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Paper abstract:

Iranians in the Mongol Conquest of Eastern Iran

Beatrice Forbes Manz

CESS Conference, 2023

It has often been noted that the Mongol conquest was particularly destructive in Eastern Iran. It has also been noted that several cities rebelled against the Mongols, at the same time that numbers of Iranians joined Mongol armies. The connection between these two phenomena however has not been explored. To understand it we should take our eyes off the Mongols, to examine more carefully the actions and motivations of the local population. The Mongols were not the only active threat at the time; cities were likewise being attacked by Khwarazmian and local Iranian armies.

I suggest that to understand the course of the Mongol conquest in eastern Iran, we must do two things. First, we must take seriously the politics which motivated the local population. Iranian elites and the remaining armies of the Turkic Khwarazmshahs were militarily active throughout this period, often pursuing goals only marginally connected to the Mongols. The actions of local populations did much to shape the nature of the conquest, since the Mongol used graded violence, largely sparing cities which submitted immediately, while visiting particularly harsh punishment on cities which first submitted and then rebelled. We should note that two of the Mongol massacres, one in Marw and one in Herat, resulted from uprisings organized by leaders from outside the city in question.

Secondly, if we are to understand Iranian resistance, we must view the progression of the Mongol campaigns through the eyes of contemporaries. Mongol armies sometimes failed, and for several years it was probably not clear that the Mongols would win the region. Cities had changed sides repeatedly in political contests over the last thirty years as one or another force appeared stronger, and they continued to do so now. The results were unfortunate.