from widely dispersed groups, which were designed to inflict a constant slow drain by ranged fire, disrupt the enemy formation, and draw larger blocks away from the main body into ambush and flank attacks.  These were standard Mongol tactics used in virtually all of their major battles; they were made possible by continual training and superb battlefield communication, which used a system of flags. The Mongol commander found the highest ground at the battle site, seized it, and used it to communicate to his noyans and lesser commanders their orders for troop movement. The Mongol system was a stark contrast to the clumsy European systems, in which knights advanced with basically no communication with supporting forces.

The numbers involved are difficult to judge. European accounts are prone to outrageous estimates of Mongol numbers - some accounts suggest in excess of 100,000 at Legnica alone.  These gross overestimates probably were excuses; given the weaknesses of 13th century Mongol logistical support, current estimates suggest the Mongol force numbered, at most, 20,000 light archer-cavalry. The ''Historia Tatarorum'' by the Franciscan C. de Bridia Monachi suggests a Mongol force of 10,000 troops which would have been reduced to 8,000 after casualties suffered earlier in the campaign.<ref name="Empires"/>

What Mongol sources remain state that the Polish invasion was a raid in force, of two tumens (20,000 men), and part of Subutai's master plan to destroy the European armies one at a time, rather than allowing them to mass in force.

=== Allies ===

According to James Chambers, Henry's force consisted of at most 25,000 troops. Lesser trained troops included an army from Moravians led by the French Knights Templar and Hospitallers.<ref name="Chambers"/>

The historian Marek Cetwiński estimates the allied force to have been 2,000 strong, while Gerard Labuda estimates 7,000-8,000 soldiers in the Christian army.<ref name="Empires"/>

A contingent of Długosz had completed the work.<ref name="Empires"/>

A legend that the Prussian Landmeister of the Teutonic Knights, Poppo von Osterna, was killed during the battle is false, as he died at Legnica years later while visiting his wife's nunnery.<ref>William Urban. ''The Teutonic Knights: A Military History''. Greenhill Books. London. 2003. ISBN 1-85367-535-0 </ref>

==The battle==