By Adam Ali
An Umayyad military, marching posthaste by mountainous terrain to alleviate the besieged metropolis of Samarqand, was ambushed in a cross by the Turgesh Khaqan and his military. The following battle resulted within the decimation of the highly effective Umayyad military within the jap provinces of the caliphate, important territorial losses, and the weakening of Umayyad energy and sovereignty over the past 20 years of the dynasty’s rule.
The Battle of the Cross, additionally known as the Battle of the Defile, was fought in the course of the summer time of 731. It was a navy engagement that passed off in Transoxiana between the Umayyads and the Turgesh Turks and their allies, specifically among the native rulers, princes, and magnates of Transoxiana. The Umayyads had been capable of obtain their goal of relieving the besieged metropolis of Samarqand, however they suffered such heavy losses that their jap area military was now not viable for navy operations. The caliph needed to ship heavy reinforcements, each males and supplies, earlier than the military might take the sector once more. Umayyad losses in Transoxiana and on the opposite navy fronts on which the Umayyad Empire was working (an important of which had been the Byzantine frontier, the Caucasus, Sijistan, North Africa, India, and the Frankish entrance) sapped the power of the imperial armies. It additionally put strains on the wealth and assets of the caliphs and the central treasury, which was one of many a number of elements that led to the collapse of the Umayyads and their overthrow by the Abbasids in 750.
Background: The Arab Conquest of Khurasan and Transoxiana
The Arab thrust towards Transoxiana started within the early seventh Century once they clashed with the Sassanian Empire. After having subjugated the Arabian Peninsula, the armies of the Rashidun caliphs confronted off with the forces of the Japanese Roman/Byzantine Empire in Syria and the Sassanians in Iraq. The Arabs fought a collection of battles and skirmishes in opposition to the imperial armies of the Sassanians and their allies, defeating them in all however one encounter, the Battle of the Bridge (634). The navy marketing campaign culminated in a significant conflict between the 2 sides on the Battle of Qadisiyya (dated to 636 or 637), the place a military of round 6,000-12,000 Arabs defeated 30,000-40,000 Sassanians. Larger figures are generally given in some sources similar to 30,000 for the Arabs and over 200,000 for the Sassanians, however these are most likely exaggerations as neither the Arabs nor the Sassanians had the aptitude of mobilizing and fielding such numbers presently.
After the victory at Qadisiyya, the Arabs took the Sassanian capital, Ctesiphon, and conquered Iraq. They then continued their push eastward and defeated one other giant Sassanian military on the Battle of Nihavand in 642. The Arabs now gained entry to the Iranian plateau and occupied the area that’s principally makes up modern-day Iran.
The Arabs had been capable of conquer and pacify Iraq and Iran with little resistance, however as they superior farther east, they had been challenged extra severely. The areas that compose the trendy nation-states of Iraq and Iran had been firmly beneath Sassanian management and with the autumn of the ruling dynasty, a lot of the resistance ceased. The one actual losers on this space had been the royal household, the excessive the Aristocracy, and the spiritual Zoroastrian elite. Not a lot modified for the topics who had been now solely paying taxes and tributes to a brand new grasp. Nonetheless, Japanese Khurasan and Transoxiana had been on the peripheries of the Sassanian Empire and the kingdoms, principalities, and city-states of this area had been autonomous or semi-autonomous. The caliph’s armies needed to cope with a number of petty kings, princes, and ruling oligarchies that had been fiercely unbiased. Central Asia or Transoxiana was particularly tough for the Muslims to beat.
This area was inhabited by the Sogdians, an Iranian individuals. They had been principally a settled inhabitants residing within the cities that thrived off the commerce routes (primarily the Silk Street) and the wealthy agricultural areas across the Amu Darya (Oxus) and Syr Darya (Jaxartes) Rivers. There have been additionally a lot of nomadic Turkic tribes inhabiting this area. This made conquering Transoxiana (or ma wara’ al-nahr i.e. “that which is past the river”) a way more difficult enterprise for the Arabs. They misplaced the area a number of occasions on account of each revolts and to infighting inside the caliphate and plenty of components of this space needed to be reconquered a number of occasions earlier than they had been pacified.
