April 13, 2025 • 46 mins
THE RISE OF GENGHIS KHAN - 6. Destruction of the Kwaresmian Empire.
THE MONGOLS HISTORY - by Jeremiah Curtin - HQ Full Book.
Chapter 6: Destruction of the Kwaresmian Empire in Jeremiah Curtin's The Mongols – A History details the turbulent and ultimately fatal trajectory of the Kwaresmian Empire, tracing its rise under Shah Mohammed and its dramatic fall under the relentless advance of Genghis Khan’s Mongol forces. The chapter opens with the addition of the Kara Kitai realm to the growing Mongol empire. Once a formidable power in Central Asia, Kara Kitai’s absorption by the Mongols signals the early stages of the Mongol expansion westward. The Kara Kitai had previously checked the growth of Muslim states in Central Asia, but their decline opened the door for both Mongol and Kwaresmian ambitions. Following the weakening of Seljuk authority in the region, a new power rose: Kutb ud din Mohammed was appointed as the Shah of the Kwaresmian Empire. Under his leadership, the empire rapidly expanded. Mohammed seized key strategic cities like Balkh and Herat, consolidating power across Greater Khorasan and stretching his influence across the Persian heartlands.
In 1208, Mohammed made a bold move by invading the lands ruled by the Gurkhan of Kara Kitai, a campaign that initially proved disastrous—he was defeated and taken prisoner. Despite this setback, Shah Mohammed emerged unbroken. He regrouped and, forming an alliance with Osman, the ruler of Samarkand, renewed his attack on the Gurkhan’s domains. This time, the Kwaresmians succeeded, and Shah Mohammed’s power grew substantially. To solidify their alliance, Mohammed gave his daughter in marriage to Osman. However, this union ended in betrayal. Osman, perhaps fearing the growing dominance of the Shah, turned against him, killing many Kwaresmians. In retaliation, Mohammed stormed Samarkand, seizing the city and resulting in Osman’s death. This decisive event allowed Shah Mohammed to annex a significant portion of the Gur Kingdom, thereby becoming one of the most powerful rulers in the Islamic world.
In 1213, Mohammed demonstrated his ruthlessness by ordering the assassination of his own brother, Ali Shir, further consolidating his grip on power. By 1216, he had captured Ghazni, expanding his territory into modern-day Afghanistan. However, it was at this point that signs of internal and external trouble began to emerge. Mohammed discovered letters from the Abbasid Caliph Nassir, urging the Gurs to resist him, a sign of growing unease among Islamic leaders regarding his aggressive expansion. The Caliph’s attempts to check the Kwaresmian threat, however, were largely symbolic—he lacked real military power. Mohammed, sensing the political undertones, sent an envoy to Baghdad to challenge the Caliph’s authority. In a strategic move, the Caliph acknowledged Ali ul Muluk as the rightful Caliph, an act intended to undermine Mohammed’s legitimacy. The Caliph went further, ordering the murder of Ogulmush, another political rival. The geopolitical chessboard was now full of tension.
By this time, Mohammed had annexed Iraq and even began an advance on Baghdad, though he eventually retreated, wary of overextending himself. However, a new, far more dangerous threat was emerging from the east: the Mongols. In 1216–17, Genghis Khan began sending envoys to Shah Mohammed as part of an effort to establish diplomatic and trade relations. But Mohammed, aware of the Mongol movements and deeply suspicious, became alarmed. His court was divided between Sunnite and Shiite factions, and the Sunni Caliph, seeing the Mongols as potential saviors against Shiite heresy and Kwaresmian domination, secretly considered asking Genghis for help. In a stunning episode, the Caliph branded the invitation to Genghis on the head of the envoy, a deeply humiliating act designed to test Mongol patience and provoke a response. Meanwhile, Shah Mohammed arrested Mongolian merchants who had entered his territory—perhaps fearing they were spies—and sent a defiant message to Genghis Khan. In retaliation, Genghis sent another envoy, but this one, Bajra, was executed on Mohammed’s orders. This act of defiance sealed the Kwaresmian Empire’s fate.
Turkan Khatun, the mother of Shah Mohammed, was a powerful and ambitious woman who exacerbated tensions within the empire. Her meddling in political affairs, court intrigues, and favoritism caused internal dissent and instability, weakening Mohammed’s administration at a crucial moment. In response to the provocations, Genghis Khan launched what Curtin refers to as a “Mongol tempest.” The Mongol army was meticulously organized, divided into disciplined units with clear objectives. In November 1218, the Mongols began the siege of Otrar, a key city where their merchants had been killed. The siege lasted until April 1219, ending in a brutal massacre of the Turkic garrison.
The Mongol campaign swept
THE MONGOLS HISTORY - by Jeremiah Curtin - HQ Full Book.
Chapter 6: Destruction of the Kwaresmian Empire in Jeremiah Curtin's The Mongols – A History details the turbulent and ultimately fatal trajectory of the Kwaresmian Empire, tracing its rise under Shah Mohammed and its dramatic fall under the relentless advance of Genghis Khan’s Mongol forces. The chapter opens with the addition of the Kara Kitai realm to the growing Mongol empire. Once a formidable power in Central Asia, Kara Kitai’s absorption by the Mongols signals the early stages of the Mongol expansion westward. The Kara Kitai had previously checked the growth of Muslim states in Central Asia, but their decline opened the door for both Mongol and Kwaresmian ambitions. Following the weakening of Seljuk authority in the region, a new power rose: Kutb ud din Mohammed was appointed as the Shah of the Kwaresmian Empire. Under his leadership, the empire rapidly expanded. Mohammed seized key strategic cities like Balkh and Herat, consolidating power across Greater Khorasan and stretching his influence across the Persian heartlands.
In 1208, Mohammed made a bold move by invading the lands ruled by the Gurkhan of Kara Kitai, a campaign that initially proved disastrous—he was defeated and taken prisoner. Despite this setback, Shah Mohammed emerged unbroken. He regrouped and, forming an alliance with Osman, the ruler of Samarkand, renewed his attack on the Gurkhan’s domains. This time, the Kwaresmians succeeded, and Shah Mohammed’s power grew substantially. To solidify their alliance, Mohammed gave his daughter in marriage to Osman. However, this union ended in betrayal. Osman, perhaps fearing the growing dominance of the Shah, turned against him, killing many Kwaresmians. In retaliation, Mohammed stormed Samarkand, seizing the city and resulting in Osman’s death. This decisive event allowed Shah Mohammed to annex a significant portion of the Gur Kingdom, thereby becoming one of the most powerful rulers in the Islamic world.
In 1213, Mohammed demonstrated his ruthlessness by ordering the assassination of his own brother, Ali Shir, further consolidating his grip on power. By 1216, he had captured Ghazni, expanding his territory into modern-day Afghanistan. However, it was at this point that signs of internal and external trouble began to emerge. Mohammed discovered letters from the Abbasid Caliph Nassir, urging the Gurs to resist him, a sign of growing unease among Islamic leaders regarding his aggressive expansion. The Caliph’s attempts to check the Kwaresmian threat, however, were largely symbolic—he lacked real military power. Mohammed, sensing the political undertones, sent an envoy to Baghdad to challenge the Caliph’s authority. In a strategic move, the Caliph acknowledged Ali ul Muluk as the rightful Caliph, an act intended to undermine Mohammed’s legitimacy. The Caliph went further, ordering the murder of Ogulmush, another political rival. The geopolitical chessboard was now full of tension.
By this time, Mohammed had annexed Iraq and even began an advance on Baghdad, though he eventually retreated, wary of overextending himself. However, a new, far more dangerous threat was emerging from the east: the Mongols. In 1216–17, Genghis Khan began sending envoys to Shah Mohammed as part of an effort to establish diplomatic and trade relations. But Mohammed, aware of the Mongol movements and deeply suspicious, became alarmed. His court was divided between Sunnite and Shiite factions, and the Sunni Caliph, seeing the Mongols as potential saviors against Shiite heresy and Kwaresmian domination, secretly considered asking Genghis for help. In a stunning episode, the Caliph branded the invitation to Genghis on the head of the envoy, a deeply humiliating act designed to test Mongol patience and provoke a response. Meanwhile, Shah Mohammed arrested Mongolian merchants who had entered his territory—perhaps fearing they were spies—and sent a defiant message to Genghis Khan. In retaliation, Genghis sent another envoy, but this one, Bajra, was executed on Mohammed’s orders. This act of defiance sealed the Kwaresmian Empire’s fate.
Turkan Khatun, the mother of Shah Mohammed, was a powerful and ambitious woman who exacerbated tensions within the empire. Her meddling in political affairs, court intrigues, and favoritism caused internal dissent and instability, weakening Mohammed’s administration at a crucial moment. In response to the provocations, Genghis Khan launched what Curtin refers to as a “Mongol tempest.” The Mongol army was meticulously organized, divided into disciplined units with clear objectives. In November 1218, the Mongols began the siege of Otrar, a key city where their merchants had been killed. The siege lasted until April 1219, ending in a brutal massacre of the Turkic garrison.
The Mongol campaign swept
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter six destruction of the Kuersmian Empire, That immense Karaktai
or Black Cathay or Black China was added to the
Mongol dominions, which now were conterminous with the Kuersmian Empire.
This empire, begun on Seljuk ruins, was increased soon by
other lands, and in twelve nineteen it extended from the
(00:20):
sir Daria or Yaxarts to the Indus, and from Kurdistan
to the great roof of the world, those immense premier highlands.
The sovereign at the opening of the thirteenth century was
a lie ud Din Mohammed, great great grandson of a
Turk slave named nush Tejen. The master of this slave
was a freedman of Melik Shah, the Seljuk Sultan, and
this friedman transferred nush Tejen to his sovereign. The slave
(00:44):
became cup bearer to Melik Shah and prefect of Quarism
at the same time by virtue of his office. In
Mohammedan history, cases of Turkish slaves seizing sovereignty are frequent.
Turkish captives in Persia were highly esteemed and appeared there
in multitude throughout the vast regions north and east of
the Caspian. Various Turk tribes fought unceasingly. Each seized the
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children of an enemy whenever the chance came, and sold
them in the slave marts. These children, reared in the
faith of Mohammed, were trained to arms for the greater part,
and became trusted bodyguards of princes. They served also as
household officials or managers. Those of them who earned favor
gained freedom most frequently, and next the highest places at
(01:29):
courts and in armies. A lucky man might be made governor,
and when fortune helped well enough, he made himself sovereign.
Turkish slaves grew all powerful in Moslem lands till those
lands were invaded at last by Turk warriors. Persia, lowered
much by Arab conquest, recovered under Baghdad rule in some
slight degree till the eleventh century saw it conquered again
(01:52):
by Turk nomads. From those immense steps north and east
of the Caspian. Under the descendants of Seljuk, these fierce
sons of wild wurdsmen pushed their way on to the
Propontis and to Palestine. Camped in Persia and in lands
lying west of it. These self seeking, merciless adventures brought torture, oppression,
and brigandage to all people equally till at last in
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Testine wars and social chaos put an end to Seljuk rule.
