How did the westward advance of the Mongolian Empire stop?

How did the westward advance of the Mongolian Empire stop?

Paper Guo Share 2017-02-1814: 46.

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[Abstract] 185 1 year, Edward keresey published his classic book, Fifteen Wars that Changed World History from Marathon to Waterloo. The concept of "decisive battle" first put forward in this book is very popular in the future and has attracted many historians to follow suit.

"After the conquest of Syria, the troops left by (Xu Liewu) were annihilated by Baybars, a famous soldier of the Egyptian Mamluk Dynasty, in Ain Jarut near Nazareth on 1260 ... The Mongols' westward advance was definitely stopped."

-A General History of Arabia by Hitti (America)

An exaggerated little battle

185 1 year, Edward keresey published his classic book, Fifteen Wars that Changed World History from Marathon to Waterloo. The concept of "decisive battle" first put forward in this book became very popular in the future and attracted many historians to follow suit. The Battle of Ain Jarut, which took place in 1260, was such a decisive battle and was regarded by many as the end of the westward expansion of the Mongolian Empire.

Battle of Ain Jarut

However, is this really the case?

1252 In July, Genghis Khan's grandson, Monge Khan, launched the third western expedition of the Mongolian Empire. Two out of every ten people in each royal family formed an army of 120,000 people, under the command of his younger brother Xu Liewu. Mongolian soldiers swept the Middle East like a hurricane. 1258, Xu Liewu captured Baghdad, executed the caliph, and the Abbasid dynasty, which had been established for more than 500 years, finally perished. /kloc-at the beginning of 0/260, the Mongolian army captured Aleppo and Damascus, two important Syrian cities that are still burning frequently. This summer, the vanguard of the Mongolian army has arrived in Gaza, just one step away from Africa.

But at this time, the Mongolian Khan died (1259), and the news that Kublai Khan and Ali Buge were fighting for a position reached the Xuliewu military camp. Xu Liewu ordered the striker Kitbuqa to guard Syria, and he led his main force to return to Tabrizi (to establish the Ili khanate) on June 26th, 260. The third Western Expedition actually ended. Although Xu Liewu once sent an envoy to Egypt, he asked the Sultan of Mamluk Dynasty to surrender. But this does not mean that Egypt has become Mongolia's next target-the third generation of Mongolian Khan Gui You once asked the Pope to surrender in his credentials, but the Mongolian army never made a plan to invade Italy. In fact, in the eyes of the conquerors of the gold family who were full of institutional confidence in the13rd century, there were only two kinds of relations between "Great Mongolia" and other countries: war or surrender.

Mamluk (originally meaning "slave"), who ruled Egypt, chose to resist the threat of Mongols and killed three Mongolian messengers and their entourage. Kutussudan, the supreme ruler, ordered the national army to be called, and those who escaped were whipped. In order to raise wages, Kutus ordered the collection of income tax and per capita tax. On July 1260 and 16, Kutos left Egypt (about 30,000 soldiers) for Syria. Finally, on September 3rd, he met the Mongolian army led by Kitbuqa in Ain Jarut, one-fifth kilometer northwest of Besan on the left bank of the Jordan River. Even if it is only a Mongolian army, even if Mamluk's army may have a great advantage in number, the fighting is still fierce. It was not until Kudos himself went into battle and shouted "May God bless his servants to defeat the Tatars" that Mamluk won a difficult victory, captured and killed Kitbuqa alive, and recaptured the Syrian region to the Euphrates River. However, Mamluk's ruling group is doomed to share weal and woe, and it is impossible to be rich. 1260101October 24th, the greedy general Baybars was on his way back to Egypt from Syria because he didn't get Aleppo as a fief. He began to chop off Kutos' head and succeed the Sultan.

Mamluk cavalry charged.

