Ulugh Beg Mīrzā Muhammad Tāraghay bin Shāhrukh ( chg, میرزا محمد طارق بن شاہ رخ, fa, میرزا محمد تراغای بن شاہ رخ), better known as Ulugh Beg () (22 March 1394 – 27 October 1449), was a Timurid sultan, as ...

and his son

Abdal-Latif Mirza Abdal-Latif Mirza (c. 1420 – 9 May 1450) was the great-grandson of Central Asian emperor Timur. He was the third son of Ulugh Beg, Timurid ruler of Transoxiana (modern Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and parts of Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kaza ...

marched towards

Herat Herāt (; Persian: ) is an oasis city and the third-largest city of Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Selseleh-ye Safē ...

in the spring of 1448 in order to take Khurasan from his nephew,

Ala al-Dawla Mirza Rukn-ud-din Ala al-Dawla Mirza, also spelt Ala ud-Dawla and Ala ud-Daula, (1417 – 1460) was a Timurid prince and a grandson of the Central Asian ruler Shah Rukh. Following his grandfather's death, Ala al-Dawla became embroiled in the ensu ...

, who had escaped to

Quchan Quchan ( fa, قوچان ' ; also Romanized as Qūchān and Quçan; also known as Khabushan, Gochan) is a city and capital of Quchan County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. It is located due south of the border city of Ashgabat. At the 2006 ce ...

after the defeat at the Battle of Tarnab. They easily took the city except the Qila Ikhtiyar-al-Din and fort Neretu, both of which offered stiff resistance. At this point only the advance troops had reached Herat, which was unable to take the citadel or the Fort Neretu. The

Bakharz Bakharz ( fa, باخرز, also known as Ostā-ye Bākharz ( fa, استای باخرز), Ostād, Ostād Bākharz, Ostay, and Usta) is a city and capital of Bakharz County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 6 ...

Tajik archers offered stiff resistance and beat back many assaults by the

Timurids The Timurid Empire ( chg, , fa, ), self-designated as Gurkani ( Chagatai: کورگن, ''Küregen''; fa, , ''Gūrkāniyān''), was a PersianateB.F. Manz, ''"Tīmūr Lang"'', in Encyclopaedia of Islam, Online Edition, 2006 Turco-Mongol empire ...

of Samarkand. Eventually Ulugh Beg arrived 17 days after the siege had begun; after which all resistance crumbled before him in no time. Abdal-Latif Mirza succeeded in capturing the citadel Qila Ikhtiyar-al-Din in which he was imprisoned after the debacle at Nishapur and now here he managed to take 4,000

Iranian toman The Iranian toman ( fa, تومان, tūmân, pronounced ; from Mongolian ''tümen'' "unit of ten thousand", see the unit called tumen) is a superunit of the official currency of Iran, the rial. One toman is equivalent to 10,000 rials. Although t ...

in coins. They followed up their victory by taking Mashhad. Ulugh Beg was unable to pursue his nephews and instead decided to return to Herat leaving his son Abdal-Latif Mirza in charge at Mashad.

References

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Herat

1448 in Asia Medieval Afghanistan Timurid civil wars