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The establishment of the Mongol state and the subjugation of both Xi Xia and the northern part of the Jin domain in China
would have satisfied many conquerors, but Genghis Khan was just starting
His sights were now set on the lands to the west
A number of relatively small events gave the Mongols a reason to attack the neighboring empires
The massacres in China would pale in comparison to the bloodbath Central Asia, and Iran would injure during the Mongol invasion
The Naimans were one of the tribes defeated by Genghis Khan in 1205
After the defeat the Prince of the tribe, Kuchlug, fled to the west
In 1208 he was defeated by Genghis yet again and found refuge in the nearby Western Liao empire
He was welcomed and even married the daughter of the Emperor Zhilugu
Two years later Kuchlug rebelled against his father-in-law and took control of the Empire
In 1216 Kuchlug attacked the city of Armalec which was under Mongol protection
Genghis Khan sent his best general, Jebe
Who defeated Kuchlug in the Battle of Balasaghun and in two years the entire empire was under Mongol rule
Now they were bordering the great Khwarezmian Empire that was ruled by a Persianised Turkic dynasty
Genghis Khan sent a caravan with precious gifts to Shah Muhammad II, hoping to establish trade
However, the governor of the Khwarezmian city of Otrar, Inalchuq, had the members of the caravan
arrested claiming they were spies.
Genghis Khan then sent three ambassadors to the Shah himself to demand the merchants be set free
Muhammad refused, the merchants along with one of the ambassadors were executed
The rules of hospitality which Genghis Khan considered sacred were broken and he started planning his retribution
He gathered information from the Silk Road about his enemies
Assembled siege engineers from China and created a plan involving separating his army into three columns
The numbers for both sides are highly disputed
But most scholars agree that at the start of the campaign the Mongols outnumbered the Khwarezmian forces with
100,000 against 60,000
In the winter of
1219 Genghis Khan sent his oldest son Jochi and Jebe to cross the Tian Shan
mountains to ravage the fertile Fergana Valley with around 20,000 men
It was risky but paid off as they slipped through the defensive lines and confused the enemy who thought this was the main force
meanwhile another army under his second and third sons Chagatai and Ögedei passed through the Dzungarian Gate with haste and
besieged Otrar which had a garrison of 20,000
After five months a deserter opened the gates and allowed the Mongols into the city
Otrar became the first of many settlements to have its entire population slain or enslaved before it was razed to the ground
Inalchuq was captured
and reportedly had molten silver poured into his eyes and ears
Muhammad II was preparing a strong defense around his capital, Samarkand, but Genghis tricked him by traversing
300 miles across the Kyzylkum Desert which was considered impossible
hopping from oasis to oasis.
The Mongols found themselves at the gates of Bukhara
The city's defenses were weak
So the desperate defenders tried to sally out and meet the Mongols in open battle where they were massacred on mass
Next came the Khwarezmian capital of Samarkand, the Mongols closed in during march of 1220
The Mongols assaulted the city
and its 40,000 strong garrison using prisoners as meat shields. On the third day the garrison launched a counter-attack
Feigning retreat, Genghis drew approximately half of the garrison including war elephants outside of the
fortifications of Samarkand and slaughtered them in the open fields.
Shah Mohammed II attempted to relieve the city twice but was driven back
On the fifth day all but a handful of soldiers surrendered.
The city's inhabitants
numbering around
100,000 were slaughtered.
The Shah and his son managed to escape to the west
So Genghis Khan ordered his generals Subutai and Jebe to hunt them down with a force of around
20,000. The legendary expedition of this army deserves its own episode and will be covered soon.
After finishing the destruction of Samarkand Genghis Khan moved against the wealthy city of Urgench
from the south while his son Jochi attacked it from the north
Despite the stout defense, the city was taken, but that created a new complication for the Mongols
Jochi was given the right to loot the city for himself
But preferred to negotiate with the locals to avoid property damage while his brothers, who disliked him,
argued against this unusual behaviour.
