Jelal al-Din Menguberdi is considered a national hero by the citizens of four Central Asian states: Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. Uzbekistan was the first of them to make an official attempt to secure the right to consider it “their own”. In the city of Urgench, a monument was erected to him (this is not Gurganj, which was the capital of Khorezm, but a city founded by immigrants from there).
Two coins with his image were issued.
In 1999, quite large-scale events dedicated to its 800th anniversary were held in Uzbekistan.
Finally, on August 30, 2000, the highest military order of Jaloliddin Manguberdi was established in Uzbekistan.
He was born in Khorezm in 1199. It was not the calmest time in the history of mankind. The armies of the West, with a cross and a sword, went one after another to fight Muslims, pagans and their own heretics. In the East, a terrible force arose, which would soon shake the whole world, splashing out beyond the borders of the Mongol steppes. In the year Jelal ad-Din was born, on his way to England, mortally wounded Richard the Lionheart died. The great Salah ad-Din died in Damascus 6 years before his birth, and the Teutonic Order was created in Palestine in a year. Soon after his birth, Riga was founded (1201), the Order of the Swordsmen appeared (1202), his future enemy Temujin conquered the Kerait (1203) and Naiman (1204) khanates. Constantinople fell under the blow of the crusaders. Ahead was the Great Kurultai, who proclaimed Temujin "the khan of all people who lived in felt tents from Altai to Argun and from the Siberian taiga to the Chinese wall." (It was on it that he was given the title of Genghis Khan - "Khan, great as an ocean", the ocean meant Lake Baikal).
The Albigensian Wars will soon begin and the Crusaders will conquer Livonia.
Khorezmshah Jelal ad-Din
As already mentioned in the first article of the cycle (The Empire of Genghis Khan and Khorezm. The beginning of the confrontation), Jelal ad-Din was the eldest son of the Khorezmshah Muhammad II. But his mother was a Turkmen, and therefore, due to the intrigues of his own grandmother, who came from the influential Ashiga family, he was deprived of the title of heir to the throne. In 1218, during the battle with the Mongols in the Turgai Valley, Jelal ad-Din saved both the army and his father with his bold and decisive actions. During the Mongol invasion in 1219, he called on the Khorezmshah not to divide the army and give the enemies an open battle in the field. But Muhammad II did not trust him, and almost until his death kept him to himself, thereby ruining himself and his state. It was not long before his death, at the end of 1220, that Muhammad finally handed over to him power in an already practically perished power. An-Nasawi writes:
“When the Sultan's illness on the island intensified, and he learned that his mother had been taken prisoner, he summoned Jalal ad-Din and his two brothers, Uzlag-Shah and Ak-Shah, who were on the island, and said:“The bonds of power have broken, the foundations powers are weakened and destroyed. It became clear what goals this enemy had: his claws and teeth gripped the country tightly. Only my son of Mankbourne can avenge him for me. And so I appoint him as heir to the throne, and you both must obey him and embark on the path of following him. " Then he personally attached his sword to Jelal ad-Din's thigh. After that, he remained alive for only a few days and died, facing his Lord."
Too late. As an-Nasavi put it, Khorezm "looked like a tent without support ropes."Jelal ad-Din managed to break through to Gurganj and present his father's will, but this city was the fiefdom of the hater of the new Khorezmshah - Terken-Khatyn, and her supporters, who declared her brother - Humar-Tegin the ruler. A conspiracy was drawn up against Jelal ad-Din, and his assassination was planned. Having learned about this, the Khorezmshah, not recognized here, went to the south. He had only 300 horsemen with him, among whom was the hero of the defense of Khojand - Timur-Melik. Near Nisa, they defeated a Mongol detachment of 700 people and made their way to Nishapur. Jelal ad-Din stayed in this city for about a month, sending orders to the leaders of the tribes and the rulers of the surrounding cities, then went to Ghazna, defeating the Mongols who besieged Kandahar on the way. Here he was joined by his cousin Amin al-Mulk, who led about 10 thousand soldiers. In Ghazn, the ruler of Balkh, Seif ad-din Agrak, came to him, the Afghan leader Muzaffar-Malik, al-Hasan brought the Karluks. Ibn al-Athir claims that in total Jalal ad-Din managed to collect then 60 thousand soldiers. He was not going to sit out in the fortresses. Firstly, he knew perfectly well that the Mongols knew how to take fortified cities, and secondly, he always preferred active actions. According to the testimony of al-Nasavi, one of the close associates of Jelal ad-din, who apparently knew the new Khorezmshah well, once turned to him:
"It's not good if someone like you will hide in some kind of fortress, even if it were built between the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, at the top of the constellation Gemini, or even higher and further."
