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Immortalized by Abraham Lincolns Gettysburg Address, the Battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle in American history. Union commander George Meades Army of the Potomacs successful defense prevented Confederate General Robert E. Lee from marching on Washington. Alongside the contemporaneous Siege of Vicksburg, Gettysburg is considered the major turning point in the course of the American Civil War. Lee was forced on the defensive while Union armies brought the war into the heart of the South.The High Water Mark of the ConfederacyUnion troops charging Confederate guns at the Battle of Gettysburg, July 3rd 1863. Source: Voice of AmericaAt around 3 p.m. on the afternoon of July 3, 1863, after an artillery exchange of some two hours, Confederate Major-General George Pickett led some 15,000 men across the shallow valley towards the Union center on Cemetery Ridge.The two sides had been engaged in heavy fighting at Gettysburg for over two days. Union general George Meade, who had only been appointed to lead the Army of the Potomac days earlier, ordered his command to concentrate in southern Pennsylvania to draw General Robert E. Lees Army of Northern Virginia into battle.The battle began on July 1 as the Confederates attacked Union forces at Gettysburg while the bulk of the Army of the Potomac was still on the march. Meade was forced to take up position on Cemetery Ridge to the south of the town. The following day, Lee launched sustained assaults on the Unions left flank but failed to break through as corpses piled ever higher.It became clear to both sides that Lee intended to attack the Union center on the third day of battle. Although the Confederates were outnumbered on the field, and despite attempts to dissuade him by his senior subordinate General James Longstreet, Lee believed that the key to victory lay with Picketts fresh infantry division. Victory at Gettysburg would enable Lee to march on Washington unopposed, forcing President Abraham Lincoln to come to terms and recognize the independence of the Confederate States of America.A line of stones marking the high water mark of the Confederacy at the full extent of Picketts charge. Source: National Park ServiceAs the gray-coated Confederate soldiers traversed almost a mile of open ground towards the Union line, canister fire from Union artillery tore holes into the ranks of the advancing men. The Union infantry raised their muskets and waited until the enemy were at close range before unleashing a volley of murderous fire. As the Confederates reeled back, General Winfield Scott Hancock ordered his men to counterattack, initiating an intense fight at close range.The Confederates suffered heavy losses, and almost all of Picketts officers were casualties. A few hundred men in gray from Lewis Armisteads brigade reached Cemetery Ridge. They would go no further. Armistead was mortally wounded, while his men were cut down by withering Union fire. The extent of their advance was later recognized as the high water mark of the Confederacy. As the survivors of Picketts charge returned to the Confederate lines, it was clear that the Union had won the Battle of Gettysburg.Lees Northern CampaignsGeorge B. McClellan. Photograph by Matthew Brady, 1861. Source: Wikimedia CommonsThe American Civil War had already been raging for over two years by the time Lee and Meade clashed at Gettysburg. In the months after the Battle of Fort Sumter in April 1861, the Union camp was optimistic that the southern rebellion would be easily suppressed. Such optimism came to a crashing end with the Confederate victory at the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861.Although Union commander-in-chief George B. McClellan organized a large army in early 1862, he was reluctant to lead it into battle and was stripped of supreme command in March. Although he eventually went on the offensive with the Army of the Potomac in the summer, McClellans half-hearted advance was stopped by Lee in the Seven Days Battles.Having repulsed McClellans advance, Lee gained control of northern Virginia after victory at the Second Battle of Bull Run in late August. The Confederate commander pushed into Maryland, dividing his force into three columns. Union troops discovered a copy of Lees orders by chance, giving McClellan a golden opportunity to strike with an army that outnumbered Lee two-to-one. While Lee was forced to retreat after the Battle of Antietam, McClellan was criticized for failing to capitalize on his strategic advantage and completely destroy Lees army.Lee lived to fight another day and the Army of Northern Virginia remained a serious threat to the Union. In January 1863, Lincoln appointed Major General Joseph Hooker as commander of the Army of the Potomac. Hookers reputation for aggressiveness evaporated after he was defeated by Lee at Chancellorsville in May 1863. After Lee invaded Pennsylvania in June, Lincoln lost faith in Hooker and replaced him with Meade. The latters victory at Gettysburg put an end to Lees second invasion of the North.VicksburgAn