A HISTORY OF INNER ASIA

The conquering Mongols 107
ished, as a fugitive, on an island in the Caspian.The main military operations
consisted of sieges of cities or acceptance of their surrender, and
of the pursuit of the Khwarazmshah’s son and successor, Jalal al-Din
Mangubirti.By 1223, all of Central Asia, including Khwarazm and
Khurasan, was under Mongol control, and Genghis Khan returned to
Mongolia.In contrast to Ala al-Din Muhammad, Jalal al-Din
Mangubirti proved to be a tough opponent whose valor and resilience
elicited the Mongols’ admiration.He retreated through Afghanistan to
the Indus, which he crossed swimming to escape capture after a hardfought
battle; it was at that point that Genghis Khan reportedly said to
his sons: “Such sons should a father beget! Having escaped the two
whirlpools of water and fire and reached the shore of safety, he will be
the author of countless exploits and troubles without number.How can
a wise man fail to take him into account?”
The conqueror had four sons by his principal wife: Juchi, Chaghatay,
Ögedey, and Toluy.They all assisted him in the main campaigns, often
receiving fairly independent and important assignments: the earliest
such example was Juchi’s two campaigns against the Kyrgyz in 1210 and
1218.In Central Asia, Chaghatay and Ögedey (to be eventually joined
by Juchi) were sent to conquer the Khwarazmian capital Urgench, and
Toluy was left to carry out the conquest of Merv.The manner in which
Genghis Khan organized his empire and prepared the succession bore
traces of the frequently mentioned nomadic concept of authority: succession
need not follow the principle of primogeniture, nor even be
linear.Such a system of course contains an inherent weakness: a steppe
empire was created by a single strong leader, but its preservation was
jeopardized by the absence of a regular and undisputed system of succession.This
is why few nomadic empires outlasted their founders.The
Mongol empire did not escape this logic either, but for at least two more
generations a sufficient degree of discipline and cohesion assured its
continuation and further expansion.Here too this success may have
owed much to Genghis Khan’s lucidity, for the choice of Ögedey,
according to some historians, was an excellent one.At the same time,
luck too was on the Mongols’ side.Genghis Khan apparently expressed
his intention to name Ögedey as his successor already in 1219.The conqueror’s
eldest son, Juchi, taking umbrage at his father’s decision, displayed
a growing tendency toward insubordination while campaigning
in the Kipchak steppe.A military clash between the two may have been
averted only by Juchi’s untimely death a few months before that of
Genghis Khan.Had he survived his father, a civil war might have put an