“The Thicket,” a “dark western thriller,” will be released in theaters on Friday, September 6th. Metallica’s James Hetfield is pictured above in costume. It will be Hetfield’s third feature film credit, The first two were “The Darwin Awards,” with Metalica as themselves and “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile” where Hetfield played Bob Howard, the sheriff who was the first to arrest serial killer Ted Bundy. Hetfield has also appeared in two Metallica documentaries and a concert film. In “The Thicket,” Peter Dinklage plays Shorty (type casting?), a bounty hunter enlisted to find a woman who has been kidnapped by a killer. Set at the turn of the 20th century, Shorty and his fellow trackers travel into a violent place in West Texas known as the Big Thicket. The film also stars actress/musician Juliette Lewis.  ### The post Metallica’s James Hetfield Is In “The Thicket” appeared first on RockinTown.

Watch The X22 Report On Video 2 videos found Ep 3400b – Save Act Passes House,Traitors Everywhere,Confirmed,It Flushed Out [BO],Right On Schedule Ep 3400a – The Manipulation Worked, Inflation Dropped To 3%, [CB] Will Make The Next Move Click On Picture To See Larger PictureThe temps are cooling on earth, so 91 years of global warming has failed. Canada is trying force the older population out of their homes. Costco is raising their membership fee, this is how you know inflation is here. Inflation drops to 3%, right on schedule. Trump will speak at Bitcoin. The [DS] just played their hand, they have no showed everyone that they are traitors to the US. The Save Act passed the House but the Ds voted against it. Traitors everywhere. The [DS] have formed and planned to remove Biden, Trump is using game theory to flush out Obama and it has worked. Biden will stay in the race and become the nominee, then the [DS] will make their move. Trump and the patriots are counting on this.   Economy 91 years of global warming down the drain: June 2024 US max temps cooler than June 1933, despite many emissions and much urban heat island effect. Ask a climate hoaxer to explain that. pic.twitter.com/fK73XUfTQr — Steve Milloy (@JunkScience) July 11, 2024 Trudeau says Canadian seniors are living in houses that are "too much home" for them. Grandpa who fought in WWII will soon be relocated for able-bodied foreign males. pic.twitter.com/JRvUodVoct — End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) July 10, 2024   When Costco raises its prices, you know inflation is a problem. — The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) July 10, 2024 Good Morning Everyone! Inflation dropped to 3.0% from 3.3% in June (expected 3.1%). The shelter component (which everyone watches closely) had the smallest increase since August 2021. Very good sign. The September FED rate cut probability has now jumped to +81%! Will Jerome… pic.twitter.com/WP39CZbEYP — Genevieve Roch-Decter, CFA (@GRDecter) July 11, 2024  cut rates in September? While June CPI inflation is at 3.0%, inflation is much higher in many basic necessities: 1. Car Insurance Inflation: 19.5%2. Transportation Inflation: 9.4%3. Hospital Services Inflation: 6.9%4. Car Repair Inflation: 6.0%5. Electricity Inflation: 5.9%6. Homeowner Inflation:… — The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) July 11, 2024 5.4% 7. Rent Inflation: 5.1% 8. Food Away From Home Inflation: 4.1% Inflation has been at or above 3% for 39 consecutive months now. While June CPI was a move in the right direction, elevated inflation in key categories makes inflation feel much higher. We’ve also now had over 3 years of compounding inflation. Affordability is still getting worse. Americans' pandemic savings are gone, per Bloomberg: pic.twitter.com/z8wqIgHthV — unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) July 11, 2024 American incomes under each President: Trump: Up by $4,200Biden: Negative by $2,100 The data are clear: President Trump's economic policies work! pic.twitter.com/xnwHhPbNuZ — Stephen Moore (@StephenMoore) July 10, 2024 Buried deep in the same story: Two-thirds of IRS audits initiated last year were on taxpayers making less than $200,000. https://t.co/THeAi5Akup — Jeff Jacoby (@Jeff_Jacoby) July 11, 2024   JUST IN: US House fails to overturn President Biden's veto on bill that would allow highly regulated financial firms to custody #Bitcoin and crypto. They needed to 2/3's of the votes to overturn the veto. pic.twitter.com/hZ6nGY1Ja2 — Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) July 11, 2024   Political/Rights Former Pelosi aide accused of sexual assault by ex-Senate staffer An ex-Senate staffer has come forward with allegations that she was sexually assaulted by a former aide to onetime House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). A police report obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle details Zahra Hajee’s accusations against Kevin Ortiz. Hajee, a former aide to San Francisco City Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, has also worked for Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA). She claims Ortiz sexually assaulted her in March and April 2021. Ortiz denies the allegations, saying through his lawyers that the encounters were consensual. Ortiz is the co-president of the Latinx Democratic Club and was working for Pelosi when he met Hajee in early 2021. While he continues to serve as president of the political club, Ortiz left the Democratic leader’s office in 2022. In an attempt to verify his claims that the relationship was mutual, the former Pelosi aide provided screenshots of text messages that show Hajee repeatedly requesting to meet up with Ortiz. Source: washingtonexaminer.com Luna push to fine Garland $10,000 per day over Biden-Hur tapes fails   The House rejected a resolution Thursday to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in “inherent contempt” of Congress and fine him $10,000 each day that he does not turn over audio tapes from President Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur. Source: thehill.com The House vote to hold Merrick Garland in Inherent Contempt just FAILED Here are the 4 backstabbing RINOs who supported the Deep State and voted No: 1. Tom McClintock (CA-5) – (202) 225-2511 2. John Duarte (CA-13) – (202) 225-1947 3. David Joyce (OH-14) – (202) 225-5731… pic.twitter.com/t0l17hFxSI — DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) July 11, 2024 Republican bills went down today. We will bring the vote back to the Floor with legislative appropriations when Members are here. https://t.co/BeOoDxT0oH — Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) July 11, 2024 More 3rd world immigration will fix this https://t.co/dshSz2tmtH — End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) July 11, 2024 Geopolitical/Police State Elon Musk Defeats $500 Million Lawsuit Over Twitter Mass Layoffs A California judge handed Elon Musk a win in a lawsuit filed over the mass firing of staff at Twitter after he took over the social media platform in October 2022. Mr. Musk and X Corp. (Twitter was rebranded as X in July 2023) were accused of violating provisions of the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by allegedly misleading employees about whether he’d honor a severance plan “at least as favorable” as one developed by prior Twitter management, leading some staff to stay at the company longer than they otherwise would have and getting less severance pay than they expected when they were let go. The class-action lawsuit, which was brought by Courtney McMillian, who oversaw Twitter’s benefits programs, sought at least $500 million in allegedly owed severance pay to some 6,000 laid-off employees. Source: zerohedge.com Musk’s X rejoined GARM this month — the same coalition at the heart of @JudiciaryGOP’s report on alleged censorship that Musk is responding to here: https://t.co/EjCq9PBHUI pic.twitter.com/KjPCvPhhej — Gabe Kaminsky (@gekaminsky) July 11, 2024 Elon Musk to File Lawsuit, Calls for Prosecution of Perpetrators Behind Ad Throttling Having seen the evidence unearthed today by Congress, ? has no choice but to file suit against the perpetrators and collaborators in the advertising boycott racket. Hopefully, some states will consider criminal prosecution. https://t.co/5W4yf1wxVO — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 11, 2024   The communist, socialist & green coalition that performed well at the French election say they want a 90% tax on the wealthy, lower retirement to 60, cap food prices, increase minimum wage, hire more state employees & increase their salaries, & more. Read:https://t.co/w1CO8JYwa4 — Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) July 10, 2024 War WW3 WATCH: Britain’s Leftist Prime Minister Green Lights Use of British Missiles to Strike Russian Mainland Britain’s leftist Prime Minister Keir Starmer has green-lit the use of British missiles by the Ukrainian military to strike the Russian mainland. Bloomberg reports: Starmer agreed it was up to Ukraine how it used the Storm Shadow missiles donated by the UK. He was speaking to journalists while traveling to the NATO summit in Washington late Tuesday. Source: thegatewaypundit.com South Korea preparing ‘StarWars’ laser defense system to take out North Korean drones South Korea is preparing to launch a laser-based defense system that will more easily destroy drones flying in from the North. The “Block-I” program, also referred to as “StarWars” hopes to make South Korea the first national military in the world to weaponize directed light. “Our country is becoming the first country