Category: Islamic Civilizations
Author: Ihsan
The Founding 
The origins of the Imperial Khwarezmshah family goes back to Anushtegin, who was a Turkish-origined palace officer in the Seljuk court. Anushtegin's son Qudbaddin Mohammed was appointed as the governor of the Khwarzem province by the Seljuk Sultan Berqyaruq in the year 1098. During his governorship, he assured his family's place in the region and after his death in 1128, his son Atsiz was appointed as the new governor by the Seljuk Sultan Sanjar.Atsiz was a ruthless ruler; he laid heavy taxes on the people and began capturing strategic positions of the region. Sanjar organized three campaigns on Atsiz, and even tough Atsiz's forces were defeated, Sanjar let him to govern the region, because a new danger was coming from the Steppes: the Kara-Khitai. After Sanjar's army was crushed by these nomadic people at the Battle of Qatwan in 1141, Atsiz declared his independece but he submitted the Seljuk protectorate after Sanjar escaped from the rebel Oghuz. After Atsiz died in 1156, he was succeded by his son Il-Arslan.
Rise to Power
After Sanjar's death in 1157, Il-Arslan proclaimed his independence, defeated the Kara-Khitai and the Qarakhanids and captured important Transoxian towns like Bukhara and Samarkand. He died in 1172 and his son Alaeddin Takish became the new Khwarezm Shah.
Alaeddin Takish was a brilliant ruler and a good general. He defeated the Kara-Khitai and brought the Kipchaks under Khwarezmshah rule. He invaded Khorasan in 1183 and destroyed the Iraqi Seljuks in 1194. He spent his last years in fighting with the Assassins and captured the fort of Arslan-Gusha, one of their most important strongholds. He died in 1200 and his son Alaeddin Mohammed sat on the Khwarzemshah throne.
The early years of Alaeddin Mohammed's reign were spent for the struggle against the other Khwarezmshah princes. In 1214, he destroyed the Kara-Khitai Empire and the Gurid Sultanate of India. He also expanded the borders of the empire up to the Persian Gulf. Another campaign he was planning was the Invasion of China; altough China was already invaded by the Mongols
The Khwarezm-Shah Empire
Collapse of the Empire
Jalal al Din
Now, there was a new power rising in the East: the Mongols commanded by Genghis Khan. In order to learn more about the power of the Mongols, Alaeddin Mohammed sent an envoy to Karakurum, the Mongol capital, and signed a treaty with him. After this, Genghis Khan sent a caravan to Otrar, but the Mongol merchants were massacred by Inaljik, the governor of that town, who also humiliated the Mongol emissaries. As a result, Genghis Khan invaded Transoxiana with his army. Even tough the Mongol army was outnumbered, Alaeddin Mohammed divided his army into small garrisons, a mistake which allowed Genghis Khan to capture important cities like Bukhara, Samarkand, Jend, Khokand and Urgench easily. Alaeddin Mohammed fled to a small Caspian island and died there in 1220.
Jalal-Al-Din Khwarezmshah became the new shah but his forces were defeated at the Battle of River Indus. He fled to Azerbaijan, attacked Rum Seljuk towns in Eastern Anatolia and captured Ahlat, an important Seljuk town. He was defeated by the Rum Seljuk Sultan Alaeddin Qaykubad I at the Battle of Yassi Chemen in 1230, and he was murdered in 1231. With his death, the Khwarzemshah Empire came to an end.
Emperors
Qudbaddin Mohammed (1098 - 1128)
Atsiz (1128 - 1156)
Il-Arslan (1156 - 1172)
Sultanshah (1172 - 1193)
Alaeddin Takish (1172 - 1200)
Alaeddin Mohammed (1200 - 1220)
Jalal-Al-Din Khwarezmshah (1220 - 1231)
Chronology
1098: Qudbaddin Mohammed appointed governor of Khwarezm
1141: Atsiz proclaimed his independence but submitted to the Seljuk rule soon
1157: Il-Arslan proclaimed his independence
1183: Alaeddin Takish invaded Khorasan
1194: Alaeddin Takish destroyed the Iraqi Seljuks
1214: Alaeddin Mohammed destroyed the Kara-Khitai Empire and the Gurid Sultanate
1218: Alaeddin Mohammed signed a treaty with Genghis Khan
1220: Mongol merchants are massacred in Otrar; Mongol emissaries executed in Urgench; Genghis Khan's invasion of Transoxiana and Khorasan; death of Alaeddin Mohammed
1221: Battle of River Indus
1230: Jalal-Al-Din Khwarezmshah captured Ahlat; his forces are defeated at the Battle of Yassi Chemen
1231: Jalal-Al-Din Khwarzmshah murdered; the Khwarezmshah Empire collapsed.
