home > Pedagogy > conquest of Central Asia. The military tactics of Genghis Khan during the conquest of Central Asia and Kazakhstan The conquest of China and Central Asia by the Mongols

conquest of Central Asia. The military tactics of Genghis Khan during the conquest of Central Asia and Kazakhstan The conquest of China and Central Asia by the Mongols

In ten days of laying the floors in the bathhouse, painting miniatures, picking mushrooms and other inactivity, social capital fell to zero. It's time to rehabilitate and make the second part of the article about the Mongol Empire, since for the first time only the formation of the empire was described. And yes, it has an interesting history. The first part can be found here http://tetja-diana.livejournal.com/42997.html and we will continue.

Central Asia and the Middle East. Dominion for the Ages

So, let's first find out what the geopolitical situation in the region was at that time. In Central Asia, then, in fact, there were only two states - the Great Khorezm and the Arab Caliphate, both quite powerful. The Caliphate had already begun to lose ground in Spain and Africa, but Khorezm stood firm. The active army of Khorezm numbered five hundred thousand (!) Soldiers. In fact, Khorezm could grind the army of Genghis Khan and not even notice. But, alas, the wrong person sat on the throne.

Central Asia at that time was a passage yard for the Turkic tribes traveling back and forth and along the way slaughtering each other and everyone they hit. Since ancient times, the Iranian-speaking population has been sitting in the cities, slowly dissolving in the Turkic waves.

At the court of Khorezm Shah himself, the tribal conflict was even more intense. Khorezm, which united all this hodgepodge, was an international state, but the two Turkic peoples were the most influential - the Kipchaks and the Turkmens. It just so happened that the positions of the Kipchaks turned out to be stronger, and the son of Khorezm Shah was thrown out to the outskirts of Khorezm, since he was the son of a Turkmen woman. Nevertheless, he retained his positions at court, and, using the trust of his father, he could intervene in the war.

Like any people of that time, the Kipchaks, despite their sedentary lifestyle, sometimes experienced a burning desire to raid their neighbors. The mood was transmitted from the bottom to the top, to the very environment of Khorezm Shah. And at one fine moment, the shah ordered: to be a campaign. And off we go...

Soon the Khorezmian army of forty thousand attacked the Mongol army of twenty thousand. The battle began, Khorezm Shah lazily sipped tea, looking at how the Kipchak units surrounded the enemy ... and ten minutes later he was already running from the battlefield with all the speed available to him. The Mongols overturned the Kipchaks, struck at the center, and only in time the reserves brought up stopped their advance.

Meanwhile, on the other flank, commanded by the son of the Shah, Jalal-ad-Din, the Turkmen units repelled the attacks of the Mongols, drove them into the salt marsh and made a cauldron. The massacre on both flanks continued until late into the night. And in the morning, when Khorezm Shah was eager to continue the battle, he did not find anyone: the Mongols successfully retreated under cover of darkness. After this battle, the Khorezmians counted themselves a victory.

The army of Khorezm thinned out a little more than half. The army of the Mongols - a little less than completely. And it was only a test of strength.

Genghis Khan offered Khorezm Shah peace-friendship-alliance. But the proud Shah of the Khan's ambassador (one of the closest advisers) killed, which actually unleashed a war.

As for the Mongol ambassadors in general, here one wants to sob into the pillow with tears of tenderness over the genius of Genghis Khan. The fact is that the murder of an ambassador in all ages was something terrible, and even in the Middle Ages it was completely, and declaring war for such a thing was quite justified by international standards. But this beautiful rule did not take into account one “little thing” - ambassadors prone to suicide. More precisely, to death for a common cause. In general, the ambassadors of Genghis Khan behaved extremely defiantly. Inclined to defend their honor and not tolerating insults, medieval aristocrats could not help but react to these provocations, and as a result, the Mongol ambassadors were killed regularly, and each time Genghis Khan or one of his successors in his yurt rubbed his hands happily, because they became completely untied.

Otrar

The Shah did not yet believe in the seriousness of Genghis Khan's statement, but just in case he sent troops to the border cities. And it helped him. On the way of the army of Genghis Khan, which, by the way, was very numerous, stood Otrar - a medium-sized city of commercial importance. The Otrar garrison consisted of thirty thousand fighters led by Kair Khan, one of the most adequate offspring of the Kipchak family. Otrar became a sore subject for Genghis Khan for almost half a year. The Mongols took this city only with the help of a human shield from prisoners. All that remained was the citadel, which held a couple of hundred people. The miracle did not happen - the citadel was taken after another two months. The gate was opened by a traitor.

Khujand

Ironically, exactly those units that suffered the most during the assault on Otrar were thrown to Khujand, and they did not want to storm the walls of the new city under the arrows of the soldiers of Khorezm. Therefore, at first they themselves almost found themselves in the position of besieged. Seeing this, Genghis Khan sent more decent troops there, including the Chinese with their fighting machines. When the walls were broken, and the vanguard of the Mongols had already crossed the Syr Darya, Timur-Melik withdrew his troops from the city and began to reasonably retreat, changing cover.Most of the Mongolsrushed after him... Only two of them returned... True, only Timur-Melik himself remained from the Khujand garrison. Subsequently, he managed to return to Khorezm Shah to report on the fall of Khujand. Khojent was a rather serious fortress, located in the bend of the Syr Darya. But the garrison in it was three times smaller than in Otrar. However, this was more than compensated by the commandant - the best commander of Khorezm Shah Timur-Melik. Alas, this worthy man supported Jalal-ed-Din at the military council and fell into disgrace. But it was not for the shah to execute such a useful person, so he came up with an honorable exile for the commander.

Bukhara

Already heard about the power of the Mongols, the inhabitants of this city decided not to tempt fate and resisted for a very short time. A week later, the city was surrendered to the Mongol troops - by the way, led personally by Genghis Khan. Alas, he did not appreciate such a gesture of goodwill, and the fate of the Bukharians was not much different from the usualthe fate of the Central Asian city taken by the Mongols. One fine morning, the entire population was driven out of the city and the selection began: specialists went to the horde, strong-looking - into slavery (each Mongol warrior carried away 3-5 people on average), good for nothing - were cut out on the spot or sent as cannon fodder, in this case, the siege of Samarkand.

Samarkand

Khorezm Shah dragged his residence from the old capital - Gurganj to this fortress. Having brought there a huge garrison and even war elephants, he began to wait for the Mongols to approach, confident in victory with superior forces.

But the Muslim clergy opened the gates of the city to the Mongols a couple of days later. Of course, the population did not escape the genocide, although the clergy themselves did not particularly suffer. The Mongols generally spared the clergy, and this pursued many goals: not to anger foreign gods just in case, to acquire at a small price not weak allies in the conquered lands, the fifth column, as in the described case, etc.

Iran

According to the cunning plan of Khorezm Shah, while the troops of Khorezm in the cities had to hold back the Mongols, he had to collect a new, huge army in Iran. It didn't work out. Having collected only twenty thousand soldiers, he was overtaken by an army of the Mongols in approximately the same number. Characteristically, the battle ended with the destruction of both sides. Khorezm Shah finally realized that his son was right, called Jalal-ed-Din to him, declared him the new Khorezm Shah, and he himself went to an island in the Caspian Sea, where he died.

a glimmer of hope

Jalal-ed-Din

Jalal-ed-Din was the only one who understood very well what was happening with his native Khorezm and what to do in this situation. The territory of Khorezm was shrinking with each captured city, and the vanguard of the Mongols had already approached Gurganj, which again became the capital of Khorezm.

With what was left of the Khorezm Shah's army, Jalal-ed-Din attacked the Mongol vanguard, which also led a caravan with siege engines. The escort was scattered, the caravan was robbed and almost completely destroyed. The captured food and siege engines were very useful to Gurganj later, during the defense.