in the world to deploy and operate laser weapons, and our military’s response capabilities on North Korea’s drone provocation will be further strengthened,” the nation’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) wrote in a statement. Source: foxnews.com Scoop: Kyiv wants to convene a second meeting to achieve a fair peace settlement in Ukraine before the US elections in November — this time with Russia attending, sources told @DarynaKrasno @AlbertoNardelli and me. The push to organize the meeting before the US elections… — Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) July 10, 2024  points to a sense of urgency on the part of Ukraine as it faces the prospect of Trump returning to the White House Cyber Attacks False Flags Q CNN anti-speech activist and censorship promoter Oliver Darcy said that noticing problems at the big Hollywood George Clooney fundraiser meant you were "misleading" readers, for example: pic.twitter.com/SXW2nmngag — Mollie (@MZHemingway) July 11, 2024 In March, CNN had Oliver Darcy lead his anti-speech newsletter with a report that Special Counsel Hur's characterization of Joe Biden's mental capacities was a lie that the media had fallen for. He praised media activists for saying Hur had overstated Biden's problems. pic.twitter.com/AZERTevSGR — Mollie (@MZHemingway) July 11, 2024 RISKY! This is outside the performance window!!! https://t.co/aOlJv7b69o — Jason Miller (@JasonMillerinDC) July 11, 2024 The bar is so low right now that Biden doesn’t have to knock it out of the park at his big boy press conference. He just needs to not crash and burn. A mediocre performance will give him the leverage to resist any calls for him to step aside. — Election Wizard (@ElectionWiz) July 11, 2024 CNN: Cabinet officials are expected to "submit their questions and talking points" in advance of meeting with Biden. "The entire display is kind of an act." pic.twitter.com/xeImKnAhYp — RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 11, 2024     Members of the PA legislature are holding a rally right now at the PA Capitol called “Biden for President.” About a dozen people showed up. Half are reporters. pic.twitter.com/9crPwp9iDi — Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) July 11, 2024 Is this bad, @BidenHQ? Seems bad. https://t.co/ZRGGO7E7nN — Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) July 11, 2024   Alert: Biden Has Lost Late Night Comedians When America’s preeminent late night comedians turn on the president, you know it’s only a matter of time before he loses the country. And boy, are they not mincing words. Stephen Colbert, the man who danced with COVID vaccine mascots, called on President Joe Biden to step down in his opening monologue. It’s for the “greater goodest,” he said, an unexpected dig at Biden’s inability to speak. Colbert jumps ship! Calls for Biden to bow out. pic.twitter.com/cMT9ww9ttR — Justin Hart (@justin_hart) July 10, 2024   Colbert’s mentor, Jon Stewart, also said Biden should at least consider stepping down, using his 15-minute monologue to mock years of Biden’s “troubling moments of discontent.” And funniest of all, Jimmy Fallon did a sketch on a fake conversation between the president and Nancy Pelosi, where the former House Speaker refused to accept that Biden is running. Good Morning X-World. When you lose late night TV the end is near as Jimmy Fallon mocks Biden and Pelosi on whether he should drop out. pic.twitter.com/7ggQxrRi3g — Gary D (@KMGGaryde) July 11, 2024 Source: dailycaller.com Looks Like Barack Obama May Have Pulled Protection From Biden According to New Clooney Op-Ed Report Guess who knew about Clooney’s devastating op-ed beforehand and didn’t do anything to stop it, according to a new report? The guy who some think pulls some strings behind the scenes, former President Barack Obama. According to the report, Clooney told Obama about the op-ed before it was published.  . Source: redsate.com REMINDER: It May Already Be Too Late for Democrats to Replace Joe Biden as ’24 Candidate Without Surrendering Several Battleground States …Document Included It may already be too late for Democrats to replace Joe Biden as their 2024 candidate without conceding several battleground states. Daily Mail reported:   it may already be too late to remove Joe Biden from the ballot.  