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Mongol invasion of Khwarezmia lasted from 1219 to 1221 . Orgins of the Conflict After the defeat of the Kara-Khitai s, Genghis Khan 's Mongol Empire had a border with the Khwarezmid Empire , governed by Shah Ala Ad-Din Muhammad . The Shah had only recently taken some of the territory under his control, and he was also busy with a dispute with the Caliph in Baghdad . It is possible that Genghis Khan's long term goal was to take advantage of the internal instability of the Shah's empire. However, in the short term, it is clear that Genghis Khan saw the potential advantage in Khwarezmia as a commercial partner and started a correspondance with the shah in 1218 in order to establish trade between their empires. The shah was very suspicious of Genghis' want for a trade agreement and messages from the shah's ambassador at Zhongdu in China describing the exaggerated savegry of the Mongols when they assaulted the city during their war with the Jin Dynasty . Of further interest is that the caliph of Baghdad, An-Nasir , attempted to instigated a war between the Mongols and the Shah some years before the Mongol invasion actually occured. This attempt at an alliance with Genghis was done because of a dispute between Nasir in the Shah. It involved the Shah wanting to be named sultan of Khwarezm, something that Nasir had no wish to do. However, it is known that Genghis rejected the notion of war as he was engaged in war with the Jin Dynasty and was gaining much wealth from trading with the Khwarezmid Empire. Genghis then sent a 500-man Caravan , comprised of Muslims to officially establish trade ties with Khwarezmia. However Inalchuq, the governor of the Khwarezmian city of Otrar , had the members of the caravan that came from Mongolia arrested, claiming that the caravan was a conspiracy against Khwarezmia. It seems unlikely, however, that any members of the trade delegation were spies. Nor does it seem likely that Genghis was trying to provoke a conflict with the Khwarezmid Empire, considering he was still dealing with the Jin in northeastern China. Genghis Khan then sent a second group of three ambassadors (one Muslim and two Mongols) to meet the shah himself and demand the caravan at Otrar be set free and the governor be handed over for punishment. The shah had both of the Mongols shaved and had the Muslim Behead ed before sending them back to Genghis Khan. Muhammad also ordered the caravan to be executed. This was seen as a grave affront to Khan himself, who considered ambassadors "as sacred and inviolable."Prawdin, Michael. ''The Mongol Empire''. This led Genghis Khan to attack the Khwarezmian Dynasty . The Mongols crossed the Tien Shan mountains, coming into the Shah's empire in 1219 . Initial Invasion of Khwarezmia After compiling information from many intelligent sources, primarily from spies along the Silk Road , Genghis Khan carefully prepared his army, which was organized differently from Genghis' earlier campaigns. While still relying on the traditional advantages of his mobile nomadic cavalry, Genghis incorporated many aspects of warfare from China, particularly in siege warfare. His baggage train included such siege equipment as Battering Rams , Gunpowder , Trebuchet s, and enormous Siege Bows capable of throwing telephone pole size arrows into siege works. The size of Genghis' army is often in dispute, ranging from a small army of 90,000 soldiers to a larger estimate of 250,000 soldiers, and Genghis brought along his most able generals to aide him. Genghis also brought a large body of foreigners with him, primarily of Chinese origin. These foreigners were siege experts, bridge-buidling experts, doctors and a variety of speciality soldiers. The Shah's army, numbered roughly 400,000, was split among the various major cities in the Shah's army. This was done because of two reasons. Firstly, the Shah was fearful of his army being in one large unit. He did not want the army to be under a single command structure, one that could possible be turned against him. Secondly, the Shah's reports from China seemed to indicate that the Mongol's were not experts in Siege Warfare and experienced problems attempting to take fortified positions. This proved to be a disastrous decision on the Shah's part as the campaign unfolded. Tired and exhausted from the journey, the Mongols still won their first victories against the Khwarezmia army. A Mongol army, under Jochi, with 25,000 to 30,000 men, attacked the Shah's army in southern Kwarezmia and prevented the much larger Shah army from forcing them into the mountains. The primary Mongol army, headed personally by Khan, quickly