Siege of Samarkand (1497)

Siege of Samarkand
	Part of Timurid-Uzbek Wars ; Timurid Civil Wars
Date	May - November 1497
Location	Samarkand, Uzbekistan
Result	Victory of Babur
Belligerents
Timurids of Ferghana ; Timurids of Bukhara	Khanate of Bukhara ; Timurids of Samarkand
Commanders and leaders
Zahir-ud-din Babur ; Sultan Ali Mirza	Muhammad Shaybani ; Sultan Baysonqor Mirza

Last updated July 01, 2024

The Siege of Samarkand (1497) was a successful siege by the two armies of Emir Babur of Fergana and Sultan Ali of Bukhara of the city of Samarkand . In May 1497, the city was captured after 7 months of siege.

Siege

Prelude

In 1497, Babur and his cousin Sultan Ali Mirza agreed to jointly attack Samarkand, which was ruled by Ali's brother Sultan Baysonqor Mirza.

In May 1497, Babur led his army from Andijan into the territory of Sultan Baysonqor Mirza and after various successes encamped at Yam, a village not far from Samarkand. Some skirmishes followed. From Yam, Babur moved his camp to Yurat Khan (or Khan Yirti), a place four or five miles from the city where he remained forty or fifty days.
Many skirmishes took place with considerable losses on both sides. On one of these occasions a party that Babur had sent to the Lovers Cave to surprise the city by night, on the treacherous invitation of some of the townspeople, fell into an ambush by which some of his bravest soldiers were slain and others taken prisoner and afterwards put to death.^[1]

However, while Babur camped there, the inhabitants of all the neighboring countryside submitted and surrendered their strongholds to him. From the station of Yurat Khan, Babur moved first to the meadow of Kulbeh and next to the hill of Kohik on a different side of the town. When the people of Samarkand saw the enemy army on the march from one position to the other, thinking that it was on its retreat and elated with their supposed success, they sallied out both soldiers and citizens in great numbers towards two bridges crossing the River Kohik (today known as Zarafshan River). Babur observing this movement waited for the favorable moment, when he ordered a charge of cavalry to be made upon them. It was completely successful. Large numbers of Samarkandians were cut down and many, both horse and foot, were taken prisoner. The higher officers and the soldiers were treated with the usual courtesy of the time. The same indulgence was not extended to the citizens.^[2]

This action enabled Babur's army to advance unopposed as far as to the moat around the city, and to carry off provisions from under the very walls. But the city itself was not captured and winter was approaching. Babur was nevertheless resolved not to leave the territory. He therefore decided to break up from his exposed positions before the city and to erect temporary huts for his troops in some neighboring forts by which means they could still keep Samarkand in a state of blockade. For this purpose, the fort of Khwaja Didar was chosen as his headquarters and the necessary constructions were begun in and around it without delay. When they were finished, the army moved into them. Some officers however went with their men to towns at a greater distance to secure better winter accommodation, which left the army rather scattered.^[2]

Uzbek relief attempt

At this critical moment, an Uzbek force arrived at Samarkand on the request of Baysonqor Mirza, under their leader Muhammad Shaybani, who would become Baburs' nemesis. Babur, though his forces were dispersed, resolved to show a bold countenance, put the troops that were with him in battle formation and marched out to face the enemy. Shaybani had hoped to take Babur by surprise, but finding him battle ready, chose not to risk a battle and withdrew towards Samarkand.^[2]
Baysonqor Mirza, who had expected a much more effectual relief from such a formidable reinforcement, was disappointed and vexed at the result and could not conceal his feelings. So he did not give Shaybani the favorable reception he had expected. The Uzbek ruler returned a few days after to Turkistan, but in the course of his short expedition, he had seen at once the richness of Samarkand and the weakness of its defenders. This is the first hostile appearance of that remarkable man, who afterwards exercised so powerful an influence on the fate of Babur and of Samarkand, which he would conquer in 1501.

