Battle of Parwan

The Battle of Parwan was fought between Sultan Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu of the Khwarezmid Empire and the Mongols ruled by Genghis Khan in September 1221 CE at Parwan, north of Kabul, in present-day Afghanistan. Jalal ad-Din had previously attacked a detachment of Mongols near Wilan, which provoked Genghis Khan into sending an army of 30,000 troops under Shigi Qutuqu. As a result of the tactics adopted by Jalal ad-Din, the Mongol army was destroyed in a two-day battle. As news of the Mongol defeat spread, several cities, including Merv and Herat, which had previously surrendered and accepted Mongol rule, rebelled. In response, Genghis Khan moved to battle Jalal ad-Din, who had lost half of his troops to desertion due to a quarrel over the division of spoils after the battle, and was forced to move to Ghazni to prepare to retreat to India. Genghis Khan intercepted Jalal ad-Din's army as he was preparing to cross the Indus River, and in the ensuing battle he lost his army, treasury and family, but survived to eventually establish a power base in Punjab and Sindh.

Background

Genghis Khan invaded the Khrarezmian Empire to avenge the murder of a Mongol trade caravan by the government of Otrar and the subsequent refusal of Shah Ala ad-Din Muhammad II to bring the governor of Otrar to task for his crime. Genghis Khan commanded a skilled, disciplined, combat-proven army of 150,000 to 200,000 soldiers, mostly Mongols and other allied tribes who were well-drilled in their method of warfare. The army also included a corps of Chinese siege engineers. Genghis Khan was a charismatic, inelegant and experienced leader, his sons Jochi, Chagatai, Ogedei and Tolui were competent generals, and he was also served by brilliant generals like Jebe and Subutai, adept in employing flexible and innovative tactics.

The Shah may have been able to mobilize a mercenary army numbering 200,000 to 400,000 men but his Turkish soldiers were undisciplined, and unity was lacking between the Turks, Iranians, Arabs and Afghans in the army. The mistrust that the Shah had for his Qanqli Turk troops and commanders meant he could only offer battle under favorable conditions with superior numbers. He adopted a defence in depth strategy based on fortified cities, and stationed garrisons of veteran soldiers at various cities including Otrar, Bukhara, Benekat and Samarkand, trusting to the Mongol inexperience with siegecraft and their unfamiliarity with the terrain to delay their progress and give him the chance to offer battle at his own initiative. He planned to raise a new army beyond the Amu Darya near Kelif and then strike the Mongols in Transoxania, or defend the Amu Darya barrier by preventing the Mongols from crossing the river, and if needed retreat to Ghazni and then to India.

Mongol campaign of 1219-1220

Genghis Khan invested Otrar with his entire field army in September 1219. After some time he divided his army, sending a detachment under his eldest son Jochi down the Syr Darya, another division to marched on Banakat. Leaving Chagatai and Ogedei to maintain the siege of Otrar, Genghis Khan and Tolui crossed the Kyzylkum Desert to attack Bukhara, which fell on February 1220, and Samarkand, which was taken on March 1220. Banakat was also occupied, Otrar fell in April 1220 and the Mongol armies from Banakat and Otrar joined Genghis Khan near Nasaf, where they spent the summer of 1220 resting the army and the horses. Jochi had taken all the towns along Syr Daria, including Sighnaq and Jend by April 1220, then camped on the Kipchak steppes. Several Mongol armies invaded Tocharistan, Guzgan and Gharchistan during the last eight months of 1220, collecting a rich booty in cattle and slaves. Genghis Khan sent a 30,000-40,000 man army led by Jebe and Subutai and his own son-in-law Toghachar to hunt down the Shah.

The rapid fall of Transoxania further unnerved Shah Muhammad II, who began to retreat west along with Jalal al-Din. He had halted for a while at Nishapur, but when the Mongol army under Jebe and Subutai crossed the Amy Daria, the Shah moved across Persia, then eluded the Mongols by pretending to make for Bagdad, and eventually found refuge on a Caspian sea island, where he died in December 1220, naming Jalal ad-Din his heir. The Mongol army sacked several cities, including Zaveh, Quchan, Tus, Qazvin and Ardabil and then wintered in the Mughan steppes.

Sultan Jalal ad-Din's struggle

Jalal al-Din needed an army to confront the Mongols. The Sultan went to Gurganj, a city reportedly housing 90,000 troops, but the city officials preferred his brother Uzlaq Shah as the Sultan. After discovering a plot against his life, the Sultan with 300 cavalry crossed the Karakum desert in 16 days, and defeated a Mongol detachment near Nasa to reach Nishapur. Jalal al-Din intended to raise an army at Nishapur, but abandoned the city when Mongols arrived unexpectedly. The Mongols chased the Sultan across Khuistan, but Jalal al-Din managed to elude his enemies to reach Bost. Here an army of 10,000 Turks commanded by his maternal uncle Amin Malik joined him, and the Sultan reached Ghazni after driving off a Mongol army from Qanhahar after a three-day battle.

Prelude

Jalal al-Din spent the summer of 1221 in Ghazni and assembled a coalition of Afghan and Turkic warriors. From there, he went first to Valiyan, which was under siege by the Mongols, defeated their two armies, under the leaderships of Tekejik and Molger, and took Valiyan back. Jalal ad-Din advanced into Parwan and defeated the Mongol detachment near Parwan. A week later, Genghis Khan sent his chief justice Shigi Qutuqu to hunt down Jalal al-Din, but only gave the inexperienced general 30,000–50,000 troops.

