The Qara-Khitai, Part 3: The Mongol Conquest, 1211-1218
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- Mentioned videos:
Qara-Khitai Part 1: • The Qara-Khitai, Part ...
Qara-Khitai Part 2: • The Qara-Khitai, Part ...
Mongol-Jin War 1214-1216: The Fall of Zhongdu • Mongol-Jin War 1214-12...
The Mongol Conquest of Siberia and First Battle with the Khwarezmians, 1216-1218 • The Mongol Conquest of...
Part three of my series on the Qara-Khitai empire, this time dealing with the brief reign of the Naiman Prince, Kuchlug, and the Mongol conquest by Chinggis Khan's great general, Jebe Noyan. A fascinating, if little known episode in the Mongol march westwards.
SOURCES USED:
‘Ala-ad-Din ‘Ata-Malik Juvaini, The History of the World-Conqueror. Vol. I. Translated by John Andrew Boyle. Harvard: harvard University Press, 1958. archive.org/st...
Barthold, W. Turkestan Down to the Mongol Invasion. Translated by H.A.R. Gibb. London: Oxford University Press, 1928. archive.org/de...
Barthold, W. Four Studies on the History of Central Asia. Translated by V. Minorsky and T. Minorsky. Vol I. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1962. books.google.c...
Biran, The Empire of Qara Khitai in Eurasian History: Between China and the Islamic World. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Biran, Michal. “‘Like a Mighty Wall:’ The Armies of the Qara Khitai (1124-1218).” Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 45 (2001): 44-91.
mongol.huji.ac....
May, Timothy. The Mongol Empire. Edinburgh History of the Islamic Empires Series. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 2018.
McLynn, Genghis Khan: The Man Who Conquered the World. London: The Bodley Head, 2015.
Sinor, Denis. “Western Information on the Kitans and some related questions.” Journal of the American Oriental Society, 115 no. 2 (1995): 262-269.
Sinor, Denis. “The Mongols in the West.” Journal of Asian History, 33 no. 1 (1999): 1-44.
MUSIC:
Failing Defense by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommon...)
Source: incompetech.com...
Artist: incompetech.com/
Faceoff by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommon...)
Source: incompetech.com...
Artist: incompetech.com/
I plan on doing a follow up video in the next few days (if my schedule permits) wherein I'll discuss some stuff I couldn't include here, some analysis and stuff on the sources, and can answer some questions if you have any.
Qara-Khitai Part 1: th-cam.com/video/k22BPOpihhQ/w-d-xo.html
Qara-Khitai Part 2: th-cam.com/video/Wj5MzSmo8-I/w-d-xo.html
As mentioned, Boyle's translation of Juvaini. Kuchlug should be page 66.
Ala-ad-Din ‘Ata-Malik Juvaini, The History of the World-Conqueror. Vol. I. Translated by John Andrew Boyle. Harvard: harvard University Press, 1958. archive.org/stream/historyoftheworl011691mbp#page/n117/mode/2up
Further, if you're interested in this period and area, then Barthold's classic is among the best general description you'll find in english, and I found it of great help.
Barthold, W. Turkestan Down to the Mongol Invasion. Translated by H.A.R. Gibb. London: Oxford University Press, 1928. archive.org/details/Barthold1928Turkestan/page/n341
So much effort it's impressive, thanks for your hard works.
Thank you kindly sir, much appreciated!
Majority part of Naimans of Kazakhs nowadays are descendants of Qara-Khitai. They have O-M122 Y-haplogroup
The Qara Khitai are without Honor
As always appreciate you time and effort on this subject matter👍
I have watched all your clips and quite enjoyed them all. Also love all the art work! The Mongol Empire was massive, and the way they got this big is truly very interesting. I am curious to know how you got interested in Mongol History?
Thank you!
I was always interested in history in general, but I believe it was Conn Iggulden's 'Conqueror' series (a fictionalized account of Chinggis' life and successors to Kublai) that brought this topic to my attention. In Canada, asian history is covered almost non existently in schools, so I was fascinated by the scope of this empire I had only the faintest awareness of. An opprotunity to read Jack Weatherford's work really cemented my interest, and in the last five or so years I've come to look at this topic more seriously. I hope to pursue it further in graduate programs now, and this project serves greatly to increase my knowledge, with the advantage of making it more accessible to a wider audience.
@@TheJackmeisterMongolHistory oh wow, exactly like me.
I love your videos, I watched them all several times over, you're doing a great job with these.
Great vid, learnt stuff, thanks.
Another great video!
Thanks citizen. I'm glad you chose to double back to this channel
Amazing
Very well presented. :)
Many thanks, I am glad you enjoyed it!
Great Video! Amazing Illustrations
Hey whhey whats the music with clarinet and flûte ?
2:34
They probably divided the borders by agreement, like the Germany and the Soviets divided Poland. The coup of the Kuchlug was planned and implemented precisely after Muhammad Khwarazmshah attracted the main Kara Khitay army to himself. Nayman and Khwarzemshah cooperation seems certain
Well Done this was great video
Can do the invasion of Korea
Thank you! In due time I will discuss Korea in more detail. It's not until the 1250s that Korea is conquered by the Mongols though- before then, there are incursions, rebellions and political intrigue which I will be sure to cover in its own dedicated video.
Many of these citizens of the Qara Kitai where quick to change sides not surprise if many of the Qara Kitai was asked to join the elite Keshig
Good research, but how did you suspect the religious hate against the Muslims and ten seconds later describe the hell he put them through? And further evidence was the Muslim immediate acceptance of the Mongols!
