| Mongol invasion of Central Asia | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theMongol invasions and conquests | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| Belligerents | ||||||||||
| and vassals: Qocho Karluks | Qara Khitai Khanate Cumania | Khwarazmian Empire | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | ||||||||||
|
| |||||||||
| Strength | ||||||||||
| 100,000–150,000 | Around 100,000 | 40,000+ men | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | ||||||||||
| Around 50,000+ | 60,000–70,000 men | Most soldiers killed, 1.25 million killed (25% of the population)[1] | ||||||||
Mongol campaigns in Central Asia occurred after the unification of theMongol andTurkic tribes on theMongolian Plateau in 1206. Smaller military operations of theMongol Empire inCentral Asia included the destruction of survivingMerkit andNaimans (which involved forays intoCumania) and the conquest ofQara Khitai. These were followed by a major campaign againstKhwarazm. Expansion into Central Asia began in 1209 asGenghis Khan sent an expedition to pursue rivals who had fled to the region and threatened his new empire.[2] TheUyghur kingdomQocho and leaders of theKarluks submitted voluntarily to the Mongol Empire and married into theimperial family. By 1218 the Mongols controlled all ofXinjiang and by 1221 all the territories of the former Khwarazmian Empire. In 1236, the Mongols defeated the eastern portions of Cumania andswept into Eastern Europe.
TheMerkit had a long-standing feud with theBorjigin clan to whichTemujin, the future Genghis Khan, belonged. They and theNaimans opposed therise of Genghis Khan. They joined with the forces ofJamukha andToghrul to oppose Temujin in theBattle of Chakirmaut in 1204. Temujin defeated the alliance, and the surviving Merkit and Naimans fled intoWestern Siberia, where they eventually gathered at theIrtysh.[3] Temujin's victory against the alliance consolidated his control of theMongol andTurkic tribes in the region. In 1206, he was elected the khan of the newMongol Empire and given the name Genghis Khan.[3] In either late 1208 or early 1209, as part of theconquest of Siberia, a Mongol expedition commanded by Genghis Khan's oldest son,Jochi, met the Merkits and Naimans at a branch of the Irtysh.[3][4] The Merkit commander Toqto'a was killed in action, and many of his soldiers drowned in the river attempting to flee.[3]
The Merkits and Naimans who survived the battle regrouped at theChu but were again defeated. The surviving Merkit fled first to theUyghurs approachingTurpan.[5][6] After the Uyghurs allied with the Mongols, they fled west, pastQara Khitai to the QangliKipchaks ofCumania.[3][6][7][8] The Naiman leaderKuchlug fled south to Qara Khitai.[3][9] The Merkit might have accompanied him briefly, but soon made their way further west.[5]
The initial contact with, and legacy of, the Mongol Empire with Central Asia was peaceful and not destructive, as the empire's nearest neighbors inEastern Turkestan tenured their submission to the Mongols voluntarily.[10] After their defeat at theBattle of the Irtysh, the surviving Merkit, led by Qudu, fled to the territory of theUyghur kingdom ofQocho. However, the ruler,Barchuq Art Tegin, was chafing at the increasing demands from Qara Khitai and killed both the Merkit envoys sent to him as well as the viceroy of the Qara Khitai.[11] In 1209, Barchuq voluntarily joined the Mongol Empire, making the Uyghurs one of the first Turkic groups to do so.[12][13][14][15] To solidify the alliance, Al Altun, the youngest daughter of Genghis Khan and his chief consortBörte, was married to Barchuq.[16] Their submission was perhaps unexpected, as the presence of the Mongol armies in the region might have had such submission as a goal in addition to pursuing Genghis's rivals.[15] The Uyghur contributed administrative and linguistic expertise to Mongols, in exchange for their military protection.[14][15] Because they submitted voluntarily, they were granted vassal status.[14] Barchuq was allowed to operate independently, and his kingdom contributed 18,000 troops to the Western campaigns, including the conquest of Qara Khitai, Khwarazm, and Western Xia,[17] and participating in theBattle of the Chem against surviving Merkit.[18]
In 1211, theKarluks, a Turkic confederation the area of the southernIli, in theTarbagatai Mountains and northernXinjiang, also voluntarily submitted to the Mongols.[19] The rulerArslan Khan married a junior daughter of Genghis Khan, who possibly went by the name Töre or Tolai.[20][21] Arslan commanded six thousand men.[20] Another Karluk leader, Ozar ofAlmaliq, married a daughter of Jochi.[20] He commanded an unknown number of soldiers. Because the Karluks submitted voluntarily like the Uyghur, their military was allowed to operate as an auxiliary without integrating into the main, atomized army.[20] By 1218, the Mongol Empire controlled all of what is present-day Xinjiang.[14]
At some point likely between 1209 and 1219, most likely 1217 or 1218, GeneralSubutai was dispatched to deal with the Merkit survivors and he,Jebe, andTuqachar, likely joined in force with a Uyghur army, met the Merkit at the Chem River, in what is present-day westernKazakhstan, and destroyed them.[6][22][23] The Merkit and QangliKipchak allies who survived fled to what is now northern Kazakhstan.[24] Jebe and Subutai pursued and defeated them.[25] Either prior to or after a defeat of the Merkit–Qangli alliance at the Chem, the Mongol defeated the Merkit at theChu.[26] The Merkit were conclusively beaten at either a point between theKhemchik andYenisei or, if the Chu battle succeeded the Chem campaign, at the Jade Valley near the Chu.[27] At this juncture, Jebe and Subutai did not attempt to incorporate the Qangli into the empire. Having completed their destruction of the Merkit, they returned home.[7] The independent nomadic tribes that the Mongols had encountered in Central Asia and Eastern Europe may have been at least part of the impetus forÖgedei Khan to launch a western campaign in 1235.[28] In 1236, the westward expansion ofBatu Khan, the son of Jochi, smashed into the Kipchaks, beginning aninvasion of Europe, and incorporated the Kipchak lands in Central Asia,Eastern Europe, andWestern Siberia into hisappanage, which became known as theGolden Horde.[29][30]
TheQara Khitai (Western Liao) was founded by remnants of theLiao dynasty. The dynasty dominated Central Asia in the 12th century after it defeated theSeljuk Empire at theBattle of Qatwan in 1141. However, the dynasty's power was shattered in 1211 through the combined actions of theKhwārezm-ShahʿAlāʾ ad-Dīn Muḥammad (1200–20), andKüchlüg, a fugitiveNaiman prince fleeing from the Mongols. Kuchlug was given shelter by the Qara Khitai, but he usurped the throne in 1211.[31]
Kuchlug attacked the Karluk city ofAlmaliq, and the Karluks appealed to Genghis Khan for help.[32] In 1216, Genghis dispatched his generalJebe to pursue Kuchlug. The Mongols defeated the Qara Khitai atBalasaghun. Kuchlug fled, but was killed in 1218 after his capture inBadakhshan in modern-dayAfghanistan.[33]
According toJuvaini, Genghis Khan had originally sent the ruler of the Khwarezmid Empire,Sultan Muhammad Aladdin, a message seeking trade and greeted him as his neighbor: "I am master of the lands of the rising sun while you rule those of the setting sun. Let us conclude a firm treaty of friendship and peace." or he said, "I am Khan of the lands of the rising sun while you are sultan those of the setting sun: Let us conclude a firm agreement of friendship and peace."[34]
However, theGovernor 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 ofKhorasan. This earned the Mongols a reputation for bloodthirsty ferocity that would mark the remainder of their campaigns.[citation needed]
