Cultural tours of the Khorezm region.

 “Khorezmshah Muhammad ibn Tukush was a thief and a rapist, and his soldiers were rabble; most of them were Turks - either pagans or ignorant Muslims. He used to kill a part of the tribe, and took the rest to his service, and their hearts were full of hatred towards him. Neither in relation to his own people, nor in relation to the enemies, he did not conduct prudent policy. And now these Tatars came out against him, all the sons of one father, with one tongue, one heart and one leader whom they obeyed”

Doctor Abd al-Latif from Baghdad (died 1231 - 1232).

Excursion trips to the monuments of the Khorezm region.

The state of Khorezmshah is a Central Asian state in the lower reaches of the Amudarya. The highest bloom reached at the beginning of the XIII century under Ala ad-Din Muhammad II. This great flourishing became for the empire the eve of extinction under the onslaught of a new enemy coming from the east.
The Khorezm Empire fell from the Mongols of Genghis Khan. It is known that the title of Khorezmshah was introduced in 305 AD by the founder of the Afrigid dynasty and existed until 995. After a break, the title was restored. In 1097, the Khorezm governor of Turkic origin, Ekinchi ibn Kochkar, declared independence from the Seljuks and declared himself the shah of Khorezm. In the same year he was killed. The Seljuks seize Khorezm and designate a Khorezmshah Turk from the Begdili clan Qutb al-Din Muhammed I.
Throughout his reign, he remained a vassal of the Seljuk sultan Sanjar, retaining loyalty to him.

Khorezmshah Atsyz.

His successor, Ala ad-Din Atsyz, constantly sought to get rid of the protectorate of the Seljuk sultan Sanjar. In 1138, he rebelled against his overlord, but was defeated by Sanjar and was forced to flee. Ahmed Sanjarje enthroned Atsyz Suleyman Shah's nephew to the throne in Khorezm.
However, Suleiman Shah could not retain power over Khorezm and in 1141 Sultan Sanjar returned Atsyz to the throne. In the same year, new conquerors came to Central Asia from the east - the Karakitai under the leadership of Ye-loi Dashi.
The Seljuk sultan Sanjar was forced to come to the aid of Karakhanid Khan Mahmud, who was his closest relative. The battle with Karakitai at Samarkand ended with the complete defeat of Sanjar. Khorezmshah Atsyz immediately took advantage of Sanjar's defeat and captured and plundered Merv in the winter of 1141, and in 1142 already approached Nishapur.
However, in 1142, Sultan Sanjar again forced Atsyz to pay tribute, and besides this, Khorezm had to pay tribute to Karakitai too. He continued the policy of gathering lands, begun by his predecessors, attached Jand and Mangyshlak to Khorezm. Many nomadic tribes were dependent on Khorezmshah.
By the end of his life, Atsyz subjugated to Khorezm the entire north-western part of Central Asia and in fact achieved its independence from its neighbors.

Khorezmshah Il-Arslan.

In 1156, Atsyz died, on the throne of Khorezm he was replaced by his son Taj ad-Din Il-Arslan. Like his father, he pays tribute to the Seljuk sultan Sanjarui Karakitai. Just a few months after Il-Arslan came to power, in 1157, Sanjar dies, which allows Khorezm to be completely free from Seljuk tutelage.
In the 1160s, Il-Arslan attached Dehistan with its surroundings to the possessions of Khorezm. He manages to subjugate several cities of Khorasan, he tries to subjugate part of the cities of the Iraqi sultanate, Maverannahr. In 1172, he successfully reflected the Karakit campaign on Khorezm.
Soon after, Il-Arslan dies, and his sons Ala ad-Din Tekesh and Celal ad-Din Sultan-shah begin to fight for the throne.

Khorezmshahi Sultan Shah and Tekesh.

After the death of Il-Arslan, the younger brother of Tekesh, Sultan Shah, took the throne, but Tekesh refused to recognize the power of his brother and turned to the Khorezmshahs' original enemies, Karakitai, promising them an annual tribute.
With their help, Tekesh managed to shift his brother and occupy the throne of Khorezm. When he came to power, he ordered his mother to be killed, who supported Sultan Shah, Sultan Shah himself managed to escape and for another twenty years he challenged the right to power.

Khorezmshah Tekesh.