While Timur-Melik, who traveled with the new Khorezm Shah, was gathering a new army, attracting everyone who could at least hold a spear, Jalal-ed-Din and his flying detachment rushed around the country, robbing the caravans of the Mongols (it must be said, the backbone of this detachment consisted of professional robbers, who had been doing this in the desert before the war, so they knew a lot about this business) and exterminating their detachments. Local residents, seeing this, began to partisan themselves against the Mongols, and thus almost half of the conquered territories of Khorezm were recaptured. In the meantime, Timur-Melik set out from Gurganj with sixty thousand troops. It all started so well...

Battle of Parwan

One of the few major failures of the Mongols in Central Asia. Genghis Khan sent about fifty men under the command of his half-brother to defeat Jalal-ed-Din.

Jalal-ed-Din chose a very good place - a rocky gorge in which it was impossible to carry out a cavalry rush - the main weapon of the Mongols. Khorezm units stood with bows and shot at the Mongols. By the third day, the Mongol army was so exhausted that they tried to retreat on exhausted horses. But the soldiers of Jalal-ed-Din, being dismounted, saddled completely fresh horses and launched a counterattack. The result - less than two hundred people out of fifty thousand returned to Genghis Khan.

Battle of the Indus River

Having suffered such a deafening defeat, the Mongols became worried. Sending another army was already scary, so Genghis Khan used tactics that were still relevant for Alexander the Great - bribing the enemy's allies. As a result, the army of Jalal-ed-Din decreased exactly by half.

The commander was not a fool, and such an army was not going to butt heads with Genghis Khan. He decided to retreat to India, where he expected to request help. He retreated exactly until the river Indus blocked his path. There was no crossing, pontoons were not yet able to build, and boats and ships were sorely lacking. And the Mongols were already advancing on the heels of the Turkmens ... There was no choice. The soldiers of Jalal-ed-Din prepared for battle.

Genghis Khan and Jalal-ed-Din attacked at the same time. The first to spearhead the attack put the "mad" - the elite corps of the Mongols. The second is his flying squad. Suddenly, the "mad" were knocked over, and they fled. Genghis Khan also had to flee. But at the same time, his generals did not doze, and when the "mad" were driven away quite far, they hit the troops of Jalal-ed-Din simultaneously from both flanks.

The army of Jalal-ed-Din fell into the cauldron. But there was no easy victory, it turned out to be a meat grinder with thousands of corpses on both sides. Tellingly, Jalal-ed-Din survived. He rushed to the Indus, swam across it, after which he went to India to collect a new army. So he attacked the Mongols until his death, destroying small detachments and capturing fortresses.

Gurganj. End

The Mongols, having already arrived with a huge army (about two hundred thousand soldiers, led by the three sons of Genghis Khan, each of whom wanted to take Gurganj before their brothers), began to storm the walls. The garrison and the militias shot them from the walls. Each assault turned into a bloodbath. Having lost fifty thousand for three, the brothers changed tactics and began to fire at Gurganj with Chinese throwing guns. But then it turned out terrible: no stones were found! The bombing ended the very next day. (Later, they came up with the idea of cutting shells out of wood, and throwing them, soaking them in water. But that’s later.) In the end, Khan Jochi, the eldest son of Genghis Khan, managed to capture the walls from his direction, but this did not give him anything. The Mongols captured part of the city, but the garrison tensed up, counterattacked and pushed them out of there. After a difficult victory over Jalal-ed-Din, the Mongols approached Gurganj. They hoped that he, like Bukhara and Samarkand, would himself open the gates for them. But other people lived in Gurganj - blacksmiths, coppersmiths, gunsmiths, shepherds. They were smarter than the pampered merchants from Bukhara, and therefore they did not open the gates and ordered to kill everyone who wanted to do it. The garrison in Gurganj (the former capital!) Was also quite strong.

Finally, again, a certain engineer guessed to change the course of the river that flowed near Gurganj. The river washed away the already dilapidated walls. The streets of the city have turned into rivers. The Mongols swam into the city.

The Mongols suffered huge losses as they advanced. And yet, slowly, block by block, they captured Gurganj, losing a huge number of people. When there were almost no defenders left in the hands of the whole city, they surrendered.

The Mongols laid under Gurganj, although mostly in it, more than one hundred and forty thousand people, in order to get a flooded and destroyed city. But still, it was a victory. Great Khorezm fell.

Such are the serious things in Central Asia. In subsequent issues, I would like to consider the relationship between the Mongol Empire and Rus' (yes, that Yoke, which, as I often hear, did not actually exist), as well as the gradual fading of the empire. But more about that another time.

The conquest by Genghis Khan of the Khorezm state, which united under his rule by the beginning of the 13th century. Central Asia, Iran and Afghanistan, was largely due to its internal weakness. The struggle between different groups of nobility and feudal fragmentation prevented the organization of defense.

Khorezmshah did not trust his vassals and was afraid to convene their militias, the vassals were at enmity with each other and with the central government, and all together they were afraid of the activity of the masses, did not dare to arm them to fight the external enemy. Therefore, as evidenced by the reports of the Arab historian Ibn al-Asir, as well as Juvaini, Rashid-ad-din and other authors of the 13th - early 14th centuries, who wrote in Persian, in Central Asia, like Pi in Iran, as well as in the countries of Transcaucasia, the most active fighters against the militias of Genghis Khan were the masses, primarily artisans organized in workshops and the urban poor. The conquerors met with a very strong rebuff, but as a result of the passivity or direct betrayal of the local feudal lords, isolated pockets of resistance were suppressed by the Mongols one by one.

The capture of Samarkand by the troops of Genghis Khan. Miniature of the 16th century.

First, Genghis Khan exchanged embassies with Khoresmshah Muhammad (1200-1220), trying through his ambassadors and merchants to collect as much information as possible about the enemy's forces. Then Genghis Khan began active hostilities (1219), using as a pretext a robbery in the city of Otrar on the Syr Darya of a trade caravan coming from Mongolia. The Khorezmshah, fearing to unite all the militias of his vassals, dispersed his troops over separate fortified cities and thereby doomed them to passive defense. The Mongol army led by Genghis Khan, having taken Otrar, headed across the steppes to Bukhara.

The speed of the movement of Genghis Khan's troops did not allow the necessary measures to be taken to meet the enemy. Large landowners, merchants and the highest Muslim clergy, fearing for their wealth and not trusting the masses, took the path of betrayal. Because of their betrayal at the beginning of 1220.

Bukhara, Samarkand and other cities of the Zarafshan valley were captured. Serious resistance was offered in Dzhenda and especially in Khujand, where its heroic defender Timur-Melik, one of the few military leaders who showed genuine stamina and great military abilities, advanced. Khorezmshah Muhammad, frightened by the successes of Genghis Khan, fled to Iran under the pretext of gathering new troops, but then took refuge on one of the islands of the Caspian Sea, where he died at the end of 1220. After a long and heroic defense of Merv and Urgench by their population, these cities were taken and destroyed. By 1221, all of Central Asia was captured by the Mongol conquerors.

The consequences of the conquest of Central Asia by the Mongols were catastrophic. The wonderful irrigation systems of the Merv oasis, Khorezm and other regions were destroyed.

Urgench, Merv, Termez and other cities lay in ruins. To manage the agricultural regions of Maverannahr, the Great Khan Ugedei, in agreement with the ulus Khan Chagatai, appointed the rich Khorezm merchant Mahmud Yalavach, who was in the service of Genghis Khan, who played the main role in the mentioned embassies of Genghis Khan to Xorezmshah Muhammad. The descendants of Mahmud Yalavach, who became feudal lords, ruled the agricultural regions of Maverannahr until 1311. They tried to rely on the surviving local feudal nobility and the Muslim clergy, as well as on the rich merchants, who quickly reconciled themselves to Mongol rule. Chagatai Khan and his successors in the steppes of Semirechie, maintaining a nomadic lifestyle. The domination of the nomads had a disastrous effect on the economy and culture of Semirechye. During the XIII century. here agricultural oases and cities almost disappeared, the whole country turned into a steppe.