Arab armies first crossed the Oxus River within the 12 months 654 marking the start of the conquest of Transoxiana. Nonetheless, the early incursions had been little greater than raids. Some areas of Central Asia had been conquered, however the caliphate was hard-pressed to carry onto their features on account of rebellions and stiff resistance from the native princes and the Aristocracy and from the Turkic tribes. It was particularly tough to carry onto a few of these new territories as a result of huge distances from the caliphal facilities of energy and in addition as a result of First Civil Struggle (or the First Fitna, 565-661), which diverted the political and navy consideration of the Muslims to the inner battle that noticed the rise of the Umayyads because the ruling household with the start of Mu‘waiya’s reign in 661. With the restoration of order, the Muslims needed to reconquer giant swaths of Khurasan and Transoxiana, which had slipped out of their management in the course of the years of inside battle.
Throughout the subsequent 20 years, the Arabs made additional forays into the east. They diminished Bukhara and Samarqand to tributary standing and occupied giant components of Central Asia. It appeared as if the area would lastly fall, however the Second Civil Struggle (or the Second Fitna 680-692) broke out within the heart, placing a halt to all progress and even ensuing, as soon as once more, in some territorial losses. The issues continued even after the conclusion of the Second Civil Struggle on account of tribal infighting among the many Arab troops stationed in Khurasan. The enmity between two giant tribal teams, the Qays and the Qalb/Yaman (tribes originating from Northern and Southern Arabia respectively), threatened to undermine the Caliphate’s place within the east.
Al-Hajjaj, the viceroy of the jap “tremendous province” (together with Iraq, Khurasan, and Transoxiana), was decided to resolve the state of affairs a technique or one other. Though he belonged to the Qays group, al-Hajjaj, was above tribal politics and his foremost concern was to take care of his place and additional the political and financial pursuits of the Caliphate. He eliminated Yazid ibn Muhallab, the governor of Khurasan, from his place. Yazid belonged to the Azd tribe, which belonged to the Yamani Southern faction. He changed him with Qutayba ibn Muslim whose Bahila tribe was impartial and as such, he was a extra acceptable governor to each the Qays and Qalb tribal teams. Moreover, since Qutayba didn’t have a big tribal backing, he was depending on his grasp, al-Hajjaj, for help and energy.
The true conquest of Transoxiana occurred in the course of the governorship of Qutayba ibn Muslim (705-715). Qutayba was capable of conquer and consolidate most of Central Asia. His ten-year governorship was an extended slog in opposition to the native regional rulers and princes, whom he needed to cut back one after the other due to their lack of prior assimilation right into a single empire. He conquered Tukharistan, the principality of Bukhara, Khwarazm, and Samarqand to ascertain full management over the area of Sogdiana and the Oxus valley. He then moved into the Jaxartes provinces and the area of Ferghana in the course of the ultimate years of his governorship. Qutayba was a shrewd tactician and a daring chief. He averted navy motion when he might, attaining as a lot as doable by negotiations.
Nonetheless, he didn’t draw back from utilizing his military and brute power when essential. For instance, after defeating the Sogdians and conquering Paykand, Qutayba left a small garrison behind. The inhabitants of the town, believing that Qutayba’s foray was only a raid expelled the garrison, which pressured Qutayba to show round. He took the town and exacted a horrible revenge, “in accordance with medieval observe” (as stated by H. A. R. Gibb) the insurgent metropolis was sacked, lots of its males put to dying and lots of the girls and kids had been enslaved. The message was clear, this was the destiny of those that reneged on their agreements with Qutayba, whereas those that abided by them had been handled with lenience. A observe that Qutayba launched was to recruit native Iranians into his forces in giant numbers for the primary time. These levies tremendously elevated the manpower of his armies and the scope of his operations. The brand new levies had been wanting to win fame, victories, and take spoils sooner or later conquests.