Khwarezm
Sources
open directory project
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
WordNet Ž 1.7.1, Š 2006 Princeton University
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org. Encyclopedia Khwarezm (Uzbek: Xorazm, Russian: Хорезм Khorezm, Persian: خوارزم Khwārazm, Arabic: خوارزم Khwārizm) was a state centred on the Amu Darya river delta of the former Aral Sea, in modern Uzbekistan, extending across the Ust-Urt plateau and possibly as far west as the eastern shores of the northern Caspian Sea. To the south it bordered Khorasan, to the north the kingdom of Alans, to the southeast Kangju and Sogdian Transoxiana, and on the northeast with the Huns of Transiaxartesia. Its capitals were Urgench and, from the 17th century on, Khiva when Khwarezmia became known as the Khanate of Khiva. Khwarezm has been known also as Khwarezmia, Khwarizm, Khwarazm, Khorezm, Khoresm, Khorasam, Chorezm, or Chorasmia.
Contents [show]
1 Etymology
2 Early history
3 Classical times
4 Middle ages
5 Modern Age
6 Notables of Khwarazm
7 References
8 See also
9 External links
Etymology
The Arab geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi in his Mu'jem al-baladan wrote that the name "Khwarazm" is a compound name of "Khwar" (خور), and "-razm" (زم), referring to the abundance of cooked fish meat as a main diet of the peoples of this area. (V2, p395)
C.E. Bosworth however, believes the name to be made up of (خور) meaning "the sun" and (زم) meaning "Earth", designating "the land from which the sun rises from".(Bosworth, p1061)
The name also appears in Achaemenid inscriptions as "Huvarazmish", and declared to be part of the Persian Empire. It remained part of Persia through-out many invasions, until in 1878 the invading Russians made the region part of Russia.
Many scholars believe Khwarazm to be what ancient Avestic texts refer to as "Ariyaneh Waeje" or "Iran vij".(Farahvashi, p8) These sources claim that Ourgandj, which was the capital of ancient Khwarazm for many years, was actually "Ourva": the eighth land of Ahura Mazda mentioned in the Pahlavi text of Vendidad.(Javan, p24) However, Michael Witzel, a researcher in early Indo-European history, believes that "Iran vig" was located in what is now Afghanistan [1], the northern areas of which were a part of Ancient Khwarezm and Greater Khorasan.
Early history
According to Ancient Khorezm (Moscow 1948), written by the head of the Soviet archaeological-ethnographic expedition of 1945 - 1948, Sergei Pavlovich Tolstov (1907-1976), the first inhabitants of the area were Hurrians from the area of Transcaucasian Iberia, and he explains the etymology of "Chorezm" as Hurri-Land. The first two names of rulers we have for the area are Sijavus c.1300 BC (synonymous with Afrasiab c.1100 BC) and Aurvat-Aspa, usually placed in the late 600s BC though dating is very difficult. Nonetheless, in the very early part of its history, the inhabitants of the area were from Iranian stock and they spoke an Eastern Iranian language called Khwarezmian. The famous scientist Biruni, a Khwarazmian native, in his Athar ul-Baqiyah (الآثار الباقية عن القرون الخالية) (p.47), specifically verifies the Iranian origins of Khwarazmians when he wrote (in Arabic):
"اهل خوارزم ... کانوا غصنا, من دوحه الفرس"
Translation:
"The parents (forefathers) of the Khwarezm were a branch from a [region] of Persia."
Other geographers such as Istakhri in his Al-masalik wa al-mamalik mention it to be part of Khorasan and part of Transoxiania.