The conquerors established cruel forms of feudal exploitation of the conquered settled working population. The peasants and artisans who remained in the cities were crushed by huge taxes and duties, some were enslaved. They worked in government workshops on meager rations, receiving only bread every day and only three times a week a little meat.

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Opponents Mongol Empire Qara Khitai Khanate
State of Khorezmshahs Commanders Genghis Khan
Jochi
Chagatai
Ogedei
Tuluy
subday
Jebe
Jelme
Mukhali
Khubilai
Khazar
Borge
sorkin ball Kuchluk
Ala ad-Din Muhammad II
Jalal ad-Din Menkburny
Kaiyr Khan † (executed) Side forces about 200 thousand people: the center - 101 thousand,
right wing - 47 thousand,
left wing - 30 thousand;
equipped mounted archers with siege weapons. 400,000-450,000 people (diverse and undisciplined army, which did not have uniform forms of organization). Military casualties unknown 150,000 killed
2.5-4 million civilians.

History of Turkmenistan
















Portal "Turkmenistan"

Mongol conquest of Central Asia took place in two stages. In 1218, the Mongols defeated their old opponent Kuchluk, who had become shortly before that the gurkhan of the Kara-Khidan state, and the Kara-Khidan territory was divided between the Mongol Empire and Khorezm. By the autumn of 1219, a war began with Khorezm, which continued until the spring of 1223. During this period, the main part of the state of Khorezmshahs from the Indus to the Caspian Sea was conquered. The last Khorezmshah Jalal ad-Din Mankburny, who resisted the Mongols for several more years, was eventually defeated and died in 1231.

War with the Kara-Chai Khanate

The Black Khitan dominated the Central Asian region in the 12th century, inflicting a crushing defeat on the Seljuks of Sultan Sanjar and the Karakhanids at the Battle of Katwan. However, their empire was soon weakened by constant uprisings and internecine wars, which made possible the rapid conquest of the Khitan empire in 1211 by the Naimans led by Khan Kuchluk, with the active support of Khorezmshah Muhammad, who had previously paid tribute to the Kara-Kitais, with whom Kuchluk concluded an alliance against his overlord.

Kuchluk, by that time hiding from the Mongols of Genghis Khan, received asylum at the court of the gurkhan Chzhulhu and permission to gather the remnants of the army defeated at the Irtysh, which, however, did not prevent him from usurping the throne, as soon as he got a rather strong army under his hand.

After a short but decisive military campaign, the allies gained a lot, and the gurkhan was forced to give up power in favor of an uninvited guest. In 1213, the gurkhan Chzhulhu died, and the Naiman khan became the sovereign ruler of Semirechye. Having become an irreconcilable opponent of Khorezm, Kuchluk began to persecute Muslims in his possessions, which aroused the hatred of the settled population of Zhetysu. Karluk Khan Arslan Khan, and then the ruler of Almalyk Buzar moved away from the Naimans and declared themselves subjects of Genghis Khan.

The Naiman prince undertook several campaigns against Buzar, then in search of help he submitted to Genghis Khan. During the hunt, Buzar was captured by Kuchluk, who then unsuccessfully besieged Almalyk. In response, the vassals of Genghis Khan turned to him for help. In 1216, Genghis Khan sent a 20,000-strong detachment led by Jebe to punish the fugitive Naiman Khan. In connection with the approach of the Mongol detachment, Kuchluk lifted the siege of the city, killed Buzar and returned to Kashgar.

The Mongols conquered Semirechye and East Turkestan, which were held by Kuchluk. In the very first battle, Jebe defeated the Naimans. The Mongols allowed Muslims to public worship, which was previously prohibited by the Naimans, which contributed to the transition of the entire settled population to the side of the Mongols. After the cruel arbitrariness of Kuchluk, the people of Kashgar, Yarkand and Khotan considered the arrival of the Mongols "one of the graces of Allah." The inhabitants of Balasagun opened the gates to the Mongols, for which the city received the name Gobalyk - "meek city". Kuchluk, unable to organize resistance, fled to the Pamir Mountains, Badakhshan, where he was caught and killed. The road to Khorezm was opened before Genghis Khan.

War with Khorezm

The enraged Genghis Khan demanded the extradition of Kaiyr Khan, but the Khorezmshah, fearing the wrath of the Kangly nobility, refused. Instead of fulfilling the demand, Muhammad beheaded one of the ambassadors of the Mongol Khan, and let the rest go, after cutting off their beards.

After the victory over Kuchluk and the destruction of the Kara-Kitai state, which threatened the left flank, and subsequently the rear and communications of the Mongol army in a hypothetical campaign against Khorezm, the Mongol army led by Subedei-bagatur and Tohuchar-noyon approached the borders of Khorezm and collided with the troops of the Khorezmshah. The right wing of the Khorezm army, under the command of the son of Muhammad, Jalal-ad-Din, succeeded on its flank and helped the center and left wing of its army. By nightfall, neither side had achieved decisive results. At night, the Mongols kindled fires and left the battlefield.

The siege of Otrar by the forces of several tumens began in September 1219 and lasted about five months. Kaiyr Khan, knowing that the Mongols would not spare him, desperately defended himself. The betrayal of one of the commanders hastened the fall of Otrar. Leaving the city gates at night, he surrendered to the Mongols. Through the same gate, the besiegers broke into the city. Part of the troops and residents locked themselves in the fortress and continued to defend themselves. Only a month later the Mongols were able to take the citadel. All its defenders were killed, the fortress was destroyed, Kaiyr Khan was executed, and the city was razed to the ground after being plundered. The captives (khashar) from Otrar were then used in the assault on Khujand and Samarkand.

The detachments of Jochi, who made campaigns along the Syr Darya, in the spring of 1220 approached Sygnak. The siege lasted seven days, after which the Mongols broke into the city and destroyed all its fortifications. In a short time, Uzgen, Barchynlykent and Dzhend submitted to the Mongols. A 10,000-strong detachment took Yangikent and headed for the lower reaches of the Syr Darya, mobilized 10,000 Turkmens there. They revolted, were partly defeated, and partly retreated south towards Merv. The main forces of Jochi were located in the Jend area.

From Merv Tolui went to Nishapur. For four days, its inhabitants fought desperately on the walls and streets of the city, but the forces were unequal. The city was taken, and, with the exception of four hundred artisans who were left alive and sent to Mongolia, the rest of the men, women and children were brutally killed. Herat opened its gates to the Mongols, but this did not save him from ruin. At this stage of his advance through the cities of Asia, Tolui received an order from his father to join his army in Badakhshan. After a short break, during which he captured Ghazni, Genghis Khan was going to resume the pursuit of Jalal-ad-Din, who, having gathered a 70,000th army, defeated a 30,000th detachment of the Mongols at Pervan. Having united with the detachments of Chagatai, Ogedei and Tolui, the leader of the Mongols overtook Jalal-ad-Din in December of the year on the banks of the Indus River. Although the troops of Genghis Khan greatly outnumbered the army of the son of Muhammad in numbers, the Khorezmians defended themselves fanatically. The Mongols carried out a detour through the difficult rocky terrain, associated with losses, and struck the Khorezmians in the flank. Genghis Khan also brought into battle the elite guards unit "bagaturs". Jalal-ad-Din decided to retreat, was able to temporarily throw the Mongols away from the river, after which he escaped by swimming with 4 thousand soldiers.