Toward the close of the twelfth century, Cut baudy Din Mohammed,
son of the manumitted slave nash Tejin and also his successor,
won the title of Kuersmian Shah, a title use before
the Arab conquest. Otsi's son of cut beaudy Din raised
arms repeatedly against Sinjar, the son of Melik Shah, and
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was forced to render tribute to the Gurkhin. When Sinjar
died eleven fifty seven, I l Arslan, son of Atsiz,
seized West Carasen. His son Tukhush took Persian Iraq from Togril,
who fell in battle. By the death of Togril and Sinjar,
both Persian Seljuk lines became extinct. Tukush obtained investiture Baghdad
(03:00):
from the Caliph, and Persia passed from one line of
Turkish tyrants to another. Mohammed, who succeeded his father Teukush
in twelve hundred, seized the provinces of Balkan Herat and
made himself Lord of Kirassen. Soon after this, Mazanderin and
Kerman passed under his power and direction. Mohammed now planned
to shake off the authority of the Gurkhin of Karakatai,
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to whom he and three of his predecessors had paid
yearly tribute. Besides, he was urged to this step by
Osman Khan of Samarkan and Transoxiana, who, being also a
vassal of the Gurkhin, endured with vexation the insolence of
agents who took the tribute in his provinces. Osmon promised
to recognize Mohammed as his suzerin and pay the same
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tribute that he had paid to the Gurkhin. The Shah
accepted this offer with gladness. He merely waited for a pretext,
which appeared very quickly. An official came to receive the
yearly tribute and seated himself at the Shah's side, the
usual place in such cases, though it seemed now that
he did so somewhat boldly. Mohammed's pride increased much by
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recent victory over Kipchak's living north of the Caspian would
endure this no longer, so in rage, he commanded to
cut down the agent and hack him to pieces. After
this act, Mohammed invaded the lands of the Gurkin immediately
twelve o eight, but was defeated in the ensuing battle
and captured with one of his officers. The officer had
the wit to declare that the Shah, whose person was
(04:27):
unknown in those regions, was a slave of his. In
a short time, the amount of ransom for the officer
was settled, he offered to send his slave to get
the sum needed. This offer was taken, and an escort
sent with the slave to protect him. Thus did Mohammad
return in servile guise to his dominions, where reports of
his death had preceded him. In tabarist and his brother
(04:50):
Ali Shur had proclaimed his own rule, and his uncle,
the governor of Herat, was taking sovereign power in that region.
The following year, Mohammad and Osman, the Samarkand ruler, made
a second attack on the Gurkhin crossing the seer Dharya
at Tennicet, they met their opponents commanded by Tunigu, and
won a victory. They conquered a part of the country
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as far as oskand and In, stated a governor. The
news of this sudden success caused immense joy in the
Kuersmian Empire. Embassies were sent by neighboring princes to congratulate
the victor. After his name on the shield was added
Shadow of God upon Earth. People wished to add also
second Alexander, but he preferred the name Sinjar, since the
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Seljuk prince Sinjar had reigned forty one years successfully. After
his return, the Shah gave his daughter in marriage to Osmon,
and the Gurkhins lieutenant in Samarkand was replaced by a
Quasmian agent. Soon. However, Osman was so dissatisfied with this
agent that he gave back his allegiance to the Ghurkhin
and killed the Kuersmians in his capital. Mohammed, enraged at
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this slaughter, marched to samarkand stormed the city, and for
three days and nights his troops did not else but
slay people and plunder than he laid siege to the
fortress and captured it. Osmond came out dressed in a
grave shroud, a naked sword hung from his neck down
in front of him. He fell before Mohammed and begged
for life abjectly. The Shah would have spared him, but
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Osmond's wife, the Shah's daughter, rushed in and demanded the
death of her husband. He had preferred an earlier wife,
the daughter of the Gurkhin, and had forced her, the
Shah's daughter, to serve at a feast that detested an
inferior woman. Osmond had to die, and with him died
his whole family, including the daughter of the Gurkhin. Mohammed
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joined all Osmond's lands to the empire and made Samarkand
a new capital. He further increased his empire by a
part of the Kingdom of Gur, which extended from Hero
to the sacred river of India, the Ganges. After the
death in twelve o five of Shihab Yudi Din, fourth
sovereign of the ger line, his provinces passed under officers
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placed there as prefects. When Mohammed took balk and Herat, Mahmoud,
nephew of Shihab, kept merely Gur, the special domain of
the family, and even for this he was forced to
give homage to the Quersmian monarch. Mahmoud had reigned seven
years in that reduced state when he was killed in
his own palace. Public opinion in this case held the
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Shah to be a murderer and beyond doubt with full justice.
Ali Shir, the Shah's brother, who had proclaimed himself sovereign
so hurriedly when Mohammed was returning disguised as a slave
from his war against the Gurkhin, was now at the
ger capital. He declared himself Mahmoud's successor and begged the
Shah to confirm him as vassal. Mohammed sent an officer,
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as it seemed for this ceremony, but when Alisher was
about to put on the robe of honor sent him,
the officer swept off his head with a sword stroke
and produced thereupon the command of his master to do so.
After this revoltingdeed, the ger principality was joined to Mahamahmad's
dominion twelve thirteen. Three years later, twelve sixteen, Mohammed I
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Ghazni from a Turk general once a subject of Shihab
Yudi Din. This Turk had seized the province at the
dissolution of Gerdaminion. In the archives of Ghazni, the Shah
came on letters from the Khaliph Naser at Baghdad to
the gur Khans, in which he gave warning against the
Kuersmi in Shahs and incited to attack them, advising a
junction with the Karat Catans for that purpose. These letters
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roused the Shah's wrath to the utmost. The Khliph Nasir,
who ascended the throne in eleven eighty, had labored without success,
though unceasingly, to stop kuersmi in growth and aggression. He
could not employ his own forces to this end, since
he had none. The temporal power of the prophet's successors
had shrunk to the narrow limits of Kazistan and Arabian Iraq.
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The other parts of their once vast dominions had passed
to various dynasties, whose sovereigns were supposed to receive lands
in fief from the co If these sovereigns asked for investiture,
it was simply for religious or perhaps more correctly, for
political reasons. Outside the bounds of their own little state,
the Abbasid caliphs had only two emblems of sovereignty. Their
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names were mentioned in public prayer throughout Islam and were
stamped on the coins of all Moslem commonwealths, they were
not masters even in their own capital. Always. When the
Seljuke Empire composed at that time of Persian Iraq alone
was destroyed by disorder under Togril, its last sultan, the Khliph,
a man of quick mind and adventurous instincts, did much
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to bring on the dissolution of the tottering state through
his intrigues and by calling in Tukush, the Quersmian monarch.
He had hoped to win Persian Iraq, But when Tukush
had won that great province he would see not a
foot of it to any man. The Khliph saw himself
forced to invest a new line with the sanction of sacredness,
a line which threatened Baghdad far more than that which
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he had helped so industriously to ruin. When Mohammed succeeded Tukush,
no sir roused gaieth Yudi Din of ger to oppose him.
This prince lord, already of Balkan Herat, desired all caarrascin
and began war to win it. His death followed soon after.
Shi hab Yudi Din, the next ruler, continued the struggle
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but lost his whole army, which was slaughtered and crushed
in the very first battle. When at Gasni, Mohammed found
proof of the Caliph's intrigues, he despatched to Nosir and envoy.
Through this envoy, he demanded the title of Sultan for himself,
a representative in Baghdad as governor, and also that his
name be mentioned in public prayers throughout Islam. No Sir
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refused these demands and expressed great surprise that Mohammed, not
content with his own immense empire, was coveting also the
capital of the caliph. On receiving this answer, Mohammed resolved
to strip the Abasids of the succession or Caliphat. To
do this, he must obtain first a sanctioning fetvah from
Mohammed and theologians the Ulamah. So he proposed to that
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body the following questions. May a monarch whose entire glory
consists in exalting God's word and destroying the foes of
true faith depose a recalcitron caliph and replace him by
one who is deserving. If the Caliphat belongs by right
to descendants of Ali, and if the Abbasids have usurped it,
and if besides they have always omitted one among the
first duties, the duty of protecting the boundaries of Islam
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and waging sacred wars to bring unbelievers to the true faith,
or if they will not accept the true faith, to
pay tribute. The Ulamah declared that in such cases deposition
was justified. Armed with this decision, the Shah recognized Ali
o Muluk of Termed, a descendant of Ali As Khaliph,
and ordered that in public prayers the name of Naser
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be omitted. The Shah assembled an army to carry out
the sentence against Nasir o Gumash, a Turk general who
had subdued Persian Iraq and then rendered fealty to Mohammed,
was murdered at direction of the Caliph, under whose control
a number of assassins had been placed by their chieftain
at Alamat. In Persian Iraq, the name of the Shah
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was dropped from public prayers. After the slaying of Ogomash,
the princes of Fars and Azerbaijan hastened promptly to seize
upon Iraq at the instance of Nasir Sad, Prince of Fars,
was taken captive, but secured freedom by seating two strongholds
and promising the third of his annual income as tribute.
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Uzbek of Azerbaijan fled after defeat, and the Shah would
not pursue as the capture of two rulers in the
space of one year was unlucky. Uzbek, on reaching home,
sent envoys with presents and proclaimed himself a vassal. Mohammed
annexed Iraq to the Empire and moved his troops on
toward Baghdad. Nasir sent words of peace to his enemy,
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but those words had no influence, and the march continued.
Nas Sir strove to strengthen Baghdad and defend it, while
Mohammed was writing diplomas which turned Arabian Iraq, that whole
land of which Baghdad was the capital, into military fiefs
and tax paying districts. The shahs vanguard, fifteen thousand strong,
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advanced toward Huven by the way of the mountains, and
was followed soon by a second division of the same strength.
Though the time was early autumn, snow fell for twenty
days in succession. The largest tents were buried under it.
Men and horses died in great numbers, both when they
were marching through those mountains and when they halted. A
retreat was commanded at last, when advance was impossible. Turks
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and Kurds then attacked the retreating forces so savagely that
the ruin of the army was well nigh total. This
was attributed by Sunnite belief to divine anger for that
impious attack on the person of the Caliph. The reports
of Mongol movements alarmed the Shah greatly, and he hastened homeward,
first in a shaper and later on to Bokhara, where
he received the first envoys from jinghis Khan, his new neighbor.
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It is well to go go back to the time
when the Shah chose a new calif from among the
descendants of Ali, the cousin and son in law of Mohammad.
In the Moslem world there are seventy three or more
sex varying in size and degree of importance. But the
two great divisions of Islam are the Sunite and Shiite,
which differ mainly on the succession. Among Sunites, the succession
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was from a Bass, the uncle of Mohammad, the prophet
of Islam. That is, the succession which took place in history.
Among Shiites, the succession which, as they think, should have
taken place, but which did not, was that through Ali,
the husband of Fadimah, the daughter of Mohammad. The Shiites
of Persia thought that the day of justice had come
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after six centuries of abasement in waiting, and that the
headship of Islam would be theirs through the accession of
Ali o Muluk of Term to the Caliphat. In their eyes,
the Kuersmi and Shah had become an agent of Allah,
a sacred person. His act created an immense effect throughout Persia,
and certainly no less in the capital of Islam at Baghdad,
where the Khalif Naser called a council at once to
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find means of defense against so dreadful an enemy as
Shah Mohammad. After long discussion, one sage among those assembled
declared that jing Is Khan, whose fame was sounding then
throughout Western Asia, was the man to bring the raging
Shah to his senses. The Khliph, greatly pleased with this statement,
resolved to send an envoy, but the journey was perilous,
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since every road to the Mongols lay through Shah Mohammed's dominions.
