The Battle of Legnica took place in 1241. On 9 April, Mongol forces fought a coalition led by Henry II the Pious of Silesia at Legnickie Pole, near Legnica in present-day Poland, during the first Mongol invasion of Poland.
The Mongol army was commanded by Baidar, Kadan, and Orda Khan, operating as part of a wider invasion directed by Batu Khan and Subutai. The European force included Polish and Moravian troops, nobles, and knights associated with military orders. Mongol cavalry used feigned retreats, maneuver, and coordinated missile attacks to break the allied formation.
Henry II was killed and his army was decisively defeated. The battle occurred only two days before the Mongol victory at Mohi in Hungary, showing that Legnica was one part of a much larger, coordinated campaign. However, the Mongols did not continue into a permanent conquest of central Europe; they withdrew south after the campaign.
A common mix-up is 1259, the year of a later Mongol raid into Poland. Legnica itself belongs to the invasion of 1241.