Classical times
When the King of Khwarezmia offered friendship to Alexander the Great in 328 BC, Alexander's Greek and Roman biographers imagined the nomad king of a desert waste, but 20th century Russian archeologists revealed the region as a stable and centralized kingdom, a land of agriculture to the east of the Aral Sea, surrounded by the nomads of Central Asia, protected by its army of mailed horsemen, in the most powerful kingdom northwest of the Amu Darya (the Oxus River of antiquity). The king's emissary offered to lead Alexander's armies against his own enemies, west over the Caspian towards the Black Sea. Alexander politely refused.
The Pahlavi script based on Aramaic alphabet was used by Persian bureaucracy alongside Old Persian passed into use in Khwarezmia to the north, where it served as the first local alphabet, about the AD 2nd century.
Middle ages
According to Biruni the area was ruled by the Afrigid dynasty from the 4th century to the 8th century CE. The resurgent kingdom was established around Khiva in 410 by Avar tribes possibly under Hephthalites influence. The inhabitants were called Khwalis or Kaliz by the Magyars after the eastern-most Kabars of Hungary, who dwelt in Carpathian Galicia. They were also called Khalisioi in Greek, Khvalis (and often associated with Khazars) in Russian, and Huālázǐmó (花剌子模) or perhaps Guali or Helisimijia in Chinese. The etymology of the name is unknown but may pertain to a kingdom of the Aral Sea or the Hua people.
In the late 7th century, Khwarezmia was conquered by the Arab Abbasids and was the birthplace of the great Persian mathematician of the Abbasid period, al-Khwarezmi. According to some historians, Khwarezmians were the people mentioned as Khalyzians in contemporary Byzantine sources.
In the 11th century, Khwarezmid Empire was founded and, in the early 13th century, ruled over all of Persia under the Shah Allah al-Din Muhammad II. Around 1141 Yelü Dashi took control of Khwarezmia, making it part of the Kara-Khitan Khanate. Then from 1218 to 1220 Genghis Khan and his Mongols launched the invasion of Central Asia and destroyed the Kara-Khitan Khanate and the Khwarezmid Empire, including the capital of the latter, Old Urgench (Kunya).
Notables of Khwarazm
The following either hail from Khwarazm, or lived and are buried there:
Najmeddin Kubra
Tureh Beig Khanum, wife of Tamerlane
Khwajeh Mashad
Imam Fakhreddin Razi
Ala ad-Din Tekish, King of Khwarezmid Empire
AbulHasan Sa'eedeh ibn Sa'deh, commentary writer on the writings of Sibawayh.
Abaaq al-Khwarazmi
Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, mathematician.
Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Khwarizmi, 10th century encyclopedist who wrote Mafatih al-'Ulum (“Key to the Sciences”).
Abu Bakr al-Khwarizmi
Biruni
Zamakhshari
Qutb al-zaman Muhammad ibn Abu-Tahir Marvazi, philosopher
Al-Marwazi, astronomer
Najmeddin Razi
References
Robin Lane Fox, Alexander the Great, pp 308ff etc.
C.E. Bosworth, The Encyclopedia of Islam, VolIV, 1978.
Bahram Farahvoshi, Iranovich, Tehran University Press. 1991.
Musa Javan, Tarikh-i Ijtima'i Iran-i Bastan (The social history of ancient Iran), 1961.
Shir Muhammad Mirab Munis & Muhammad Reza Mirab Agahi Firdaws al-Iqbal. History of Khorezm (Leiden: Brill) 1999 Trans & Ed. Yuri Bregel
Yuri Bregel "The Sarts in the Khanate of Khiva" Journal of Asian History Vol.12 1978 pp121-151
Nasser Takmil Homayoun, Kharazm: What do I know about Iran?. 2004. ISBN 9643790231
FACTION: The Khwarezm Shah
Barracks level 1 - Daylami tribal spearmen (Khorasani spearmen)
Barracks level 2 - Persian spearmen
Barracks level 3 - Daylami infantry
Barracks level 4 - Tajik swordsmen
Barracks level 5 - Daylami heavy infantry Archery Range
Archery Range 1 - Turkoman Light Foot Archers
Archery Range 2 - Kara-Khitai Foot Archers
Archery Range 3 - Persian Archers Stables
Stables 1 - Turkomans RB/CB Stables 2 - Kara-Khitai Horse Archers
Stables 3 - Persian Lancers
Stables 4 - Khurasani Heavy Cavalry
Stables 5 - Khwarezmian Guard
New Units
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Ahiga
)