Fall of the city

That city had now sustained a siege for seven months. Baysonqor Mirza had set his last hope of relief on the arrival of the Uzbek army. Seeing that action failed, he gave himself up to despair, abandoned the place and his kingdom, and, attended only by a few close followers, took the road to Kunduz, Afghanistan. That district, which lies beyond the Amu Darya between Balkh and Badakhshan was then held by Khusroe Shah, who was nominally subject to Sultan Masud Mirza of Hissar, but with whom he had quarreled since that prince's retreat from Hissar, and of whom he was in reality independent.
Masud Mirza wanted to prevent that his brother and rival would be able to unite himself with a protector so formidable as Khusroe Shah, and made an attempt to seize him. Baysonqor Mirza, the fugitive prince passing through the territory of Hissar, escaped with difficulty, though with the loss of several of his followers who fell into Masud's hands^[2]. He finally, however, did succeed in reaching Kunduz where he was well received by Khusroe Shah, who had been the chief minister of his father but, at that time engrossed with his own schemes of power and conquest, regarded Baysonqor Mirza as a fit instrument for his soaring ambitions.

As soon as Babur heared of the flight of Baysonqor Mirza, he rallied his troops from their encampments towards Samarkand and took the city without opposition by the end of November 1497. What share his ally Sultan Ali Mirza had in this victory isn't clear, as no mention is being made of him during the siege. Babur, whether in consequence of special agreement or of his superior activity alone, entered the city. Sultan Ali had previously, however, overrun some of the dependent districts especially those in the neighborhood of Bukhara and continued to retain possession of them as well as of that city. The city of Samarkand, the possession of which thus rewarded the perseverance of the youthful Babur was one of the richest and most populous at that time in the world. It had been the capital of the great Timur and still maintained its preeminence in the countries he had conquered.^[2]

Aftermath

Both Begs and soldiers who had looked forward to the rich plunder that it was to afford as the reward of the toils they had endured in a long siege, were extremely discontented when they discovered that the city was worn out from the long continuance of the blockade for which it was not originally prepared. The country laid waste by the movements of hostile armies for two successive summers and had been reduced to such a wretched condition that instead of any supplies being drawn from the fertile fields around, it was absolutely necessary for the government to furnish the inhabitants with seed corn to sow their grounds and with other supplies to enable them to subsist on till the ensuing harvest.

To levy contributions for his army from such a country was, as Babur himself remarked, quite impossible. His soldiers were consequently exposed to much distress and he possessed no adequate means of satisfying their wants. The men began to drop off and return home. The example set by the soldiers was soon followed even by their leaders. All his Mughal horse deserted, and in the end, Sultan Ahmed Tambol, a Mughal nobleman of the first rank in Andijan, forsook him like the rest and returned home.

Ahmed Tambol later rebelled and took over his Kingdom of Fergana, supporting Babur's brother Jahangir Mirza as the new king and joined by Uzun Hasan. The rebels lay siege to Andijan. As Babur was marching to recover his lost kingdom, his troops deserted him in Samarkand, leaving him with neither Samarkand nor Fergana. While he planned to retake Samarkand in 1500, he learnt that the Khan of the Uzbeks, Muhammad Shaybani, was also headed towards the city.

Related Research Articles

Babur was the founder of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent. He was a descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan through his father and mother respectively. He was also given the posthumous name of Firdaws Makani.

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.

Ahmad Alaq was the Khan of Eastern Moghulistan from 1487 to 1504. He was the second son of Yunus Khan. His mother was Shah Begum, fourth daughter of Badakhshan prince Lali.

The Arghun dynasty ruled over the area adjoining Southern Afghanistan and then the Sindh Sultanate from the late 15th century to the early 16th century. Arghun rule can be divided into two branches: the Arghun branch of Dhu'l-Nun Beg Arghun that ruled until 1554, and the Tarkhan branch of Muhammad Isa Tarkhan that ruled until 1593.

The Battle of Ghazdewan occurred near the city of Ghijduvan, what is now Uzbekistan in November 1512 AD between Safavid army and Uzbek army.

Akhsikath is an archeological site located in the Fergana Valley in Uzbekistan. A fortified city along the Syr Darya, it lies 22km to the southwest of Namangan and covers an area of 30 hectares. The oldest parts of Akhsikath date from the 3rd century BC, but it peaked in size and importance during the 9th-12th centuries AD. Later, the city played a key role in the life of Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire, whose father ruled Fergana from Akhsikath. The city is described in the Baburnama.

In 1504, Babur besieged Kabul and took the city from the Arghuns under Mukim Beg Arghun, to become the new king of Kabul and Ghazni regions. The territory gave him respite from his Uzbek troubles in Central Asia. It allowed him to build his nascent kingdom into a strong and formidable power in later years, enough to conquer northern India.