In pursuit of the young sultan, who this time fled to Delhi, Genghis Khan sent a 20,000-strong army. After devastating the provinces of Lahore, Peshawar and Melikpur, the Mongols returned to Ghazni. For another 10 years, Jalal-ad-Din fought the Mongols until he died in Anatolia in 1231.

For three years (1219-21), the kingdom of Muhammad Khorezmshah, which stretched from the Indus to the Caspian Sea, fell under the blows of the Mongols, its eastern part was conquered.

Notes

Mongol conquests
Europe	Western and Central Asia		East Asia

Jelme
Mukhali
Khubilai
Khasar
Boorchu
Sorgan Shira

The Black Khitan occupied a dominant position in the region of Central Asia in the 12th century, inflicting a crushing defeat on the Seljuks of Sultan Sanjar to the Karakhanids in the battle of Katvan. However, their empire was soon weakened by constant uprisings and internecine wars, which made possible the rapid conquest of the Khitan empire in 1211 by the Naimans led by Khan Kuchluk, with the active support of Khorezmshah Muhammad, who had previously paid tribute to the Kara-Kitais, with whom Kuchluk concluded an alliance against his overlord.

After a short but decisive military campaign, the allies gained a lot, and the gurkhan was forced to give up power in favor of an uninvited guest. In 1213, the gurkhan Chzhulhu died, and the Naiman khan became the sovereign ruler of Semirechye. Having become an irreconcilable opponent of Khorezm, Kuchluk began to persecute Muslims in his possessions, which aroused the hatred of the settled population of Zhetysu. Karluk Khan Arslan Khan, and then the ruler of Almalyk Buzar, abandoned the Naimans and declared themselves subjects of Genghis Khan.

The Mongols conquered Semirechye and Eastern Turkestan, which were owned by Kuchluk. In the very first battle, Jebe defeated the Naimans. The Mongols allowed Muslims to public worship, which was previously prohibited by the Naimans, which contributed to the transition of the entire settled population to the side of the Mongols. After the cruel arbitrariness of Kuchluk, the people of Kashgar, Yarkand and Khotan considered the arrival of the Mongols "one of the graces of Allah." The inhabitants of Balasagun opened the gates to the Mongols, for which the city received the name Gobalyk - "meek city". Kuchluk, unable to organize resistance, fled to the Pamir Mountains, Badakhshan, where he was caught and killed. The road to Khorezm was opened before Genghis Khan.

War with Khorezm

In the spring of 1219, without completing the conquest of China, Genghis Khan sent troops to the west.

Preparing the parties for war

At the top of the Khwarezmian nobility, opinions were divided on the question of how to counter the upcoming Mongol invasion. The urgently assembled supreme state council was unable to work out a reasonable plan of military action. The option of a military campaign to meet the Mongolian army on the northeastern borders of the state was proposed, but, apparently, was not implemented. Imam Shihab ad-Din Khivaki, an associate of the Khorezmshah and the head of the Shafiites of Khorezm, proposed to assemble a people's militia and meet the enemy on the banks of the Syr Darya with all military forces. Other plans for military operations were also proposed, but the Sultan chose the tactics of passive defense.

Khorezmshah and the dignitaries and generals who supported him, underestimating the siege art of the Mongols, relied on the fortress of the cities of Maverannahr. The Shah decided to concentrate the main forces on the Amu Darya, reinforcing them with militias from neighboring provinces. Mohammed and his commanders, sitting in the fortresses, expected to attack the Mongols after they had scattered around the country in search of prey.

Powerful garrisons were located in the large cities of the northeastern part of the state, a wall was built around Samarkand and a ditch was dug, although Mohammed doubted the effectiveness of defensive structures. The concentration of most of the troops was planned to be carried out southwest of the Amu Darya, where the main center of resistance was to be located.

Before the outbreak of hostilities, the Mongols conducted a deep large-scale reconnaissance of the enemy forces. When all the reports of informants were brought together at the headquarters of the Mongol Khan, it was decided to rely on the surprise and mobility of the Mongol troops.

In the summer of 1219, Genghis Khan prepared, according to various sources, from 150 to 200 thousand people for a campaign against Khorezm. The Khwarezmian Sultan Mohammed could easily assemble and deploy against the conquerors from the east twice as large an army. However, these were poorly trained, poorly disciplined detachments, besides, Muhammad was afraid of his own emirs, who at any moment could revolt against him.

The beginning of the war

The historian Ibn al-Asir is as follows to characterize the Mongol invasion in Central Asia: “What I proceed to, contains the narrative of the terrible event, and the greatest misfortune that the times have ever underwent, and which covered all created [God], and especially the Muslims ... Perhaps people will never see this disaster until the end of the existence of the universe ... -Sina. They rushed to the cities of Turkestan, such as Kashgar and Balasagun ... from there - to the cities of Maverannahr, such as Bukhara, Samarkand and others ... Then they crossed to Khorasan, captured and devastated it, destroying [cities], killing and robbing. From there they marched to Rey, Hamadan, and the country of Jibal with its cities as far as the borders of Iraq. Then they rushed to the cities of Azerbaijan and Arran, destroyed them and killed most of their inhabitants. Only a few of them were saved, left homeless. And all this in less than a year! This has never been known before."

In 1219, Genghis Khan personally went on a campaign with all his sons and with the main military forces. The conqueror's army was divided into several parts. One was commanded by his sons Chagatai and Ogedei, left by their father to besiege Otrar; the second was headed by the eldest son - Jochi. His main goal was the conquest of Sygnak and Dzhend. The third army was sent to Khujand. The main forces, led by Genghis Khan and his son Tolui, were to capture Samarkand.

The tactics of the Mongols in relation to the population of cities

If the city was able to be taken by storm after stubborn resistance, the Mongol commanders carried out a "general massacre" (Arabic-Persian, Katl-i Amm), and the remaining inhabitants, after driving them out into the field, were divided among the soldiers, who turned them into slavery. So it was in Otrar, Sygnak, Ashnas, Termez, Nisa, Balkh, Nishapur, Sabzavar, Tus, Gurganj, Herat (during the second capture after the uprising) and in other places. Sometimes, along with the cities, their rural districts were also cut out. After the massacre, the captured scribes were forced to count the number of those killed. According to Juvaini, after the massacre in Merv, the count of the dead continued for 13 days.

The siege of Khujand and the heroism of Temur Malik

In 1220, the third army of 5 thousand people. took Benakent and surrounded Khojent, also located on the Syr Darya. During the siege, the number of Mongol troops increased to 20 thousand people, the number of prisoners used during the siege - up to 50 thousand people. Temur-Malik, who led the defense of the island fortress, sailed down the Syr Darya. The Mongols organized the pursuit, and when Timur-Melik reached the area where the Jochi troops were located, he was forced to land on the left bank of the river and was able to evade pursuit with a fight, then kill the Mongol governor in Yangikent. As the historian Rashid ad-Din describes, “Timur Melik was left with a small number of people. He still showed resilience and did not give up. When these were also killed, he had no weapons left, except for three arrows, one of which was broken and without a tip. He was pursued by three Mongols; he blinded one of them with an unheaded arrow, which he shot, and to the others he said: “There are two arrows left according to the number of you. I'm sorry for the arrows. You'd better go back and save your life." The Mongols turned back, and he reached Khorezm and again prepared for battle.