So much for the story of this battle. Although the Mongols were defeated, the main force was still there. As Kitbuqa himself said: "Hanwang should not feel too sad for the loss of the Mongolian army. He can imagine that it was only within one year, his wife was not pregnant, and there was no Ikoma in his horse farm ... "Only two months later, at the end of June, 1260 165438, a Mongolian army once again entered Syria and looted Aleppo. It can be seen that Xu Liewu did not give up his attempt to seize the "fertile land of the new moon", and the "great historical significance" of the Ain Jarut campaign, such as "saving the Islamic world, marking the beginning of the decline of the Mongolian empire" in "A General History of the World", was quite exaggerated.

"Golden Family" Tired of Civil War

In fact, the main target of the State of Ilihan is Syrians, not Egyptians. Because the "indirect" trade routes of the Mongols in Ili through the vassal countries of Anatolia and little Armenia are far from enough. In order to encourage trade, especially from the Mediterranean, and share more commercial benefits, the State of Ilihan must control Syria and master the seaport of direct trade between the eastern Mediterranean coastal area and the western world.

The territory of Ilihan (formerly translated as ilhan)

But for more than 20 years, Xu Liewu (and his successor in Yili) could not put this attempt into practice. The reason is that Xu Liewu is separated from the relatives of Qincha Khanate (Golden Account Khanate) and Chagatai Khanate "Golden Family". Transcaucasia (the land area between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea) occupied by the State of Ilihan is the only passage for the Golden Horde to the South Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. So Bill, Khan's brother, openly asked Xu Liewu for Azerbaijani land. When Xu Liewu worked for Mongolian Khan, he was already very dissatisfied with his cousin who often sent envoys to give orders to him. Now he's just torn his face. "Although he is a brother, he is not humble, but he threatens to force me, so I will never respect him again." He only established the capital of the khanate in Tabrizi (now Iran). In this way, the affection between the third generation of the gold family has disappeared before the interests. From 1262, Xuliewu and Bilger fought for Azerbaijani territory. Xuliewu won first and then lost, and soon died of depression (1265).

Mongolian khanate

The hatred between the "golden families" continues. Bierge took advantage of Xu Liewu's son's short reign and went south with 300,000 cavalry. As a result, ilhan's army stopped by a river, and the two armies shot arrows at each other across the river, which lasted 14 days. Finally, Brother Bill died of illness, so the army escorted his spiritual fulcrum back to China. 1280, the new Zhang Jin Khan Tuotuo Mungo invaded Ilihan again, resulting in "killing an army general and many soldiers". Tuotuo Mungo was also heartbroken by failure and eventually died. "Ten years later, Timur, a busy brother in the golden tent, led more than 10,000 people to invade the Ili border, and 300 people were killed and captured ... In this way, the war between the two Mongolia countries, which had already forged blood feuds, lasted intermittently for a century.

Not only that. 1270, Chahetai, which coveted the land of Ili Khan, also invaded Ili Khan. Although he was beaten out of the water by Ilihan, he fled back with only five thousand down archers. However, since then, the Ili khanate and the Chahetai khanate have also become a big fire. 1272, Ilihan invaded the capital of Chagatai khanate the following year. They marched for a week. "Most of the residents who failed to escape were slaughtered, and Ilihan's army brought back as many as 50,000 prisoners to Persia." However, the eastern border of Yili Khanate was constantly plundered from the river by the Chagatai army, and the loss of human and animal property was not counted. For example, in 1295, 50,000 troops of the Chagatai khanate plundered Yili Khan for two months, "taking 200,000 women and children and making them slaves". Even as late as 13 14 years, it didn't take the first time for Chagatai Khan to invade Ili Khan to make up for lost ground in order to avoid that "our territory and Uighur (referring to the country) would become narrower than the vision of the blind and the ant nest". Compared with the invasion of Chincha khanate, these wars did not pose a serious threat to the State of Ilihan, but they were enough to overwhelm the rulers of Tabrizi.