The Heritage Oversight Project has identified three swing states – Georgia, Nevada and Wisconsin – where they believe removing Biden from the Democratic ticket would prevent anyone else from     Source: thegatewaypundit.com   It’s too late to change the name on the ballot in some states. At the very least some Republican governors or secretaries of state would force the Dems to drain resources on legal challenges. I do believe OBama and team know this, this is why Clyburn said we ware riding with Biden. They need him to be the nominee, then they can make their move. Democrats can’t get a new nominee as long as Joe Biden is president. That leaves them two options, one of which is Biden resigning. We’ll know that’s coming when we start seeing pardons for various members of the Biden crime family, because there’s no way he’ll leave with a mere… — Sean Davis (@seanmdav) July 11, 2024  promise that Harris will pardon them on her way out. Secret Democrat plot to replace Biden revealed: How Clinton, Obama, Pelosi and Schumer would topple the aging President… and when they’d do it ‘The only people who could force him out would be Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer,’ one Democratic strategist told DailyMail.com. ‘It would have to be the four of them collectively.’ And the process would be high risk.   party insiders concede that the candidate swap could work if everything was carefully planned and executed. Political columnist Joe Klein theorized in a recent newsletter that if Biden were to stand down, ‘a vigorous young candidate — don’t ask me who — could win over the country with a single convention speech’ in August.’ In Klein’s scenario, the Democratic party savior would deliver an Obama-esque inspirational speech, akin to Barack’s famous 2004 Democratic Convention address, that would quickly bring together disaffected Democrats and moderate independents.  Plus, wrote Klein, the Democratic Party’s prodigious dislike of Trump would unite any disaffected factions behind a new nominee. However, there’s another potential complication. As the recognized leader of the Democratic Party, a stubborn Biden could refuse to step down and fight on to Election Day, even as the party grows more exasperated with his performance.   Barack and Michelle Obama appear to have intentionally kept their distance from the Biden White House – knowing that their public appearances trigger nostalgia for the days when voters liked their nominees. Source:dailymail.co.uk    ABC NEWS: 67% of American call for Biden to drop out. More than 85% say he’s too old. — Election Wizard (@ElectionWiz) July 11, 2024 The people are demanding the replacement of Biden, right on schedule. Kamala Rising: Biden Campaign Tests Harris’ Viability, As Longtime Aides Discuss Convincing Biden To Step Aside  NYT First: The Biden campaign is ‘quietly testing’ Vice President Kamala Harris’ viability against Donald Trump in a head-to-head survey of voters. The survey, which is being conducted this week and was commissioned by the Biden campaign’s analytics team, is believed to be the first time since the debate that Mr. Biden’s aides have sought to measure how the vice president would fare at the top of the ticket.  Second: Biden advisers are ‘Discussing how to convince him to step aside.’ A small group of Mr. Biden’s advisers in the administration and the Biden campaign — at least two of whom have told allies that they do not believe he should keep trying to run for a second term — have said they would have to convince the president of three things.     Source: zerohedge.com The Clinton-Harris Ticket Polls are already asking voters whether they would support Hillary Clinton as president. Even international news outlets are posting this information. When did Hillary suddenly enter the race? Democratic firm Bendixen & Amandi conducted a poll to see how the public would respond to a Clinton presidency. Of the 86% of respondents who watched the disastrous Trump-Biden debate, only 29% believe Biden is mentally fit to serve a second term. I suppose the state of the world was not enough to sway voters until they saw him on stage. Still, 33% of them believe Biden should still be the nominee, while 52% want him to step down to make room for a new candidate. And who do the people want to fill Biden’s shoes? “Clinton-Harris is in the strongest position among potential Democratic tickets tested, showing a clear edge over the Biden-Harris pairing,” Source: armstrongeconomics.com    19 Anonymous ID: grTMpzrL No.147443190 Oct 31 2017 23:29:28 (EST) Why do D’s want to control the black pop? Why do they intentionally keep poor and in need? Why do D’s project racism on a daily basis against R’s? Why do black elected officials do the crazy talk on behalf of D’s? How do D’s cover the historical facts of forming the confederacy, KKK, and oppose all things pro black re: legislation? What happens if D’s lose the slave grip on the black pop? Why do D’s, through the funding of the CIA, prop up and install Hollywood/media assets? Does this fall within Operation Mockingbird? What were the historical advantages D’s gained by having MSM and famous people peddling narrative? Who exposed the pedo network within H wood? You can’t answer the above but will laugh once disclose details. The network which controls this false narrative which in turns keeps the black pop under control is being dismantled. False local and national black leaders will be exposed next as shills for the D party. Follow the money. Maxine W has a $4mm home and cash assets in excess of $6mm. How is that possible? One example. All of these questions help to paint the full picture. 