Only after the death of Sultan Shah in 1183, Tekesh was able to finally merge Merv and Serakhs with Khorezm (1193). In addition, in an effort to get rid of vassal dependence on Karakitai, Tekesh made several trips to Maverannahr.
In 1176 he conquered South Khorasan, and made the ruler of Horus his vassal. In 1187, Khorezmshah took Nishapur, in 1192 - Rey (city), and two years later captured Iraq. In 1194, Tekesh defeated the forces of the West Seljuk sultan Rukn al-Din Togrul III, and in 1196 - the Abbasid caliph Nasir.
Thus, during the rule of Shah Tekesh, Khorezm became one of the most powerful states in Central Asia. His possessions stretched from the Aral Sea and the lower reaches of the Syr Darya in the north, to the Persian Gulf to the south, from the Pamirs in the east and to the Iranian highlands in the west, during his rule he managed to double the territory of Khorezm.
Among other things, information about the library in Gurganj, founded by Tekesh, is also preserved.

Khorezmshah Mohammed II.

After the death of Khorezmshah Tekesh, his younger son Ala ad-Din Muhammad took the throne, expanding the possessions of Khorezm even more. The reign of Mohammed II began with the war with the Gurids, who captured the large city of Merv, occupied Abiverd, Serakhs and Nisa almost without a fight, took Nishapur and captured the brother of Khorezmshah, who was sent to Herat.
Having besieged Herat, Mohammed’s troops for a month tried to break through his defenses. Only after receiving the payoff, the Khorezmshah lifted the siege. By this time, the troops of his brother, Shihab ad-Din, came to the aid of the governor of the Ghurids Giyas ad-Din from India.
After a sufficiently bloody battle, the Khorezmians had to retreat. In pursuit of the retreating troops of Mohammed II, Shihab ad-Din surrounded the capital of Khorezm, Gurganj, whose defense was led by the Shah's mother, Queen Terken-Khatun. With the support of the Karakitas, Muhammad succeeded in ousting the Gurids outside of Khorezm and making peace, but they did not abandon attempts to unleash a war.
Only after the murder of Shihab ad-Din in 1206 did this danger disappear.
The state of Gurid disintegrated into parts, which soon became dependent on Khorezm. After the victory over the Gurids, Mohammed began to prepare for a war with the Karakitai. But in the very first battle, the Karakitians, who had bribed the rulers of Khorasan and Samarkand, defeated the army of Khorezmshah, after which Muhammad disappeared for some time from the sight of his entourage.
Only in the spring of 1208, Mohammed returned to Khorezm. Having strengthened his state, he set about a decisive struggle against the Karakitai, while relying on the support of the Muslims of the Karakinese state, who perceived him as a liberator.
In September 1210, at the Battle of the Ilamish Plain beyond the Syr Darya, the Kara-Chinese forces were defeated. In 1212, an uprising broke out in Samarkand led by Karakhanid Khan Osman. It was brutally suppressed by Mohammed and the West Karakhanid khanate was liquidated, after which he decided to make Samarkand its capital.
In 1217, Mohammed went on a campaign against Baghdad, one of the spiritual centers of the Muslim world, wanting to become not only secular, but also the spiritual ruler. However, when crossing the mountain pass, his troops fell into a snowfall and suffered significant losses.
Mohammed had to abandon his plans and return to Samarkand. By 1215, his power of Khorezmshah extended to Khorezm itself, to Maverannakhr, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Atrpatakan, Khorasan, South Kazakhstan, and other territories.
But from the east the Mongols marched on the lead of Genghis Khan.

The war with the Mongols.