Qutayba’s profession and life ended abruptly. The dying of al-Hajjaj in 714 and the caliph, al-Walid, the next 12 months left Qutayba bereft of his main supporters and patrons. There was unhealthy blood between Qutayba and the brand new caliph, Sulayman (r. 715-717). Each al-Hajjaj and Qutayba had opposed Sulayman’s accession to the throne in favor of one other candidate, ‘Abd al-Aziz ibn al-Walid ibn ‘Abd al-Malik. When Sulayman was named the caliph, Qutayba naturally feared for his place. The brand new caliph confirmed Qutayba because the governor of Khurasan and even separated the province from Iraq, making him unbiased of the governor of Iraq, who, up thus far, had been the superior of the governor of Khurasan. Regardless of a seemingly clean transition and the caliph’s reassurances, Qutayba was nonetheless suspicious and fearful. He was particularly involved in regards to the former governor of Khurasan, Yazid ibn Muhallab, who was his rival and who had the ear of the brand new caliph.
Al-Tabari recounts that Qutayba despatched three letters to the caliph. Within the first letter Qutayba congratulated Sulayman on his accession and confirmed his continued help, recommendation, and allegiance to the caliph offered he was not faraway from his place in Khurasan. Within the second letter he knowledgeable the caliph of his conquests and ferocity in opposition to the enemy. He additionally disparaged Yazid ib Muhallab and his household. Within the final letter he proclaimed that if Yazid ibn Muhallab was appointed to the governorship of Khurasan he would throw off his allegiance and insurgent in opposition to Sulayman. The messenger who delivered these letters to the caliph was certainly one of Quutayba’s fellow tribesmen from among the many Bahila. He instructed the messenger to offer the caliph the primary letter and to attend. If Yazid ibn Muhallab was current and if the caliph handed the letter to him the messenger was to offer the second to him. He was solely handy the caliph the third letter if he handed the second to Yazid as properly.
In accordance with one other account the third letter contained the next: “If you don’t verify me in my current place and if you don’t grant me a writ of protected conduct, I’ll surrender my allegiance to you as shortly as one removes a shoe, and I’ll fill the earth round you with horsemen and foot troopers.” Sulayman did hand the primary two letters to Yazid and when he learn the third one, the caliph stored it to himself.
Regardless of the threats, he confirmed Qutayba in his place. Nonetheless, Qutayba knew very properly that his days had been numbered, and that the caliph was solely enjoying for time and awaiting his likelihood to eliminate him. He was not improper, the caliph had ordered Qutayba to launch all these whom he had imprisoned and to pay his military and disband it, permitting those that needed to return to their properties to go away. Appearing on the recommendation of his brothers and fellow tribesmen, Qutayba revolted and tried to lift the military of Khurasan in a mutiny in opposition to the caliph. The Arab warriors of the Qays and Yaman factions, bored with fixed campaigns and being subordinates of somebody from an inferior tribe, shortly deserted Qutayba. Nonetheless, the rebellious governor was assured of the help of his Iranian troops, who numbered within the hundreds. The chief of those troops, Hayyan al-Nabati, was paid off by among the anti-Qutayba factions and he too withheld his help, leaving Qutayba all however deserted. Many of the troops he had led to victory in numerous campaigns and battles abandoned him and solely his kin and his private retainers, a bodyguard of Sogdian princes, remained loyal. Qutayba and plenty of of his supporters had been killed battle. His household was decimated. Along with Qutayba’s dying, seven brothers, his son, and three of his nephews had been additionally killed; all their corpses had been crucified. Solely two of Qutayba’s brothers escaped the slaughter.
Qutayba’s dying had an virtually quick affect on the state of affairs within the east. Muslim growth eastward halted. The brand new governor, Yazid ibn al-Muhallab, solely launched just a few minor campaigns. He lacked the Qutayba’s status and didn’t encourage awe among the many Sogdians and the others whom his predecessor had subdued. Actually, virtually all of the features made by Qutayba had been misplaced by revolts and incursions by the Turgesh Turks who would turn out to be the principle enemies of the Muslims within the area for a number of a long time.
The Turgesh: A New Opponent in Transoxiana
The West Turkish Khaganate was defeated and destroyed by the Chinese language in 657. The Turgesh had been one amongst a number of Turkic tribes inhabiting the western areas of the Eurasian steppe. They rose to dominate the opposite tribes and to type a brand new steppe empire that endured from 699-766. They had been led by Sülü or Sulu/So-Lu (r. 716-738), who was their Khaqan/Khagan (or Khan/ supreme chief), on the time once they clashed with the Umayyads in Central Asia.