108 Anonymous ID: hHkrVD7x No.148156129 Nov 5 2017 20:03:07 (EST) Anonymous ID: cxbjPd3x No.148155375 Nov 5 2017 19:57:48 (EST) >>148152800 Checked and phoneposting, excuse the post count. The first “extraction order” referenced 0200 Zulu time, it was 0200 Zulu when I posted my response. I was saying that 1.5 hours would be plenty enough time for anyone to hide if they needed to hide, so if it was real info then whoever posted it just broke opsec in a pretty bad way. >>148155375 Nothing is as it seems, Anon. What occurred? It flushed BO out. Why is that relevant? Analyze time stamps of my go message to BO‘s Tweet. Q The Daily Show asked a random group of black New Yorkers if they'd vote Trump. It did not go as planned. pic.twitter.com/Ery6Gqs9QL — End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) July 11, 2024 BREAKING: Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has officially signed the WORST election overhaul bill into law. This law will stop local officials from conducting recounts to investigate fraud and when fraud occurs, they have to call on the George Soros DAs & Attorney General… pic.twitter.com/TPkTMcfgkm — George (@BehizyTweets) July 10, 2024 Cheating in Michigan elections is now basically legal because no one will get caught Republicans should immediately sue because this law is unconstitutional. Michigan’s constitution guarantees voters a right to a recount/audit and specifically states that legislative action can ONLY expand voters’ rights, “The right to have the results of statewide elections audited, in such manner as prescribed by law, to ensure the accuracy and integrity of elections.” “All rights set forth in this subsection shall be self-executing. This subsection shall be liberally construed in favor of voters’ rights in order to effectuate its purposes. Nothing contained in this subsection shall prevent the legislature from expanding voters’ rights beyond what is provided herein.” Immigration lawyer says MA is issuing driver’s licenses to illegals. 19 states & the District of Columbia allow illegals to get driver’s licenses. Today 198 Democrats voted against a law which would require proof of US citizenship to vote. Do the math.pic.twitter.com/axALUc43xa — Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) July 11, 2024 BREAKING: SAVE Act Passes House 221-198 – Almost Every Democrat Voted to ‘Protect’ the Ability of Illegals to Vote in Federal Elections The SAVE Act – which requires proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections – passed the House 221-198 on Wednesday. Nearly every Democrat lawmaker voted to protect the ability of illegals to vote in federal elections.   The bill amends the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require voters to show documentary proof of United States citizenship. Under current law, states can only require proof of citizenship to register to vote in local and state elections. The bill is likely dead on arrival in the Senate and Joe Biden would veto the measure. Full White House statement below:   Source: thegatewaypundit.com   Arrest everyone who voted against this for treason. 4620 Q !!Hs1Jq13jV6 ID: 076410 No.10134839 Jul 31 2020 00:03:40 (EST)   Traitors everywhere.   Your voice and your vote matters. Patriots stand united. Welcome to the Revolution. Q  3556 Jul 30, 2019 1:38:22 PM EDT Q !!mG7VJxZNCI ID: 87be02 No. 7260547  Prepare for ‘VOTER ID = voter suppression of minority vote’. Q  VOTER ID LAW = DEATH OF D PARTY. Boomerang Suicide? Cyberattacks threate water systems, infrastructure warns EPA The Environmental Protection Agency is warning of an increase in cyberattacks on local water systems across the country The Environmental Protection Agency is warning of an increase in cyberattacks on local water systems across the country, threatening to shut off supply, damage critical infrastructure and even change chemical levels at treatment facilities. The attacks so far have only caused minor disruptions, but the agency says the attacks have the potential off turning into major threats. Already, the Biden administration says foreign adversaries have already hacked some of the 50,000 water utilities providing service and treatment to millions of Americans. Source: koco.com 

by Dave DeCamp, Activist Post: The US announced on Wednesday that it will deploy missiles to Germany that would have been banned under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which the US withdrew from in 2019. The INF prohibited land-based missile systems with a range between 310 and 3,400 miles. The planned deployment to Germany includes a […]