illustration of the Siege of Vicksburg by Thrue de Thulstrup, 1888. Source: Library of CongressGettysburg was not the only victory gained by Union soldiers in early July 1863. Hundreds of miles to the west, General Ulysses S. Grant had been besieging the Confederate garrison at Vicksburg on the Mississippi for several weeks. Grant ordered his men to dig mines to blow up the formidable defenses, and by the beginning of July the emaciated Confederates could no longer continue the fight. On July 4, 1863, the 87th anniversary of American independence, Grant received the surrender of the Vicksburg garrison.Gettysburg can only be considered the turning point of the Civil War when viewed in conjunction with the Union success at Vicksburg. While Meades victory in Pennsylvania relieved anxieties in Washington DC, Grants victory in Mississippi allowed him to take control of the great river and divide the Confederacy into two. Western states such as Texas had been a large source of men and provisions for the Confederacy and their isolation fatally undermined the Confederate war effort.Grants success brought him to Lincolns attention, paving the way for his appointment as Union commander-in-chief in 1864. Grants success as the general who forced Lee to surrender at Appomattox Court House led him to the presidency, serving two terms between 1869 and 1877.Lee on the DefensiveGeneral Robert E. Lee on horseback. Source: WGBH Educational Foundation, PBSThe Battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle in the history of the United States. According to figures from the American Battlefield Trust, over 50,000 men were casualties, almost one-third of total forces engaged on both sides.While Union casualties amounted to 23,000 men, Confederate losses were higher at 28,000. Since some 70,000 Confederates had been engaged at Gettysburg, this left Lee with little over 40,000 men. There was no question of continuing his Pennsylvania campaign, and Lee had no choice but to retreat into northern Virginia on the night of July 4-5. Seven thousand Confederate wounded were left on the battlefield to be tended by Union medical staff.Lee was demoralized after Gettysburg and submitted his resignation to Confederate President Jefferson Davis, who refused it. As news of Gettysburg and Vicksburg filtered through to the South, it became increasingly clear that the Confederacy would eventually succumb to defeat. While the Army of Northern Virginia demonstrated formidable tenacity, Lees efforts failed to compensate for the relentless advance of Union armies on several strategic fronts.Although Meade and Lee saw little action over the rest of 1863, Grants victory in November at Chattanooga in southern Tennessee enabled Union armies to march into Georgia. Following Grants promotion as commander-in-chief in March 1864, he joined Meade at the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac and left his friend William Tecumseh Sherman in command of the Western Theater.While Grant sustained heavy casualties and struggled to break through Lees defenses in Virginia, Sherman took Atlanta in September 1864 before embarking on his March to the Sea that devastated the southern economy and made Confederate defeat all but inevitable.A Missed Opportunity?Lincoln giving his Gettysburg Address. Photo of a 1905 lithograph by Heritage Images. Source: National GeographicThe Battle of Gettysburg was immortalized in Lincolns Gettysburg Address, delivered at the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery in November 1863. In a two-minute speech containing fewer than three hundred words, Lincoln characterized the Union cause in the civil war as a continuation of the fight for liberty that had led the United States to independence four score and seven years earlier.Despite the Union successes at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, it took two more years and considerable bloodshed for the Union to achieve its final victory in the Civil War. In the aftermath of the battle, President Lincoln was furious that Meade had failed to avail himself of the opportunity to destroy the Army of Northern Virginia by ordering a counterattack against Lees retreating forces.General George Meade, victor of the Battle of Gettysburg. Photograph by Matthew Brady c. 1860. Source: US Library of CongressUpon closer inspection, Meades decision not to press home his advantage was an understandable one. He had only just inherited command of the Army of the Potomac and had spent three days fighting a battle for the survival of the Union, sustaining heavy casualties in the process. He had no reliable intelligence on how many men Lee still had at his disposal. Meades primary objective was to protect Washington and force Lee to retreat, and he had successfully done so.Even had Meade counterattacked and destroyed the Army of Northern Virginia, there were several other Confederate armies on the field capable of offering sustained resistance. Only two months after Gettysburg, the Confederate Army of Tennessee defeated the Union Army of the Cumberland at Chickamauga in northern Georgia. Having rebelled against the United States, the Confederates expected little quarter and would have continued to fight until the bitter end.Victory at Gettysburg may not have won the Civil War on its own, but it was a genuine turning point in the conflict as it enabled the Union to seize the initiative away from the Confederates. Grant and Sherman ensured that the Union would never let it go until final victory was achieved.

