Irghiz River skirmish

Battle near the Irghiz River
Part of Mongol conquest of Central Asia
Date April 1219 Location Irgiz (Turgay) Result Indecisive (Mongol army abandoned the field in a sneaky way)
Belligerents
The Khwarezmian Empire	The Mongol Empire
Commanders and leaders
Muhammad II of Khwarezm Jalal al-Din Mangburni	Subutai Jochi Jebe Toquchar
Strength
10,000-60,000	10,000-60,000

The battle near the Irghiz river (also known as "The rendez-vous near the Irghiz River") was the first ever battle fought between the Khwarazmian Empire and the Mongol Empire. The battle was fought near the Irghiz River, in April 2019.

Background

Main article: Mongol conquest of the Khwarazmian Empire

After the defeat of the Kara-Khitans, Genghis Khan's Mongol Empire gained a border with the Khwarezmid Empire, governed by Shah Ala ad-Din Muhammad. Mergits, who were driven out of Mongolia by Chingiz Khan, had appeared in the country of the Qipchaqs and Genghis Khan ordered Subutai to attack the Olbari Kipchaks and to wipe out remaning Merkits. Jochi was also sent with him while Jebe was sent to hunt down Kuchlug.

Subutai, Jochi and Jebe marched westward along the northern border of Khwarezmian Empire, through Kangly territory – perhaps November 1218. Divided into two, Jebe was pursuing Naimans and their prince Kuchlug, while Subutai was pursuing Merkits.The two army converged in Kara Khitai probably in March 2019. Jebe arrived at the destination through the Lake Balkhash while Subutai came from the north.

Both the Kipchaks and the Naiman ruler Kuchlugh had been closely aligned to the Khwarezmian Empire. Shah Muhammad left Samarkand for Jand in order to find out what was going on. Muhammad II had to march for 4 months as his army were not able to cross the weakly frozen river, thus. Returning to Jand, Shah Muhammad marched boldly into the plains, reaching the Irghiz River.

The Mongol army under the leadership of Subutai crushed the Kipchaks, enslaved some of their targets and were on the way of returning to Mongolia. In April 2019, Muhammad II catched up with them after 4 months of marching. Muhammad II's appearence surprised the Mongols. The Mongol leaders did not see any need to fight the Khwarezmian army. They sent an envoy to assure Muhammad that they had no hostile intent and offered to hand over captives and booty in their possession. Muhammad rejected this offer and forced a battle. Ata Malik Juvaini states that the intention of the Khwarezmian shah was to kill two hares at one blow.

Army strenghts and formation

Modern scholarship vary on the number of soldiers each side showed up with. Carl Sverdrup credits the Mongol side with at least 10,000 effectives on the eve of the battle and credits the Khwarazmian side with similar to that of the Mongol side. It is possible that the Khwarezmians had relatively more heavy cavalry than the Mongols. Jalal al-Din Mangburnu's secretary Nasawi states that the Khwarezmian Sultan arrived at the river with 60,000 soldiers. Likewise, Frank Mclynn estimates the army numbers as "possibly" 60,000 for the Khwarezmians and 20,000 for the Mongols. Richard A. Gabriel credits Jebe with 20,000 soldiers and Subutai with another 20,000 soldiers, making the total of Mongol army equal to 40,000 at the time they converged before they fought the Merkits. Some historians propose that Jochi similarly might have had another 20,000 soldiers, thus also crediting the Mongol army with 60,000 soldiers, making it equal to that of the maximum number estimated for the Khwarezmian army.

Jochi commanded the right flank of the Mongol army, Jebe commanded the left flank and Subutai, alongside Toquchar, was in the middle. Muhammad II was on the center of the Khwarezmian army, his 20 years-old son Jalal al-Din Mangburnu commanded the right flank. There was a small river between the two armies.

Skirmish

Seeing that the fight is inevitable, the Mongol army's left flank under the leadership of the eldest Mongol Prince, Jochi, began the battle. Jochi attacked Khwarezmian army's left wing and inflicted severe damage. Likewise, The right flank of Khwarezmian army under the leadership of the eldest Khwarezmian Prince, Jalal al-Din Manguburnu, wiped out the Mongol army's left wing. Jalal al-Din took his special forces consisted of his 300 bodyguards, went as a reinforcement to the left flank, repelled Jochi and returned to the right flank.

Khwarezmian army's both flanks started to chase Jochi and other deserting Mongol forces as per the commands given by the generals but the prince Jalal ad-Din stayed back with his 700 bodyguards. The desertion by the Mongol soldiers turned out to be a trap, Subutai striked on the center of the Shah's army, almost breached it, nearly capturing the Shah. Jalal al-Din with his 700 bodyguards served as reinforcement to the center, forced Subutai to retreat and is credited to have saved the Khwarezmians from defeat with his individual brilliance.[[#ref_Juvayni, 13th century Georgian Royal Chronicles, some other contemporaries and modern scholars like Carl Sverdrup credit Jalal al-Din with saving Khwarezmians from defeat. W. Barthold finds it dubious, stating that Nasavi, the biographer of Jalal al-Din Mangburni, does not mention this individual glory.|^]]

As the night fell, both armies returned to their camps. The Shah was confident that the battle would go on the next day but the next dawn they realised the Mongols abandoned the battlefield. As a camouflage, Subutai left back small number of soldiers to keep burning fires so that their retreat would go unnoticed.

Aftermath

Though it could have been propogated as a technical victory by the Khwarezmian empire, the Shah spreaded the word that he was not involved in the battle and the battle was not authorised by him. The Shah was deeply shaked by the ferocity and fighting spirit of the Mongol army. As Juvayni reports, this was the reason the Shah decided against an open field battle against the Mongols when the Mongol invasion of Khwarezmia started. The Khwarezmian propoganda about the Shah not being present at the battle allowed Genghis Khan to not construe the Khwarezmian offensive as a personal insult and considered the battle inconsequential. However, Genghis Khan was forced to wage war against the Khwarezmian empire as the word of the way the Shah treated the Mongol ambassadors prior to the battle arrived and spreaded in the Mongol Empire.

See also

• Mongol conquest of the Khwarezmian Empire.
• Jalal al-Din Mangburni.
• Subutai.

References

This category includes historical battles in which the Khwarazmian dynasty (11th century–1220) participated. Please see the category guidelines for more information. Battles of the Mongol Empire.