The siege and destruction of the inhabitants of Bukhara

The fourth army, led by the ruler of the Mongols himself and his son Tolui, approached Bukhara (garrison, according to various sources, 3 thousand or 20 thousand people), which, after a short siege, fell into the hands of the Mongols in March 1220. The inhabitants were subjected to severe violence, and the city was plundered, destroyed and burned by the Mongols, the captives were sent to the siege of Samarkand. The historian Ibn al-Athir describes the events as follows: “After Genghis Khan freed himself from the capture of the fortress [of Bukhara], he ordered to rewrite all the main persons and elders of the city .... Then he ordered [the inhabitants of Bukhara] to leave the city. They left, deprived of their property. [Chinggis Khan] surrounded the [men] Muslims and ordered his people to divide them among themselves, which they did. It was a terrible day, a day of continuous sobs of men, women and children. And [the inhabitants of Bukhara throughout the country] scattered like [the tribe] Saba, and [their former unity] "was torn to shreds." Bukhara became "destroyed to the ground".

Attack on Samarkand and killings of its inhabitants

Leaving Bukhara in ruins, Genghis Khan went through the valley of Sogdiana to Samarkand (garrison, according to various sources, 40 thousand or 110 thousand people; 20 war elephants). On the third day, part of the clergy opened the gates for him and surrendered the city without a fight. 30 thousand Kangl warriors, who were the support of Khorezmshah Muhammad and his mother Turkan Khatun, were executed by the Mongols. As the historian Ibn al-Athir wrote: “On the fourth day they announced in the city that the entire population should come out to them, and if anyone slows down with this, they will kill him. All the men, women and children came out to them, and they did the same to them as they did to the inhabitants of Bukhara - they committed robberies, murders, deportation into captivity and all kinds of atrocities. Entering the city, they plundered it and burned the cathedral mosque, and left the rest as it was. They raped girls and subjected people to all kinds of torture, demanding money. Those who were not fit to be driven into captivity, they killed.

Campaign to Balkh and extermination of its inhabitants

Capture of Merv

In 1220, the largest city of Khorasan, Merv, was captured. The historian Ibn al-Athir gives the following information: “Then [the son of Genghis Khan] sat on a golden seat and ordered to bring those soldiers whom he had captured. They were brought and executed, and people looked at them and wept. As for the common people, the infidels divided among themselves men, women and children and their property. Because of the [terrible] cries, sobs and groans, [this day was like the coming day of the terrible judgment, about which it is said:] “And this is the day that they will see!”. They grabbed the rich, beat them and tortured them in every possible way, soliciting money. It is possible that one of them died from a severe beating, [although] he had nothing left with which he could pay off.

Escape of Khorezmshah Ala ad-Din Muhammad

Having lost the war without a fight and having no support, Muhammad fled to one of the deserted islands of the Caspian Sea, where he died in the village of Astara in February 1221, transferring power to his son Jalal-ad-Din. Three tumens led by Jebe, Subedei-bagatur and Tohuchar-noyon pursued Muhammad. Passing through the possessions of Khan-Melik, Tohuchar, in violation of the preliminary agreement, began to rob and capture the inhabitants, as a result of which he was recalled by Genghis Khan and demoted.

The assault on Urgench and the courage of Naj ad-din Kubra

Genghis Khan did not go further than Samarkand, but sent Tolui with a 70,000-strong army to conquer Khorasan, and at the beginning of 1221, a 50,000-strong army of Jochi, Chagatai and Ogedei approached the capital of Khorezm, the city of Urgench. After a seven-month siege, the Mongols took it, defeated it, and took the inhabitants into captivity. As the historian Rashid-ad-din wrote, “The Mongols fought fiercely and took quarter after quarter and palace after palace, demolished and burned them, until within seven days they took the whole city in this way. they were killed. They say that for every Mongol there were twenty-four people, the number of warriors [Mongols] was more than fifty thousand. In short, they were all killed and the army [Mongols] was busy flooding and plundering. At once they destroyed the remains of houses and quarters.

Genghis Khan heard about the sheikh of the sheikhs, the pole of poles Najm-ad-din Kubra, and he sent him to say: “I will betray Khorezm to be beaten and plundered. That saint of his time needs to leave the environment of the Khorezmians and join us!”. The sheikh, in response, said: “For seventy years now, I have been content and endure the bitterness and sweetness of fate in Khorezm with these people. Now that the time [has come] for the descent of troubles, if I run away and leave him, it will be far from the path of nobility and generosity! . Najm ad-din Kubra died during the storming of the city.

As Juvaini wrote: "The inhabitants of the city fortified themselves in the streets and quarters; on every street they started fighting, and near each passage they set up barriers. The [Mongolian] army burned their houses and quarters with vessels of oil and sewed people together with arrows and cannonballs." When the city was captured, the surviving inhabitants were driven into the field. Artisans were separated and taken into slavery (according to Juvaini, more than 100 thousand), as well as young women and children, and other residents were divided among the soldiers, and, according to Juvaini, each warrior had 24 people, and they all were killed "with axes, picks, sabers, maces." After that, the Mongols opened the dams, the water of the Amu Darya gushed and flooded the whole city, so that the people hiding in various shelters died, and "not one of the inhabitants survived."

Conquest of Eastern Iran

Meanwhile, Tolui, together with his army, entered the province of Khorasan and took Nessa by storm, after which he appeared in front of the fortress walls of Merv. Near Merv, prisoners from almost all the cities previously captured by the Mongols were used. Taking advantage of the betrayal of the inhabitants of the city, the Mongols captured Merv and, in their usual manner, plundered and burned the city in April 1221.

Jalal ad-Din's struggle with the Mongols

On the territory of Afghanistan, the fight against Genghis Khan was led by the son of Ala ad-din Muhammad II of Khorezmshah (1200-1220), Jalal ad-din, who was the ruler of the Ghazni inheritance. He gathered a considerable army. In Garchistan (a region in the upper reaches of the Murgab), Khan-Malik (from the Turkmens) joined him, as well as one of the major Turkmen leaders, Seif ad-din, who had a 40,000-strong army. Upon arrival in Ghazni, Timur-Malik and Amin al-mulk, Gur emirs and, finally, a detachment of Afghan soldiers led by Muzaffar-Malik joined him with their detachments. In the summer of 1221, advancing towards Genghis Khan, Jalal ad-din camped near the village of Parvan. He made a successful attack on a large detachment of Mongol troops besieging the fortress of Valiyan, and utterly defeated it.

Alarmed by the defeat of his troops, information about which could inspire and raise against the Mongols the population of the regions conquered by him and his sons, Genghis Khan sent a large detachment of troops (30-40 thousand) against Jalal ad-din, led by one of his experienced commanders, Shigi-Khutuhu-noyon (Shigi-Kutuk). Jalal-ad-Din, having gathered a 70,000th army, defeated the 30,000th detachment of the Mongols, led by Shigi-Kutuk, at Pervan.

Genghis Khan, who at that time was tied up by the siege of Talkan, soon took possession of the strong city and could himself oppose Jalal ad-Din with the main forces; its rear was provided by the detachment of Tolui in Khorasan. The leader of the Mongols, at the head of a 30,000th army, overtook Jalal-ad-Din in December 1221 on the banks of the Indus River. The Khorezmian army numbered 50,000 people. The Mongols carried out a detour through the difficult rocky terrain and struck the Khorezmians in the flank. Genghis Khan also brought into battle the elite guards unit of the “bagaturs”. The army of Jalal-ad-Din was defeated, and he himself with 4 thousand soldiers escaped by swimming.

For three years (1219-1221), the kingdom of Muhammad Khorezmshah, which stretched from the Indus to the Caspian Sea, fell under the blows of the Mongols, its eastern part was conquered.