Lucky mamluk

It was when the Mongols were keen on killing each other that Mamluk completed the integration of political power. This is a military oligarchy regime established in Egypt by a group of foreign Turkic slaves. "As a slave-born emerging ruler, Baybars urgently needs to gain legal status, and the only way is to canonize the caliph. 126 1 year, Baybars invited his uncle, the last caliph of the Abbasid dynasty who fled to Damascus, to Cairo, where he became a caliph in a grand ceremony held in the grand mosque in the city center, calling him Mu Stancil, and quickly informed the Islamic world. In return for political interests, "the new caliph dressed Baybars in the black robe of Abbasid dynasty in the same mosque, and was chased as Sultan by the whole world". Therefore, the Mamluk dynasty became a legitimate Muslim dynasty, and Cairo became the center of the Arab Empire.

When Ilihan finally made room to March into Syria in the civil war with Mongolian countries, they had to face a Mamluk dynasty that became stronger by defeating a series of crusader countries in the Eastern Mediterranean. 1277, Mamluk's army even dared to take the initiative to attack the Mongolian garrison in Turkey today. The local "commander of the Mongolian army was killed and most of the Mongolian army was killed (14000)". 128 1 year, Ilihan's 50,000 Mongolian troops entered Syria with the assistance of 30,000 Armenian, Georgian and other Christian allies. In September this year, Sultan Mamluk led 80,000 troops to fight against the Mongolian army. In the first battle, the two sides won and lost each other. Until Sudan came to command the battlefield, made a fake surrender, and the commander of the Mongolian army was raided and fled, and the Mongolian army was in chaos. Mamluk took the opportunity to launch a general attack, defeated the enemy with superior forces, recovered Aleppo, and expelled the Mongols from Syria again.

Even in the most prosperous period of Hezan Khan (reign of 1295- 1304) in Yili, Mamluk people were still the enemies of the Mongols: Mamluk's cavalry were good at riding and shooting, and their swordsmanship was superb, and they could split a sand fruit hanging in the air with a knife while galloping. 1299, praising Khan's national mobilization. "Five out of ten people reviewed the army, and each of them should have five horses and a full set of military uniforms ... and transport rations with five thousand camels." He assembled ninety thousand cavalry to invade Syria, defeated Mamluk's army for the first time, and recaptured Damascus. However, when Hezan Khan returned to Tabrizi in February of the following year, the conquered areas went to Mamluk in succession. In April, the name of Sultan Mamluk was restored in public prayers in Damascus, and Mongolian rule in Syria was less than one hundred days.

Courts in Ilihan.

1300, Hezan Khan ordered the commander-in-chief Rusha to March into Syria. Because of the cold weather, which is not conducive to fighting, both sides sounded the golden bell to retreat. Soon, Hezan Khan proposed to make peace on the condition of asking Mamluk to be a vassal, and this proposal was rejected by Mamluk. Hezan Khan can only sign Syria on 1303. As pioneers, 50,000 Mongols launched a fierce battle with Mamluk's army in Sufar grassland near Damascus on April 20th. The Mongols won the first battle, but in the end, due to the lack of water and food for the Mongols, the whole army was wiped out and there were countless casualties. The Egyptian army pursued bravely and captured more than 0/000 Mongolian soldiers and 20,000 horses, which dealt a devastating blow to the Mongolian army. In June 65438 +065438+10, Hezan Khan could only withdraw to Persia.

Coins during the He War.

The fiasco of Sufar Grassland dealt a heavy blow to the military strength of Ilihan. Since then, the Mongols in Persia have never tried to continue their external expansion. 13 12, a small-scale Mongolian army tried to attack Syria, but failed. This is also the last time the Mongols crossed the Euphrates River. At this time, "Egypt, Syria and the Sultan of Hijaz (referring to Mamluk) became the pillars of the Islamic world and the religious bastions of Muslims". At this time, half a century has passed since the Battle of Ain Jarut. (Text/Guo Wei)