![]() | This article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject.(September 2013) |
Siege of Samarkand | |||||||
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Part of Timurid Civil Wars | |||||||
![]() Ulug-Bek Madrasa in Samarkand | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Timurids of Ferghana Timurids of Bukhara Timurids of Hissar | Timurids of Samarkand | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur Sultan Ali Mirza Sultan Mas'ud Mirza|Sultan Masud Mirza | Sultan Baysonqor Mirza |
After the death of King Abu Sa'id Mirza, the great-grandson of Amir Timur Beg Gurkani (Taimur Lung), his much reduced Timurid Empire was divided among four of his sons namely;
A civil war between two brothers Umar Shaikh Mirza II (father of Babur), King of Fergana and Sultan Ahmed Mirza, King of Samarkand and Bukhara was being fought in 1492 when Umar Shaikh died of natural causes leaving his son, the 12-year-old Babur in charge of his Kingdom. Ahmed Mirza, Babur's uncle wasted no time in attacking Babur's Kingdom but failed in his attempt. Ahmed Mirza later also died of natural causes. After Sultan Ahmed Mirza's death, Sultan Mahmud Mirza moved to Samarkand and reigned there for some five or six months, reportedly attempting to regulate the collection of taxes and strengthen his army. But with the deaths of Sultan Ahmed Mirza, Sultan Mahmud Mirza and Umar Shaikh Mirza II, all occurring during the space of a year, civil strife intensified.
The richest amirs tried to make use of the child Timurids, preferring to enthrone the weakest of them. Sultan Ali Mirza bin Mahmud Mirza was thus raised in Bukhara. But the young Timurid Sultan Baysonqor Mirza bin Mahmud Mirza's coming to power in Samarkand roused the governors of other provinces. Sultan Ali Mirza left Bukhara on a campaign against Samarkand, but the inhabitants of the city put up a fierce resistance. These events and the confusion and anarchy with which they were attended in the kingdom of Samarkand did not escape the observation of Babur who resolved to try his fortune.
In 1496, the 15-year-old Babur marched to attack Samarkand. At the same moment and induced by the same motives Sultan Masud Mirza the older brother of Sultan Ali Mirza and Baysonqor Mirza was on his way to besiege the city. Thus that unfortunate city, unfortunate from its very wealth and former prosperity, saw itself beleaguered on three sides at the same time by the arms of three different potentates who acted without concert; Babur having advanced towards it from Andijan; Masud Mirza from Hissar and Sultan Ali from Bukhara.
Sultan Ali now proposed to Babur that they should enter into a treaty of alliance and mutual co operation to which Babur willingly agreed. attended by a limited number of followers But as the autumn was already drawing to a close and winter fast approaching and as the country round Samarkand exhausted by the presence of so many armies was altogether unable to furnish the requisite provisions and provender for the troops all the invading princes were to withdraw into their own territories. However, Babur and Sultan Ali decided that as soon as the winter season was over they would return and besiege the city again.
The Timurid Empire was a late medieval, culturally Persianate Turco-Mongol empire that dominated Greater Iran in the early 15th century, comprising modern-day Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, much of Central Asia, the South Caucasus, as well as parts of contemporary Pakistan, North India and Turkey. The empire was culturally hybrid, combining Turko-Mongolian and Persianate influences, with the last members of the dynasty being "regarded as ideal Perso-Islamic rulers".
Muhammad Shaybani Khan, was an Uzbek leader who consolidated various Uzbek tribes and laid the foundations for their ascendance in Transoxiana and the establishment of the Khanate of Bukhara. He was a Shaybanid or descendant of Shiban, the fifth son of Jochi, Genghis Khan's eldest son. He was the son of Shah-Budag, thus a grandson of the Uzbek conqueror Abu'l-Khayr Khan.
Sultan Husayn Bayqara Mirza was the Timurid ruler of Herat from 1469 until May 4, 1506, with a brief interruption in 1470.
Yunus Khan, was Khan of Moghulistan from 1462 until his death in 1487. He is identified by many historians with Ḥājjī `Ali, of the contemporary Chinese records. He was the maternal grandfather of Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire.
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In May 1497 the two armies of Babur and Sultan Ali successfully besieged and captured the city of Samarkand.
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Abu Sa'id Mirza was the ruler of the Timurid Empire during the mid-fifteenth century.
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Battle of Ab Darrah Pass was the battle that took place in 1511 in the place called Ab Darrah between Uzbeks and Babur of Timurids. The battle ended with the decisive Timurid victory which enabled Babur to regain Transoxiana and briefly reunite the whole of the ancestral part of the Timurid Empire. Such a decisive and significant battle is not mentioned in Babur’s Memoirs (Baburnama), in which there is a break from the year 1508 to the beginning of 1519.
Umar Shaikh Mirza II was the ruler of the Fergana Valley. He was the fourth son of Abu Sa'id Mirza, the emperor of the Timurid Empire in what is now Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and eastern Iran.
Sultan Ahmed Mirza was the eldest son of Abu Sa'id Mirza on whose death he became the Timurid ruler of Samarkand and Bukhara from 1469 until 1494. During his rule, he successfully repelled at least one invasion attempt by the Kara Koyunlu, and failed in an attempt to conquer Khurasan from its ruler Sultan Husayn Mirza Bayqara. He was embroiled in the Timurid Civil Wars with his brothers Umar Shaikh Mirza II and Sultan Mahmud Mirza. He died while returning from his Ferghana expedition against Babur, the twelve-year-old son and successor of Umar Shaikh Mirza II. As he had no male heir, he was succeeded by his brother, Sultan Mahmud Mirza.
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Abul-Qasim Babur Mirza, a Timurid ruler in Khorasan, invaded other parts of the region in the winter of 1448–1449 that were held by the Timurids of Samarkand, led by Ulugh Beg. Abdul-Qasim Babur Mirza was victorious and ruled over the area until his death in 1457.
Shah Begum was the Queen consort of Moghulistan as the second wife of Yunus Khan, a descendant of Chaghatai Khan, the second son of Genghis Khan. She was the mother of Mahmud Khan and Ahmad Alaq, the next Moghul Khans of Moghulistan.
Masuma Sultan Begum was the Queen consort of Ferghana Valley and Samarkand as the fourth wife of Emperor Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire and the first Mughal emperor.
Sultan Mahmud Mirza was a prince of Timurid branch of Transoxiana, son of Abu Sa'id Mirza.
Mu'iz-ud-din Umar Shaikh Mirza was a member of the Timurid dynasty and a son of its founder, the Central Asian conqueror Timur. Known for being a skilled soldier, Umar Shaikh was one of Timur's military commanders and also served as a regional governor. He died in 1394, predeceasing his father by over a decade.