Chronology

1211-1215 years- the beginning of the external expansion of the Mongolian state: the army of Genghis Khan attacks the Jurchen Jin dynasty, which owned Northern China. Destroyed about 90 cities; Beijing (Yanjing) fell in 1215
1217- in China, all the lands north of the Yellow River were conquered
1218-1224 years Mongols attack Khorezm
1218- the power of the Mongols extends to Semirechye (modern Kazakhstan)
1219- a hundred thousandth Mongol army led by Genghis Khan invades Central Asia
1221- the capture of Khorezm, the completion of the conquest of Central Asia. Hike in the territory of modern Afghanistan. Attack on the Delhi Sultanate
May 31, 1223- The 30,000th corps of Jebe and Subedei defeats the Russian-Polovtsian army on Kalka
1227 the death of Genghis Khan. Two years later, his son Ogedei was elected Great Khan (1229-1241)

The Kurultai of 1206 actually declared a world war. At the same time, neither in Asia nor in Europe, no one could have imagined the scale of the catastrophe ripening in the depths of the steppes. But soon everything became clear to everyone.

First of all, the war machine created by Genghis Khan fell upon Northern China. For the Mongols, the campaign against the local Jurchen Jin dynasty was a sacred act of retribution, like the invasion of the Greek-Macedonian army into Persia. The lord of the nomads had to avenge the shameful execution of his grandfather Ambagai Khan. For three days and three nights he prayed alone in his yurt, and a crowd of warriors stood around in nervous expectation. Then the lord came out and announced that Heaven would grant Victory. Breaking through the Great Wall, after several years of fierce battles with numerous Jin troops who relied on well-fortified cities, the Mongols entered Beijing.

This first international campaign, in addition to silk underwear to prevent contamination of wounds, supplied the Mongols with siege equipment and gunpowder, which was stuffed with primitive "grenades". In addition, military engineers of advanced Chinese training were captured. Many former Jin officials also went to the service of the new masters, and the main "acquisition" of Genghis Khan was the young adviser Yelü Chucai. This descendant of Khitan nomads, brought up in the Celestial Empire, went down in history as the creator of the system of indirect control over the conquered lands, which was used by the Mongols in the future. There were too few invaders to occupy the gigantic conquered territories, and the cities were alien to them. As they continued to roam, they left direct control of settled peoples to local authorities, who in turn were supervised by cosmopolitan Chinese, Muslim, and Christian bureaucrats, who were also responsible for collecting regular tribute. The secret was that at the first sign of indignation, the Mongol army was able to punish the “unreasonable” with lightning speed. The Confucian Yelü Chucai fell under the spell of Genghis Khan's personality, believed that he was called to establish a new world order, and decided to help the uncouth, cruel steppe dweller achieve this by more humane methods...

Meanwhile, leaving part of the army to finish off the Jin troops in the east, Genghis Khan turned to the kingdom of the Kara-Khitans in the west. Jebenoyon made a swift raid, defeated the enemy and reached the border with Khorezm, where in the 13th century the most important caravan routes between China, India and the Mediterranean crossed (one historian even called Khorezm the “British Isles of the Steppe Trade”). After careful reconnaissance, and the Mongols coped with it superbly, Genghis Khan himself led his tumens, hardened in China, to Turkestan. No one doubted the victory - after all, the Muslims killed the imperial ambassadors, insulting the Eternal Sky. What happened next is often referred to in textbooks as the “Central Asian Holocaust.”

The disassembled yurt weighed about 250 kg. Wooden gratings, on which felt felt mats were thrown, regulated the usable area. Beds were kept in chests, wooden buckets and wineskins stood at the entrance. On low tables - wooden or metal utensils. In long boxes with an ornamented front side there were food and clothes, they also served as seats. On the western, male, side were the bed of the head of the family, hunting equipment, harness

Khorezmshah Mohammed decided to defend himself behind the walls of fortified cities, out of habit considering the enemy an ordinary nomadic tribe that would leave, having robbed the surroundings. And he, chuckling, in advance called Bukhara, Urgench and Samarkand "pens for cattle intended for slaughter." The desperate resistance of the besieged (for example, Otrar fought back for five months) did not help. Spreading like a wide lava across the country, the Mongols drove the captured peasants under the walls of the fortresses. At first, under the guidance of Chinese engineers, they carried out siege work, and then they were the first to climb the walls. The most efficient use of the resources of the conquered country is the secret of many successes of Genghis Khan. While the number of conquerors usually decreases during the course of the invasion, his army grew. The settled population was used as "draft cattle" and "cannon fodder", and nomads, mostly Turks, joined the Mongolian tumens.

Having taken and plundered the cities of Khorezm, the Mongols staged an unprecedented massacre. The Persian chronicler Juvaini reports a million killed in Urgench alone, other authors write about several million in Bukhara and nearby cities. These figures are, of course, exaggerated, but they say a lot. The Mongols methodically killed the townspeople with the dexterity of pastoralists accustomed to slaughtering sheep.

According to modern experts, at least a quarter of the population of Khorezm died. The war at that time was traditionally waged by brutal methods, but, as the French scholar René Grousset wrote, Genghis Khan was the first to "raise terror into the system of government, and the massacre of the population into a methodological institution." This was not the "destruction of cities" by a nomad who hated them (although the steppe dwellers did not immediately begin to use the settlements of farmers as "milk cows"). It was a deliberate strategy of intimidation that weakened the will to resist both the conquered peoples and those who were about to face a terrible fate.

Secrets of victory

Only terror, the obsession of the Mongols with the imperial idea, and even the excellent organization of the army cannot explain their stunning victories. Success was ensured by a combination of the best weapons in the world and advanced military art. The steppes literally adored their horses. In the "Secret Tale", the Savrasy white-faced runner or the Brown-tailed black-tailed humpback are described along with the main characters of the story. In appearance, the unsightly Mongolian horse was a match for its rider - hardy and unpretentious. He easily endured extreme cold and could extract grass even from under the snow, which allowed Batu to attack Rus' in winter. (The horsemen, dressed in furs and leather boots with felt stockings, did not care about winter at all. And these stockings later turned into felt boots among the Russians.)

An ordinary soldier had three horses, on which he alternately rode on a campaign. The army traveled up to a hundred kilometers a day. Even when fighting, the steppe people managed to move faster than the motorized units of the Second World War. Their convoys were minimal: the enemy territory lying in front was "assigned" as a supply base. Each rider carried only "emergency supplies" - "Mongolian canned food", powdered milk and dried meat. If necessary, the soldiers drank the blood of clockwork horses, then bandaging the cut vein with a sinew thread.

In addition to the horse, the so-called “complex bow” can also be considered a “miracle weapon” of the Mongols. Several pieces of different types of wood, bones and horns were fitted to each other and glued together with animal glue. As a result, a weapon appeared, in capable hands that is slightly inferior in accuracy and range to firearms ...

The Hermitage keeps a stone found not far from Nerchinsk in 1818 with an inscription that says that on the way from Turkestan on his last trip to China, Genghis Khan set up camp in the lower reaches of the Onon. War games were arranged. The famous bagatur Isunke, in the presence of the sovereign, shot an arrow at 335 ald. Alda was equal to the distance between the outstretched arms of an adult man and was about one and a half meters. That is, Isunke fired half a kilometer. Rare daredevils fired like that, but even an ordinary warrior could pierce the enemy’s chain mail from a distance of 100 meters. At the same time, the rate of fire was significantly higher than from muskets and rifles. The Mongol began to learn to shoot at full gallop from the age of three.

Having brought to perfection the armament and training of the horse archer, the steppe dwellers did not forget about the heavy cavalry. After the conquest of Khorezm, she received at her disposal excellent chain mail and sabers of Muslim gunsmiths. The combination of heavy and light cavalry gave rise to the flexibility of the tactics of the Mongols.