seiged the town of Otrar , reaching the city in the fall of 1219. For five months Genghis sieged the city before he managed to storm the main part of the city. Another month went by before the citadel at Otrar was taken. Inalchuq held out until the end, even climbing to the top of the citadel in the last moments of the siege, throwing down tiles at the oncoming Mongols. Genghis killed many of the inhabitants, enslaving the rest, and executed Inalchuq by pouring molten Silver into his ears and eyes, as retribution for the death of Genghis' caravan. .]] Sieges of Bukhara, Samarkand, and Urgench Genghis had sent one of his generals, Jebe , far to the south, at the head of a small army, intending to cut off any retreat by the Shah to the southern half of his kingdom. Further, Genghis and Tolui, at the head of an army of roughly 50,000 men, skirted past Samarkand and went westwards, intending to seige the western city of Bukhara first. Bukhara was not heavily fortified, with a moat and a single wall, plus the typical citadel that every Khwarezmi town had. The garrison at Bukhara was made up of Turkish soliders and led by Turkish generals. They attempted to break out on the third day of the siege, but the break out force, comprised of as many as 20,000 men, were annihilated in open battle. The city leaders opened the gates to Bukhara, though a unit of Turkish defenders held the city's citadel for another twelve days. Survivors from the citadel were executed, artisans and craftsmen were sent back to Mongolia, young men who had not fought were drafted into the Mongolian army and the rest of the population was sent into slavery. This was to be Genghis' typical treatment of captured cities throughout the rest of the campaign. As the Mongol soldiers looted the city, a fire broke out, razing the majority of the city to the ground. After the fall of Bukhara, Genghis headed west, towards the Khwarezmi capital of Samarkand and arrived at the city in March 1220. Samarkand was significantly more fortified and there were as many as 100,000 men defending the city. As Genghis began seiging the city, his sons Chaghatai and Ogodei joined him after finishing off the reduction of Otrar and the joint Mongol forces launched an assault on the city. Using prisoners as body shields, the Mongols attacked. On the third day of fighting, the Samarkand garrison launched a counterattack. Feigning retreat, Genghis reportedly drew out a garrison force of 50,000 outside the fortifications of Samarkand and slaughtered them in open combat. Muhammad attempted to relieve the city twice, but was driven back. On the fifth day, all but an approximate 2,000 soliders surrendered. The remaing soldiers, diehard supporters of the Shah, held out in the citadel. After the fortress fell, Genghis reneged on his surrender terms and executed every soldier that had taken arms against him at Samarkand. Around the fall of Samarkand, Genghis Khan charged Subutai and Jebe, two of the Khan's top generals, with hunting down the Shah, who had fled westwards to escape the Mongols. The Shah fled with some of his diehard soldiers and his son, Jalal Al-Din , towards the shores of the Caspian Sea , where he was taken to a small island out in the sea. It was there that the Shah died. Most scholars attridute his death to pneumonia, but others cite the sudden shock of the loss of his empire and his power. This was in December 1220. Meanwhile, the wealthy trading city of Urgench was still in the hands of Khwarezima forces. Previously, the Shah's mother had ruled there, but she fled and was captured when she learned her son had fled to the Caspian Sea. She was imprisoned and sent back to Mongolia. One of Muhammad's generals, a man by the name of Khumar Tegin , had declared himself Sultan of Urgench. Jochi, who had been on campaign in the north since the invasion, approached the city from that direction, whereas Genghish, Ogodei, and Chaghatai attacked Urgench from the south. The seige and assault on Urgench proved to be the hardest battle in the entire course of the invasion. The city was built along the river Amu Darya in a marshy delta area. The soft ground did not lend itself to siege warfare, and there was a lack of large stones for the catapults. The Mongols assaulted regardless, and after the defenders put up a stout defenese, fighting block for block, the city fell. Mongolian casualties were higher than normal, due to the difficult city fighting that did not lend well to Mongolian tactics. The taking of Urgench was further complicated by Genghis' eldest son, Jochi, who had been promised the city as his prize. Jochi engaged in negotiations with the defenders, trying to get