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Siege of Bukhara

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The siege of Bukhara took place in February 1220, during the Mongol invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire. Genghis Khan, ruler of the Mongol Empire, had launched a multi-pronged assault on the Khwarazmian Empire ruled by Shah Muhammad II. While the Shah planned to defend his major cities individually, the Mongols laid siege to the border town of Otrar, and struck further into Khwarazmia.

Siege of Bukhara

Part of the Mongol conquest of the Khwarazmian Empire

Date

February 1220

Location

Bukhara, present-day Uzbekistan

39°46′40″N 64°24′37″E

Result

Mongol victory

Belligerents

Mongol Empire

Khwarazmian Empire

Commanders and leaders

Genghis Khan

Tolui

Gür-Khan

Strength

Modern estimates range from 30,000 to 50,000

Modern estimates range from 2,000 to 20,000

Casualties and losses

Unknown

Most of the garrison

Bukhara

Location of the siege on a map of modern Uzbekistan

Show map of Uzbekistan Show map of West and Central Asia Show all

The city of Bukhara was a major centre of trade and culture in the Khwarazmian Empire, but was located far from the border with the Mongol Empire, and so the Shah allocated fewer than 20,000 soldiers to defend it. A Mongol force, estimated to number between 30,000 and 50,000 men and commanded by Genghis himself, traversed the Kyzylkum Desert, previously considered impassable for large armies. Bukhara's defenders were caught by surprise and, after a failed sortie, the outer city surrendered within three days on 10 February. Khwarazmian loyalists continued to defend the citadel for less than two weeks, before it was breached and taken.

The Mongol army killed everybody in the citadel and enslaved most of the city's population. The Mongols appropriated the work of skilled craftsmen and artisans, conscripting other inhabitants into their armies. Although Bukhara was then destroyed by fire, the destruction was relatively mild compared to elsewhere; within a short space of time the city was once again a centre of trade and learning, and it profited greatly from the Pax Mongolica.

Background edit

On the eve of the Mongol invasion, Yaqut al-Hamawi's geographical survey described Bukhara as "among the greatest cities of Central Asia".[1][a] With a population of close to 300,000 and a library of 45,000 books, the city rivalled Baghdad as a centre of learning and culture.[2][3] The Po-i-Kalyan mosque, which had been commissioned in 1121, was one of the largest in the world, and contained the Kalyan minaret.[4] The city was guarded by the Ark of Bukhara, a fortress established in the fifth century which served as a citadel; the farmlands were extensively irrigated using water from the River Zeravshan.[5]

During the twelfth century, the city had been under the rule of the Qarakhanids, who had historically controlled many of the richest cities in the area, such as Samarkand, Tashkent and Fergana.[6] Nominally vassals of the Qara-Khitai Khanate, the Qarakhanids were allowed to operate autonomously, due to the large population and territory under their control. By 1215, they had been subjugated by the Khwarazmians, also former vassals of the Qara-Khitai, who had expanded from Gurganj into the power vacuum left by the collapsing Seljuk Empire.[7][8] In 1218, Khwarazmshah Muhammad II was Sultan of Hamadan, Iran and Khorasan, and had established dominion over the Ghurids and the Eldiguzids.[7] The Khwarazmian dynasty had usurped the Qara-Khitai, already destabilized by refugees fleeing the conquests of Genghis Khan, who had begun to establish hegemony over the Mongol tribes.[9]

Following the defeat of their common enemy, the Naiman prince Kuchlug, relations between the Mongols and the Khwarazmids were initially strong,[10] but the Shah soon grew apprehensive regarding the Mongols. The chronicler al-Nasawi attributes this to an unintended earlier skirmish with Mongol troops, whose speed and mobility frightened the Shah.[11] In 1218, the Shah allowed Inalchuq, the governor of Otrar, to arrest a Mongol trade caravan, and to seize its goods. Seeking a diplomatic resolution, Genghis Khan sent three envoys to Gurganj, but Muhammad humiliated them, publicly executing one. Outraged, Genghis left his ongoing war against the Chinese Jin dynasty, and rode westwards in 1219 with most of his army, leaving only a minimal force behind under the command of Muqali.[12]