During the war, they entered enemy territory in several columns and gradually began to narrow the “raid” ring until the main enemy forces were in it. Separate corps tried not to get involved in battle with superior forces and always knew where the other units were. Complex maneuvering, which was carried out with the accuracy of a Swiss chronometer, ended in a giant "bag", where Chinese, Khorezmian, Russian, Hungarian, Polish-German armies perished. Having surrounded the enemy field army, the light cavalry shot it from a distance with bows. This most complex form of combat required, with good shooting accuracy, each warrior to quickly rebuild large cavalry masses. And not a single army in the world could equal the art of maneuver with the Mongolian even several centuries after the death of Genghis Khan. The commanders led the battle using pennants, and at night - multi-colored lanterns. Either flying in or retreating, the archers exhausted the enemy and brought him under attack by heavy cavalry, and she decided the matter. Then there was the persecution. Genghis Khan always emphasized the need for the complete annihilation of the enemy. A couple of Tumens finished off the enemy's field army, and the rest of the Mongols scattered around the country in small detachments, robbing villages and driving prisoners to storm the fortresses. There, the most advanced Chinese siege equipment at that time came into play. For the clumsy European armies, such mobile warfare was an unfathomable nightmare. The Mongols, on the other hand, fought "by skill, not by numbers" and died less often in hand-to-hand combat, which they tried to avoid. The huge numerical superiority of the steppes is a myth that they themselves spread. Genghis Khan left his descendants an army of only 129,000 warriors, but it rather resembled a modern army that ended up in the Middle Ages. It is no coincidence that the famous British theorist of mechanized mobile units Liddell Garth wrote that "an armored vehicle or a light tank looks like the direct heir to the Mongol horseman."

Caught in a hole

After the defeat of Khorezm, the Mongol ruler lived for another six years. He managed to send in "deep reconnaissance" to the West, to Eastern Europe, Subedei and Jebe. Two tumens fought to carry the victorious banner with a flying falcon for almost eight thousand kilometers and returned with rich booty, not to mention invaluable information for the upcoming grandiose campaign. The Christian world received a warning, but did nothing to prepare to repel the invasion conceived by Genghis Khan. In twenty years, the grandson of the founder of the empire, Batu, will reach the Adriatic. For some time, the Great Khan was still hatching a plan for a campaign in India, but Yelü Chucai persuaded him to engage in the peaceful arrangement of the conquered countries. Genghis Khan, the legislator and conqueror, also turned out to be the most capable civil administrator. The restoration of cities and canals began, the roads were gradually freed from robbers.

Meanwhile, in his camp, the eternal winner had long conversations with the Taoist monk Chang Chun, who, as Yelü Chucai hoped, could soften the temper of the formidable Khan. But even more interested in whether the sage owns the elixir of immortality, or at least can predict when his interlocutor will die? Chang Chun honestly admitted that, apart from philosophy and asceticism, he does not know other means of longevity, and the time of death is known only to heaven.

By a strange whim of fate, the khan and the monk died in the same year and even in the same month. At the same time, no one could even imagine the circumstances of their death in advance. The advocate of a combination of spiritual and physical purity, who tried to convince Genghis Khan to force the nomads to wash, fell victim to dysentery. There were rumors that even the disciples could not endure the smell emanating from the holy hermit before his death.

Genghis Khan was destined for an even stranger death. At the end of 1226, he set off on a punitive campaign against the Tanguts, whose country occupied part of the current Chinese territory south of Mongolia. Once upon a time, these obstinate people refused an alliance with him, hoping that he would get stuck in Khorezm, and the “emperor” had a long memory. The northern outpost of the Tanguts at an important crossroads of the Great Silk Road - the Khara-Khoto fortress was destroyed and soon swallowed up by the sands of the Gobi desert. Only in the 20th century did the Russian traveler Pyotr Kozlov discover the ruins. But even before the end of the campaign, during the hunt, Genghis Khan's horse hit a ground squirrel's hoof with a hoof, the lord of half the world fell and was badly hurt.

He ordered to hide the misfortune from the army, fell ill for some time and died in August 1227. According to some sources, he was then 66 years old, according to others - 61 or even 72 years old. The dead commander-in-chief stood at the head of his fighting army for several more weeks: his death was announced according to the will only after the victory. Then the body of the terrible hero was taken to his homeland and secretly buried.

The tomb of Genghis Khan, according to legend, is located on the southern slope of the mountain Burkan Kaldun, sacred to the Mongols, two hundred kilometers from Ulaanbaatar. This is about 100 km2 of forested rocks and gorges. In 1990, a Japanese archaeological expedition, equipped with a special underground search radar, worked there but found nothing. There are other "candidates" for the burial place of Genghis and other great khans who followed him: for example, the ancient capital of the nomads Avraga or the area of the so-called Wall of Sacrifice (Khentii province). There, in 2001-2002, the famous treasure hunter from Chicago, Maury Kravitz, was digging. And also unsuccessfully.

Genius steppe?

As we have seen, everything that is known about Genghis Khan does not fit into either the idea of a “fiend of Hell”, or even the concept of a “brilliant savage” put forward by the Russian linguist and historian Boris Vladimirtsov. It was based on the old scientific scheme of human development from barbarism to civilization. According to her, "homo sapiens" supposedly began his victorious march on Earth as a wild hunter-gatherer, who then turned into an uncouth shepherd, and the farmer was seen as the crown of progress. Now historians agree that this theory is outdated. The nomads were not savages, from among whom emerged wise farmers who gave rise to urban culture. On the contrary, the steppe shepherds came from farmers. In order to drive herds over vast expanses, animals must first be domesticated. Nomadic pastoralism was preceded by sedentary pastoralism, and it arose within agricultural communities. Only later, at a higher stage in the development of society, about 4,000 years BC. e., shepherds learned to roam with horses and sheep in the steppe. In parallel with the plowmen, they created their own, no less complex system of economy, transfer of knowledge, military affairs and government. The Mongol Empire founded by Genghis Khan is the highest form of steppe civilization. With the invention of firearms and the emergence of science from its infancy, the townspeople have come a long way. But the Mongol ruler did not see this. Therefore, in the formula "brilliant savage" I would simply replace the word "savage" with "steppe", saving it from the pejorative meaning.

Deified sovereign

By the time of his death, Genghis Khan ruled a power that stretched from the Aral Sea to the Yellow Sea. It was twice the area of the Roman, and the empire of Alexander the Great - four. Moreover, unlike the last ruler, to whom his father left a magnificent army, kingdom and even a plan for a campaign in Persia, Genghis Khan achieved everything himself, from scratch. And unlike the state of Alexander, which collapsed immediately after his death, the brainchild of Genghis Khan turned out to be more viable. The Mongols deified the founding sovereign, and any next victory was considered the best sacrifice to this God of Conquest. In seventy years, his heirs almost tripled the empire, adding to it the rest of North and all of South China, Korea, Vietnam, part of Burma, Tibet, Iran, part of Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, most of modern Turkey, the Caucasus, the unconquered part of Central Asia and Kazakhstan, significant territories of Russia, Ukraine and Poland. In long-distance campaigns, the Chingizid tumens reached both Western Europe and Japan. The English historian John Man noted that the Mongol scout, who had been under the walls of Vienna in 1241 as a youth, could theoretically participate in the abortive landing sent by Kublai to Honshu in 1274. Pax Mongolica has spread over 28 million square kilometers. The great-grandson of Genghis Khan, Khubilai, was formally the ruler of one-fifth of the entire earth's land. Taking into account the fact that in Eurasia at that time no one knew about America and Australia and people had little idea of the size of Africa, by 1300 the Genghisides almost fulfilled the covenant of the Eternal Sky - they united the whole world. In addition to Japan and India, they could not subjugate only Arabia and Egypt and turn the Hungarian steppe into a second Mongolia, and Western Europe and the “island” of Byzantium into a second China. By the way, they could have completed the last task if it were not for the sudden death in 1241 of the Great Khan Ogedei, who interrupted the all-Mongol campaign led by Batu.

