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Siege of Gurganj (1220)
Part of theMongol invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire
A depiction of an execution following the siege
Date October 1220-April 1221 Location Gurganj, present-dayTurkmenistan 42°19′N59°11′E / 42.32°N 59.18°E /42.32; 59.18 Result Mongol victory
Belligerents
Mongol Empire	Khwarazmian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Ogedei Khan Chagatai Khan Jochi	Unknown
Units involved
Horse archers Auxiliaries, andengineers Siege engines, includingChinese gunpowder weapons	Citygarrison
Strength
Unknown	Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Heavy
Gurganj class=notpageimage| Location of the siege on a map of modern Turkmenistan

Thesiege of Gurganj occurred during theMongol invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire. The siege's length is variable, with historians such asRashid al-Din Hamadani stating that it lasted for seven months, but it is largely agreed that it ended with the defeat and annihilation of the city in April 1221.^[1][2]Genghis Khan, ruler of theMongol Empire, had launched a multi-pronged assault on theTurkicKhwarazmian Empire, ruled byShah Muhammad II.^[3] Through a combination of efficient planning and excellent manoeuvering, the Khan's army managed to take the border town ofOtrar swiftly, followed by the large cities ofBukhara andSamarkand.^[4] The siege, among others, was witnessed by the Persian biographerShihab al-Din Muhammad al-Nasawi, who recorded an account in Arabic c. 1241.^[5]

Genghis sent a detachment, led by his sonsJochi andChagatai, northwest to lay siege to the former capital ofGurganj. Immensely wealthy, the city lay on marshy grounds on thedelta of theAmu Darya, making it difficult to assault.^[6] Adapting to the lack of stones to use as projectiles, the Mongols cut down huge groves of mulberry trees, soaked the trunks in water to harden them, and used them asbattering rams and catapult projectiles.^[1]

The siege was complicated by disagreements between the two commanding brothers.^[7] Eventually, Genghis sentOgedai, his third son and eventual heir, as sole commander for the siege.^[8]

When the city was eventually taken, it was annihilated, in one of the bloodiest massacres in human history.^[9] In the final assault on the city walls, thousands of civilians were herded together by the Mongols and pushed into the city's moats. The corpses eventually filled the moats, upon which a ramp was built to attack the walls.^[10]

The Mongols destroyed the dams on theOxus River, flooding the city. They enslaved the women, children, and the city's artisans, totaling to around 100,000 people and killed the remaining population.^[11] The dams were never repaired, possibly because no one alive knew how to repair them, and the Oxus then flowed into theCaspian Sea for the next 300 years.^[11]

After the destruction of Gurganj, the Mongols established the nearby city of Ürgenč, which quickly became a flourishing commercial centre.

• Gurgānj Dam
• Otrar Catastrophe

• Conflicts in 1221
• Sieges involving the Mongol Empire
• 1220s in the Mongol Empire
• 1221 in Asia
• Battles involving the Khwarazmian dynasty
• Khwarazmian Empire
• Mongol invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire

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