And, indeed, at the slightest danger of being blocked by the Mongols in the city, Jelal ad-Din immediately left it to engage in a field battle, or to withdraw his troops.
First victories
Jelal ad-Din was a realist, and did not strive to liberate the territories of Khorasan and Maverannahr seized by the Mongols, he tried to retain the south and southeast of the state of the Khorezmshahs. Moreover, the main forces of the invaders continued the war in Khorezm. Genghis Khan's troops captured Termez, his sons Chagatai and Ogedei, joining with Jochi, took Gurganj in April 1221, their youngest son, Tolui, captured Merv in March, and Nishapur in April. Moreover, in Nishapur, on his order, pyramids of human heads were built:
“They (the Mongols) cut off the heads of those killed from their bodies and put them in heaps, placing the heads of men separately from the heads of women and children” (Juvaini).
Herat resisted for 8 months, but also fell.
And Jelal ad-din in 1221 defeated the Mongol detachment that was besieging the Valiyan fortress, and then gave the Mongols a battle near the city of Parvan ("the battle of the seven gorges"). This battle lasted two days, and, by order of the Khorezmshah, his cavalrymen fought dismounted. On the second day, when the horses of the Mongols were tired, Jelal ad-Din led a cavalry attack, which led to the complete defeat of the Mongol army. This victory led to an uprising in some of the cities previously captured by the Mongols. In addition, having learned about it, the Mongol detachment, which was besieging the Balkh fortress, withdrew to the north.
The captured Mongols were executed. An-Nasawi describes Jelal ad-Din's revenge as follows:
“Many prisoners were taken, so the servants brought the people they captured to him (Jalal ad-Din) and drove stakes into their ears, settling scores with them. Jalal ad-Din was happy and looked at it with a beaming smile on his face … Sitting in the saddle of hatred, Jalal ad-Din cut off the ends of the neck veins with his swords, separated his shoulders from the places where they converge. How else? After all, they caused great suffering to him, his brothers and father, his state, his relatives and those close to him who guarded him. He was left without a father and offspring, without a lord and without a slave, misfortune threw him in the steppe, and dangers led to the desert."
Alas, soon his army was reduced by half: the detachments of the Khalajs, Pashtuns and Karluks left Jelal ad-Din, because their leaders could not come to an agreement when dividing the spoils, in particular, it is said about a quarrel over a trophy pedigree stallion:
“Anger boiled in their minds, as they saw that they could not achieve a fair division. And no matter how hard Jelal ad-Din tried to satisfy them … they became even angrier and more restrained in their appeal … they did not want to see what the consequences would be … hatred … and they left him."
(An-Nasawi.)
Battle of the Indus River
Meanwhile, a worried Genghis Khan personally led a new campaign against Jelal ad-Din. On November 24, 1221 (December 9, according to other sources), on the territory of modern Pakistan, the Mongol army, numbering from 50 to 80 thousand, met with the thirty thousand Khorezm army. The young Khorezmshah intended to cross to the other side before the enemy approached, but he was unlucky: the storm damaged the ships under construction, and Genghis Khan drove his soldiers for two days, without even stopping to cook food. Jelal ad-Din still managed to defeat his vanguard, but this clash was his last success.
Despite the obvious superiority of the Mongols in forces, the battle was extremely stubborn and fierce. Jelal ad-Din built an army with a crescent, relying on the left flank on the mountains, and on the right flank on the river bend. Genghis Khan, confident of victory, ordered to capture him alive.
The army of the Khorezmshah repulsed two attacks on the left flank, a hard battle ensued on the right, in which the Mongols were already pushing the opponents. And then Jelal ad-Din himself attacked the Mongols in the center. Genghis Khan even had to bring reserve units into battle.
The fate of the battle was decided by a single Mongolian tumen (they say that he was called "Bogatyr"), which Genghis Khan sent in advance to make his way to the Khorezm rear through the mountains. His blow led to the collapse of the left flank of the Khorezm army, and the flight of all other formations. Jelal ad-Din, at the head of selected units, fought surrounded. Having finally broken through to the river, he directed his horse into the water, and jumped into the river right on top of him, fully armed and with a banner in his hand - from a seven-meter cliff.
G. Raverti and G. Ye. Grumm-Grzhimailo report that the place of this crossing is still called Cheli Jalali (Jeli Jalali) by the locals.