The Umayyads had been oblivious of the rising Turgesh menace within the east as a result of the Turks had been occupied in a battle with the Tang rulers of China and their proxy ruler, Ashina Xian (r. 708-717). It was not till after 719 that Sülü was capable of assert his independence from the Tang. It was within the early 720s that Sülü was capable of dedicate the manpower and assets to preventing the Umayyads in Transoxiana. As talked about earlier, this area was solely lately conquered by the Arabs, not totally pacified, and really risky. The native Sogdian rulers of the lately conquered cities and areas of Central Asia had been able to insurgent in opposition to their new Umayyad overlords. They despatched appeals to the east for support and Sülü was more than pleased to oblige, seeing this as a possibility to increase his energy within the west, having faired poorly in his efforts to increase eastward on the expense of China. In 719 he despatched a small expeditionary power into Transoxiana beneath certainly one of his commanders, Köl-chur. With the arrival of navy help within the type of the Turgesh, the conflict with the Umayyads turned inevitable. The governor, Sa‘id, was taken abruptly to seek out all the area up in arms in opposition to him. The Turgesh power was supported by a lot of the native rulers and magnates, who rose in rebel. On account of these developments, the Umayyads needed to face the 2 threats in Transoxiana, that of the brand new Turkish presence within the area along with their lately conquered rebellious topics.
The Turgesh introduced a brand new sort of enemy that the Umayyads had by no means confronted previously. Köl-chur’s expedition was a style of future hardships within the battle in opposition to the Turks, a martial and tribal individuals not like the others that they had confronted previously. The Turgesh had no main settlements or cities. Their forces had been typical of these of the steppes of Internal Eurasia, composed primarily of extremely cellular cavalry that didn’t should defend fastened borders, forts, or cities. In 720 the Turgesh stunned and besieged the small fort of Qasr al-Bahili, close to Samarqand. A aid power was capable of break by the siege traces and evacuated the garrison with a lot problem. This operation, though profitable in attaining its goal of rescuing the garrison, was humiliating to the Umayyads who had been pushed out of certainly one of their frontier forts. The Muslims pushed again instantly. The brand new governor, Sa’id ibn ‘Amr al-Harashi, launched a counterattack. He put down a Sogdian revolt and superior all the way in which to the Jaxartes (Syr Darya) River. By 722, he reoccupied all of the territories conquered by Qutayba, except Farghana.
Regardless of his success, Sa’id was changed in 723 with Muslim ibn Sa’id al-Kilabi, as a result of he was not forwarding sufficient taxes to Iraq and Syria. The brand new governor crossed the Jaxartes in 724. Lots of his troops had been lower than wanting to combat beneath his command on account of tribal rivalries. He belonged to the northern Qays faction and plenty of of those that opposed him had been of the southern Yaman group. 4 thousand Yamanis even refused to mobilize and march with the commander.
Whereas Muslim besieged the town of Farghana, his military bumped into a big Turgesh power. The following battle was a significant catastrophe for the Umayyads. The Muslims, demoralized and exhausted, fled the superior Turgesh military. The flight to the Jaxartes took eight days throughout which the cellular Turkic horsemen consistently harassed the Umayyad military of Khurasan. The Muslims burned their baggage practice (reportedly items value one million dirhams had been destroyed) to forestall it from falling into the palms of the enemy and to permit them to march with extra velocity. They, subsequently, suffered not solely from the fixed Turkish assaults on their traces, but in addition from warmth, thirst, and starvation, which is why this occasion has gone down within the Arabic histories because the “Day of Thirst.”
The march west was a working battle between the retreating Muslims and the Turks, who constantly attacked their columns. The Turgesh picked off stragglers and at one level even minimize off a detachment of principally Iranian troopers, who had been solely capable of beat them off after struggling heavy casualties. Upon reaching the Jaxartes the Muslims discovered a military of Sogdians and Turks blocking their path on the alternative financial institution. Trapped between two armies, the Muslims had no alternative however to launch an assault on the enemies lining the banks of the river. After a determined combat, they broke by, not with out struggling heavy casualties. The remnants of the Umayyad military in Khurasan limped again to Samarqand.