Should the envoy be taken and his message read, the Shah,
roused by resentment and anger, would spare no man involved
in the plot, least of all Khalif Naser and his servants.
To avoid this chance, they shaved the envoy's head and
rode out or branded his commission upon it. His skull
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was then covered with paint or a mixture of some kind.
The entire message to Jinghis was fixed well in the
mind of the envoy, and he set out on his journey.
After four months of hard traveling, he reached Mongol headquarters,
delivered his message in words, and was admitted soon after
to the Khan of the Mongols in secret. The envoy's
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head was shorn a second time, and the credentials traced
with fire on his crown became visible. There was branded
and also an invitation to invade the Kuersmian Empire and
destroy the reigning dynasty. Jing has meditated over this invitation.
The thought of conquering a new empire did not leave him,
but as he had spoken not long before with its
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ruler and friendship, he waited till a reason to justify
attack should present itself. In one thousand, two hundred sixteen
to seventeen in Bokhara, as mentioned already, Shah Mohammad received
three envoys from Jinghis These men brought ingots of silver, musk, jade,
and costly white robes of camel's hair, all creations and
products of Central Asia sent as presents to the Kuasmian sovereign.
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The Great Khan has charged us, said the envoys to
give this message. I salute THEE. I know thy power
in the grist great extent of thy empire. Thy reign
is over a large part of the Earth's surface. I
have the greatest wish to live in peace with THEE.
I look on THEE as my most cherished son. Thou
art aware that I have subdued China and brought all
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Turk nations north of it to obedience. Thou knowest that
my country is swarming with warriors, that it is a
mine of wealth, and that I have no need to
covet lands of other sovereigns. I and thou have an
equal interest in favoring commerce between our subjects. This message
was in fact a demand on Mohammed to declare himself
a vassal, since various degrees of relationship were used among
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rulers in Asia to denote corresponding degrees of submission. The
Shah summoned one of the envoys in the night time.
Has Jingh His Khan really conquered China? Asked he. There
is no doubt of that, said the envoy. Who is
this who calls me his son? How many troops has he?
The envoy, seeing Mohammed's excitement, replied that Mongol forces were
(18:01):
not to be compared with his In any case, The
Shah was calmed, and when the time came he dismissed
the envoys with apparent good feeling and friendliness. When they
reached the boundary of the Shah's land, they were safe.
For wherever Jingh His Khan became sovereign, there was safety
for travelers immediately, even in places where robbery had been
the rule for many ages. Since Kara Khitai had fallen.
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Mohammad's possessions reached the heart of Central Asia and touched
the land of the Wigurs, now tributary to Jinghis. Hence,
commercial relations were direct and of very great value. Soon
after the Khan's envoys had made their visit, a party
of between four and five hundred merchants from Mongolian places
arrived at Otra on the sir Dharya. In Aljak, the
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governor of the city, tempted by the rich stuffs and
wares which those strangers had brought with them, imprisoned the
whole party and declared to the Shah that the men
were spies of the Mongol sovereign. The Shah gave command
to slay them in that case immediately, and in Naljak
obeyed without waiting. When news of this terrible slaughter was
born to jingh As, he wept with indignation as he
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heard it, and went straightway to a mountain top, where
he bared his head, put his girdle about his neck,
and fell prostrate. He lay there, imploring Heaven for vengeance,
and spent three days and nights, it is stated, imploring
and prostrate. He rose and went down then to hurl
Mongol strength at the quares me An Empire. The request
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of the Caliph of Islam ran parallel now with the
wish of the Mongols. But before striking the empire, Jinghis
had resolved to extinguish gutch Luck, his old enemy, the
son of Baibuga, late Thaijang of the Naemans. Meanwhile, he
sent three envoys to the Shah with this message. Thou
didst give me assurance that thou wouldst not maltreat any
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merchant from my land. Thou hast broken thy word. Word
breaking in a sovereign is hideous. If I am to
believe that the merchants were not slain at Otra by
thy order, send me thy governor for punishment. If thou
wilt not send him, make ready for conflict. Shah Mohammad,
far from giving Jing his khan satisfaction or offering it,
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slew Badra the first envoy and singed off the beards
of the other two. If Mohammed had wished to punish
or yield up in Aljak, he could not have done so.
For the governor was a kinsman of Turk and Catan,
the Shah's mother, and also of many great chiefs in
the Kuersmian army. And now it is important to explain
the position of Turk and Katun, the unbending savage mother
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of Mohammad. This woman was a daughter of Jinshi Kan
of the Beaijit tribe of kan Kali Turks. She married
Tukush the Quersmi in Shah and became then the mother
of Shah Mohammad. A large number of Kankali chiefs who
were related to turk And followed her with their tribesmen
to serve in the Kuersmian Empire. The influence of this relentless,
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strong willed woman and the valor of Turkish warriors raised
those chiefs to the highest rank among military leaders. Their
was enormous, since commanders of troops governed with very wide latitude.
Amid this aristocracy of fighters, the power of the sovereign
was uncertain. He was forced to satisfy the ambition of
men who saw in all things their own profit. Only.
(21:15):
The troops controlled by those governors were the scourge of
peaceful people. They ruined every region which they lived in
or visited. Turkin Catan, the head of this military faction,
not only equaled her son in authority, but often surpassed him.
When two orders of different origin appeared in any part
of the empire, the date decided which had authority. That
(21:35):
order was always carried out on which the date was
most recent, And the order of recent date was the
order of that watchful woman. When Mohammed won a new province,
he always assigned a large part to the uppunage of
his mother. She employed seven secretaries at all times, men
distinguished for ability. The inscription on her decrees was Protectress
(21:56):
of the World and the faith Turkin Queen of women.
Her device was God alone is my refuge. Lord of
the World was her title. The following example shows clearly
the character of the Shah's mother. She had obtained from Mohammed.
The elevation of Nasir Yudi Din, a former slave of hers,
to the position of Thesire or prime minister of the empire.
(22:19):
Soon the Shah came to hate the man for personal
and also other reasons. His ability was small and his
greed without limit. At miss Shaper, the Shah appointed a
new judge, one Sadr Yudi Din, and forbade him to
give the Visire any presents. Friends, however, warned the judge
not to neglect this prime dignitary, so he sent Nasir
(22:40):
yudd In a sealed purse containing four thousand gold pieces.
The Shah, who was watching both judge and Visire, caused
the latter to send the purse to him. It was
sent straightway, and the seal was intact on it. The
judge was summoned, and when he appeared, the Shah asked
before witnesses what gift he had made the desire. He
(23:00):
denied having made any, persisted in denial, and swore by
the head of his sovereign that he had not given
one coin to the minister. The Shah had the purse brought.
The judge was deprived of his dignity. The Visire was
sent home without office, to his patroness. Nasir Yudi Din
went back to the Shah's mother. On the way, he
(23:21):
decided every case that men brought him. On the visires
approach Turkin Catan ordered people of all ranks and classes
to go forth and meet him. The Visire grew more
insolent now than he had been. The Shah sent an
officer to bring the ricalcitron minister's head to him. When
the officer came to her capital, turk and Catun sent
(23:41):
him to the Visire, who was then in the divan, and,
presiding she had given the officer this order, salute the
Visire in the Shah's name, and say to him, I
have no desire except thee continue in thy functions. No
man in my empire may destroy thee or fail in
respect to thee. The awe officer carried out the command
of the woman Na. Sir yudee Din exercised his authority
(24:05):
in defiance of Mohammed. He could do so since Turken
Catan upheld him, and she had behind her a legion
of her murderous kinsmen. The sovereign, who had destroyed so
many rulers unsparingly, had not the power or the means
to manage one insolent upstart who defied him. The murder
of the merchants in Otra was followed soon by such
a tempest of ruin as had never been witnessed in
(24:27):
Asia or elsewhere. Shah Mohammed had mustered at Samarkan a
large army to move against Gutchluk, whom he wished to
bring down to subjection or destroy altogether. But hearing that
a body of Merkits was advancing through Kankali regions lying
north of Lake Eril, he marched to Jen straightway against them,
and learned upon reaching that city that those Merkits, being
(24:48):
allies of Gutchluk, were hunted by Jinghis and that Gutchluk
himself had been slain by the Mongols. He returned swiftly
to Samarkan for additional forces, and following the tracks of
both armies, found a field strewn with corpses, among which
he saw Merkit badly wounded. From this man, the Shah
learned that Jinghas had gained a great victory and gone forward.
(25:11):
One day later, Mohammed came up with them and formed
his force straightway to attack them. The Mongol leader, perhaps Juchi,
declared that the two states were at peace and that
he had commands to treat the Shah's troops with friendliness.
He even offered a part of his booty and prisoners
to Mohammed. The latter refused these and answered, if jinghas
has ordered thee not to meet me in battle, God
(25:33):
commands me to fall on thy forces. I wished to
inflict sure destruction on infidels and thus earned divine favor.
The Mongols, forced to give battle, came very near victory.
They had put Mohammed's left wing to flight, pierced the
center where the Shah was, and would have dispersed it
but for timely aid brought by Jilo Yudi Din, the
(25:54):
Shah's son, who rushed from the right and restored the battle,
which lasted till evening and was left undecided. The Mongols
lighted vast numbers of camp fires and retired in the
dark with such swiftness that at daybreak they had made
two days journey. After this encounter, the Shah knew Mongol
strength very clearly. He told intimates that he had never
(26:15):
seen men fight as they had. Jing His having ended
Gutch luck and his kingdom twelve eighteen, summoned his own
family and officers to a council, where they discussed war
with Mohammed and settled everything touching this enterprise and its management.
That same autumn, the Mongol conqueror began his march westward,
leaving the care of home regions to his youngest brother.
(26:36):
He spent all the following summer near the Upper Tish
arranging his immense herds of horses and cattle. The march
was resumed in the autumn when he was joined by
the Prince of Almalik, the Eaty Cut of the Wigers,
and by Arslan Khan of the Karluks. Shah Mohammed was
alarmed by the oncoming of this immense host of warriors.
More correctly, this great group of armies. Though his own
(26:59):
force was long arch since it numbered four hundred thousand.
His troops were in some ways superior to the Mongols,
but they lacked iron discipline and blind confidence in leaders.
They lacked also that experience of hardship, fatigue, and privation,
that skill in desperate fighting, which made the Mongols not
merely a terror but at that time invincible. The Quersmian
(27:21):
armies were defending a population to which they were indifferent
and which they were protecting. Hence victory gave scant rewards
in the best case, while the Mongols, in attacking rich,
flourishing countries, were excited by all that can rouse human
greed or tenth wild cupidity. The disparity in leaders was
still more apparent. On the Mongol's side was a chief
(27:43):
of incomparable genius in all that he was doing. On
the other side of vacillating sovereign with warring and wavering councils,
the Shah had been crushing in assassinating rulers all his reign,
and now he feared to meet a man whom he
had provoked by his outrages. Instead of concentrating forces and
meeting the enemy, he scattered his men among all the
cities of Transoxiana, and then withdrew and kept far from
(28:06):
the fields of real struggle. Some ascribed this to the
advice of his generals, others to his faith in astrologers,
who declared that the stars were unfavorable and that no
battle should be risked till they changed their positions. It
is also reported that jing his duke the Shah and
made him suspect his own leaders. The following is one
(28:26):
of the stories. A certain Beder Yudi Din of Otre,
whose father, uncle and other kinsmen had been slain by Mohammed,
declared to Jinghas that he wished to take vengeance on
the Shah, even should he lose his own soul in
so doing, and advise the Grand Khan to make use
of the quarrels kept up by Mohammed with his mother.