Prelude edit

See also: Mongol conquest of the Khwarazmian Empire

There are conflicting reports as to the size of the total Mongol invasion force. The highest figures were calculated by classical Muslim historians such as Juzjani and Rashid al-Din.[13][14] Modern scholars such as Morris Rossabi have indicated that the total Mongol invasion force cannot have been more than 200,000;[15] John Masson Smith gives an estimates of around 130,000.[16] The minimum figure of 75,000 is given by Carl Sverdrup, who hypothesizes that the tumen (the largest Mongol military unit) had often been overestimated in size.[17] The Mongol armies arrived in Khwarazmia in waves: first, a vanguard led by Genghis' eldest son Jochi and the general Jebe crossed the Tien Shan passes, and started laying waste to the towns of the eastern Fergana Valley. Jochi's brothers Chagatai and Ogedai then descended on Otrar and besieged it.[18] Genghis soon arrived with his youngest son Tolui, and split the invasion force into four divisions: while Chagatai and Ogedai were to remain besieging Otrar, Jochi was to head northwest in the direction of Gurganj. A minor detachment was also sent to take Khujand, but Genghis himself took Tolui and around half of the army — between 30,000 and 50,000 men — and headed westwards.[19]

Campaigns of Genghis Khan between 1207 and 1225

The Khwarazmshah faced many problems. His empire was vast and newly formed, with a still-developing administration.[20] His mother Terken Khatun still wielded substantial power in the realm—Peter Golden termed the relationship between the Shah and his mother "an uneasy diarchy", which often acted to Muhammad's disadvantage.[21] The Shah distrusted most of his commanders, the only exception being his eldest son and heir Jalal al-Din, whose military skill had been critical at the Irghiz River skirmish the previous year.[22] If the Khwarazmshah sought open battle, as many of his commanders wished, he would have been outmatched by the Mongol army, in both the size of the army and its skill.[23] The Shah thus decided to distribute his forces as garrison troops in the empire's most important cities.[12] Since it was far from the presumed theatre of war, Bukhara was allotted relatively few troops. As with the Mongol army, there is also debate as to the size and composition of the Shah's forces. The chronicler Juvaini states that 50,000 were sent to aid Otrar, and that there were at least 20,000 in Bukhara.[24] According to Sverdrup, there were between two and five thousand men at Bukhara.[25] Deducing the Shah's strategy, Genghis bypassed the stronghold of Samarkand and traversed 300 miles of the Kyzylkum Desert to reach Bukhara on 7 February 1220. As contemporaries thought the Kyzylkum impassable by large armies, modern historians such as H. Desmond Martin and Timothy May have considered the manouevre a tactical masterstroke.[26][27][28]

Siege edit

The Shah was caught completely unaware. He had anticipated that Genghis would attack Samarkand first, where both his field army and the garrison stationed at Bukhara would relieve the siege. The Khan's march through the Kyzylkum had left the Khwarazmian field army impotent, unable to either engage the enemy or help his people.[25] Juvaini records that the garrison at Bukhara was commanded by a man named Gür-Khan;[29] the early 20th century historian Vasily Bartold suggested that this may have been Jamukha, an old friend-turned-enemy of Genghis.[30] Most recent historians consider this unlikely, as Jamukha is believed to have been executed in 1206.[25][31]

The major military action of the siege came on the second or third day, when the Sultan's troops, numbering between 2,000 and 20,000, sallied forth; Juvaini records that they were annihilated by the Mongols on the banks of the river:

When these forces reached the banks of the Oxus, the patrols and advance parties of the Mongol army fell upon them and left no trace ... On the following day from the reflection of the sun the plain seemed to be a tray filled with blood.