As part of his relentless march west, Genghis Khan devastated large parts of what is today Russia and Ukraine. His armys destruction of Kyiv is considered one of the most traumatic moments in that citys history before the Russian Civil War and the Second World War.The Mongols on Europes FrontierMap of Mongol expansion to the westIn the early 13th century, the Mongol army of Genghis Khan burst out of its heartland in present-day Mongolia and advanced southward and westward. His death in 1227 did not end the Mongols lust for expansion. In the late 1230s, Batu Khan, Genghiss grandson, expanded beyond the Volga River and began to conquer large swaths of Eastern Europe.During the early 1220s, the principalities of Rus had already experienced the brutality of the Mongol armies in a famous raid led by the Mongol generals Jebe and Subutai. Less than two decades later, the Mongols under Batu were intent on establishing a more permanent presence.In the sights of Batus warriors was the city of Kyiv, the center of a confederation of principalities known as the Kyivan Rus. Kyiv was a trade hub, a center of Orthodox Christianity, and a vital point of defense for the Slavs resisting the Mongol advance. Batus army, one of the most mobile on Earth at the time, quickly advanced to its outskirts as it devastated enemy forces in its way.When the Mongols finally laid siege to the city in 1240, it became not just a battle between rivals but a clash of civilizations. On one side was an army honed by years of rapid conquest and containing a reputation for being brutal conquerors. On the other side were the weakened defenders of one of the oldest Christian states in Europe. The conquest of the city led to the collapse of Kyivan Rus and the start of Mongol domination in Eastern Europe.Kyiv Before the SiegeStatue of Prince Danylo Romanovich, who tried to save Kyiv from the Mongol assault. Source: Encyclopedia of UkraineFounded by traders on the Dnipro River, Kyiv was a major population center that linked Europe with the tribes of the eastern steppe. It had a large number of churches and synagogues that reflected the citys religious diversity. Merchants traveling from Central Asia to Europe often stopped in the city and contributed to the local economy.However, beneath the citys grandeur, there was trouble. Rus was prone to infighting among its principalities. Before the Mongols arrived at the citys doorstep, power had shifted north to cities such as Vladimir and Novgorod in present-day Russia. Conflicts over succession to the office of Grand Prince had led to the erosion of authority in Kyiv.In 1240, the city was ruled over by a new actor on the scene: the principality of Galicia-Volhynia, also known as the kingdom of Ruthenia. One of the successor kingdoms to Kyivan Rus, they had seized the city in 1239 to deny control to northern rivals. After taking control of Kyiv, Prince Danylo of Galicia-Volhynia failed to prepare the citys defenses and ignored the threat of the Mongols.Kyiv had seen conflict before. Steppe nomads, such as the Cumans, had attacked the outskirts of the city but were never able to occupy the whole city. Local rulers often cut deals with regional princes to keep the city intact. This approach would not work against an enemy as formidable and ruthless as the Mongols. They destroyed several Russian cities, including Vladimir, Ryazan, and Kolomna, before arriving at the gates of Kyiv.The Mongol ApproachA recreation of a Mongol cavalryman at a museum in Singapore, 2019. Source: World HistoryIn 1239, Batu Khans army sacked the cities of Periaslav and Chernihiv, which lay in the path of their advance towards Kyiv. He sent envoys to Kyiv, hoping to secure the citys surrender before he arrived there. However, the Ruthenians executed both men and vowed to defend the city. The Grand Prince of Kyiv, Danylo Romanovych, vowed to defend the city at all costs. He went to Hungary to gain support from other European princes and kings for his effort, leaving the citys defenses in the hands of Voivode Dmytro.The Mongols were effective practitioners of psychological warfare. After sacking cities, they allowed a few survivors to escape to spread word of their brutality to persuade them to submit to the Mongols. As Dmytro prepared the defenses of Kyiv, refugees from other cities east of the Dnipro river poured into the city, exacerbating its supply situation. Morale in Kyiv collapsed as the refugees passed along tales of the Mongols slaughtering and looting the inhabitants of other cities.As Batus army marched towards Kyiv, Danylos pleas for help had gone unanswered. No reinforcements were on the way and the garrison had just over 1,000 men available. The Mongols built siege