Mongol invasion of Central Asia

Mongol invasion of Central Asia
Part of the Mongol conquests
Date 1216-1221 Location Central Asia, Iran, Afghanistan, China Result Decisive Mongol victory, destruction of the Qara Khitai and Khwarazmian dynasty Territorial changes Mongol Empire gains control of the Qara Khitai and Khwarezmia
Belligerents
Mongol Empire	Qara Khitai Khanate	Khwarazmian dynasty
Commanders and leaders
Genghis Khan Jochi Chaghatai Ögedei Tolui Subutai Jebe Jelme Mukali Khubilai Kasar Boorchu Sorkin-shara	Kuchlug	Ala ad-Din Muhammad Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu Inalchuq  (POW), executed Temur Meliq
Strength
100,000-150,000	unknown	400,000-450,000 men, however not organized into armies, majority unmobilized.
Casualties and losses
unknown	unknown	unknown

The Mongol invasion of Central Asia occurred after the unification of the Mongol and Turkic tribes on the Mongolian plateau in 1206. It was finally complete when Genghis Khan conquered the Khwarizmian Empire in 1221.

Uyghurs, Qarluqs and Qara Khitai

The Uyghurs, Qarluqs and local Turkic and Tajik peoples submitted to the Mongolians. The Uyghur state of Kara-Khoja was a vassal of the Qara Khitai, but in 1210, the Uyghur ruler of Kara-Khoja, Idiqut Barchuq appeared before the Khan to declare his allegiance to the Mongolians.^[1] He was rewarded with the daughter of Genghis in marriage, and the Uyghurs served under the Mongols as bureaucrats. A leader of the Qarluq and Buzar, the warlord of Chuy Valley, followed the Uyghur example.

The Qara Khitai (Black Khitan) were Khitans of the Liao Dynasty (907–1125) who were driven out of China by the Jurchens of the Jin dynasty. In 1124 some Khitans moved westward under Yeh-lü Ta-shih’s leadership and created the Qara Khitai Khanate (Western Liao) between in the Semirechye and the Chu River. They dominated Central Asia in the 12th century after they defeated the Great Seljuk leader Ahmed Sanjar at the Battle of Qatwan in 1141. However, their power was shattered in 1211 through the combined actions of the Khwārezm-Shah ʿAlāʾ ad-Dīn Muḥammad (1200–20), and Küchlüg, a fugitive Naiman prince in flight from Genghis Khan’s Mongols. Kuchlug was given shelter by the Qara Khiitai, but he usurped the Gurkhan's throne in 1211.^[2]

Kuchlug attacked the city of Almaliq, and the Qarlugs there who were vassals of the Mongols appealed to Genghis Khan for help.^[3] In 1216, Genghis dispatched his general Jebe to pursue Kuchlug. The Mongols defeated the Qara Khitai at Balasaghun, Kuchlug fled, but was later killed in 1218.^[4]

Khwarezmia

The Mongol invasion of Khwarezmia lasted from 1219 to 1221. In fact, it was not originally the intention of the Mongol Empire to invade the Khwarezmid Empire. According to Juvaini, Genghis Khan had originally sent the ruler of the Khwarezmid Empire, Sultan Muhammad Aladdin, a message greeting him as his equal: "We now have the obligations of neighbors. Human wisdom requires that both sides walk the path of concord and observe the duties of friendship." The Mongols' original conquest of all "people in felt tents", unifying the nomadic tribes in Mongolia and then the Turcomens and other nomadic peoples, had come with relatively little bloodshed, and almost no material loss. However, the Governor of Otrar refused to receive the mission and had all 450 of them killed with permission from the Sultan. Upon hearing of this atrocity months later, Genghis Khan flew into a rage and used the incident as a pretext for invasion.

The Mongol invasion of Central Asia however would entail the utter destruction of the Khwarezmid Empire along with the massacre of much of the civilian population of the region. According to Juvaini, the Mongols ordered only one round of slaughter in Khwarezm and Transoxiana, but systematically exterminated a particularly large portion of the people of the cities of Khorasan. This earned the Mongols a reputation for bloodthirsty ferocity that would mark the remainder of their campaigns.

During the invasion of Transoxania in 1219, along with the main Mongol force, Genghis Khan used a Chinese specialist catapult unit in battle. They were used again in 1220 in Transoxania. The Chinese may have used the catapults to hurl gunpowder bombs, since they already had them by this time ^[5] While Genghis Khan was conquering Transoxania and Persia, several Chinese who were familiar with gunpowder were serving with Genghis's army.^[6] Historians have suggested that the Mongol invasion had brought Chinese gunpowder weapons to Central Asia. One of these was the huochong, a Chinese mortar.^[7]

References

1. Svatopluk Soucek (2000). "Chapter 4 - The Uighur Kingdom of Qocho". A history of Inner Asia. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-65704-0.
2. Biran, Michal. (2005). "Chapter 3 - The Fall: between the Khwarazm Shah and the Mongolians". The Empire of the Qara Khitai in Eurasian History: Between China and the Islamic World. Cambridge University Press. pp. 60–90. ISBN 0-521-84226-3.
3. Svatopluk Soucek (2000). "Chapter 6 - Seljukids and Ghazvanids". A history of Inner Asia. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-65704-0.
4. Biran, Michal. (2005). The Empire of the Qara Khitai in Eurasian History: Between China and the Islamic World. Cambridge University Press. pp. 84–85. ISBN 0-521-84226-3.
5. Kenneth Warren Chase (2003). Firearms: a global history to 1700 (illustrated ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 58. ISBN 0-521-82274-2. Retrieved 2011-11-28. Chinggis Khan organized a unit of Chinese catapult specialists in 1214, and these men formed part of the first Mongol army to invade Transoania in 1219. This was not too early for true firearms, and it was nearly two centuries after catapult-thrown gunpowder bombs had been added to the Chinese arsenal. Chinese siege equipment saw action in Transoxania in 1220 and in the north Caucasus in 1239-40.
6. David Nicolle, Richard Hook (1998). The Mongol Warlords: Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan, Hulegu, Tamerlane (illustrated ed.). Brockhampton Press. p. 86. ISBN 1-86019-407-9. Retrieved 2011-11-28. Though he was himself a Chinese, he learned his trade from his father, who had accompanied Genghis Khan on his invasion of Muslim Transoxania and Iran. Perhaps the use of gunpowder as a propellant, in other words the invention of true guns, appeared first in the Muslim Middle East, whereas the invention of gunpowder itself was a Chinese achievement
7. Chahryar Adle, Irfan Habib (2003). Ahmad Hasan Dani, Chahryar Adle, Irfan Habib, ed. History of Civilizations of Central Asia: Development in contrast : from the sixteenth to the mid-nineteenth century. Volume 5 of History of Civilizations of Central Asia (illustrated ed.). UNESCO. p. 474. ISBN 92-3-103876-1. Retrieved 2011-11-28. Indeed, it is possible that gunpowder devices, including Chinese mortar (huochong), had reached Central Asia through the Mongols as early as the thirteenth century.71 Yet the potential remained unexploited; even Sultan Husayn's use of cannon may have had Ottoman inspiration.