After the death of King Abu Sa'id Mirza, the great-grandson of Amir Timur Beg Gurkani, his much reduced Timurid Empire was divided among four of his sons namely;

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Akhsi</span> Part of Timurid Civil Wars

In the early 16th century, Sultan Mahmud Khan, the Chagatai Khan of Western Moghulistan, and Sultan Ahmad Alaq Khan, the Chagatai Khan of Eastern Moghulistan, decided to counter the growing power of the Uzbeks under Muhammad Shaybani. Sultan Ahmed Tambol had rebelled against his Timurid master Babur and declared his independence. But when Babur tried to reconquer his territory with the help of his uncles, Ahmed Tambol sought the assistance of the Uzbeks. The two Moghul brothers united their forces and launched a campaign against Tambol, but Muhammad Shaybani surprised the Khans and proved victorious in battle of Akhsi and took them both prisoner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Sar-e-Pul</span> Military engagement

After the Uzbeks were driven out of Samarkand in early 1501 CE, they regrouped in Bukhara. Muhammad Shaybani began to prepare for another attempt to take Samarkand in April - May 1501 CE. Babur, the Timurid leader, decided to meet this threat before it arrived at the city. The two armies met at Sar-e-Pul, where a decisive battle was fought which decided the fate of the Timurids and of the region, resulting in gradual conquest of Transoxiana, Khwarezm and Khorasan by the Uzbeks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Ab Darrah Pass</span> Part of Timurid-Uzbek wars

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.

Eastern Afghanistan Operations was when Uzbek Khan and Muhammad Shaybani surrounded Kandahar, Babur found his developing Kingdom of Kabul in danger. He feared that Kabul would be the next target of the Uzbeks. Having consulted with his men, he decided the only way out was to leave to India. Babur's second Indian expedition, became an operation monitoring Kabul, traveling around eastern provinces of Afghanistan to subdue rebellious Afghans and plunder towns and villages for supplies for his army's survival.

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.

The Battle of the Chirciq River was fought between Sultan Mahmud Khan of Moghulistan and Sultan Ahmed Mirza, the Timurid ruler of Samarkand & Bukhara in 1488 CE over the city of Tashkent. The Moghuls decisively defeated the Timurids as a result of the defection of 3,000 Uzbeks under the command of Muhammad Shaybani Khan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Shahrukhiya</span> Battle of the Timurid Civil Wars

Abu Sa'id Mirza occupied Herat on July 19, 1457. But he had to immediately abandon the city in order to deal with the Balkh revolt by the sons of Abdal-Latif Mirza, one of whom he killed in battle while the other Juki Mirza escaped to the steppes in the north under the protection of Abul-Khayr Khan, the Khan of the Uzbek principality of Tura, a part of the empire of Desht-i Kipchak region that lies to the east of Ural mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khanzada Begum</span> Elder sister of Emperor Babur

Khanzada Begum was a Timurid princess and the eldest daughter of Umar Shaikh Mirza II, the amir of Ferghana. She was also the elder sister of Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire. She and her brother remained deeply attached to each other all their lives, a period during which the family progressed from ruling a tiny and obscure principality in Central Asia to ruling a large portion of the Indian subcontinent. Babur conferred on his sister, the honorable title of Padshah Begum and she was really the first lady of his Empire after his death.

Aisan Daulat Begum was the first wife and chief consort of Yunus Khan of Moghulistan. She was the mother of Qutlugh Nigar Khanum, and hence the grandmother of the first Mughal emperor, Babur. During the reign of her grandson, she functioned as his de facto regent and advisor, from 1494 to 1505.

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.

Sultan Mahmud Mirza was a Timurid Dynasty prince from branch of Transoxiana, and he was the son of Abu Sa'id Mirza, the Ruler of the Timurid Empire.

Baysonqor Mirza (1477–1499) was the ninth ruler of the Timurid dynasty in Transoxiana. He ruled in Samarkand between 1495 and 1497.

References

↑ Memoirs of Babur (Baburnama in English), volume 1, pp. 66–68
1 2 3 4 5 Memoirs of Babur (Baburnama in English), volume 1, pp. 72–74

Ewans, Martin (September 2002). Afghanistan: A Short History of Its People and Politics. HarperCollins. pp. 26–7.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Memoirs of Babur (Baburnama in English), volume 1, pp. 66–68

[Baburnama72-2] 1 2 3 4 5 Memoirs of Babur (Baburnama in English), volume 1, pp. 72–74

[1]

[2]