Jalal ad-Din Manguberdi — the last Shah of Khorezm
Khorezm was a rich empire through which the Great Silk Road ran.
Now the territory of the ancient state is divided. The main part is located on the territories of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. But in its heyday, Khorezm stretched over vast territories, including modern Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan.
The first people settled here at least in the 4th millennium BC. They were hunters, fishermen and gatherers. And in the 7th century B.C. a state appeared here, which is first mentioned in historical sources.
The territory of Khorezm during its heyday looked like this on the map:
In the VII century BC Khorezm becomes a strong centralized state.
Then they are conquered by the Persian king Cyrus the Great and included in his empire. Khorezm was liberated by Alexander the Great, who defeated the Persians. And the state again received independence.
Khorezm suffered from nomadic raids. The rulers solved the problem with the help of powerful fortresses. The fortresses had strong and high walls and towers with a large number of loopholes. Archers effectively fired at the attackers. The fortresses were united in a single system. It made no sense for the nomads to rush past them inland — the fortresses guarded the way with oases and water and the enemy would only get the desert. And the nomads could not take the fortresses. So Khorezm solved the problem of defense of the country for hundreds of years ahead.
Since VII century Khorezm was in close interaction with another rich neighbor — Khazar Khaganate. The population migrated freely from country to country.
Khorezm traded with Eastern Europe and Asian countries, and was a meeting place for traders from these major regions.
The sciences flourished here, it had its own observatories and quite developed medicine.
The power changed regularly. Khorezm fell under the influence of the Huns and Arabs, or was captured by the Seljuks. But it did not have a serious impact on the economy and development of the state. For the ruling elites it mattered who exactly collected taxes and profits from the rich Khorezm. But the life of ordinary people and the development of the country had a minimum impact. No one had a desire to lay golden eggs, through which the Great Silk Road ran.
In the XI century Khorezm follows the path of empire. It frees itself from the patronage of the Seljuks and begins to annex the surrounding lands.
At the beginning of the XIII century the empire reaches its peak. Khorezm wins victory after victory and annexes large territories, including parts of present-day Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, and Afghanistan. Khorezm also captures Samarkand and the wealthy city of Otrar (present-day Kazakhstan).
And just a year after the triumph, tragedy struck and the state was gone.
What ruined the powerful empire?
Conflict with the Mongols
In 1218, the Mongol ruler Genghis Khan sent a trade caravan to Otrar, a rich border town of the Khorezmian Empire.
The caravan was huge by medieval standards and consisted of 500 camels. The caravan was led by 450 merchants and guarded by 100 Mongol horsemen. The caravan was accompanied by Genghis Khan’s personal envoy.
Genghis Khan was interested in peace with Khorezm. Genghis Khan wanted to defuse tensions (Shah Ala ad-Din Mohammed II was an arrogant ruler and insulted the Mongols) and stimulate trade between the two empires.
Genghis Khan
Ala ad-Din Muhammad II refused to make a deal with the «infidels».
Mohammed, instead of seizing the unique opportunity and making peace, decided that the trade caravan were spies who had come to sniff out the defenses of the fortresses. All the caravan drivers were wiped out. The camel driver, who managed to escape, told Genghis Khan about what had happened.
Execution of the envoy was unacceptable behavior in the eyes of Khan.
Despite this, he gave the Shah one last opportunity to make peace by sending a delegation of three men.
At this moment Genghis Khan was busy with the Chinese empire of Jin, over which he was successfully gaining the upper hand. This was a great opportunity for the Shah to reduce tensions. But Mohammed didn’t use it either. The chief ambassador was beheaded, his aides shaved and sent back.
Genghis Khan assembled a 140,000-strong army to attack the Khorezmian Empire. The war in China was sidelined — all resources were diverted to the west.
Genghis Khan sent a final message to the Shah:
You kill my men and traders and take my property from them. Prepare for war, for I am coming against you with an army you will not be able to resist.
Muhammad acted according to the principle of traditional defense of Khorezm against nomads — garrisons were locked in the fortresses. He did not gather the whole army in a fist. It was difficult to stand against the Mongols, but the united army had at least some chance.
The Mongols swept through Khorezm with lightning speed and crushed the empire.
Otrar, the city from where the story of the ambassadors began, was besieged for several months. A record compared to other fortresses.
Genghis Khan was so impressed by the courage of the head of the garrison that he organized his honorable execution — his eyes and mouth were filled with silver.
Otrar could have fought back longer, but there were traitors who were dissatisfied with the policy of the authorities and wanted peace with the Mongols. The gates were opened, but peace did not happen — the Mongols destroyed the traitors first of all.