The “Day of Thirst” not solely broken the caliphate’s status but in addition put the Muslims on the defensive in Transoxiana. They’d not restore their place within the area for 20 years till 740. Khurasan had three governors from 724-730. These adopted a combination of insurance policies that vacillated between conciliation and navy campaigns and punitive measures. Taxes had been lifted after which reimposed, prompting the Sogdians to rise in rebel and as soon as once more to name upon the Khaqan for assist. In 728 Sülü personally led his armies and occupied Transoxiana, reversing, within the course of, all Qutayba’s conquests. Solely Samarqand, Kamarja, and al-Dabusiyya remained in Umayyad palms. Bukhara was solely recovered after a collection of hard-fought battles through which the Muslims, as soon as once more, suffered heavy casualties. The Turks merely withdrew and besieged Kamarja, which, like Qasr al-Bahili, needed to be evacuated. Subsequently, by 730, the state of affairs alongside the jap frontier was precarious for the Umayyads, who had misplaced most of Transoxiana and had been unable to get better any territory, except Bukhara, which was achieved with a lot problem and at a excessive price.
The Battle of the Cross
Al-Junayd al-Murri was appointed because the governor of Khurasan in early 730. He was an skilled navy commander and governor. He was the previous governor of Sind and had efficiently conquered giant areas of Northern India. He was now put answerable for Khurasan and Transoxiana (or at the least these components nonetheless beneath Muslim management) and charged with directing the protection of the jap frontier and with the reconquest of the lands misplaced to the Turgesh and their Sogdian allies within the earlier decade. It was beneath his management that the Umayyad military in Khurasan would endure the disaster that went down in historical past because the Battle of the Cross/Defile.
Junayd needed to combat the Turgesh instantly upon his arrival in Transoxiana. On the time of his appointment, Juayd’s predecessor, Ashras al-Sulami, was campaigning in Bukhara and Sogdia. Junayd needed to make his approach to Ashras to take management of the military. He arrived on the Oxus River with a guard of 500 males however refused to cross till Ashras despatched a big escort of seven,000 horsemen. His warning was justified. Twelve kilometres from Baykand (southwest of Bukhara) the Turks attacked Junayd and his escort. The Muslims had been victorious within the encounter, however solely after a really tough and hard-fought battle. After taking management of the military from Ashras, Junayd carried out his summer time marketing campaign. He defeated the Khaqan at Zarman (northwest of Samarqand), captured the prince of Shash and the Khaqan’s nephew, and drove the Turgesh again. Junayd’s first summer time marketing campaign in 730 was a hit. He was capable of relieve the garrisons within the cities of Transoxiana nonetheless in Muslim palms and cleared the street between Khurasan and Samarqand. Glad together with his progress, the governor marched again the provincial capital of Khurasan, Marw (or Merv), to spend the winter and to offer his males an opportunity to return to their properties and relaxation.
Junayd as soon as once more mobilized the military of Khurasan on the finish of winter in early 731 to take care of some rebellions that had damaged out in Tukharistan, a area beforehand pacified by the Muslims. He marched to Balkh the place he arrange camp as a base of operations. He indifferent 28,000 males, roughly half his military, and divided them into smaller models, and despatched them out to quell the uprisings within the numerous districts of Tukharistan. Whereas Junayd was campaigning in opposition to the rebels within the south, the Turgesh, led by Sülü, attacked Samarqand within the north and besieged the town. Samarqand’s garrison commander, Sawra ibn al-Hurr al-Abani, despatched a message to Junayd urgently asking for assist.