— Ata-Malik Juvaini, Tarikh-i Jahangushay[29]

The historian Paul Buell notes that the sortie, conducted solely by the Sultan's auxiliary troops and not by the city garrison, may have just been an attempt to flee; he attributes their willingness to leave to the fact that Bukhara was a very recent Khwarazmian conquest, having been taken from the Qarakhanids less than a decade previously.[32] On 10 February the town surrendered. The only resistance now came from a small band of loyalists in the citadel. The citadel was built to the highest specifications, but the Khan had brought experts in siege warfare from China; a breach was made after ten days using incendiary and gunpowder weapons, and the citadel fell on the twelfth day.[33][34]

Aftermath edit

Buildings that survived the siege. Clockwise from top left: The Kalyan minaret; the Samanid Mausoleum, which survived because it was buried in mud;[35] and the Magok-i-Attari Mosque.[36]

Having entered the city, Genghis Khan is recorded to have given a speech at the city's Friday mosque:[37]

O People, know that you have committed great sins, and that the great ones among you have committed these sins. If you ask me what proof I have for these words, I say it is because I am the punishment of God. If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you.

— Ata-Malik Juvayni, Tarikh-i Jahangushay[38]

The small amount of resistance from the citadel would prove detrimental to the rest of Bukhara. The Mongols set fire to the city in an attempt to flush out the holdouts; since most structures in the city were wooden, the soon-uncontrollable fire reduced most of the city to cinders, including the famed library.[32] Most of the stone structures left standing by the fire were razed by the Mongols, including the Po-i-Kalyan mosque; the Kalyan minaret was left standing.[39]

Although everybody inside the citadel was massacred, the population was not wholly exterminated, unlike other cities such as Merv and Gurganj. Instead, the people were evacuated and divided up. Most women were raped and taken as concubines, and the city's craftsmen were sent to factories and instructed to produce Mongol weaponry, and all remaining men of fighting age were conscripted into the Mongol forces.[40][41] These conscripts would be used as human shields in the sieges of Samarkand and Gurganj, which would follow in 1220 and 1221.[42] Shah Muhammad died destitute on an island in the Caspian Sea, and the Mongols systematically besieged and took every major city in his empire;[43] his son Jalal al-Din would put up the most resistance but was eventually defeated at the Battle of the Indus in November 1221.[19]

Legacy edit

Although devastating in the short-term, the siege was not the city's end. In fact, the city was able to serve as a centre of Asian trade within two decades.[44] Proto-bureaucratic elements were quickly put into place under the auspices of the daruyachi Yelü Ahai.[45] Many of the institutions that were later put into place took inspiration from the Qara-Khitai, which Buell termed 'a prototype Mongol Empire'.[32] Records of a Taoist delegation to the area in 1221 reveal that Samarkand and Bukhara were beginning to be repopulated with Chinese and Khitan artisan settlers;[46] the area was still unstable. A Khwarazmian bandit chief managed to assassinate a Bukharan daruyachi around that time. The former cities of Khwarazmia later became the main sources of income for Ogedai, and would become the key cities of the Chagatai Khanate; Bukhara and Samarkand would later be the home cities of Timur.[47] It regained its religious importance, becoming the most important centre of Sufism in Central Asia and the shrine around the tomb of Sayf al-Din al-Bakharzi one of the most richly endowed properties in the region.[48]

References edit

Notes edit

Al-Hamawi gives a less flattering portrait of the densely populated centre, citing poets who criticize the "filth and prevalence of uncleanliness in its streets".[1]

Citations edit

al-Hamawi 1955, pp. 354–4.

Modelski 2007.

Ahmad 2000, p. 217.

Emin 1989, pp. 8–10.

Nelson Frye 1997, pp. 28–32.

Golden 2009, pp. 12–15.

Abazov 2008, p. 43.

Buniyatov 2015, pp. 32–33.

Biran 2009, p. 47.

Jackson 2009, pp. 30–31.

al-Nasawi 1998, p. 13.

May 2018, pp. 60–61.

Juzjani 1873, p. 968.

al-Din 1998, 346.

Rossabi 1994, pp. 49–50.

Smith 1975, pp. 273–274, 280–284.

Sverdrup 2010, pp. 109, 113.