The Mongols, unlike most other nomads, knew how to besiege even powerful fortresses. They used siege technology and engineers captured in China.
Mohammed was fleeing from the Mongols, all his aides left him, and his family was destroyed. The Shah hid on an island in the Caspian Sea, where he soon died of pneumonia.
The last Khorezmshah
His son — Jalal ad-Din Manguberdi (in the title photo — it is him played by actor Mirkamol Karabayev) led the resistance to the invasion of the Mongols. He won several victories in the field. The reasons for his short-term success were the patriotic fighting spirit of his tribesmen (they hoped to restore Khorezm) and the Mongols’ underestimation of his army.
The Mongols drove him to the Indus River. Jalal did not want to surrender. He drowned his entire harem in the river so that the Mongols would not get it. And with his warriors on horses he rushed into the river and managed to swim to the other bank.
From the other bank of the Indus he threatened the Mongols with a sword. The enemies did not risk crossing and Jalal escaped. His entire family was captured and killed.
Genghis Khan admired the heroism of the last Khorezmshah and said:
«This is the kind of son a father should have.»
Given that he left his family to the Mongols and drowned his harem…strange were the notions of heroism then.
Jalal fled to India, made repeated attempts to unite everyone against the Mongols, but to no avail. He tried to fight both with Mongols and Christians (in Armenia and Georgia), in the end he united against himself the rulers of several countries and was defeated finally. He hid in the mountains of Kurdistan where he was killed by Seljuks mercenaries.
Monument to Jalal ad-Din Manguberdi in Urgench, Uzbekistan.
Such an unhappy and inglorious end of the last Shah of Khorezm.
Terrible losses and last days of Khorezm
The Mongols devastated Khorezm and the rich empire disintegrated. It became part of the Mongol Empire. Cities were destroyed and plundered, most of the population was exterminated.
Almost a century and a half passed when these territories began to recover and develop again — already under the leadership of the Turkic-Mongol warlord Tamerlane. Most of the ancient buildings in Samarkand appeared under his rule. The old architecture of Khorezm was completely destroyed.
Genghis Khan used the history of Khorezm to intimidate other nations.
Otrar — the whole garrison and population of 60 000 people were destroyed, the city was wiped off the face of the earth. Attempts to restore the city after centuries have led to nothing. The city was abandoned, now it is a ruin:
Samarkand — population wiped out, artisans taken captive. All boys and young men of the city were used as human shields when attacking other cities.
Bukhara — population destroyed. Artisans were taken prisoner. All property was looted, a great fire greatly thinned the city.
Nishapur — a famous city of the East, here was born Omar Khayyam. It is good that the ancient poet, mathematician and astronomer died 100 years before the Mongol invasion, having time to make his contribution to science and culture.
The siege of the city was dramatic. The locals refused to surrender. Apparently they were not impressed by the 10,000-strong army of Togachar, Genghis Khan’s son-in-law.
But it was only a small advance party of Mongols.
However, Togachar tried to besiege Nishapur and was killed. The Mongols retreated for reinforcements. When the huge Mongol army approached Nishapur, the inhabitants hurriedly came out with an offer of voluntary surrender. However, the Mongols were already adamant.
The city was taken in three days. The entire population of 170,000 people was taken out into a clear field and killed. Even all domestic animals were destroyed! The warlord ordered even cats and dogs to be destroyed to avenge the death of Togachar.
Only 400 artisans survived. They were taken prisoner by the Mongols. These were their standard tactics. The Mongols themselves practically did not develop crafts, «borrowing» already ready specialists from conquered states.
Nishapur was destroyed. Three giant pyramids of skulls were erected outside the city.
Now the city is restored, is on the territory of Iran. But the number of inhabitants of such, in the past a giant metropolis, barely exceeds the medieval.
This is the worst of the chronicle. There were many more large cities, where tens and hundreds of thousands of people lived, all of them were destroyed.
More than 2 million people died as a result of this conquest. Valuable cultural monuments were destroyed.
Historians agree that Genghis Khan, sooner or later, would have tried to subdue Khorezm. But he would have done it after China and, most likely, in a much less bloody way.
In the XIII century, right after the peak of its power, Khorezm was literally wiped off the face of the earth.
And all because of the shortsightedness of one ruler, who had a gigantic conceit and was convinced of his «divinity». He had the opportunity to save his state three times. Instead, he provoked Genghis Khan — the owner of the strongest army of the Middle Ages — even more.