In view of this, beder Yudi Din wrote a letter,
(28:47):
as it were, from Mohammad's generals to Jinghi and composed
it in this style. We came from Turkestan to Mohammed
because of his mother. We have given him victory over
many other rulers whose states have increased The quares me
an empire now he pays his dear mother with ingratitude.
This princess desires us to avenge her. When thou art here,
(29:09):
we shall be at thy orders. Jing is sou arranged
that this letter was intercepted. The tale is that the
Shah was deceived by it and distrusted his generals, hence
separated them each from the others, and disposed them in
various strong cities. It is more likely by far that
he and they, after testing Mongol strength, thought it better
(29:30):
to fight behind walls than in the open. They thought
also no doubt that the Mongols, after pillaging the country
and seizing many captives, would retire with their booty. The
Shah was like minded and ignorant. He knew not with
whom he was dealing. He had not studied the Mongols,
and could not have done so. He had no idea
(29:52):
whatever of Jing His Khan, and could not acquire it.
He knew not the immense power of his system and
the far reaching nature of his wishes. Jinghis arrived at
the sir Daria with his army and arranged all his
troops in four great divisions. The first he fixed near
Ochre and placed two of his sons Ogotai and Jagatai
in command of it. The second, commanded by his eldest
(30:15):
son Juchi, was to act against the other cities from
Jen to Lake Eril. The third division he directed against
Bannakat on the river south of Jen. While the three
divisions were taking these cities on the Sir Daria Jingius
himself moved toward Bokhara to bar Shah Mohammed from the
Transoxiana and prevent him from reenforcing any garrison between the
(30:35):
two rivers. Ocher was invested late in November twelve eighteen.
The walls had been strengthened and the city, with its
fortress provisioned very carefully. The strong garrison had been increased
by ten thousand horsemen. After a siege of five months,
the troops and the citizens were discouraged and the commander
(30:55):
thought it best to surrender. But in Aljak, the governor
could not hope for his life since he was the
man who had slain the Mongol merchants. Hence he would
not hear of surrender. He would fight, as he said,
to the death for his sovereign. The chief of the
horsemen felt differently and led out his best troops in
the night to escape, but was captured. He and they
(31:18):
offered then to serve the besiegers. The Mongols inquired about
conditions in the city, and when the chief had told
what he knew, they informed him that he and his men,
being unfaithful to their master, could not be true to another.
They thereupon slew him and all who were with him.
The city was taken that day, April twelve, nineteen, and
(31:39):
its inhabitants driven to the country outside, so that the
captors might pillage the place in absolute freedom. In Aljak,
the governor withdrew with twenty thousand men to the fortress
and fought for two months in that stronghold. When the
Mongols burst and he had only two men left with these,
he retired to a terrace. The two men and at
(32:00):
his side fell Soon after. When his arrows were gone,
he hurled brick bats. The besiegers had orders to seize
the man living. He struggled like a maniac, but they
caught and bound him at last, and bore him to
the camp before samarcand Jinghis had molten silver poured into
his ears and eyes to avenge the slaughtered merchants. The
(32:22):
surviving inhabitants of Otra were spared, but the fortress was leveled. Juchi,
before marching on Jend, went to Signac and asked that
the gates be thrown open. Scarcely had the message been
given when the furious inhabitants tore Hassan Hadji Gjuchi's envoy
to pieces, and called on God's name as they did so.
(32:42):
Juchi gave the order at once to attack and forbade
his men to cease fighting till the city was captured.
Fresh troops relieved those who were wearied. After seven days
of storming, the Mongols burst in and slew every soul
in that city. Juchi made a son of Hassen Hadji
commandant of the ruin. Then he moved up the river
and sacked every place that he visited. As the Mongols
(33:05):
drew near to Jend Katlak Khan, the commandant fled in
a night time, crossed the sier Daria and took the
desert road for urgents beyond the southern shore of the Oxus.
Juchi demanded surrender through Chin to more, his envoy deserted
by their chief. The people were in doubt what to do,
and when Chin Tomoor came. They wished to kill him,
(33:26):
but he told them of Signac and promised to turn
aside Mongol vengeance in case they were prudent. The people
then freed him, but very soon saw the enemy under
the walls, which they thought proof against every besieger. The
Mongols scaled those walls quickly and rushed in from all sides.
No hand was raised then against them. The inhabitants were
(33:48):
driven to the open country and left nine days and
nights there while the pillage continued. Excepting those who had
abused Chin Tomore. The people were spared since they had
made no resistance. Meanwhile, a detachment of the army had
seized Yengekhnd, the last town on the river, and Jutchi's
work was done on the right bank with thoroughness. The
(34:08):
third division of the army moved from Otra to the
left up the river and attacked Bannacket, which was garrisoned
by Kancolis. At the end of three days. The officers
wished to capitulate their lives, were promised them, and they surrendered.
The inhabitants were driven from the city. The Turks were
taken out to one side and cut down to the
(34:29):
last man with swords and other weapons. Being warriors whom
the Mongols could not trust, they were slaughtered. The artisans
were spared and divided among the Mongol army. Unskilled, young
and strong men were taken to assist in besieging. All
other people were slain immediately. The march was continued to Kajend,
(34:50):
and soon the invaders were in front of that city
and storming it. In Kajend, to more, Melik, a man
of great valor, commanded he took one thousand chosen warriors
to a fort on an island far enough from either
bank to be safe from stones and arrows. The besiegers
were reinforced by twenty thousand Mongols for conflict and fifty
(35:11):
thousand natives of the country to carry on siege work.
These natives were employed first of all at bearing stones
from a mountain three leagues distant and building a road
from the shore to the fortress in the river Timor.
Melick meanwhile built twelve covered barges protected from fire with
glazed earth, which was first soaked in vinegar. Every day,
(35:32):
six of these boats went to each shore and sent
arrows through openings at the Mongols. Night attacks were made
suddenly and wrought much harm on the invaders. But despite
every effort to Moore saw that failure would come if
he stayed there. He was met by preponderant and crushing numbers.
At last, so he put men and baggage in seventy
(35:54):
strong boats, and his chosen warriors in the twelve covered barges,
and they sped down the swift river at night. By
the law of many torches fixed on the boats of
his flotilla, the boats snapped a chain stretched across from
one bank to the other by Mongols near Bannaket, and
passed along, hunted by the enemy on both sides. Timore
learn now that Juchi had posted a large corps of
(36:15):
men on the two banks close to Jen captured recently.
He learned also that ballistas were ready, and that a
bridge of boats had been made near the same place.
He debarked higher up therefore, and took to horse to
avoid capture. Pursued by the enemy, he gave battle till
his baggage was brought near him. He repeated this day
(36:36):
after day, till forced at last to abandon the baggage. Finally,
having lost all his men, he was alone and pursued
by three Mongols. He had only three arrows left. One
of these had no metal point on it. He shot
that and put out an eye of the nearest pursuer.
Then he cried to the other men, there are two
arrows still in my quiver. He would better go back
(36:58):
with your eye sight. They did so. Timor Melik made
his way to Urgent and joined Jilo Yudi Din, whom
he followed till the death of that sovereign. Meanwhile, Jing
has moved against Bokhara with his main forces and arrived
at that city during June of twelve nineteen. On the way,
he seized Nur and Charnik, which he pillaged. Then he
(37:19):
took from those places all stalwart men useful in siege work. Bokhara,
the great city, with a garrison of twenty thousand, was
invested on all sides and attacked by relays of fresh warriors,
who gave neither respite nor rest to it. After some days,
the defenders lost hope of success and resolved to burst
through in the night time, trusting in that way to
(37:40):
save themselves. They fell on the Mongols unexpectedly and scattered them.
But instead of pursuing this advantage, in fighting. Those escaping
defenders hastened forward. The Mongol troops rallied and hunted the
fugitives to the river, where they cut down nearly all
of them. Next morning, early the Ulamah and notable came
out to give homage to the great Mongol Khan and
(38:03):
open the gates to him. Jinghis rode in, and going
to the main mosque of the city, entered it on horseback.
Dismounting near the minbar or pulpit, he ascended some steps
of it and said to the people who assembled there
quickly before him, the fields now are stripped. Feed our
horses in this place. The boxes which have been used
to hold copies of the Koran were taken to the
(38:25):
courtyard to hold grain for Mongol horses. The sacred volumes
were thrown under the hoofs of those animals, and trampled
skins of wine were brought into the mosque with provisions.
Jesters and singers of the city were summoned, and while
wild warriors were reveling in excesses of all sorts and
shouting songs of their own land and people, the highest
chiefs of religion and doctors of law served them as
(38:46):
slaves held their horses and fed them. While thus employed,
One great man whispered to his neighbor, why not implore
the Almighty to save us? Be silent? Said the other
God's wrath is moving near us. This is there's no
time for beseeching. I fear to pray to the Almighty,
lest it become worse with us. Thereby, if life is dear,
(39:07):
to behold their beasts. Now for the Mongols and serve
them from the mosque. Jinghis went to the place of
public prayer beyond the city and summoned all people to
meet there. He stood in the pulpit and inquired, who
are the richest men in this multitude? Two hundred and
eighty persons were presented. Ninety of these had come from
other cities. The Khan commanded all those wealthy persons to
(39:30):
draw near, and then he spoke to them. He described
the Shah's cruelties and injustice which had brought on the
ruin of their city. No continued he that ye have
committed dreadful deeds, and the great people of this country
are the worst of its criminals. Should ye ask why
I speak, thus I answer, I am Heaven's scourge sent
to punish. Had ye not been desperate offenders, I should
(39:53):
not be standing here now against you. Then he said
that he required no one to deliver wealth which was
above ground. His men could discover that very easily. But
he asked for hidden treasures. The wealthy men were then
forced to name their agents, and those agents had to
yield up the treasures or be tortured. All strong men
were set to filling the moats encircling the city. Even
(40:16):
copies of the Koran and furniture of mosques were hurled
into filled ditches. The fortress was stormed, and not a
man of its defenders found mercy. When the fortress was taken,
all its inhabitants were driven from the city with nothing
but the clothes which they had on their bodies. Then
began the great pillage. The victors slew all whom they
(40:36):
found in any place of hiding. At last, Mongol troops
were sent out to surround the inhabitants on the plain
and divide them into parties. Deeds were done there which
baffle description. Every possible outrage was enacted before those to
whom it was most dreadful to be present and have eyesight.
Some had strength to choose death instead of looking at
(40:57):
those horrors. Among spectators of this kind were the chief
judge of the city and the first Imam, who, seeing
the dishonor of their women, rushed to save them and perished.