Juvainey writes:
“Seeing him (Jelal ad-din) floating on the river, Genghis Khan drove up to the very edge of the bank. The Mongols were about to rush after him, but he stopped them. They lowered their bows, and those who witnessed this said that as far as their arrows flew, the water in the river was red with blood."
Many soldiers followed the example of Jelal ad-Din, but not all managed to escape: you remember that the Mongols shot them with bows and, "as far as their arrows flew, the water in the river was red with blood."
Juvaine continues:
“As for the Sultan, he came out of the water with a sword, spear and shield. Genghis Khan and all the Mongols put their hands to their lips in amazement, and Genghis Khan, seeing that feat, said, addressing his sons:
"These are the sons every father dreams of!"
A similar description is given by Rashid ad-Din, who only adds that before the battle Genghis Khan ordered to take Jelal ad-Din alive.
According to legend, before throwing himself into the water, Jalal ad-Din ordered to kill his mother and all his wives in order to save them from the shame of captivity. However, he hardly had time for this. It is believed that part of his family died during the crossing of the Indus, some were captured. It is reported, for example, that the son of Jelal ad-Din, who was 7 or 8 years old, was executed in the presence of Genghis Khan.
Jelal ad-Din managed to collect about 4 thousand surviving soldiers, with them he went deep into India, where he won two victories over the local princes in Lahore and Punjab.
Genghis Khan was unable to transport his army across the Indus. He went upstream to Peshevar, and his son Ogedei was sent to the city of Ghazni, which was captured and destroyed.
Return of Khorezmshah
In the spring of 1223, Genghis Khan left Afghanistan, and in 1224 Jalal ad-Din came to western Iran and Armenia. By 1225, he was able to restore his power in some of the former provinces of Khorezm - in Fars, Eastern Iraq, Azerbaijan. He defeated one of the Mongol armies at Isfahan and defeated Georgia. Juvaini reports that the Kipchaks who were in the Georgian army refused to fight in the decisive battle against him:
“When the Georgian army approached, the Sultan's soldiers took out their weapons, and the Sultan climbed a high mountain in order to better see the enemy. On the right, he saw twenty thousand soldiers with Kipchak signs and banners. Summoning Koshkar, he gave him bread and salt and sent him to the Kipchaks to remind them of their obligation to him. During the reign of his father, they were chained and humiliated, and he, through his mediation, saved them and interceded for them before his father. By now drawing their swords against him, had they not violated their obligations? For this reason, the Kipchak army abstained from the battle and, immediately leaving the battlefield, settled themselves apart from the others."
In 1226, the Khorezm army captured and burned Tbilisi.
Jelal ad-Din's character had changed significantly by that time. Iranian historian Dabir Seyadzhi wrote about this:
“As short as he is, so gorgeous, speaking very kindly and apologizing for the rudeness caused …
The good character of the Sultan, described by many, was largely influenced by many troubles, evil and difficulties, which to some extent justify his cruelties, which, especially at the end of his life."
Jelal ad-Din's great adversary, Genghis Khan, died in 1227.
Since 2012, his birthday, set on the first day of the first winter month according to the lunar calendar, has become a public holiday in Mongolia - Pride Day. On this day, a ceremony is held to honor his statue in the central square of the capital.
Until 1229, the Mongols had no time for the rebellious Khorezmshah: they chose the great khan. In 1229, the third son of Genghis Khan, Ogedei, became such.
The death of a hero
Meanwhile, the successful actions of Jelal al-Din caused anxiety in neighboring countries, as a result of which the Konya Sultanate, the Egyptian Ayyubids and the Cilician Armenian state united against him. Together they inflicted two defeats on the Khorezmian. And in 1229 Ogedei sent three tumens to the Transcaucasus to fight him. Jelal ad-Din was defeated, again tried to retreat to India - this time unsuccessfully, and, wounded, was forced to hide in the mountains of eastern Turkey. But he died not from a Mongol arrow or saber, but from the hand of a Kurd who remained unknown. The murderer's motives are still unclear: some believe that he was a blood enemy of Jalal ad-Din, others believe that he was sent by the Mongols, and still others that he was simply flattered by his belt, studded with diamonds, and did not even know the name of his victim. It is believed that this happened on August 15, 1231.
So ingloriously died this extraordinary commander, who under different circumstances, perhaps, would have stopped Genghis Khan and founded his empire, similar to the state of Timur, radically changing the course of the history of all mankind.