Two possibilities:
1)as stated in the video, there was oppression, which was intrepreted by the Muslim population as being based in religion, when his actual reason was economic. Persecution still occurred, but becomes explained as being based on religion, and overexaggerated in the sources, presenting Kuchlug as having an irrational hatred of Muslims. Kuchlug's violent actions aren't done out of bigotry, but to try and violently crush an uprising.
2) the persecution was based on religion, but still overexaggerated. Kuchlug still did violent suppression (seen by the hatred apparent in Kashgar to him) but actions such as "trying to force everyone to convert to Christianity" are the results of 'amping up the story,' so to speak, in later retellings. Juvaini, one of our main sources, does tell us he spoke to Kashgaris, but was writing ~40 years later. A lot of elements can be added in that time.
The general impression from experts in this area like Dr. Michal Biran is that Kuchlug's hatred of muslims is overexaggerated- but HOW much is debated, and either way he still commited unnecesary, violent acts on the muslim population. Just the reasons for those acts may not be based in religionous hatred from him.
Does that make sense? Let me know if it isn't clear.
@@TheJackmeisterMongolHistory Hi, I don't mean to argue! Especially since I knew nothing of the subject except from your video, all I am trying to clarify is that burning fields every year and nailing scholar's to their front door should be a clear enough sign of complete hate against the Muslim population! If I'm sitting on your chest punching you in the face then explain it's not hate just business! that doesn't make you go: oooooh that's ok then. Starvation was and always will be the ultimate tool of hate, just look who uses it, but to be fair to your argument I'll read about him myself and see what your trying to say. Peace.
You raise fair points my friend, and I welcome the discussion. I wrote my last reply on mobile, which I don't like to do since I feel it is harder to write in the same detail. This ended up being a little long, but there is a lot to discuss in such a matter.
First off, I should have included this detail: part of the doubt comes from that (to my understanding) other sources which discuss this episode, such as Rashid al-Din and Jamal Qarshi, do not, to my knowledge, include these same details. Juvaini (who provides the details of Kuchlug hating Muslims specifically) is also prone to making very dramatic language, Chinggis Khan being 'the world conqueror,' and millions being killed in a single city. In light of these tendencies, it is easy to see some of his description being over exaggeration.
I do believe however, that part of the doubts to the 'Kuchlug orders all Muslims to become Christian/Buddhist!' is that it is almost a doubt that anyone could be so stupid, that it has to be exaggeration. Yet, and I too have done this, it is sometimes too easy to dismiss Juvaini in this regard. Juvaini actually spoke with Kashgaris, was a high ranking figure in the Mongol administration and was well traveled, obviously a highly intelligent man with a keen eye to the sufferings of the Muslims in Central Asia over the thirteenth century. It is quite possibly that Kuchlug really did hate Muslims obscenely, and did everything he is accused of.
The comparison I would make would be the slaughters caused during the Mongol invasion of the Khwarezmian Empire. There, the Muslims were subject to incredible horror at the hands of the Mongols, but not because they were Muslim, but because they resisted Mongol rule. Likewise, Kuchlug may not have cared that the people of Kashgar were Muslim, as had they been Christians, Jews or Shamanists who revolted he may have acted with the same violence.
Yet it is still cruelty none the less, and for those receiving it, it does not matter, as you said, if it was based on religious hate or desire to conquer, vengeance etc. It is a bit of a nuanced point, and one which does distract from the actual horrors these people suffered at the hands of fellow humans. Further, we must always hesitate with ascribing motive from the sources. The people writing did not talk to Kuchlug, and could only infer his motivations from what they saw. And what they saw was imams nailed to madrassas, crops destroyed and Muslim communities targeted. Did he force them to convert to Christianity? We can't say for sure. It seems a ridiculous move to make, which if true would have made Kuchlug a true fool. It doesn't matter if he did though, for he certainly did attack the Muslim sections of his empire with force, and it didn't matter to them WHY he was doing it, only that he WAS doing it.
Ultimately, I cannot give the final say on this, but hopefully it is clear the thought I had in my original point. An unfortunate reality of these videos is that, no matter how detailed they seem, it is difficult to get all the nuance across without making them hours and hours long. But I always welcome the discussion, and appreciate the thoughts and arguments.
If you more interested in this specific topic, I would recommend Dr. Michal Biran's "The Empire of Qara-Khitai in Eurasian History," if you can find it. She discusses this exact topic better than I can, and it is considered one of the top works in the English language on the Qara-Khitai. I encourage you to share more of thoughts!
The Qara Khitai are often referred to as " the infidel Turks ” ( kāfir al - Turk , al - Atrāk al - kuffār ) , or simply as Turks . Jūzjānī described several Shamsī mamluks of the Delhi sultanate as “ a Turk from the Qara Khitai , ” or a “ Khitan Turk ” ; 92 and in the fifteenth century even the Gürkhan of the Qara Khitai was said to be handsome Turk.
Imād al - Dīn al - Isfahānī , a thirteenth - century historian of the Saljūqs , turning to the Mongols after he had recounted the expulsion of the Qara Khitai from Transoxania , described the former as “ another kind/race (jins) of the infidel Turks.
Empire Qara Khitai Eurasian History: Between China and the Islamic World (Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization) [Paperback] Biran, Michal pp.143
Khitans are mongolic people with turkic admixture
There para mongolic not turkic orgin
Anatolian Turks are Byzantines with little Turkic admixture
anatolian(adopted name:turkish) Greek🇬🇷🦃
the Khitans are heavily related to the Mongolians and today’s world their descendants are inner mongolians. The Khitans were semi nomads and had a dynasty that was destroyed by the Jin dynasty
@@jihangirastra3851 Mongols are Chinese with Mongolic admixture
tungusid chinese nomadic
Kara Khitai in Turkic Leaguage : Kara=Black and Khitai=China
turkish=turkified Greeks