Genghis removed his eldest son from command and appointed his third son Ögedei in his stead, who in turn
ordered the city to be destroyed.
This decision would have a significant impact on the Mongol Empire in the following decades as it forever
alienated Jochi from the rest of the family
While Urgench was being destroyed, Tolui, Temujin's youngest son took 50,000 men into the region of Khorasan
He occupied and razed the cities of Balkh, Merv and Nishapur in rapid succession
Herat surrendered and was spared as was any other city that surrendered without a fight
The Mongols couldn't control such a vast population
so they used practical brutality as their primary method to subjugate a nation.
The massacres were committed without religious or cultural reasons
And they wanted everyone to know it as a method to prevent resistance
Until now the Mongols never allowed their enemy to raise an army
using psychological warfare and picking off smaller parties
Also, they were never at one spot all at once
While a city was besieged another army was patrolling and pillaging the countryside
The son of Muhammad, Jalal ad-Din
managed to recruit an army of Turkic and Afghan warriors numbering 60,000 which was not expected by the Mongols.
As soon as news of this reached Genghis Khan he sent an army of 30,000 men, led by a tartar nobleman, Kotaku
Jalal Ad-Din moved to Parwan
50 miles north of Kabul, Afghanistan where he awaited the inevitable battle
Kotaku decided not to wait for the orders of their Khan and engaged the enemy
At power on the two sides met in a narrow Valley
unsuitable for cavalry maneuvers
Jalal ad-Din took the initiative
ordering his right wing of Turks to dismount and engage in a skirmish
pouring arrows on to the Mongols
His archers were winning the skirmish as the dismounted archers were more accurate and deadly than the mounted ones
Both sides held their ground until the following morning when the Afghan Warriors noticed the Mongol army was being reinforced
This alarmed the commanders
But Jalal al Deen calmed his officers and instead of retreating ordered his entire line to dismount and engage
In reality the Mongols had put straw men on the usual three to four spare horses they had with them as a bluff
Seeing the entire line dismounted Kotaku ordered his horsemen to attack the Afghan left-wing with a barrage of arrows
but they were repelled by the unwavering archers
Then the Mongols charged along the entire front
Hard pressed by the rough narrow terrain
which rendered the usual tricks of feigned retreat and encirclement impossible, the famous Mongol discipline
disintegrated for the very first time against a foreign foe. As the riders faced the arrows of the numerically superior force head-on
At this point the Mongols began to retreat and Jalal ad-Din saw his chance
He ordered his men to remount and counter-attack
Half of the Mongol army was obliterated while the other half escaped
This defeat broke the illusion of Mongol invincibility and
The cities who had peacefully surrendered rose up in arms which forced Genghis and his son Tolui to spend extra month
subduing the revolts
But the army of the Khwarezmian Prince started to fall into discord immediately after the victory
Left with only 20,000 men Jalal ad-Din headed for the Indus River to find refuge in India
The Great Khan immediately made his way to Parwa
After a two-day race across Punjab Genghis Khan caught up to Jalal ad-Din at the Indus River
Just before the Prince was able to cross
The Mongols rested for the rest of the day
And at dawn charged the enemy, pressed up against the river while their flank was covered by the mountain
The initial charge was repelled and Jalal ad-Din ordered a counter-attack which nearly broke the Mongol army
Genghis, then sent his reserve of 10,000 around the mountain to flank Jalal ad-Din's army
With his forces attacked from two directions and collapsing into chaos Jalal ad-Din decided to escape
Following the victory, Genghis sent one of his commanders along with 20,000 men to chase down the Prince
But the prince was nowhere to be found
Regardless, most of the Khwarezmian territory was annexed and its Shah died on an island in the Caspian Sea
as for its people it is said that the Mongols reduced the population of this prosperous region to
200,000 from the initial 2 million
The Mongol invasion of Asia was just starting
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Thank you for watching the second video in our series on the Mongol invasions, over the next three months
We will cover all of the major battles and conflicts of the Mongols
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