1281
Kamikaze destroys second Mongol invasion of Japan
A vast Yuan invasion force of Chinese and Korean ships anchored at Kyushu was caught by a typhoon in Imari Bay. Tens of thousands drowned. Shinto priests credited the gods; samurai inherited a legend that would be invoked with tragic results in 1945. The wreckage of the invasion fleet, recently discovered on the seafloor, confirms the scale of the disaster that contemporary Japanese sources describe.
Mamluk sultan Qalawun defeats Mongol invasion at Homs
The Mamluk army intercepted an Ilkhanid force that had crossed the Euphrates and routed it near Homs in Syria. The second Battle of Homs confirmed that Ain Jalut was no fluke; the Mamluks could consistently defeat Mongol armies in the field. The Ilkhanate's dream of conquering Egypt died on Syrian soil.
Champa kingdom resists Vietnamese expansion
The Hindu kingdom of Champa, stretching along the coast of central Vietnam, fought a series of border wars against the expanding Tran dynasty of Dai Viet. Cham tower temples at My Son and Po Nagar continued to rise in red brick even as the kingdom's territory shrank, a civilization building monuments while losing ground.
Arghun corresponds with European courts
The Mongol Ilkhan of Persia wrote to Pope Honorius IV and the kings of France and England proposing joint action against the Mamluks and offering to restore Jerusalem to Christian hands in exchange. Nothing came of the plan, but a rich diplomatic correspondence survives. The letters, written in Mongol script on Chinese paper and sealed with vermilion stamps, are among the most exotic documents in European archives.