Buniyatov 2015, p. 114.

Sverdrup 2010, p. 113.

Barthold 1968, pp. 373–380.

Golden 2009, pp. 14–15.

Jackson 2009, p. 31.

Sverdrup 2013, p. 37.

Juvaini 1958, p. 82.

Sverdrup 2017, pp. 151–153.

Buniyatov 2015, p. 117.

Martin 1943, pp. 63–64.

May 2018, p. 62.

Juvaini 1958, p. 103.

Barthold 1968, pp. 119–120.

Mote 1999, p. 422.

Buell 1979, pp. 130–131.

Buniyatov 2015, p. 118.

Jackson 2009, p. 34.

Starr 2013, p. 236.

World Heritage Site: Bukhara.

May 2007, p. 1.

Juvaini 1958, p. 105.

Man 2005, pp. 198–199.

Atwood 2004, p. 25.

Chalind, Mangin-Woods & Woods 2014, pp. 144–145.

Martin 1943, pp. 64–65.

Buniyatov 2015, p. 125.

Foltz 2019, p. 94.

Atwood 2004, p. 307.

Chih'ch'ang Li 1888, p. 327.

May 2019, p. 39.

Blair 2000, p. 347.

Sources edit

Medieval edit

al-Din, Rashid (1998) [c. 1300]. Jami' al-tawarikh جامع التواريخ [Compendium of Chronicles] (in Arabic and Persian). Vol. 2. Translated by Thackston, W. M. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

al-Hamawi, Yaqut (1955) [c. 1220]. Mu'jam ul-Buldān معجم البلدان [Dictionary of Countries] (in Arabic). Translated by Ibn 'Abdallah ar-Ruml. Beirut: Dar Sader Publishers.

Chih'ch'ang Li (1888) [c. 1225]. Hsi-yu chi [Travels to the West of Qiu Chang Chun]. Translated by Bretschneider, Emil.

Juvaini, Ata-Malik (1958) [c. 1260]. Tarikh-i Jahangushay تاریخ جهانگشای [History of the World Conqueror] (in Persian). Vol. 1. Translated by Andrew Boyle, John.

Juzjani, Minhaj-i Siraj (1873) [c. 1260]. Tabaqat-i Nasiri طبقات ناصری (in Persian). Vol. XXIII. Translated by Raverty, H. G.

al-Nasawi, Shihab al-Din Muhammad (1998) [1241]. Sirah al-Sultan Jalal al-Din Mankubirti [Biography of Sultan Jalal al-Din Mankubirti] (in Russian). Translated by Buniyatov, Z. M.

Modern edit

Abazov, Rafis (2008). Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of Central Asia. London: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-4039-7542-3.

Ahmad, S. Maqbul (2000). "8: Geodesy, Geology, and Mineralogy; Geography and Cartography". In Bosworth, C.E.; Asimov, M.S. (eds.). History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Vol. IV / #2. Paris: UNESCO Publishing. ISBN 9231034677.

Atwood, Christopher P. (2004). Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire. New York: Facts on File. ISBN 978-0-8160-4671-3. Retrieved 2 March 2022.

Barthold, Vasily (1968) [1900]. Turkestan Down to the Mongol Invasion (Second ed.). London: Oxford University Press, Luzac & Co. OCLC 4523164.

Biran, Michal (2009). "The Mongols in Central Asia from Chinggis Khan's invasion to the rise of Temür". The Cambridge History of Inner Asia. The Chinggisid Age: 46–66. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139056045.006. ISBN 978-1-139-05604-5.

Blair, S. (2000). "13: Language Situation and Scripts (Arabic)". In Bosworth, C.E.; Asimov, M.S. (eds.). History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Vol. IV / #2. Paris: UNESCO Publishing. ISBN 9231034677.

Buell, Paul D. (1979). "Sino-Khitan Administration in Mongol Bukhara". Journal of Asian History (2 ed.). Harrassowitz Verlag. 13 (2): 121–151. JSTOR 41930343.