Army strengths

Modern scholarship differ on the strength of both armies while the medieval scholarship differ on the strengths of the Mongol army. Ata Malik Juvayni reports Shigi Qutuqu's strengths as 30,000, Juzjani reports it as 45,000 whereas Ibn Abd Allah al-Umari gives his strength as 70,000. Juzjani, Nasawi, Juvayni, Ibn al-Athir and Handmir all report the Khwarezmian strength as 60,000.

Modern scholarship differ on the strength of both sides. The lowest estimate for Jalal al-Din's strength is 30,000 while the highest is 120,000. At the Harper's Military Encyclopedia, N. Trevor and Ernest Dupuy gives Jalal al-Din's force as 120,000. Spencer C. Tucker similarly gives Jalal's strength as 120,000.

Estimates for Shigi Qutuqu's strength range between 30,000 and 70,000. Mclynn Frank estimates the Mongol forces were around 45 - 50,000 whereas he estimates Jalal had 60,000-70,000, he further adds that while the numbers are exaggerated, the proportion of Jalal's army's numerical superiority is probably accurate. Carl Sverdrup on the other hand assesses that Jalal al-Din probably had 15,000 men in total whereas Shigi Qutuqu commanded as many as 10,000 men. The Khwarezmian army was ill-equipped and majority of them was consisted of infantries whereas the entire army of Shigi Qutuqu was well equipped cavalry.

Battle

Shigi Qutuqu was overconfident after the continuous Mongol successes, and he quickly found himself on the back foot against the more numerous Khwarezmian force. The battle took place in a narrow valley, which was unsuitable for the Mongol cavalry.

Jalal al-Din had mounted archers, whom he ordered to dismount and fire on the Mongols. Jalal al-Din gave Saif al-Din Igrakh command of the left flank and Malik Khan the right flank, consisting of 10,000 soldiers. On the first day of the battle, Malik Khan's division pushed the Mongol left into their base. Because of the narrow terrain, the Mongols could not use their normal tactics. On the second day of the battle, to deceive the Khwarezmians, Shigi Qutuqu mounted straw warriors on spare remounts, which may have spared him from a killing stroke, but Jalal al-Din was not fooled by the ruse. On the third day, the Mongol right flank charged on Igrakh's division, Ighraq's division responded by shooting arrows on foot to which the Mongols feigned flight. Ighraq's men charged but the Mongols suddenly counter-attacked and killed 500 men of Ighraq. Seeing this, Jalal al-Din personally attacked the Mongols and forced them to flight. Large numbers of the Mongols were captured alive, and the Khwarezmians killed them by nailing stakes into their ears. Shigi Qutuqu was driven off in defeat, losing over half his army.

Aftermath and legacy

According to Ibn Al-Athir's account, after the battle of Parwan was won, Jalal al-Din sent a message to Genghis Khan, stating "''In which locality do you want the battle to be, so that we may make our way to it''?" In the evening of the day the battle ended, a dispute over the division of the spoils, specifically a Mongolian white horse, led to the desertion of the Afghan contingent. Amin Malik, leader of the Turks and the Sultan's father-in-law, struck Saif al-Din Ighrak, leader of the Afghans, with a whip. Sultan Jalal ad-Din refused to discipline Amin Malik, and Ighraq reproached the Sultan, and he along with the Khalaj, Afghan and some of the Qanqli troops, deserted after nightfall.

Jalal ad-Din left Parwan for the Punjab with only 30,000 men after the Afghans abandoned him. When Genghis Khan heard the news of the defeats, he made forced marches to catch Jalal al Din before he escaped into India. Genghis marched with Shigi Qutugu and instructed him on where he had gone wrong on the battleground. The Shah attempted to cross Indus river to the area north of the present city of Kalabagh, Pakistan. However, the Mongols caught up with him on the banks of the Indus and defeated him what in now referred to as the Battle of Indus.

The Battle of Parwan is considered a significant battle, as it is considered the resurrection of Khwarezmians and the first serious defeat of the Mongols against the Khwarezmians. Medieval contemporary Muslim accounts all hailed this victory. According to Rashid al-Din Hamadani's account, Genghis Khan personally visited the fallen Mongol soldiers and the field the battle took place in and addressing Shigi Qutuqu Temuchin said the following:

The Khwarezmians started an insurgency after the news of Shigi Qutuqu's defeat at the battle of Parwan spread throughout the empire. Inspired by Jalal al-Din's back-to-back victories against the Mongol army, Kush Tegin Pahlawan led an insurgency in Merv and seized it back successfully. After capturing the city of Merv back, Kush Tegin Pahlawan made a successful attack on Bukhara as well. People in Herat also rebelled and disposed the Mongol vassal leadership. An insurgency leader named Muhammad the Marghani twice attacked the camp Genghis Khan accommodated at Baghlan and returned with loot. As a response, Genghis Khan sent a large army under the leadership of Oghedei khan back to Ghazni. The Battle of Parwan had grave repercussions in Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Iran since the illusion of Mongol invincibility had been broken. Cities that had peacefully surrendered rose up in arms, which forced Genghis and his son Tolui to spend extra months subduing the revolts. Genghis Khan appointed Yelü Ahai to restore Mongol sovereignty in Samarqand and Bukhara. he managed to restore the order in the cities only in 1223.

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1221 in the Mongol Empire
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Mongol invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire