The state of Khorezmshahs in the history of the Caucasus in the first half of the 13th century

Abstract

Introduction. The first half of the XIII century was marked in the history of the peoples of Central Asia, the Near and Middle East and the Caucasus by turbulent events associated with the Mongol invasion, which changed the military, political, economic and cultural development of these regions for many centuries. Materials and Methods. This research was conducted on the basis of a broad interdisciplinary approach and generally accepted historical methods. For the first time In Russian Caucasian studies, a comprehensive study was conducted based on the analysis of medieval Arabic, Georgian, Azerbaijani and Derbent sources. Analysis. One of the most powerful states, among the first to fall under the blows of the Mongols, was the power of the Khorezmshahs. Having conquered China and preparing his expansion to the West, Genghis Khan was very wary of this largest state of the Muslim East, which could field about 400-500 thousand welltrained and well–armed warriors capable of inflicting a decisive defeat, significantly inferior in numbers, to the Mongol troops. The grossest militarypolitical and strategic mistakes of the last ruling ruler of the Khorezmshah state, Ala alDin Muhammad, who placed his huge army in isolation in separate large cities, thereby condemning his troops to defeat and the state to destruction. In just 4 months, the Mongols captured and looted the main military, political, economic and cultural centers of the Khorezmshah state. Jalal al-Din Mankburny, becoming the last ruler of the Khorezmshakh state, tried to regain his father’s former power in the Middle East and the Caucasus and in the 20s – early 30s of the XIII century played a significant role in the historical destinies of the peoples of these regions. For more than 10 years, pursuing an expansive policy and continuously participating in wars, Jalal al-Din in the 20s of the XIII century turned out to be the only really military, military-administrative and political figure capable of resisting the Mongol invasion of the Middle East and the Caucasus regions.Results. Jalal al-Din understood that the weakened states of the Caucasus and the Middle East alone were not able to repel the Mongol forces, which forced the last Khorezm Shah to make efforts to unite the Caucasian and Middle Eastern rulers to repel the Mongol invasion, but he failed to achieve this.

Keywords

• khorezmshakh state
• mongol invasion
• jalal al-din
• caucasus
• georgia
• azerbaijan