Buniyatov, Z. M. (2015) [1986]. A History of the Khorezmian State Under the Anushteginids, 1097-1231 Государство Хорезмшахов-Ануштегинидов: 1097-1231 [A History of the Khorezmian State under the Anushteginids, 1097-1231]. Translated by Mustafayev, Shahin; Welsford, Thomas. Moscow: Nauka. ISBN 978-9943-357-21-1.

Chalind, Gérard; Mangin-Woods, Michèle; Woods, David (2014). "Chapter 7: The Mongol Empire". A Global History of War: From Assyria to the Twenty-First Century (First ed.). Oakland: University of California Press. JSTOR 10.1525/j.ctt7zw1cg.13.

Emin, Leon (1989). Мусульмане в СССР [Muslims in the USSR]. Moscow: Novosti Press Agency Publishing House. OCLC 20802477.

Foltz, Richard (2019). A History of the Tajiks: The Iranians of the East. London: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-78453-955-9. Retrieved 3 February 2022.

Golden, Peter (2009). "Inner Asia c.1200". The Cambridge History of Inner Asia. The Chinggisid Age: 9–25. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139056045.004. ISBN 978-1-13905-604-5.

Jackson, Peter (2009). "The Mongol Age in Eastern Inner Asia". The Cambridge History of Inner Asia. The Chinggisid Age: 26–45. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139056045.005. ISBN 978-1-139-05604-5.

Man, John (2005). Genghis Khan: Life, Death, and Resurrection. New York: Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN 0-312-31444-2.

Martin, H. Desmond (1943). "The Mongol Army". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. Cambridge University Press. 75 (1–2): 46–85. doi:10.1017/S0035869X00098166. S2CID 162432699.

May, Timothy (2007). The Mongol Art of War : Chinggis Khan and the Mongol Military System. Yardley: Westholme Publishing. ISBN 978-1-59416-046-2.

May, Timothy (2018). "The Mongols outside Mongolia". The Mongol Empire. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. pp. 44–75. ISBN 978-0-7486-4237-3. JSTOR 10.3366/j.ctv1kz4g68.11.

May, Timothy (2019). The Mongols. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. ISBN 978-1-64189-095-3.

Modelski, George (2007). "Central Asian world cities (XI – XIII century): a discussion paper". Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 5 March 2022.

Mote, Frederick W. (1999). "The Career of the Great Khan Chinggis". Imperial China 900-1800. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. pp. 403–424. doi:10.2307/j.ctv1cbn3m5.21. ISBN 978-0-674-44515-4. JSTOR j.ctv1cbn3m5.21.

Nelson Frye, Richard (1997) [1965]. Bukhara: The Medieval Achievement (2nd ed.). Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 1-56859-048-2.

Rossabi, Morris (1994). "All the Khan's Horses" (PDF). Natural History. Retrieved 3 February 2022.

Smith, John Masson (1975). "Mongol Manpower and Persian Population". Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient. 18 (3): 271–299. doi:10.2307/3632138. JSTOR 3632138.

Starr, S. Frederick (2013). Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-15773-3. JSTOR j.ctt3fgz07.

Sverdrup, Carl (2010). France, John; J. Rogers, Clifford; DeVries, Kelly (eds.). "Numbers in Mongol Warfare". Journal of Medieval Military History. Boydell and Brewer. VIII: 109–117. doi:10.1515/9781846159022-004. JSTOR 10.7722/j.ctt7zstnd.6.

Sverdrup, Carl (2013). "Sübe'etei Ba'atur, Anonymous Strategist". Journal of Asian History. Harrassowitz Verlag. 47 (1): 33–49. doi:10.13173/jasiahist.47.1.0033. JSTOR 10.13173/jasiahist.47.1.0033.

Sverdrup, Carl (2017). The Mongol Conquests: The Military Campaigns of Genghis Khan and Sübe'etei. Warwick: Helion & Company. ISBN 978-1-913336-05-9.

"Historic Centre of Bukhara: UNESCO World Heritage Site". UNESCO: World Heritage Convention. Archived from the original on 4 December 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2023.

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