Information about Khwarezmian Empire

History of Greater Iran
Empires of Persia Kings of Persia
Pre-modern
Before Islam  BCE Zayandeh River Civilization prehistoric–? Sialk civilization 7500–1000 Jiroft civilization (Aratta) 3000–? Proto-Elamite civilization 3200–2800 Bactria-Margiana Complex 2200–1700 Elamite dynasties 2800–550 Kingdom of Mannai 10th–7th cent. Median Empire 728–550 Achaemenid Empire 550–330 Seleucid Empire 330–150 Greco-Bactrian Kingdom 250-125 Parthian Empire 248–CE 224 CE Kushan Empire 30–275 Sassanid Empire 224–651 Hephthalite Empire 425–557 Kabul-Shahi dynasty 565–670
After Islamic Conquest  Patriarchal Caliphate 637–651 Umayyad Caliphate 661–750 Abbasid Caliphate 750–1258 Tahirid dynasty 821–873 Alavid dynasty 864–928 Saffarid dynasty 861–1003 Samanid dynasty 819–999 Ziyarid dynasty 928–1043 Buyid Dynasty 934–1055 Ghaznavid Empire 975–1187 Ghori dynasty 1149–1212 Seljuk Empire 1037–1194 Khwarezmid dynasty 1077–1231 Ilkhanate 1256–1353 Muzaffarid dynasty 1314–1393 Chupanid dyansty 1337–1357 Jalayerid dynasty 1339–1432 Timurid Empire 1370–1506 Qara Qoyunlu Turcomans 1407–1468 Aq Qoyunlu Turcomans 1378–1508 Safavid Empire 1501–1722* Mughal Empire 1526–1857 Hotaki dynasty 1722–1729 Afsharid dynasty 1736–1802 * or 1736
Modern SSR = Soviet Socialist Republic
Afghanistan  Durrani Empire 1748–1823 British and Russian influence 1826–1919 Independence and civil war 1919–1929 Mohammedzai rule 1929–1973 Republic of Afghanistan 1973–1978 Communist rule 1978–1992 Recent history of Afghanistan since 1992 Timeline
Azerbaijan  Independent Khanates 1722–1828 Russian Rule 1828–1917 Democratic Republic 1918–1920 Azerbaijan SSR 1920–1991 Republic of Azerbaijan since 1991
Bahrain  Portuguese rule 1521–1602 British Treaty 1820–1971 Kingdom of Bahrain since 1971
Iran  Zand dynasty 1750–1794 Qajar dynasty 1781–1925 Pahlavi dynasty 1925–1979 Iranian Revolution 1979 Provisional Government 1979 Islamic Republic of Iran since 1979
Iraq  Ottoman Empire 1632–1919 Hashimite monarchy 1920–1958 Coup and Republic 1958–2003 Republic of Iraq since 2004
Tajikistan  Emirate of Bukhara 1785–1920 Bukharan / Uzbek SSR 1920–1929 Tajik Autonomous SSR 1929 Tajik SSR 1929–1991 Republic of Tajikistan since 1991
Uzbekistan  Emirate of Bukhara 1785–1920 Uzbek SSR 1924–1991 Independence 1991 Republic of Uzbekistan since 1991
This box:  •  • [ edit]

The Khwarezmian Empire, more commonly known as the empire of the Khwarezm Shahs^[1] (Persian: خوارزمشاهیان, Khwārezmšhāḥīān, "Kings of Khwarezmia") was a Persianate^[2][3][4] Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic mamluk^[5] origin which ruled Central Asia and Iran, first as vassals of the Seljuqs and later as independent rulers in the 11th century. The empire survived until the Mongol invasion in 1220.<ref name="Britannica" /> The dynasty was founded by Anūsh Tigin Gharchāī, a former slave of the Seljuq sultans, who was appointed the governor of Khwarezm.<ref name="Britannica" /> His son, Qutb ud-Dīn Muhammad I, became the first hereditary Shah of Khwarezm.