Finally the city was fired. Everything wooden was consumed. Nothing
was left save the main mosque and a few brick palaces.
Jinghis Khan left the smoking ruins of Bokhara the noble
(41:19):
to march on Samarkand, which was only five days distant.
He passed along the pleasant valley of Sogd, covered at
that time with beautiful fields orchards and gardens, and with
houses here and there in good number. All inhabitants of Bokhara,
taken to toil in the coming siege, were driven on
behind the army. Whoso grew weak on the way or
(41:39):
too weary for marching, was cut down at once without pity.
Samarkand was one of the great commercial cities of the world.
It had a garrison which numbered forty thousand. Both the
city and the citadel had been fortified with care, and
all men considered that a siege of that place would
continue for months, nay for years. Perhaps The three other
(42:01):
army corps appeared now, for every place on the lower
River had been taken, and northern Transoxiana was subjected. These
divisions brought with them all captives who were young, firm,
and stalwart men who might be of service in siege work.
There was an immense host of those people, arranged in
groups of ten, and each ten had a banner jing
his to impose on the doomed city. Paraded his legions
(42:24):
before it, cavalry, infantry, and at last those unfortunate captives
who had the seeming of regular warriors. Two days were
spent in examining the city defenses and outworks. On the
third morning, early the Mongol conqueror sounded the onset. A
host of brave citizens made a great sally and at
first swept all before them, but not being sustained by
(42:45):
their own troops, who feared the besiegers, they met a
dreadful disaster. The Mongols retired before the onrushing people, who
pressed forward with vigor till they fell into ambush. Being
on foot, they were surrounded very quickly and slaughtered before
the eyes of the many thousands looking from the walls
and the housetops. This great defeat crushed the hopes of
(43:06):
the citizens. The Kankali troops, being Turks, believed that the
Mongols would treat them most surely as kinsmen. In fact,
Jinghis had promised as they thought, to take them to
his service. Hence, this great multitude, the real strength of
the city, issued forth that same day with their leaders,
their families, and their baggage, in one word, with all
(43:28):
that belonged to them. On the fourth day, just as
the storm was to be sounded, the chief men of
the city went to the Mongol camp, where they received
satisfactory answers concerning themselves with their families and dependents. Hence
they opened the gates of Samarkan to the conqueror. But
they were driven from the city, save fifty thousand, who
had put themselves under the protection of the Kadi and
(43:48):
the Mufti. These fifty thousand were safeguarded, the others were
all slaughtered. The night following the surrender, alb Khan, a
Turk general, made a sorti from the citadel and had
the forty to break through the Mongols, thus saving himself
and those under him. At daybreak, the citadel was attacked
simultaneously on all sides. That struggle lasted till the evening,
(44:11):
when one storming party burst in and the stronghold was taken.
One thousand defenders took refuge in a mosque and fought
with desperation. The mosque was fired then and all were
burned to death in it. The Kanclis, who had yielded
on the third day, that as the first day of fighting,
were conducted to a place beyond the city and kept
(44:31):
apart from others. Their horses, arms and outfits were taken
from them, and their hair was shaved in front Mongol fashion,
as if they were to form a part of the army.
This was a trick to deceive them till the executioners
were ready. In one night, the Kancalis were murdered to
the very last man. When vast numbers of the citizens
(44:53):
had been slaughtered, a census was made of the remnant.
Thirty thousand persons of various arts, occupations, and crafts were
given by Jing His to his sons, his wives, and
his officers. Thirty thousand more were reserved for siege labor.
Fifty thousand, after they had paid two hundred thousand gold pieces,
were permitted to return to the city, which received Mongol commandants.
(45:14):
Requisitions of men were made at later periods repeatedly, and
since few of those persons returned to their homes, Samarkan
stood ruined and unoccupied for a long time. Jingh his
Khan so disposed his forces from the first that Shah
Mohammed could not relieve any city between the two rivers.
Now all those cities were taken, and the forces defending
(45:35):
them were slaughtered. The next great work was to see
Shah Mohammed himself and then slay him and with him
his family. Thirty thousand chosen men were employed now in
chasing the Quasmian ruler. Never had a sovereign been hunted
like this victim of the Mongols. He fled like a
fox or a hare. He was hunted as if he
(45:55):
had been a dreadful wild beast which had killed some
high or holy person, or as if he were some
outcast who had committed a deed which might make a
whole nation shudder. But here we must say a few
words concerning the hunted man, and explain his position.
Chapter six destruction of the Kuersmian Empire, That immense Karaktai
or Black Cathay or Black China was added to the
Mongol dominions, which now were conterminous with the Kuersmian Empire.
This empire, begun on Seljuk ruins, was increased soon by
other lands, and in twelve nineteen it extended from the
(00:20):
sir Daria or Yaxarts to the Indus, and from Kurdistan
to the great roof of the world, those immense premier highlands.
The sovereign at the opening of the thirteenth century was
a lie ud Din Mohammed, great great grandson of a
Turk slave named nush Tejen. The master of this slave
was a freedman of Melik Shah, the Seljuk Sultan, and
this friedman transferred nush Tejen to his sovereign. The slave
(00:44):
became cup bearer to Melik Shah and prefect of Quarism
at the same time by virtue of his office. In
Mohammedan history, cases of Turkish slaves seizing sovereignty are frequent.
Turkish captives in Persia were highly esteemed and appeared there
in multitude throughout the vast regions north and east of
the Caspian. Various Turk tribes fought unceasingly. Each seized the
(01:07):
children of an enemy whenever the chance came, and sold
them in the slave marts. These children, reared in the
faith of Mohammed, were trained to arms for the greater part,
and became trusted bodyguards of princes. They served also as
household officials or managers. Those of them who earned favor
gained freedom most frequently, and next the highest places at
(01:29):
courts and in armies. A lucky man might be made governor,
and when fortune helped well enough, he made himself sovereign.
Turkish slaves grew all powerful in Moslem lands till those
lands were invaded at last by Turk warriors. Persia, lowered
much by Arab conquest, recovered under Baghdad rule in some
slight degree till the eleventh century saw it conquered again
(01:52):
by Turk nomads. From those immense steps north and east
of the Caspian. Under the descendants of Seljuk, these fierce
sons of wild wurdsmen pushed their way on to the
Propontis and to Palestine. Camped in Persia and in lands
lying west of it. These self seeking, merciless adventures brought torture, oppression,
and brigandage to all people equally till at last in
(02:14):
Testine wars and social chaos put an end to Seljuk rule.
Toward the close of the twelfth century, Cut baudy Din Mohammed,
son of the manumitted slave nash Tejin and also his successor,
won the title of Kuersmian Shah, a title use before
the Arab conquest. Otsi's son of cut beaudy Din raised
arms repeatedly against Sinjar, the son of Melik Shah, and
(02:37):
was forced to render tribute to the Gurkhin. When Sinjar
died eleven fifty seven, I l Arslan, son of Atsiz,
seized West Carasen. His son Tukhush took Persian Iraq from Togril,
who fell in battle. By the death of Togril and Sinjar,
both Persian Seljuk lines became extinct. Tukush obtained investiture Baghdad
(03:00):
from the Caliph, and Persia passed from one line of
Turkish tyrants to another. Mohammed, who succeeded his father Teukush
in twelve hundred, seized the provinces of Balkan Herat and
made himself Lord of Kirassen. Soon after this, Mazanderin and
Kerman passed under his power and direction. Mohammed now planned
to shake off the authority of the Gurkhin of Karakatai,
(03:23):
to whom he and three of his predecessors had paid
yearly tribute. Besides, he was urged to this step by
Osman Khan of Samarkan and Transoxiana, who, being also a
vassal of the Gurkhin, endured with vexation the insolence of
agents who took the tribute in his provinces. Osmon promised
to recognize Mohammed as his suzerin and pay the same
(03:44):
tribute that he had paid to the Gurkhin. The Shah
accepted this offer with gladness. He merely waited for a pretext,
which appeared very quickly. An official came to receive the
yearly tribute and seated himself at the Shah's side, the
usual place in such cases, though it seemed now that
he did so somewhat boldly. Mohammed's pride increased much by
(04:05):
recent victory over Kipchak's living north of the Caspian would
endure this no longer, so in rage, he commanded to
cut down the agent and hack him to pieces. After
this act, Mohammed invaded the lands of the Gurkin immediately
twelve o eight, but was defeated in the ensuing battle
and captured with one of his officers. The officer had
the wit to declare that the Shah, whose person was
(04:27):
unknown in those regions, was a slave of his. In
a short time, the amount of ransom for the officer
was settled, he offered to send his slave to get
the sum needed. This offer was taken, and an escort
sent with the slave to protect him. Thus did Mohammad
return in servile guise to his dominions, where reports of
his death had preceded him. In tabarist and his brother
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Ali Shur had proclaimed his own rule, and his uncle,
the governor of Herat, was taking sovereign power in that region.
The following year, Mohammad and Osman, the Samarkand ruler, made
a second attack on the Gurkhin crossing the seer Dharya
at Tennicet, they met their opponents commanded by Tunigu, and
won a victory. They conquered a part of the country
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as far as oskand and In, stated a governor. The
news of this sudden success caused immense joy in the
Kuersmian Empire. Embassies were sent by neighboring princes to congratulate
the victor. After his name on the shield was added
Shadow of God upon Earth. People wished to add also
second Alexander, but he preferred the name Sinjar, since the
(05:35):
Seljuk prince Sinjar had reigned forty one years successfully. After
his return, the Shah gave his daughter in marriage to Osmon,
and the Gurkhins lieutenant in Samarkand was replaced by a
Quasmian agent. Soon. However, Osman was so dissatisfied with this
agent that he gave back his allegiance to the Ghurkhin
and killed the Kuersmians in his capital. Mohammed, enraged at
(05:58):
this slaughter, marched to samarkand stormed the city, and for
three days and nights his troops did not else but
slay people and plunder than he laid siege to the
fortress and captured it. Osmond came out dressed in a
grave shroud, a naked sword hung from his neck down
in front of him. He fell before Mohammed and begged
for life abjectly. The Shah would have spared him, but
(06:20):
Osmond's wife, the Shah's daughter, rushed in and demanded the
death of her husband. He had preferred an earlier wife,
the daughter of the Gurkhin, and had forced her, the
Shah's daughter, to serve at a feast that detested an
inferior woman. Osmond had to die, and with him died
his whole family, including the daughter of the Gurkhin. Mohammed
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joined all Osmond's lands to the empire and made Samarkand
a new capital. He further increased his empire by a
part of the Kingdom of Gur, which extended from Hero
to the sacred river of India, the Ganges. After the
death in twelve o five of Shihab Yudi Din, fourth
sovereign of the ger line, his provinces passed under officers
(07:02):
placed there as prefects. When Mohammed took balk and Herat, Mahmoud,
nephew of Shihab, kept merely Gur, the special domain of
the family, and even for this he was forced to
give homage to the Quersmian monarch. Mahmoud had reigned seven
years in that reduced state when he was killed in
his own palace. Public opinion in this case held the
(07:23):
Shah to be a murderer and beyond doubt with full justice.