weapons from local timber and had a force with lots of experience. The odds were against the Ruthenian defenders.The SiegeMongol Siege of Kyiv ca. 1240 from the Facial Chronicle (Illustrated Chronicle of Ivan the Terrible) by an unknown artist, 1560-1570. Source: State Historical Museum, MoscowBy early December, the Mongol forces had surrounded the city. While the exact number of men and horses under Batus command is not known, it is almost certain that they heavily outnumbered the citys garrison. Their siege engines made quick work of the wooden palisades and platforms around the city. An attempt by the Chorni Klobuky, Turkic warriors fighting for Rus, to relieve the garrison was stopped. No other attempts to relieve the siege were made and the Mongols controlled river traffic going towards the city. Batu brought up the main body of his force and prepared to storm the walls.The conditions for the inhabitants were horrific. Supplies ran short quickly and Dmytro was not able to maintain order while the Mongols kept pressing against the outer defenses. Siege projectiles destroyed many homes, forcing people to take shelter in churches and other major buildings. News that relief wouldnt arrive spread around, causing additional defeatism.After the killing of their messengers, the Mongols were in no mood to negotiate. They aimed to breach the walls and annihilate the garrison and anyone who resisted them. Dmytro attempted to plug the gaps, but he lacked the manpower and the citys fall became more likely. Far off in Hungary, Prince Danylo failed to secure Christian support for an army to march to the garrisons aid. Written accounts say that it only took about nine days before the Mongols managed to enter the city and slaughter its inhabitants.The Fall of KyivSt. Sophias Cathedral in Kyiv, which was looted by the Mongols. Source: World Heritage SitesThe sack of Kyiv left the city a shadow of its former self. Contemporary chroniclers described the once-bustling capital reduced to smoldering ruins, its population decimated. The garrison was practically wiped out in brutal hand-to-hand combat in the streets, while the citys outer fortifications were destroyed. After they conquered the place, the Mongols carried out a systematic slaughter, sparing few beyond those deemed useful as slaves or artisans. Kyivs sacred sites, including the famed Saint Sophia Cathedral and the Pechersk Lavra, were pillaged and looted.The demographic and cultural losses were immense. The overcrowding of the city during the siege compounded the tragedy. Those who survived carried harrowing memories of mass killings and destruction, ensuring that the terror of the Mongol invasion spread across Eastern Europe through oral and written accounts. The Church of the Tithes was reduced to rubble, becoming a symbol of the citys ruin.Politically, the fall of Kyiv shattered any remaining illusions of Rus unity. The city was no longer a functioning political or economic center owing to its devastation. Trade routes along the Dnipro faltered, and the balance of power shifted decisively to the northeast towards Moscow and Tver in what is now the Russian heartland.For the Mongols, Kyivs destruction was both strategic and symbolic. By destroying the spiritual and cultural heart of Kyivan Rus, Batu Khan had sent a chilling message. Any attempt at resistance was futile, and submission was the only path to survival.Aftermath and LegacyYaroslav II of Vladimir, who collaborated with the Mongols before he was poisoned, 17th century. Source: Wikimedia CommonsFollowing the destruction of the city, Batu incorporated it into the Golden Horde, the name given to the Mongol state in Eurasia. The citys population dwindled to a few thousand people who struggled to get by amidst the smouldering ruins. Grand Prince Michael of Chernihiv tried to parley with Batu to gain recognition as ruler of the city but was soon executed by the khan.In 1243, Batu gave titular control of the city to Yaroslav II Vsevolodovich of Vladimir-Suzdal, who had collaborated with the Mongols during the invasion. However, the Mongols retained authority over the city, allowing the Hromada (city council) limited powers. Mongol control over Kyiv continued until 1363, when internal struggles weakened the Mongols ability to maintain their empire. Subsequently, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania conquered Kyiv and much of Ukraine from the Golden Horde.The Mongol siege was a brutal experience for the citys inhabitants that would be repeated in subsequent conflicts. Although Kyiv never regained its status as the principal city of the Rus, the city gradually recovered and would become an important cultural and religious center as part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and later the Russian Empire.However, the Mongol siege of Kyiv reverberates in Ukraine to this day. Survivors of the Nazi occupation during World War II and Russias invasion in 2022 compared their actions to Batus warriors. Mongol actions during the siege and sack of the city epitomized their aggression and brutality when seizing land for the Golden Horde.