History

The date of the founding of the empire is uncertain. Khwarezm was a province of the Ghaznavid Empire from 992 to 1041. In 1077 the governorship of the province, which now belonged to the Seljuqs, fell into the hands of Anūsh Tigin Gharchāī, a former Turkic slave of the Seljuq sultan. In 1141, the Seljuq Sultan Ahmed Sanjar was defeated by the Kara Khitay (Kara-Khitan Khanate) and Anūsh Tigin's grandson Ala ad-Din Aziz was forced to submit as a vassal to the Kara Khitay.

Sultan Ahmed Sanjar was killed in 1156: when the Seljuk state fell into chaos, the Khwarezms expanded their territories southward. In 1194, the last Sultan of Great Seljuq state, Toğrül III, was defeated and killed by the Khwarezm ruler Ala ad-Din Tekish who also freed himself of the Kara Khitay. In 1200, Tekish died and was succeeded by his son, Ala ad-Din Muhammad, who by 1205 had conquered all of Great Seljuq and declared himself Shah (Persian for king) - he became known as the Kwarezmshah. In 1212 he defeated the Gur-Khan Kutluk and conquered the lands of the Kara Khitay, now ruling a territory from the Syr Darya almost all the way to Baghdad, and from the Indus River to the Caspian Sea.

In 1218, Genghis Khan sent some emissaries to the Shah, but when he executed the Mongol diplomats in defiance of the emerging great power, Genghis retaliated with a force of 200,000 men. In February 1220 the Mongolian army crossed the Syr Darya and launched the Mongol invasion of Central Asia. The Mongols stormed Bukhara, Samarkand, and the Khwarezmid capital Urgench. The Shah fled and died some weeks later on an island in the Caspian Sea.



In Great Captains Unveiled of 1927, B.H. Liddell Hart gave details of the Mongol campaign against Khwarezm, underscoring his own philosophy of "the indirect approach," and highlighting many of the tactics used by Genghis which were to be subsequently included in the German Blitzkrieg tactics, inspired in part by Liddell Hart's writings.

The son of Ala ad-Din Muhammad, Jalal ad-Din Manguberdi became the new Sultan (he rejected the title Shah) but he had to flee to India. However, the Mongols caught up with him before he got there, and he was defeated at the Battle of Indus. He and his closest followers then fled to Armenia where they attacked the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm. He had a brief victory capturing the town Ahlat, but was later defeated by Sultan Kayqubad I at the Battle of Yassi Chemen in 1230, and murdered in 1231 by a Kurdish assassin.^[6]

Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu's followers remained loyal to him even after his death and raided the Seljuk lands of Jazira and Syria for the next several years, calling themselves the Khwarezmiyyas. Ayyubid Sultan Salih Ayyub later hired their services against his uncle Salih Ismail and they actually captured Jerusalem in 1244, triggering the Seventh Crusade.

The Khwarezmiyyas served in Egypt as Mamluk mercenaries before they were finally beaten by Mansur Ibrahim some years later.

Rulers of Khwarezm

Ma'munids

• Abu Ali Mamun I 992-997
• Abu al-Hasan Ali 997-1009
• Abu al-Abbas Mamun II 1009-1017
• Muhammad 1017

Altuntashids

• Altun Tash 1017-1032
• Harun 1032-1034
• Ismail Khandan 1034-1041

Non-dynastic

• Shah Malik 1041-1042

Anushtiginids

• Anush Tigin Gharchai 1077-1097

Non-dynastic

• Ekinchi 1097

Anushtiginids

• Qutb ad-Din Muhammad I 1097-1127
• Ala ad-Din Aziz 1127-1156
• Il-Arslan 1156-1172
• Sultan Shah 1172-1193
• Ala ad-Din Tekish 1172-1200
• Ala ad-Din Muhammad II 1200-1220
• Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu 1220-1231

See also

• Full list of Persian Kingdoms
• Khwarezmia

Literature

• M. Ismail Marcinkowski, Persian Historiography and Geography: Bertold Spuler on Major Works Produced in Iran, the Caucasus, Central Asia, India and Early Ottoman Turkey, with a foreword by Professor Clifford Edmund Bosworth, member of the British Academy, Singapore: Pustaka Nasional, 2003, ISBN 9971-77-488-7.

Notes and references