by Sayer Ji, Green Med Info: As healthcare practitioners seek to support individuals diagnosed with COVID-19, attention has turned to fundamental nutritional interventions. Vitamin C, an essential nutrient crucial for overall health, is emerging as a potential supportive therapy for those facing health challenges associated with a COVID-19 diagnosis. TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/ The ongoing […]

from The Jimmy Dore Show: TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/

For centuries, the Mongols ruled an empire that stretched from China to Eastern Europe. It was the largest empire in the world, created through centuries of brutal warfare. Over time, the name Mongol became synonymous with the fearsome horsemen of the Eurasian steppe. Their exploits in battle – not to mention what came after – made many armies think twice before taking them on in combat. Yet over the centuries, some nations did have some success against the great Mongol marauders. Here are five countries that managed to do what many thought was impossible – defeat the Mongols. 1. Vietnam The Tran dynasty ruled Vietnam from 1226 to 1413 AD. They were the first people to successfully defeat a Mongol invasion. Up to that point, the Mongols had had little trouble conquering empires in Asia and the Middle East, but their luck would change when they came up against the people of Vietnam. The first invasion occurred in 1257 AD when the Mongols occupied Yunnan, in what is now southwestern China. Kublai Khan, then the ruler of the Mongols, sent three envoys to emperor Trần Thái Tông. He demanded that he grant free passage through Vietnam to his Mongol warriors. Instead of replying, Emperor Thái Tông made a bold move – he threw the envoys in jail. Unsurprisingly, that did not go over too well with the Mongol leader who immediately began preparing for war. But Emperor Thái Tông knew what was coming. Bracing himself for what he must have known would be a daunting fight, he ordered his entire population to prepare for war. Citizens were instructed to “repair their weapons and manufacture new ones,” in anticipation of the coming Mongol invasion. Portrait of Prince Trần Quốc Tuấn The emperor was right to do so. At the time when the citizens of his kingdom were preparing for the fight, Kublai Khan had already sent his second-in-command to surround the capital with two groups of 1,000 men. The Vietnamese and Mongol armies met outside the capital on the banks of a river. To the surprise of the Mongols, they saw Emperor Tran riding across the river atop an elephant, something that they had never seen before in battle. The Mongols did not know what to expect from the elephants, but they maintained their composure and shot flaming arrows at their feet. In the end, not even the elephants were enough to dampen the ferocity of the Mongol army. Two bloody encounters by the river ended with the emperor and his army escaping by boat downriver and then abandoning the capital. At this point, the emperor and his family considered fleeing the country altogether to seek refuge with the powerful Southern Song dynasty. However, the Mongols’ luck was about to change. After they moved into the capital and massacred its people, it looked like they had achieved another overwhelming victory. But pretty soon they began to suffer devastating setbacks. The imperial capital was much too small to support a Mongol army, numbering some 25,000 warriors. Moreover, the destruction that the Mongols unleashed on the city caused outbreaks of diseases such as dysentery and malaria. Suffering from all of these factors, plus the unbearable heat, the Mongols became demoralized. With the strength of the Mongol army waning, the emperor brought back his army and easily pushed the invaders out of the city after only nine days. The second Mongol attempt to conquer Vietnam lasted much longer, from 1283 to 1285 AD. At this point, the Mongols under Kublai Khan had already taken all of China, which left Vietnam more vulnerable than ever. Once again, the Mongols seemed on the edge of annihilating the Vietnamese. They took the capital city and forced the emperor and his family to flee to a tiny island where they were nearly captured. In the end, nature once again interceded on behalf of the Vietnamese. While the Vietnamese army battled desperately against the Mongols, heat, and disease began to take their toll on the invaders despite the Chinese doctors that the Mongols had brought with them. Near the end of the fighting, one of the main Mongol generals was killed, and the army that straggled back to Mongol China was a fraction of its original size. But Kublai Khan refused to give up. Just two years later, he launched another attack, this time relying on a navy to provide the army with supplies. His plans were thwarted, however, by the Vietnamese generals, who sank and captured hundreds of Mongol ships. On land, things didn’t go much better. The Vietnamese fought a guerrilla war in which they laid spikes in trenches to stop the Mongol horses. They also conducted river ambushes against Mongol boats. After a year of fighting, the Mongols gave up and the people of Vietnam could finally breathe a sigh of relief. 