Early Campaigns of Genghis Khan

Early Campaigns of Genghis Khan

Temujin organized his people and his state to prepare for war. He also knew that the Jin Dynasty had a young ruler who would not come to the aid of Tanguts of Xi Xia. After the defeat of the Kara-Khitais, the extensive Mongol Empire had a border with the Muslim state of Khwarezmia, governed by Shah Ala ad-Din Muhammad. These campaigns were the start of Mongol invasion of Rus and Mongol invasion of Europe by almost two decades until 1240s. The Mongol armies after conquering Khwarezmid Empire split into two component forces.

Genghis Khan established The Mongol Empire in 1206. It was bordered on the west by the Western Xia Dynasty. To its east and south was the Jin Dynasty, who at the time ruled northern China as well as being the traditional overlord of the Mongolian tribes. Temujin organized his people and his state to prepare for war. He also knew that the Jin Dynasty had a young ruler who would not come to the aid of Tanguts of Xi Xia. This is what happened when the Tanguts asked the leader of Jin Dynasty for help and was refused.

The Jurchen had also grown uncomfortable with the newly-unified Mongols. It may be that some trade routes ran through Mongol territory, and they might have feared the Mongols eventually would restrict the supply of goods coming from the Silk Road. Genghis Khan also was eager to take revenge against the Jurchen for their long subjugation of the Mongols. The Jurch executed some Mongol Khans and had been enciting conflict between Mongol tribes. Eventually, Genghis Khan led his army against Western Xia and conquered it, despite initial difficulties in capturing its well-defended cities. In 1209, the Tangut emperor acknowledged Genghis as overlord.

In 1211, Genghis set about bringing the Nuzhen (the founders of the Jin Dynasty) completely under his dominion. The Commander of Jin army had made a tactical mistake in not attacking the Mongols initially. Instead, the Jin commander sent a messenger, Ming-Tan, to the Mongol side, who promptly defected and told Mongols that Jin army is waiting on the other side of the pass. In the engagement, which was fought at Badger Pass, Mongols massacred thousands of Jin troops. When the Taoist sage Ch’ang Ch’un was passing through this pass to meet Genghis Khan he was stunned to see the bones of so many people scattered in the pass. On his way back he stayed close to this pass for three days and prayed for the departed souls. The Mongol army crossed the Great Wall of China in 1213, and in 1215 Genghis besieged, captured, and sacked the Jin capital of Yanjing (later known as Beijing). This forced the Jin Emperor Xuan Zong to move his capital south to Kaifeng. (from Wikipedia)

Conquest over the Khwarezm
After the defeat of the Kara-Khitais , the extensive Mongol Empire had a border with the Muslim state of Khwarezmia, governed by Shah Ala ad-Din Muhammad. Genghis The commercial potential of Khwarezmia was apparent to Ghenghis and he sent a 500-man caravan to officially establish trade ties with Khwarezmia. However Inalchuq, the governor of the Khwarezmian city of Otrar, attacked the caravan that came from Mongolia, claiming that the caravan was a conspiracy against Khwarezmia. The governor later refused to make repayments for the looting of the caravan and murder of its members. Genghis Khan then sent a second group of ambassadors to meet the Shah himself. The shah had all the men shaved and some were facially mutilated and all but one beheaded. This was seen as an affront to Khan himself. This led Genghis Khan to attack the Khwarezmian Dynasty.

The Mongols crossed the Tien Shan Mountains, coming into the Shah’s empire. After much research Genghis Khan carefully prepared his army , which was divided into three groups. His son Jochi led the first division into the Northeast of Khwarezmia. The second division under Jebe marched secretly to the Southeast part of Khwarezmia to form, with the first division, a pincer attack on Samarkand. The third division under Genghis Khan and Tolui marched to the northwest and attacked Khwarezmia from that direction. The Shah’s army was split by diverse internal disquisitions, and by the Shah’s decision to divide his army into small groups concentrated in various cities - this fragmentation was decisive in Khwarezmia’s defeats. The Shah’s fearful attitude towards the Mongol army also did not help his army, and Genghis Khan and his generals succeeded in destroying Khwarezm. Tired and exhausted from the journey, the Mongols still won their first victory against the Khwarezmian army. The Mongol army quickly seized the town of Otrar, relying on superior strategy and tactics . Once he had conquered the city, Genghis Khan executed many of the inhabitants and executed Inalchuq by pouring molten silver into his ears and eyes, as retribution for the insult.