Ali Shir, the Shah's brother, who had proclaimed himself sovereign
so hurriedly when Mohammed was returning disguised as a slave
from his war against the Gurkhin, was now at the
ger capital. He declared himself Mahmoud's successor and begged the
Shah to confirm him as vassal. Mohammed sent an officer,
(07:45):
as it seemed for this ceremony, but when Alisher was
about to put on the robe of honor sent him,
the officer swept off his head with a sword stroke
and produced thereupon the command of his master to do so.
After this revoltingdeed, the ger principality was joined to Mahamahmad's
dominion twelve thirteen. Three years later, twelve sixteen, Mohammed I
(08:06):
Ghazni from a Turk general once a subject of Shihab
Yudi Din. This Turk had seized the province at the
dissolution of Gerdaminion. In the archives of Ghazni, the Shah
came on letters from the Khaliph Naser at Baghdad to
the gur Khans, in which he gave warning against the
Kuersmi in Shahs and incited to attack them, advising a
junction with the Karat Catans for that purpose. These letters
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roused the Shah's wrath to the utmost. The Khliph Nasir,
who ascended the throne in eleven eighty, had labored without success,
though unceasingly, to stop kuersmi in growth and aggression. He
could not employ his own forces to this end, since
he had none. The temporal power of the prophet's successors
had shrunk to the narrow limits of Kazistan and Arabian Iraq.
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The other parts of their once vast dominions had passed
to various dynasties, whose sovereigns were supposed to receive lands
in fief from the co If these sovereigns asked for investiture,
it was simply for religious or perhaps more correctly, for
political reasons. Outside the bounds of their own little state,
the Abbasid caliphs had only two emblems of sovereignty. Their
(09:14):
names were mentioned in public prayer throughout Islam and were
stamped on the coins of all Moslem commonwealths, they were
not masters even in their own capital. Always. When the
Seljuke Empire composed at that time of Persian Iraq alone
was destroyed by disorder under Togril, its last sultan, the Khliph,
a man of quick mind and adventurous instincts, did much
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to bring on the dissolution of the tottering state through
his intrigues and by calling in Tukush, the Quersmian monarch.
He had hoped to win Persian Iraq, But when Tukush
had won that great province he would see not a
foot of it to any man. The Khliph saw himself
forced to invest a new line with the sanction of sacredness,
a line which threatened Baghdad far more than that which
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he had helped so industriously to ruin. When Mohammed succeeded Tukush,
no sir roused gaieth Yudi Din of ger to oppose him.
This prince lord, already of Balkan Herat, desired all caarrascin
and began war to win it. His death followed soon after.
Shi hab Yudi Din, the next ruler, continued the struggle
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but lost his whole army, which was slaughtered and crushed
in the very first battle. When at Gasni, Mohammed found
proof of the Caliph's intrigues, he despatched to Nosir and envoy.
Through this envoy, he demanded the title of Sultan for himself,
a representative in Baghdad as governor, and also that his
name be mentioned in public prayers throughout Islam. No Sir
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refused these demands and expressed great surprise that Mohammed, not
content with his own immense empire, was coveting also the
capital of the caliph. On receiving this answer, Mohammed resolved
to strip the Abasids of the succession or Caliphat. To
do this, he must obtain first a sanctioning fetvah from
Mohammed and theologians the Ulamah. So he proposed to that
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body the following questions. May a monarch whose entire glory
consists in exalting God's word and destroying the foes of
true faith depose a recalcitron caliph and replace him by
one who is deserving. If the Caliphat belongs by right
to descendants of Ali, and if the Abbasids have usurped it,
and if besides they have always omitted one among the
first duties, the duty of protecting the boundaries of Islam
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and waging sacred wars to bring unbelievers to the true faith,
or if they will not accept the true faith, to
pay tribute. The Ulamah declared that in such cases deposition
was justified. Armed with this decision, the Shah recognized Ali
o Muluk of Termed, a descendant of Ali As Khaliph,
and ordered that in public prayers the name of Naser
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be omitted. The Shah assembled an army to carry out
the sentence against Nasir o Gumash, a Turk general who
had subdued Persian Iraq and then rendered fealty to Mohammed,
was murdered at direction of the Caliph, under whose control
a number of assassins had been placed by their chieftain
at Alamat. In Persian Iraq, the name of the Shah
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was dropped from public prayers. After the slaying of Ogomash,
the princes of Fars and Azerbaijan hastened promptly to seize
upon Iraq at the instance of Nasir Sad, Prince of Fars,
was taken captive, but secured freedom by seating two strongholds
and promising the third of his annual income as tribute.
(12:28):
Uzbek of Azerbaijan fled after defeat, and the Shah would
not pursue as the capture of two rulers in the
space of one year was unlucky. Uzbek, on reaching home,
sent envoys with presents and proclaimed himself a vassal. Mohammed
annexed Iraq to the Empire and moved his troops on
toward Baghdad. Nasir sent words of peace to his enemy,
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but those words had no influence, and the march continued.
Nas Sir strove to strengthen Baghdad and defend it, while
Mohammed was writing diplomas which turned Arabian Iraq, that whole
land of which Baghdad was the capital, into military fiefs
and tax paying districts. The shahs vanguard, fifteen thousand strong,
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advanced toward Huven by the way of the mountains, and
was followed soon by a second division of the same strength.
Though the time was early autumn, snow fell for twenty
days in succession. The largest tents were buried under it.
Men and horses died in great numbers, both when they
were marching through those mountains and when they halted. A
retreat was commanded at last, when advance was impossible. Turks
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and Kurds then attacked the retreating forces so savagely that
the ruin of the army was well nigh total. This
was attributed by Sunnite belief to divine anger for that
impious attack on the person of the Caliph. The reports
of Mongol movements alarmed the Shah greatly, and he hastened homeward,
first in a shaper and later on to Bokhara, where
he received the first envoys from jinghis Khan, his new neighbor.
(13:59):
It is well to go go back to the time
when the Shah chose a new calif from among the
descendants of Ali, the cousin and son in law of Mohammad.
In the Moslem world there are seventy three or more
sex varying in size and degree of importance. But the
two great divisions of Islam are the Sunite and Shiite,
which differ mainly on the succession. Among Sunites, the succession
(14:20):
was from a Bass, the uncle of Mohammad, the prophet
of Islam. That is, the succession which took place in history.
Among Shiites, the succession which, as they think, should have
taken place, but which did not, was that through Ali,
the husband of Fadimah, the daughter of Mohammad. The Shiites
of Persia thought that the day of justice had come
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after six centuries of abasement in waiting, and that the
headship of Islam would be theirs through the accession of
Ali o Muluk of Term to the Caliphat. In their eyes,
the Kuersmi and Shah had become an agent of Allah,
a sacred person. His act created an immense effect throughout Persia,
and certainly no less in the capital of Islam at Baghdad,
where the Khalif Naser called a council at once to
(15:03):
find means of defense against so dreadful an enemy as
Shah Mohammad. After long discussion, one sage among those assembled
declared that jing Is Khan, whose fame was sounding then
throughout Western Asia, was the man to bring the raging
Shah to his senses. The Khliph, greatly pleased with this statement,
resolved to send an envoy, but the journey was perilous,
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since every road to the Mongols lay through Shah Mohammed's dominions.
Should the envoy be taken and his message read, the Shah,
roused by resentment and anger, would spare no man involved
in the plot, least of all Khalif Naser and his servants.
To avoid this chance, they shaved the envoy's head and
rode out or branded his commission upon it. His skull
(15:47):
was then covered with paint or a mixture of some kind.
The entire message to Jinghis was fixed well in the
mind of the envoy, and he set out on his journey.
After four months of hard traveling, he reached Mongol headquarters,
delivered his message in words, and was admitted soon after
to the Khan of the Mongols in secret. The envoy's
(16:07):
head was shorn a second time, and the credentials traced
with fire on his crown became visible. There was branded
and also an invitation to invade the Kuersmian Empire and
destroy the reigning dynasty. Jing has meditated over this invitation.
The thought of conquering a new empire did not leave him,
but as he had spoken not long before with its
(16:28):
ruler and friendship, he waited till a reason to justify
attack should present itself. In one thousand, two hundred sixteen
to seventeen in Bokhara, as mentioned already, Shah Mohammad received
three envoys from Jinghis These men brought ingots of silver, musk, jade,
and costly white robes of camel's hair, all creations and
products of Central Asia sent as presents to the Kuasmian sovereign.
(16:52):
The Great Khan has charged us, said the envoys to
give this message. I salute THEE. I know thy power
in the grist great extent of thy empire. Thy reign
is over a large part of the Earth's surface. I
have the greatest wish to live in peace with THEE.
I look on THEE as my most cherished son. Thou
art aware that I have subdued China and brought all
(17:14):
Turk nations north of it to obedience. Thou knowest that
my country is swarming with warriors, that it is a
mine of wealth, and that I have no need to
covet lands of other sovereigns. I and thou have an
equal interest in favoring commerce between our subjects. This message
was in fact a demand on Mohammed to declare himself
a vassal, since various degrees of relationship were used among
(17:37):
rulers in Asia to denote corresponding degrees of submission. The
Shah summoned one of the envoys in the night time.
Has Jingh His Khan really conquered China? Asked he. There
is no doubt of that, said the envoy. Who is
this who calls me his son? How many troops has he?
The envoy, seeing Mohammed's excitement, replied that Mongol forces were
(18:01):
not to be compared with his In any case, The
Shah was calmed, and when the time came he dismissed
the envoys with apparent good feeling and friendliness. When they
reached the boundary of the Shah's land, they were safe.
For wherever Jingh His Khan became sovereign, there was safety
for travelers immediately, even in places where robbery had been
the rule for many ages. Since Kara Khitai had fallen.
(18:25):
Mohammad's possessions reached the heart of Central Asia and touched
the land of the Wigurs, now tributary to Jinghis. Hence,
commercial relations were direct and of very great value. Soon
after the Khan's envoys had made their visit, a party
of between four and five hundred merchants from Mongolian places
arrived at Otra on the sir Dharya. In Aljak, the
(18:46):
governor of the city, tempted by the rich stuffs and
wares which those strangers had brought with them, imprisoned the
whole party and declared to the Shah that the men
were spies of the Mongol sovereign. The Shah gave command
to slay them in that case immediately, and in Naljak
obeyed without waiting. When news of this terrible slaughter was
born to jingh As, he wept with indignation as he
(19:07):
heard it, and went straightway to a mountain top, where
he bared his head, put his girdle about his neck,
and fell prostrate. He lay there, imploring Heaven for vengeance,
and spent three days and nights, it is stated, imploring
and prostrate. He rose and went down then to hurl
Mongol strength at the quares me An Empire. The request
(19:27):
of the Caliph of Islam ran parallel now with the
wish of the Mongols. But before striking the empire, Jinghis
had resolved to extinguish gutch Luck, his old enemy, the
son of Baibuga, late Thaijang of the Naemans. Meanwhile, he
sent three envoys to the Shah with this message. Thou
didst give me assurance that thou wouldst not maltreat any
(19:47):
merchant from my land. Thou hast broken thy word. Word
breaking in a sovereign is hideous. If I am to
believe that the merchants were not slain at Otra by
thy order, send me thy governor for punishment. If thou
wilt not send him, make ready for conflict. Shah Mohammad,
far from giving Jing his khan satisfaction or offering it,
(20:09):
slew Badra the first envoy and singed off the beards
of the other two. If Mohammed had wished to punish
or yield up in Aljak, he could not have done so.