Junayd was introduced with a tough determination. He might march instantly with no matter forces he had beneath his command, or he might anticipate the 28,000 males who had been working in opposition to the rebels in Tukharistan whom he had recalled. Fearing the town may fall, Junayd determined to march to Samarqand’s aid instantly. A number of of his officers counselled him to await the return of his scattered forces. Al-Tabari quotes on of those officers, an vital Khurasani Arab, saying:
“The Turks usually are not like others; they neither meet you in a battle line nor marching slowly in readiness…The holder of Khurasan mustn’t cross the Oxus with lower than fifty thousand males…”
This assertion exhibits that the Turks, like different steppe nomads, usually resorted to irregular cellular warfare and signifies the perilousness of such a navy enterprise with out the suitable variety of troopers. It additionally bespeaks the experiences and difficulties of the veterans of the Khurasani military who had been preventing the Turks since 720.
Junayd ignored the recommendation of his commanders and the reluctance of his troopers and commanded the military to cross the Oxus. He had determined that saving Samarqand was the precedence and pushed ahead with all velocity. The Turgesh bought wind of his advance when he arrived at Kishsh (south of Samarqand) and poisoned all of the wells and watering holes alongside the street between Samarqand and Kishsh. At this level, Junayd as soon as once more took council together with his officers. There have been two methods to Samarqand, an extended one wound by grasslands and woods and a brief one over a steep cross by the mountains. He was suggested by most to take the longer, and fewer treacherous, route. Nonetheless, one officer interjected and acknowledged that the lands alongside the street had not been cultivated for an extended time period and that the grass, bushes, and different vegetation had turn out to be overgrown. He stated that if the Khaqan bought wind of their strategy alongside that street, all he needed to do was to set the grass and vegetation on hearth and they’d all perish in flames and smoke.
Junayd opted to take the faster route by the mountains. He hoped to get to Samarqand as shortly as doable with out alerting the Turks. The Khaqan’s forces had interposed themselves on the principle street between Kishsh and Samarqand and Junayd gambled that by marching by the mountains he might shock them and keep away from having to combat his approach to the besieged metropolis. It’s at this level that the actual issues began. As the military wound its means by the mountain cross, a number of troopers, bored with campaigning and disillusioned by their chief, began to abandon. The remainder of the military pushed ahead. The advance guard was solely 4 farsakhs (an Iranian unit of distance roughly equal to about 6-6.5 kilometres or 4 miles) from Samarqand when it was attacked and pushed again by a big Turgesh power. The 2 sides fought to a standstill.
As extra models of Turks arrived, Junayds forces had been surrounded and hemmed in. Events of Turks additionally attacked the bags practice and the rearguard, which was nonetheless close to Kishsh, inflicting heavy casualties and loss in materials. The beleaguered Muslims had been pressured to arrange entrenched camps within the passes and defiles of the mountains. They took up defensive positions, lots of the horsemen additionally dismounting and digging ditches and trenches to forestall the Turgesh horsemen. The best wing of the Muslim military suffered the brunt of the Turk assaults as a result of it was encamped within the large house that allowed for cavalry maneuvers. Alternatively, the left wing, which was positioned in a slender house, was solely harassed frivolously. Junayd’s military consisted of models of heavy and light-weight cavalry along with infantry. The Arabs most likely had extra armoured shock troops (though the Turks had been recognized to area some models of heavy cavalry too, often an elite power of nobles, chiefs, and their private retainers).
The accounts of the battle point out that the Turks used the time-tested tactic of feigned retreat. For example, a gaggle of Arab heavy cavalry attacked some Turks who scattered and took flight on the impetuous cost, solely to regroup and encompass their would-be pursuers and minimize them right down to a person. The best-wing, beneath a relentless and sustained heavy assault, was pushed again. Even the camp followers and slaves (the observe of coaching and recruiting skilled elite models of navy slaves had not but been established), armed with staves and different weapons, had been pressured to combat the advancing Turgesh. The battle within the mountain passes was so fierce and the casualties so excessive, that each side needed to chorus from preventing on a number of events to regroup and relaxation. Having realized from earlier blunders, the Arabs now stopped charging into the traps and ambushes of their foes. As a substitute, they awaited the Turgesh to come back to them, lots of them dismounted and kneeled holding out their lances and spears, with bowmen safely discharging arrows from behind them; this was most likely one of the vital efficient methods to combat given the circumstances.