2. Japan Sometime in 1274 AD, between the first and second Vietnamese invasions, Kublai Khan fixed his sights on the Southern Song dynasty of China. China was split into a northern and southern territory back in 1115 AD. The Mongols, under one of Genghis Khan’s sons, already conquered the northern portion. However, the southern portion proved to be much more intractable. So, Kublai Khan came up with a plan. To weaken his objective, he set out on a series of campaigns to conquer Song China’s trading partners. One of those partners was Japan. Japan in the 13th century was a feudal society ruled by a shogun to whom the samurai class pledged total allegiance. In this hierarchical society, the samurai acted as vassals to the shogun. They were given special privileges that made them distinct from the Japanese peasantry. Japan was also a closed nation at this time because the shogun disallowed any kind of trade or immigration to other countries other than for academic or religious purposes. Samurai battle the Mongols on the open sea Before launching his first invasion, Kublai Khan first sent an envoy to demand that Japan submit itself to the Mongols and become a trading partner. The shogun failed to respond to his request. Kublai Khan then sent several more envoys but the shogun still refused to give in to the Mongol demands. That’s when Kublai Khan decided to invade. During the invasion of 1274, the Mongols took the island of Hakata. This was an important source of trade for the Song dynasty. As the Mongols penetrated deeper into Japanese territory, they dealt heavy losses to the samurai. Their style of fighting was based on individual prowess rather than the kind of organized formations and maneuvers that the Mongols had mastered. Despite tactical and technological advantages, including their use of incendiary devices (which the Japanese had never seen), the Mongols ended up retreating to their ships. Whether due to a storm as some historians contend or for other reasons, this first Mongol invasion failed to spread to the rest of Japan. The second invasion occurred in 1281 after Kublai Khan finally took his most sought-after prize: China. Kublai Khan no longer had his original reason to invade: weakening China by conquering its trading partners. But he hoped the invasion would legitimize his rule and help him gain support among his people. This invasion failed even more miserably than the first. The Mongols sent two large armies by boat, but at some point, a strong wind or “Kamikaze” was said to have struck one of the fleets. This led to the destruction of the vast majority of its forces. As a result, the remaining ships were forced to sail back to China. Meanwhile, on land, the Japanese searched for and killed any remaining Mongols who survived the storm. The great Kamikaze that stopped the Mongol invasion became an important part of Japanese history. The name was later invoked during World War Two and used as the name for the suicide pilots who deliberately crashed their planes into enemy ships. The Mongol defeat in 1281 would live on in both history and myth for centuries to come. 3. Java Kublai Khan didn’t have much luck against island nations. The next Mongol defeat came a little over a decade later when he tried to take the island kingdom of East Java. The invasion he launched meant to put an upstart rival in his place. Instead, the Mongol army unwittingly paved the way for a new Javanese dynasty that ruled for nearly three centuries. The question of why the Mongols invaded Java remains unclear to scholars. According to Javanese sources, King Kertanagara, who ruled East Java at the time, invaded the island of Malayu. At that point, it was considered by the Mongols to be one of their vassal states. Chinese sources, on the other hand, describe the invasion as an act of revenge for Keratangara’s insolent abuse of the Mongol ambassadors whom Kublai Khan had sent in 1289 to collect tribute. Instead of complying with Kublai Khan’s demands, King Keratagara ordered the ambassadors’ faces to be branded and sent them back to Kublai Khan. These events may or may not have helped push Kublai Khan towards war, But Kublai’s true intentions were probably as much commercial as they were personal. The Javanese islands at the time were an important part of the spice trade and the Mongols simply wanted to control them. Whatever the true reasons were, by the time the Mongol fleet showed up in Java in 1292, King Keratagara was no longer king and a civil war was underway for his throne. One of the contenders, a prince named Raden Wijaya, used the Mongols’ confusion to his advantage. After recruiting them to attack his rivals, he then turned on the Mongols. After defeating them, he forced them to leave the island. The Mongols sailed away from Java for good shortly after. In their wake, they left behind a Javanese dynasty that would rule until the 16th century. 