For the governor was a kinsman of Turk and Catan,
the Shah's mother, and also of many great chiefs in
the Kuersmian army. And now it is important to explain
the position of Turk and Katun, the unbending savage mother
(20:32):
of Mohammad. This woman was a daughter of Jinshi Kan
of the Beaijit tribe of kan Kali Turks. She married
Tukush the Quersmi in Shah and became then the mother
of Shah Mohammad. A large number of Kankali chiefs who
were related to turk And followed her with their tribesmen
to serve in the Kuersmian Empire. The influence of this relentless,
(20:53):
strong willed woman and the valor of Turkish warriors raised
those chiefs to the highest rank among military leaders. Their
was enormous, since commanders of troops governed with very wide latitude.
Amid this aristocracy of fighters, the power of the sovereign
was uncertain. He was forced to satisfy the ambition of
men who saw in all things their own profit. Only.
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The troops controlled by those governors were the scourge of
peaceful people. They ruined every region which they lived in
or visited. Turkin Catan, the head of this military faction,
not only equaled her son in authority, but often surpassed him.
When two orders of different origin appeared in any part
of the empire, the date decided which had authority. That
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order was always carried out on which the date was
most recent, And the order of recent date was the
order of that watchful woman. When Mohammed won a new province,
he always assigned a large part to the uppunage of
his mother. She employed seven secretaries at all times, men
distinguished for ability. The inscription on her decrees was Protectress
(21:56):
of the World and the faith Turkin Queen of women.
Her device was God alone is my refuge. Lord of
the World was her title. The following example shows clearly
the character of the Shah's mother. She had obtained from Mohammed.
The elevation of Nasir Yudi Din, a former slave of hers,
to the position of Thesire or prime minister of the empire.
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Soon the Shah came to hate the man for personal
and also other reasons. His ability was small and his
greed without limit. At miss Shaper, the Shah appointed a
new judge, one Sadr Yudi Din, and forbade him to
give the Visire any presents. Friends, however, warned the judge
not to neglect this prime dignitary, so he sent Nasir
(22:40):
yudd In a sealed purse containing four thousand gold pieces.
The Shah, who was watching both judge and Visire, caused
the latter to send the purse to him. It was
sent straightway, and the seal was intact on it. The
judge was summoned, and when he appeared, the Shah asked
before witnesses what gift he had made the desire. He
(23:00):
denied having made any, persisted in denial, and swore by
the head of his sovereign that he had not given
one coin to the minister. The Shah had the purse brought.
The judge was deprived of his dignity. The Visire was
sent home without office, to his patroness. Nasir Yudi Din
went back to the Shah's mother. On the way, he
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decided every case that men brought him. On the visires
approach Turkin Catan ordered people of all ranks and classes
to go forth and meet him. The Visire grew more
insolent now than he had been. The Shah sent an
officer to bring the ricalcitron minister's head to him. When
the officer came to her capital, turk and Catun sent
(23:41):
him to the Visire, who was then in the divan, and,
presiding she had given the officer this order, salute the
Visire in the Shah's name, and say to him, I
have no desire except thee continue in thy functions. No
man in my empire may destroy thee or fail in
respect to thee. The awe officer carried out the command
of the woman Na. Sir yudee Din exercised his authority
(24:05):
in defiance of Mohammed. He could do so since Turken
Catan upheld him, and she had behind her a legion
of her murderous kinsmen. The sovereign, who had destroyed so
many rulers unsparingly, had not the power or the means
to manage one insolent upstart who defied him. The murder
of the merchants in Otra was followed soon by such
a tempest of ruin as had never been witnessed in
(24:27):
Asia or elsewhere. Shah Mohammed had mustered at Samarkan a
large army to move against Gutchluk, whom he wished to
bring down to subjection or destroy altogether. But hearing that
a body of Merkits was advancing through Kankali regions lying
north of Lake Eril, he marched to Jen straightway against them,
and learned upon reaching that city that those Merkits, being
(24:48):
allies of Gutchluk, were hunted by Jinghis and that Gutchluk
himself had been slain by the Mongols. He returned swiftly
to Samarkan for additional forces, and following the tracks of
both armies, found a field strewn with corpses, among which
he saw Merkit badly wounded. From this man, the Shah
learned that Jinghas had gained a great victory and gone forward.
(25:11):
One day later, Mohammed came up with them and formed
his force straightway to attack them. The Mongol leader, perhaps Juchi,
declared that the two states were at peace and that
he had commands to treat the Shah's troops with friendliness.
He even offered a part of his booty and prisoners
to Mohammed. The latter refused these and answered, if jinghas
has ordered thee not to meet me in battle, God
(25:33):
commands me to fall on thy forces. I wished to
inflict sure destruction on infidels and thus earned divine favor.
The Mongols, forced to give battle, came very near victory.
They had put Mohammed's left wing to flight, pierced the
center where the Shah was, and would have dispersed it
but for timely aid brought by Jilo Yudi Din, the
(25:54):
Shah's son, who rushed from the right and restored the battle,
which lasted till evening and was left undecided. The Mongols
lighted vast numbers of camp fires and retired in the
dark with such swiftness that at daybreak they had made
two days journey. After this encounter, the Shah knew Mongol
strength very clearly. He told intimates that he had never
(26:15):
seen men fight as they had. Jing His having ended
Gutch luck and his kingdom twelve eighteen, summoned his own
family and officers to a council, where they discussed war
with Mohammed and settled everything touching this enterprise and its management.
That same autumn, the Mongol conqueror began his march westward,
leaving the care of home regions to his youngest brother.
(26:36):
He spent all the following summer near the Upper Tish
arranging his immense herds of horses and cattle. The march
was resumed in the autumn when he was joined by
the Prince of Almalik, the Eaty Cut of the Wigers,
and by Arslan Khan of the Karluks. Shah Mohammed was
alarmed by the oncoming of this immense host of warriors.
More correctly, this great group of armies. Though his own
(26:59):
force was long arch since it numbered four hundred thousand.
His troops were in some ways superior to the Mongols,
but they lacked iron discipline and blind confidence in leaders.
They lacked also that experience of hardship, fatigue, and privation,
that skill in desperate fighting, which made the Mongols not
merely a terror but at that time invincible. The Quersmian
(27:21):
armies were defending a population to which they were indifferent
and which they were protecting. Hence victory gave scant rewards
in the best case, while the Mongols, in attacking rich,
flourishing countries, were excited by all that can rouse human
greed or tenth wild cupidity. The disparity in leaders was
still more apparent. On the Mongol's side was a chief
(27:43):
of incomparable genius in all that he was doing. On
the other side of vacillating sovereign with warring and wavering councils,
the Shah had been crushing in assassinating rulers all his reign,
and now he feared to meet a man whom he
had provoked by his outrages. Instead of concentrating forces and
meeting the enemy, he scattered his men among all the
cities of Transoxiana, and then withdrew and kept far from
(28:06):
the fields of real struggle. Some ascribed this to the
advice of his generals, others to his faith in astrologers,
who declared that the stars were unfavorable and that no
battle should be risked till they changed their positions. It
is also reported that jing his duke the Shah and
made him suspect his own leaders. The following is one
(28:26):
of the stories. A certain Beder Yudi Din of Otre,
whose father, uncle and other kinsmen had been slain by Mohammed,
declared to Jinghas that he wished to take vengeance on
the Shah, even should he lose his own soul in
so doing, and advise the Grand Khan to make use
of the quarrels kept up by Mohammed with his mother.
In view of this, beder Yudi Din wrote a letter,
(28:47):
as it were, from Mohammad's generals to Jinghi and composed
it in this style. We came from Turkestan to Mohammed
because of his mother. We have given him victory over
many other rulers whose states have increased The quares me
an empire now he pays his dear mother with ingratitude.
This princess desires us to avenge her. When thou art here,
(29:09):
we shall be at thy orders. Jing is sou arranged
that this letter was intercepted. The tale is that the
Shah was deceived by it and distrusted his generals, hence
separated them each from the others, and disposed them in
various strong cities. It is more likely by far that
he and they, after testing Mongol strength, thought it better
(29:30):
to fight behind walls than in the open. They thought
also no doubt that the Mongols, after pillaging the country
and seizing many captives, would retire with their booty. The
Shah was like minded and ignorant. He knew not with
whom he was dealing. He had not studied the Mongols,
and could not have done so. He had no idea
(29:52):
whatever of Jing His Khan, and could not acquire it.
He knew not the immense power of his system and
the far reaching nature of his wishes. Jinghis arrived at
the sir Daria with his army and arranged all his
troops in four great divisions. The first he fixed near
Ochre and placed two of his sons Ogotai and Jagatai
in command of it. The second, commanded by his eldest
(30:15):
son Juchi, was to act against the other cities from
Jen to Lake Eril. The third division he directed against
Bannakat on the river south of Jen. While the three
divisions were taking these cities on the Sir Daria Jingius
himself moved toward Bokhara to bar Shah Mohammed from the
Transoxiana and prevent him from reenforcing any garrison between the
(30:35):
two rivers. Ocher was invested late in November twelve eighteen.
The walls had been strengthened and the city, with its
fortress provisioned very carefully. The strong garrison had been increased
by ten thousand horsemen. After a siege of five months,
the troops and the citizens were discouraged and the commander
(30:55):
thought it best to surrender. But in Aljak, the governor
could not hope for his life since he was the
man who had slain the Mongol merchants. Hence he would
not hear of surrender. He would fight, as he said,
to the death for his sovereign. The chief of the
horsemen felt differently and led out his best troops in
the night to escape, but was captured. He and they
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offered then to serve the besiegers. The Mongols inquired about
conditions in the city, and when the chief had told
what he knew, they informed him that he and his men,
being unfaithful to their master, could not be true to another.
They thereupon slew him and all who were with him.
The city was taken that day, April twelve, nineteen, and
(31:39):
its inhabitants driven to the country outside, so that the
captors might pillage the place in absolute freedom. In Aljak,
the governor withdrew with twenty thousand men to the fortress
and fought for two months in that stronghold. When the
Mongols burst and he had only two men left with these,
he retired to a terrace. The two men and at
(32:00):
his side fell Soon after. When his arrows were gone,
he hurled brick bats. The besiegers had orders to seize
the man living. He struggled like a maniac, but they
caught and bound him at last, and bore him to
the camp before samarcand Jinghis had molten silver poured into
his ears and eyes to avenge the slaughtered merchants. The
(32:22):
surviving inhabitants of Otra were spared, but the fortress was leveled. Juchi,
before marching on Jend, went to Signac and asked that
the gates be thrown open. Scarcely had the message been
given when the furious inhabitants tore Hassan Hadji Gjuchi's envoy
to pieces, and called on God's name as they did so.
(32:42):
Juchi gave the order at once to attack and forbade
his men to cease fighting till the city was captured.
Fresh troops relieved those who were wearied. After seven days
of storming, the Mongols burst in and slew every soul
in that city. Juchi made a son of Hassen Hadji
commandant of the ruin. Then he moved up the river
and sacked every place that he visited. As the Mongols
(33:05):
drew near to Jend Katlak Khan, the commandant fled in
a night time, crossed the sier Daria and took the
desert road for urgents beyond the southern shore of the Oxus.