Junayd, trapped within the cross with what was left of his military and surrounded by enemies, had few selections to extricate himself from his predicament. He and his males had been preventing for 2 days. He couldn’t keep in his entrenchments. His exhausted troops lacked meals and different essential provides to outlive for lengthy. He might try and combat his means by to Samarqand. Nonetheless, there was an excellent danger to this motion. The Turgesh outnumbered his drained and demoralized forces, and he was additionally conscious that if his military was destroyed Samarqand would inevitably fall. He, subsequently, opted to observe the extra prudent, however much less “honorable” and “heroic,” plan of action. He despatched messages to the commanders on the rear of his military ordering them to cease within the district of Kishsh and to carry again any of the infantry, stragglers, and what remained of the bags practice. He then despatched a message to Sawra in Samarqand commanding him to experience out and assault the Turgesh as a decoy to permit Junayd and the principle military to succeed in Samarqand. Sawra initially refused to conform, however after a second threatening message he marched out of the town with 12,000 males, forsaking a small garrison. Sawra had been ordered to take the way in which by a river and to bolster Junayd that means, nevertheless he opted, like Junayd had earlier, to take the faster means by the mountains.
The Turgesh, studying of the brand new menace to their rear turned to face the aid power from Samarqand. Sawra and most of his males perished within the ensuing combat. Of the 12,000 that had left Samarqand, lower than 1,000 males returned. In accordance with the accounts describing the combat, the Khaqan held his troops again till noon when the solar was hottest making it tougher for the closely armoured troopers from Samarqand to combat. The Turks additionally set the grass on hearth, driving smoke into Sawra’s ranks and blocking all entry to water. Dehydrated and scorching of their armour, Sawra and his males charged the Turgesh traces. They drove them into the very fires the place hundreds of Turks and Arabs perished. Within the confusion of the melee the Muslims turned scattered and when the mud settled, they had been set upon by the Turks and slaughtered solely six kilometres from Junayd’s traces.
Sawra’s sacrifice gave Junayd the chance he wanted. With lots of the Turks distracted, he ordered his military to advance on Samarqand. Regardless of the continuing battle between Sawra and the Turgesh, Junayd nonetheless needed to combat his means by to the town with each step contested by the Turgesh. The slaves fought particularly fiercely having been promised freedom and the correct to spoils in the event that they joined within the preventing. With Junayd’s entry into the town, the Battle of the Cross/Defile was over.
The Aftermath
The Battle of the Cross was a navy catastrophe for the Umayyads on their jap frontier. The preventing lasted for 3 days. Junayd had achieved his goal, which was to make it to Samarqand and to alleviate the town. Nonetheless, if this was a victory, then it was actually a pyrrhic one overshadowed by the catastrophe of the decimation of the military of Khurasan. Varied sources state that the Umayyads misplaced 20,000-48,000 troopers within the preventing (together with the 12,000 males of the garrison). It’s most probably that the losses had been within the neighbourhood of 20,000-30,000 males as a result of the caliph, Hisham (r. 724-743), upon listening to of the catastrophe, despatched 20,000 Iraqi Arabs to Khurasan and commanded Junayd to recruit 15,000 Khurasanis to bolster his forces. He additionally despatched weapons, cash, and provides to equip and pay the brand new troopers.
Regardless of the debacle of the Battle of the Cross, Junayd marched out of Samarqand in pursuit of the Khaqan, who was now besieging Bukhara. This daring and impetuous determination appeared suicidal. He defeated a small power of Turgesh close to Karmimiya. The following day Sülü attacked him together with his complete power. Nonetheless, Junayd had been forewarned in regards to the assault and was prepared for it. The Turgesh had been crushed again on the Battle of Tawawis and with the onset of winter on the horizon, they withdrew to their homeland. Junayd entered Bukhara and secured it. The Umayyads solely held Bukhara, Samarqand, and Kishsh in Transoxiana. Losses on each the Muslim and Turgesh aspect will need to have been very heavy and though Junayd was capable of accomplish his navy aims, his victories left Transoxiana with much less males to defend it in opposition to future assaults.
Adam Ali is a lecturer on the College of Toronto. Click on right here to learn extra from Adam.
Prime Picture: Ptolemy’s Seventh map of Asia (Caspian Sea and east) – fifteenth century – now held on the New York Public Library