4. India When the Mongols emerged from the Eurasian steppe in the 12th century, it wasn’t just East Asia that suffered from their onslaughts. As they moved west, they conquered the Muslim empire of Khwarazm, which stretched from India to Anatolia. They even forced the Shah to flee his empire on horseback. The Mongols carried out horrific acts of violence against the people of Russia, Persia, and Baghdad. They were justifiably feared by many. But when they began pushing into northern India they met an equally fierce foe who managed to do what few others had proven able to do – defeat them. Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu flees after the Battle of Indus Alauddin Khilji ruled as the sultan of Delhi from 1296 AD to 1316 AD. In that time, he fought back six separate Mongol attacks. During the first Mongol invasion, which took place in 1298 AD, Alauddin proved to be both a military genius and a merciless victor. After defeating the Mongols with his army of horseback warriors, he immediately put to death all 20,00 of his prisoners. That initial defeat came as a blow to the pride of the Mongol Khan. Incensed, he sent an even larger force of 200,000 warriors the following year, expecting to demolish the Sultanate of Delhi. In an epic battle that is now known as the Battle of Kili, Alauddin’s horsemen clashed with the Mongols until the khan’s son, Qutlugh Khwaja was slain and the Mongols withdrew from India altogether. 5. The Mamluks Lastly, there were the Mamluks. They dealt the Mongols one of their most famous defeats in 1260 at the battle of Ayn Jalut. In this battle, roughly 20,000 Mongols faced off against an equal force of 20,000 Mamluks in the deserts of Palestine and were forced to withdraw. It’s gone down in history as an important event because it was one of the first times that a Mongol army was defeated in open battle. But the fact is, this was far from the end of the fighting between the Mongols and the Mamluks. It was just the beginning. The Mamluk dynasty was a Muslim dynasty that ruled Syria and Egypt from about 1250 AD to 1517 AD. The Ilkhanid Khanate, one of the four Mongol groups, moved through Central Asia. Conquering neighbors or bringing them into their orbit of vassal states, the seat of power in the Muslim world shifted to Egypt. The Battle of Ayn Jalut. When the Mongols, led by Genghis Khan’s grandson, sent envoys to Egypt to demand that the sultan submit to him, he refused. Instead, he had the envoys cut in half. Then he marched his army to Palestine to face off against the Mongol army. It was there in Palestine that the Mongols suffered their famous defeat. But to say that the Mongols were defeated on that day in 1260 AD obscures a more complicated truth about the Mamluk-Mongol conflict. That’s because the fighting continued on and off for six decades, eventually culminating in a final Mongol defeat. After this defeat, they withdrew their warriors from Egypt for good. From 1260 AD to 1323 AD the Mongols continued to make incursions into Egypt and Syria. In each of these conflicts, it was always the Mongols who were repelled by the superior Mamluk armies. The Mamluks only suffered one defeat at the battle of Wadi al-Khazindar in 1299. In that battle, the Mamluk charged the Mongol army as they rested. Unknown to them, however, a contingent of Mongols broke off and approached the Mamluk army from the rear. After facing a barrage of arrows from the front, the Mamluks soon realized they were surrounded and were forced to withdraw. In 1323 the Mamluks signed a peace treaty with the Mongols. This marked the end of decades of bloody fighting. The Ilkhanid Khanate only lasted a few more years until 1335, upon which it broke apart. On the other hand, the Mamluks continued to reign in Egypt for several more centuries until finally being defeated by the Ottomans in the 16th century. They are now remembered as one of the few countries to have ever stood up to the Mongols and succeeded. That feat puts them in a very exclusive club indeed.The post 5 Countries That Defeated the Mongol Horde first appeared on History Defined.