However, a vulnerable place in the empire of Mohammed II was the omnipotence of the Kangly nobles, who held leading posts in the administrative and military apparatus. The mother of Khorezmshah, Mohammed Terken-Khatun, was descended from the Turkic clan of the Kangly and had a great influence at the court, in fact she herself appointed her relatives to all key government posts.
With their support, she actually led the opposition to her son. Especially exacerbated their relationship before the Mongol invasion. Terken-Khatun even organized a Kipchak rally against Khorezmshah in 1216. This uprising was led by her nephew Kaiyr Khan Alyp-Derek, the former governor of the Syrdarya valley.
Kipchaks were defeated, but Turkan-Khatun not only did not allow to punish Kaiyr-Khan, but even insisted on the transfer of Otrar to him. In 1218, Genghis Khan sent an embassy to Muhammad with a proposal to conclude an alliance for joint struggle with competitors in the east and mutually beneficial trade.
Khorezmshah refused to make a deal with the "infidels" and, at the suggestion of the ruler Otrar Kaiyr Khan, executed merchant ambassadors, sending them heads to Khan. Chingiskhan demanded the release of Kaiyr Khan, but Khorezmshah, fearing the wrath of the nobility, refused, and Mohammed again executed one of the participants the next Mongolian embassy.
Despite the more than threefold superiority of his troops over the Mongol army of Khorezmshah, fearing a conspiracy from military leaders, he divided his army into several units and garrisons than actually condemned it to defeat.
After the victory over Kuchluk, the Mongol army led by Subedei Bagatur and Tokhuchar Noyon approached the borders of Khorezm and clashed with the troops of Khorezmshah. The right wing of the Khorezmian army under the command of the son of Mohammed Jelal ad-Din Mankburna achieved success 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 lit bonfires and left the scene of the battle. In the spring of 1219, without ending the conquest of China, Genghis Khan sent a 50-thousand army to Khorezm.
In 1219, when Chinggiskhan's troops attacked Khorezm, Muhammad II did not dare to give a general battle, leaving his army scattered by separate detachments in the cities and fortresses of the entire state. One by one, under the onslaught of the Mongols fell Otrar, Khujand, Tashkent (Chach), Bukhara, Samarkand, Balkh, Merv, Nishapur, Herat, Urgench and other major Khorezm cities.
The Mongols exterminated millions of citizens, in one only she did not allow to punish Kaiyr Khan, but even insisted on the transfer of Otrar to him. In 1218, Genghis Khan sent an embassy to Muhammad with a proposal to conclude an alliance for joint struggle with competitors in the east and mutually beneficial trade. Khorezmshah refused to make a deal with the "infidels" and, at the suggestion of the ruler Otrar Kaiyr Khan, executed merchant ambassadors, sending them heads to Khan.
Chingiskhan demanded the release of Kaiyr Khan, but Khorezmshah, fearing the wrath of the nobility, refused, and Mohammed again executed one of the participants the next Mongolian embassy. Despite the more than threefold superiority of his troops over the Mongol army of Khorezmshah, fearing a conspiracy from military leaders, he divided his army into several units and garrisons than actually condemned it to defeat.
After the victory over Kuchluk, the Mongol army led by Subedei Bagatur and Tokhuchar Noyon approached the borders of Khorezm and clashed with the troops of Khorezmshah. The right wing of the Khorezmian army under the command of the son of Mohammed Jelal ad-Din Mankburna achieved success 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 lit bonfires and left the scene of the battle. In the spring of 1219, without ending the conquest of China, Genghis Khan sent a 50-thousand army to Khorezm.
In 1219, when Chinggiskhan's troops attacked Khorezm, Muhammad II did not dare to give a general battle, leaving his army scattered by separate detachments in the cities and fortresses of the entire state. One by one, under the onslaught of the Mongols fell Otrar, Khujand, Tashkent (Chach), Bukhara, Samarkand, Balkh, Merv, Nishapur, Herat, Urgench and other major Khorezm cities.
The Mongols exterminated millions of citizens, in Merv alone over 500,000 inhabitants, the rest were sold into slavery.
Khorezmshah with the remnants of the army initially retreated to his Persian possessions, after which he fled with a small detachment to the Caspian region and died on the island of Abeskun in the Caspian Sea from an attack of pneumonia.
The state of Khorezmshahs ceased to exist, despite the fact that the son and heir of Mohammed Jelal ad-Din Menkburna continued to resist the Mongols for about ten years, while in Delhi and Asia Minor. In the XIXth century, the title of Khorezmshah was granted to the representatives of the Mongol tribe Kungrat reigning in Khiva.

Kipchaks in the Khorezm Empire.

Khorezm at the beginning of the XIII century. was at the height of his power, he united the lands of Khorezm proper, Maverannahr, Iran, Khorasan, modern South Kazakhstan. After the Mongols defeated the Khorezm Empire, the Kipchaks became the main force of the Ulus Juchi.

Authority:
ru.wikipedia.org