A minaret in Samarkand.According to stories, Khan diverted a river of Ala ad-Din Muhammad II of Khwarezm’s birthplace, erasing it from the map. The Mongols’ conquest of the capital was nothing short of brutal: the bodies of citizens and soldiers filled the trenches surrounding the city, allowing the Mongols to enter raping, pillaging and plundering homes and temples. In the end, the Shah fled rather than surrender. Genghis Khan charged Subutai and Jebe with hunting him down, giving them two years and 20,000 men. The Shah died under mysterious circumstances on a small island within his empire. By 1220 the Khwarezmid Empire was eradicated. After Samarkand fell, Bujara became the capital of Jorezm, while two Mongol generals advanced on other cities to the north and the south. Jorezm, the heir of Shah Jalal Al-Din and a brilliant strategist, who was supported enough by the town, battled the Mongols several times with his father’s armies. However, internal disputes once again split his forces apart, and Jorezm was forced to flee Bujara after a devastating defeat.
Genghis Khan selected his third son Ugodei as his successor before his army set out, and specified that subsequent Khans should be his direct descendants. Genghis Khan also left Muqulai, one of his most trusted generals, as the supreme commander of all Mongol forces in Jin China. (From Wikipedia)

War on Georgia and Volga Bulgaria
These campaigns were the start of Mongol invasion of Rus and Mongol invasion of Europe by almost two decades until 1240s. The Mongol armies after conquering Khwarezmid Empire split into two component forces. Genghis Khan led a division on a raid through Afghanistan and northern India, while another contingent, led by his generals Jebe and Subutai, marched through the Caucasus and Russia. Neither campaign added territory to the empire, but they pillaged settlements and defeated any armies they met that did not acknowledge Genghis Khan as the rightful leader of the world. In 1225 both divisions returned to Mongolia. These invasions ultimately added Transoxiana and Persia to an already formidable empire. While Genghis Khan gathered his forces in Persia and Armenia, a detached force of 20,000 troops, commanded by Jebe and Subutai, pushed deep into Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The Mongols destroyed Georgians, sacked the Genoese trade-fortress of Caffa in Crimea, and sta
yed over winter near the Black Sea. Heading home, Mongols assaulted the Kipchaks and were intercepted by the allied troops of Mstislav the Bold of Halych and Mstislav III of Kiev, along with about 80,000 Kievan Rus’. Subutai sent emissaries to the Slavic princes calling for separate peace, but the emissaries were executed. At the Battle of Kalka River in 1223, the Mongols defeated the larger Kievan force. The Russian princes then sued for peace. Subedei agreed but was in no mood to pardon the princes. As was customary in Mongol society for nobility the Russian princes were given a blood less death. Subedei had a large wooden platform constructed on which he ate his meals along with his other generals. Six Russian princes, including Mstislav of Kiev were put under this platform and they suffocated to death.

Genghis Khan’s army did lose to Volga Bulgars in the first attempt [citation needed], though they did come back to avenge their defeat by subjugating all Volga Bulgaria under the Khanate Golden Horde. Mongols also learned from captives of the abundant green pastures beyond the Bulgar territory, allowing for the planning for conquest of Hungary and Europe. Genghis Khan recalled the forces back to the Mongolia soon afterwards, and Jebe died on the road back to Samarkand. This famous cavalry expedition of Subutai and Jebe, in which they encircled the entire Caspian Sea defeating every single army in their path, remains unparalleled to this day.

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