them to surrender so that as little of the city as possible was undamaged. This angered Chaghatai, and Genghis headed off this sibiling fight by appointing Ogodei the commander of the seiging forces and Urgench fell. As usual, the artisans were sent back to Mongolia, the young women and children were given to the Mongol soldiers as slaves, and the rest of the population was massacred. The Persian scholar Juvayni states that 50,000 Mongol soldiers were given the task of executing twenty-four Urgench citizens each, which would mean that 1.2 million people were killed. While this is almost certainly exaggeration, Juvayni's numbers highlight the fear effects that the Mongol tactics created. The Khurasan Campaign As the Mongols battered their way into Urgench, Genghis dispatched his youngest son Tolui , at the head of an army, into the western Khwarezmid province of Khurasan. Khurasan had already felt the strength of Mongol arms. Earlier in the war, the generals Jebe and Subatai had travelled through the province while hunting down the fleeing Shah. However, the region was far from subjagated, many major cities remained free of Mongol rule, and the region was rife with rebellion against the few Mongol forces present in the region after the rumors of Jalal Al-Din gathering an army to fight against the Mongols. Tolui's army consisted of somewhere around 50,000 men, which was comprised of a core of Mongol soldiers (some estimates place it at 7,000Stubbs, Kim. ''Facing the Wrath of Khan.''), supplemented by a large body of foriegn soldiers, such as Turks and previously conquered peoples in China and Mongolia. The army also included "3,000 machines flinging heavy incendriary arrows, 300 catapults, 700 mongonels to discharge pots filled with Naphtha , 4,000 storming-ladders, and 2,500 sacks of earth for filling up moats."Prawdin, Michael. ''The Mongol Empire''. The major city to fall to Tolui's army was the city of Merv . Juvayni wrote of Merv: "In extent of territory it excelled among the lands of Khurasan, and the bird of peace and security flew over its confines. The number of its cheif men rivaled the drops of April rain, and its earth contended with the heavens."Stubbs, Kim. ''Facing the Wrath of Khan.'' The garrison at Merv was only about 12,000 men, and the city was inundated with refugees from eastern Khwarezmid. For six days, Tolui sieged the city, and on the seventh day, he assaulted the city. However, the garrison beat back the assault and launched their own counter-attack against the Mongols. The garrison force was similarly forced back into the city. The next day, the city's governor surrendered the city on Tolui's promise that the lives of the citizens would be spared. As soon as the city was handed over, however, Tolui reneged on his promise and slaughtered almost every person who surrendered. After finishing off Merv, Tolui headed westwards, attacking the cities of Nishapur and Herat . Nishapur fell after only three days and Tolui put every living thing in city, including the cats and dogs, to the swordStubbs, Kim. ''Facing the Wrath of Khan.''. After Nishapur's fall, Herat surrendered without a fight. By spring 1221, the province of Khurasan was under complete Mongol rule. Leaving garrison forces behind him, Tolui headed back east to rejoin his father. The Final Campaign By 1220 the Khwarezmid Empire was eradicated. After Samarkand fell, Bukhara became the capital of Jorezm, while two Mongol generals advanced on other cities to the north and the south. Jorezm, the heir of Shah and a brilliant strategist, who was supported enough by the town, battled the Mongols several times with his father's armies. However, internal disputes once again split his forces apart, and Jorezm was forced to flee Bujara after a devastating defeat. Genghis Khan selected his third son Ögedei as his successor before his army set out, and specified that subsequent Khans should be his direct descendants. Genghis Khan also left Muqali, one of his most trusted generals, as the supreme commander of all Mongol forces in Jin China. The Mongol armies then split into two component forces. Genghis led a division on a raid through Afghanistan and northern India , while another contingent, led by his generals Jebe and Subutai , marched through the Caucasus and Russia . Neither campaign added territory to the empire, but they pillaged settlements and defeated any armies they met that did not acknowledge Genghis as the rightful leader of the world. In 1225 both divisions returned to Mongolia. These invasions ultimately added Transoxiana and Persia to an already formidable empire. NOTES |
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