Mongols · 1219 to 1220

Siege of Otrar

The governor of Otrar had killed the members of a Mongol trade caravan. Genghis Khan's revenge began the destruction of the Khwarazmian empire.

The site of the battle on the 1260 map. Shaded: Mongol Empire, 1260, Mamluk Sultanate.

Key facts

When: 1219 to 1220
Where: South Kazakhstan
Sides: Mongol Empire vs Khwarazmian Empire
Commanders: Genghis Khan vs Inalchuq
Result: Mongol victory
Type: Mongols
Chapter: 3. The Abbasids, the Crusades and the Mongols

The wider picture: The Mongol storm

Genghis Khan destroyed the Khwarazmian empire between 1219 and 1221. His grandson Hulagu took the fortress of Alamut in 1256 and Baghdad in February 1258. The last Abbasid caliph of Baghdad, al-Musta'sim, was put to death on Hulagu's orders, by most accounts rolled in a carpet and trampled.

See the 1260 map Read chapter 3

More mongols battles

Siege of Gurganj1221
Battle of the Indus1221
Fall of Alamut1256
Fall of Baghdad1258
Siege of Aleppo1260
Battle of Ain Jalut1260

All 7 mongol invasions of the muslim world battles · Battle explorer

Spotted a mistake on this page? Tell us