Georgy Vernadsky described the mechanism of functioning of the Genghis Khan empire best of all. The Mongols, who were under the special patronage of Heaven, were the ruling nation in it, accepting into the brotherhood of the steppes the Turks and other nomads who were at the second step in the national hierarchy. The common world for this brotherhood was the steppe zone from Mongolia to Ukraine, divided into uluses of various Genghisides. Here was the core of the empire and the main reservoir of its military power. The periphery, populated by the conquered farmers: Chinese, Persians, Khorezmians, Russians, became a “second-class world”... Moving along the internal steppe communications, the nomads quickly gathered forces into a fist to suppress the uprisings of settled peoples on the outskirts of the empire and long-distance campaigns to capture booty beyond its borders.

"Hurray for the Millennium Man"

Modern Mongolia has not missed an opportunity to remind the world, and even itself, that "it had a great era." Since history did not preserve the exact date of the kurultai of 1206, it was decided to celebrate throughout 2006. On January 1, in the central square of Ulaanbaatar, the President of the Republic of Mongolia, Enkhbayar, raised the national flag and announced the celebrations on the occasion of the "unification of nomadic tribes by the man of the millennium - Genghis Khan" open. The organizing committee of the events united under the motto "Great Mongolian State - 800" has developed a rich program. Back in 2005, the country experienced a months-long discussion about the role of the Mongol Empire and Genghis Khan in world history; everyone agreed that the security of the Great Silk Road was much more important than "excesses" like the massacres in China and Central Asia. The slogan “the steppe empire is the protector of trade routes” and the idea that its founder is not a conqueror, but a “collector of lands” and a forerunner of globalization, received full approval. And by the way, not only in Mongolia. The UN General Assembly, in a special resolution, welcomed the attempts of the official Ulaanbaatar to "deservely celebrate the holiday" and called on all member countries of this organization to take part in it.

Near the Government House, on the site of the mausoleum, urgently reburied Sukhe-Bator and Choibalsan, a nine-meter throne monument to the Shaker of the Universe was built, flanked by seven-meter figures of his famous descendants - Ogedei and Khubilai. Ulaanbaatar airport was named after Genghis Khan. Then, one after another, the ceremonies of “passing over the baton” from the past to the present were held: the Government Palace was solemnly handed over a copy of the seal of the Great Khan Guyuk, the Ministry of Transport and Tourism - a map of the ways of the pit service of the Mongolian Empire, the Ministry of Justice and Internal Affairs - a collection of the Yasa Codes that have come down to us ... not a single civil ministry was left without its own relic. Some military men were left without a “gift”: after all, they already have a black bunchuk, recognized as a symbol of the power of the Mongolian army back in the 90s. Other symbols of military glory can be seen at the exhibition "Military Art and Weapons of the Mongols", which opened in March. And yet, in the schedule of celebrations, the “war” faded into the background, giving way to cultural events. There is a throat singing festival, a beauty contest "Miss Mongolia", an art exhibition "Mongolian Lifestyle", and the premiere of the documentary film "Vertical Mongolian Writing", and the opera "Mother Hoelun", dedicated to Temujin's mother. But the culminating event that literally turned the musical life of the country upside down was not it, but the first rock opera in the history of the country, Genghis Khan, performed by the Khar Chono group, the main performance of which will take place at the Great Mongolia festival in July, at the very peak of the celebrations. On its eve, on June 21, a solemn meeting of the parliament will open on the occasion of the anniversary, and ten days later, “naadams” will begin in all aimags (regions) of Mongolia - open-air holidays with songs, dances and competitions in the “three arts of men”: archery, wrestling and horse racing. The big "Naadam" will be held on July 11, the day of the Victory of the people's revolution. "Guards of Genghis Khan" will deliver the emperor's nine-bunch white banner to the Central Stadium of Ulaanbaatar. The "historic" parade and competitions will be watched by thousands of spectators, including government delegations from many countries of the world. On the same day, 50 kilometers from Ulaanbaatar, on the Tsonzin Boldog hill, another one will be laid, this time a forty-meter monument to Genghis Khan: the khan will be depicted with a golden whip in his hand. But do not think that the Mongols decided to glorify him in the form of the Scourge of God. The steppe tradition recognizes the whip as a symbol of good luck and prosperity. In 2008, it is planned to build a museum and tourist complex around the monument on 15 hectares, dedicated to the life of nomads in the 13th century. But this is a distant future, and in the near future, namely in August of this year, the most “serious” event of the festivities will take place - the International Forum of Mongolian Studies. It is he who will sum up the comprehension of what went down in history under the name of the Mongol Empire.

Benefactor and Villain

The conquests of Genghis Khan turned the history of China, Russia, the countries of Central Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe upside down. The irrigation systems restored after the defeat were under the protection of the Mongols. Fundamentally new rules of trade were established, and most importantly, new opportunities opened up for it. Pepper from Southeast Asia, silk and porcelain from China were continuously supplied to Europe and to the Arabs. Management improved and a strict order in the collection of taxes was established. But the main thing is that the Mongols for the first time managed to unite the West and East of Eurasia into a single relatively peaceful space, ensuring security and speed of movement on it. Taoist monk Chang Chun traveled 10,000 kilometers in three years to meet with Genghis Khan, and no one touched him. And a Nestorian monk, a certain Rabban ban Sauma from China, visited the Pope in 1285 and met with the English king. Plano Carpini and Willem Rubruk, the Venetian merchant Marco Polo, not to mention Russian, Muslim and Chinese merchants, with the help of the Mongolian yamskaya service, covered vast distances at a speed unheard of at that time.

For example, Plano Carpini traveled four and a half thousand kilometers from Sarai on the Volga to Karakorum in Mongolia in one hundred and four days, while he “dragged” two thousand kilometers from Lyon to Kiev for ten months. Before the advent of the telegraph, there was no better information dissemination system than the Mongolian postal service. Inventions of Chinese civilization, such as paper for writing manuscripts and making money, penetrated the West (some historians believe, by the way, that gunpowder was also brought there by the Mongols). Engineers from the banks of the Yellow River oversaw the construction of canals in Iraq. The Russian craftsman Kuzma made a throne for the Great Khan Guyuk, and the Frenchman Boucher made the famous “silver tree” that adorned the palace of Khan Mongke in Karakorum. There was a cultural and informational explosion comparable only to the invention of printing. It affected all world religions, influenced science and art. Paradoxically, we owe even the discovery of America indirectly to Genghis Khan: it happened (unconsciously, anyway) because of the thirst of Europeans to restore the unity of Eurasia, lost after the collapse of the Mongol state. Let's not forget that the reference book of Christopher Columbus was a description of the adventures of Marco Polo "in the country of the Tartars."

Of course, unprecedented religious freedom and security were ensured by unprecedented cruelty - let's not forget about this. The conquests of Genghis Khan and his heirs plunged vast territories into a humanitarian catastrophe. Unless the disasters caused by the world wars of the twentieth century can be compared with it. In Northern China, for example, after its final conquest, the population was reduced by at least half compared to the beginning of the 13th century. And when Plano Carpini drove past Kyiv, in the once great city, several hundred inhabitants huddled in dugouts, and the fields lay littered with human bones.

The hatred of the conquered population for the Mongols could not be reduced by any benefits received due to their "new order". The empire of Genghis Khan eventually collapsed, and the ruling nation withdrew to the steppe interfluve of Kerulen and Onon, from where the "Mongol project" was launched in 1206.

The age-old truth has been confirmed once again: the policy of violence, no matter how great the initial success achieved with its help, is doomed to failure. The eternal winner has lost the battle with history...

28.03.2023

Pedagogy

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