Juchi demanded surrender through Chin to more, his envoy deserted
by their chief. The people were in doubt what to do,
and when Chin Tomoor came. They wished to kill him,
(33:26):
but he told them of Signac and promised to turn
aside Mongol vengeance in case they were prudent. The people
then freed him, but very soon saw the enemy under
the walls, which they thought proof against every besieger. The
Mongols scaled those walls quickly and rushed in from all sides.
No hand was raised then against them. The inhabitants were
(33:48):
driven to the open country and left nine days and
nights there while the pillage continued. Excepting those who had
abused Chin Tomore. The people were spared since they had
made no resistance. Meanwhile, a detachment of the army had
seized Yengekhnd, the last town on the river, and Jutchi's
work was done on the right bank with thoroughness. The
(34:08):
third division of the army moved from Otra to the
left up the river and attacked Bannacket, which was garrisoned
by Kancolis. At the end of three days. The officers
wished to capitulate their lives, were promised them, and they surrendered.
The inhabitants were driven from the city. The Turks were
taken out to one side and cut down to the
(34:29):
last man with swords and other weapons. Being warriors whom
the Mongols could not trust, they were slaughtered. The artisans
were spared and divided among the Mongol army. Unskilled, young
and strong men were taken to assist in besieging. All
other people were slain immediately. The march was continued to Kajend,
(34:50):
and soon the invaders were in front of that city
and storming it. In Kajend, to more, Melik, a man
of great valor, commanded he took one thousand chosen warriors
to a fort on an island far enough from either
bank to be safe from stones and arrows. The besiegers
were reinforced by twenty thousand Mongols for conflict and fifty
(35:11):
thousand natives of the country to carry on siege work.
These natives were employed first of all at bearing stones
from a mountain three leagues distant and building a road
from the shore to the fortress in the river Timor.
Melick meanwhile built twelve covered barges protected from fire with
glazed earth, which was first soaked in vinegar. Every day,
(35:32):
six of these boats went to each shore and sent
arrows through openings at the Mongols. Night attacks were made
suddenly and wrought much harm on the invaders. But despite
every effort to Moore saw that failure would come if
he stayed there. He was met by preponderant and crushing numbers.
At last, so he put men and baggage in seventy
(35:54):
strong boats, and his chosen warriors in the twelve covered barges,
and they sped down the swift river at night. By
the law of many torches fixed on the boats of
his flotilla, the boats snapped a chain stretched across from
one bank to the other by Mongols near Bannaket, and
passed along, hunted by the enemy on both sides. Timore
learn now that Juchi had posted a large corps of
(36:15):
men on the two banks close to Jen captured recently.
He learned also that ballistas were ready, and that a
bridge of boats had been made near the same place.
He debarked higher up therefore, and took to horse to
avoid capture. Pursued by the enemy, he gave battle till
his baggage was brought near him. He repeated this day
(36:36):
after day, till forced at last to abandon the baggage. Finally,
having lost all his men, he was alone and pursued
by three Mongols. He had only three arrows left. One
of these had no metal point on it. He shot
that and put out an eye of the nearest pursuer.
Then he cried to the other men, there are two
arrows still in my quiver. He would better go back
(36:58):
with your eye sight. They did so. Timor Melik made
his way to Urgent and joined Jilo Yudi Din, whom
he followed till the death of that sovereign. Meanwhile, Jing
has moved against Bokhara with his main forces and arrived
at that city during June of twelve nineteen. On the way,
he seized Nur and Charnik, which he pillaged. Then he
(37:19):
took from those places all stalwart men useful in siege work. Bokhara,
the great city, with a garrison of twenty thousand, was
invested on all sides and attacked by relays of fresh warriors,
who gave neither respite nor rest to it. After some days,
the defenders lost hope of success and resolved to burst
through in the night time, trusting in that way to
(37:40):
save themselves. They fell on the Mongols unexpectedly and scattered them.
But instead of pursuing this advantage, in fighting. Those escaping
defenders hastened forward. The Mongol troops rallied and hunted the
fugitives to the river, where they cut down nearly all
of them. Next morning, early the Ulamah and notable came
out to give homage to the great Mongol Khan and
(38:03):
open the gates to him. Jinghis rode in, and going
to the main mosque of the city, entered it on horseback.
Dismounting near the minbar or pulpit, he ascended some steps
of it and said to the people who assembled there
quickly before him, the fields now are stripped. Feed our
horses in this place. The boxes which have been used
to hold copies of the Koran were taken to the
(38:25):
courtyard to hold grain for Mongol horses. The sacred volumes
were thrown under the hoofs of those animals, and trampled
skins of wine were brought into the mosque with provisions.
Jesters and singers of the city were summoned, and while
wild warriors were reveling in excesses of all sorts and
shouting songs of their own land and people, the highest
chiefs of religion and doctors of law served them as
(38:46):
slaves held their horses and fed them. While thus employed,
One great man whispered to his neighbor, why not implore
the Almighty to save us? Be silent? Said the other
God's wrath is moving near us. This is there's no
time for beseeching. I fear to pray to the Almighty,
lest it become worse with us. Thereby, if life is dear,
(39:07):
to behold their beasts. Now for the Mongols and serve
them from the mosque. Jinghis went to the place of
public prayer beyond the city and summoned all people to
meet there. He stood in the pulpit and inquired, who
are the richest men in this multitude? Two hundred and
eighty persons were presented. Ninety of these had come from
other cities. The Khan commanded all those wealthy persons to
(39:30):
draw near, and then he spoke to them. He described
the Shah's cruelties and injustice which had brought on the
ruin of their city. No continued he that ye have
committed dreadful deeds, and the great people of this country
are the worst of its criminals. Should ye ask why
I speak, thus I answer, I am Heaven's scourge sent
to punish. Had ye not been desperate offenders, I should
(39:53):
not be standing here now against you. Then he said
that he required no one to deliver wealth which was
above ground. His men could discover that very easily. But
he asked for hidden treasures. The wealthy men were then
forced to name their agents, and those agents had to
yield up the treasures or be tortured. All strong men
were set to filling the moats encircling the city. Even
(40:16):
copies of the Koran and furniture of mosques were hurled
into filled ditches. The fortress was stormed, and not a
man of its defenders found mercy. When the fortress was taken,
all its inhabitants were driven from the city with nothing
but the clothes which they had on their bodies. Then
began the great pillage. The victors slew all whom they
(40:36):
found in any place of hiding. At last, Mongol troops
were sent out to surround the inhabitants on the plain
and divide them into parties. Deeds were done there which
baffle description. Every possible outrage was enacted before those to
whom it was most dreadful to be present and have eyesight.
Some had strength to choose death instead of looking at
(40:57):
those horrors. Among spectators of this kind were the chief
judge of the city and the first Imam, who, seeing
the dishonor of their women, rushed to save them and perished.
Finally the city was fired. Everything wooden was consumed. Nothing
was left save the main mosque and a few brick palaces.
Jinghis Khan left the smoking ruins of Bokhara the noble
(41:19):
to march on Samarkand, which was only five days distant.
He passed along the pleasant valley of Sogd, covered at
that time with beautiful fields orchards and gardens, and with
houses here and there in good number. All inhabitants of Bokhara,
taken to toil in the coming siege, were driven on
behind the army. Whoso grew weak on the way or
(41:39):
too weary for marching, was cut down at once without pity.
Samarkand was one of the great commercial cities of the world.
It had a garrison which numbered forty thousand. Both the
city and the citadel had been fortified with care, and
all men considered that a siege of that place would
continue for months, nay for years. Perhaps The three other
(42:01):
army corps appeared now, for every place on the lower
River had been taken, and northern Transoxiana was subjected. These
divisions brought with them all captives who were young, firm,
and stalwart men who might be of service in siege work.
There was an immense host of those people, arranged in
groups of ten, and each ten had a banner jing
his to impose on the doomed city. Paraded his legions
(42:24):
before it, cavalry, infantry, and at last those unfortunate captives
who had the seeming of regular warriors. Two days were
spent in examining the city defenses and outworks. On the
third morning, early the Mongol conqueror sounded the onset. A
host of brave citizens made a great sally and at
first swept all before them, but not being sustained by
(42:45):
their own troops, who feared the besiegers, they met a
dreadful disaster. The Mongols retired before the onrushing people, who
pressed forward with vigor till they fell into ambush. Being
on foot, they were surrounded very quickly and slaughtered before
the eyes of the many thousands looking from the walls
and the housetops. This great defeat crushed the hopes of
(43:06):
the citizens. The Kankali troops, being Turks, believed that the
Mongols would treat them most surely as kinsmen. In fact,
Jinghis had promised as they thought, to take them to
his service. Hence, this great multitude, the real strength of
the city, issued forth that same day with their leaders,
their families, and their baggage, in one word, with all
(43:28):
that belonged to them. On the fourth day, just as
the storm was to be sounded, the chief men of
the city went to the Mongol camp, where they received
satisfactory answers concerning themselves with their families and dependents. Hence
they opened the gates of Samarkan to the conqueror. But
they were driven from the city, save fifty thousand, who
had put themselves under the protection of the Kadi and
(43:48):
the Mufti. These fifty thousand were safeguarded, the others were
all slaughtered. The night following the surrender, alb Khan, a
Turk general, made a sorti from the citadel and had
the forty to break through the Mongols, thus saving himself
and those under him. At daybreak, the citadel was attacked
simultaneously on all sides. That struggle lasted till the evening,
(44:11):
when one storming party burst in and the stronghold was taken.
One thousand defenders took refuge in a mosque and fought
with desperation. The mosque was fired then and all were
burned to death in it. The Kanclis, who had yielded
on the third day, that as the first day of fighting,
were conducted to a place beyond the city and kept
(44:31):
apart from others. Their horses, arms and outfits were taken
from them, and their hair was shaved in front Mongol fashion,
as if they were to form a part of the army.
This was a trick to deceive them till the executioners
were ready. In one night, the Kancalis were murdered to
the very last man. When vast numbers of the citizens
(44:53):
had been slaughtered, a census was made of the remnant.
Thirty thousand persons of various arts, occupations, and crafts were
given by Jing His to his sons, his wives, and
his officers. Thirty thousand more were reserved for siege labor.
Fifty thousand, after they had paid two hundred thousand gold pieces,
were permitted to return to the city, which received Mongol commandants.
(45:14):
Requisitions of men were made at later periods repeatedly, and
since few of those persons returned to their homes, Samarkan
stood ruined and unoccupied for a long time. Jingh his
Khan so disposed his forces from the first that Shah
Mohammed could not relieve any city between the two rivers.
Now all those cities were taken, and the forces defending
(45:35):
them were slaughtered. The next great work was to see
Shah Mohammed himself and then slay him and with him
his family. Thirty thousand chosen men were employed now in
chasing the Quasmian ruler. Never had a sovereign been hunted
like this victim of the Mongols. He fled like a
fox or a hare. He was hunted as if he
(45:55):
had been a dreadful wild beast which had killed some
high or holy person, or as if he were some
outcast who had committed a deed which might make a
whole nation shudder. But here we must say a few
words concerning the hunted man, and explain his position.
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