Inalchik

Inalchik († 1219 in Samarkand ) was governor of Otrar in the early 13th century . Nowadays he is best known for his involvement in the Mongol invasion of Khorezmia (from 1219).

Execution of the Mongol embassy

After military successes, for example against the Kara-Kitai , the young Mongolian empire under Genghis Khan had grown strongly. At the beginning of the 13th century there was a common border between Khorezmia and the Mongols for the first time . Genghis Khan, who was interested in trading in Khorezmia, sent a caravan to Khorezmian Otrar in 1218 . Inalchik had the caravan arrested and executed because he believed that Mongolian spies were among them. It is possible that he felt offended by the Mongolian traders when they addressed him with the wrong title. When a second Mongol embassy was also punished, Genghis Khan decided to attack Chrosesmia in order to get revenge for the treatment of the envoys.

Destruction of Otrar

In 1219 the Mongol army appeared before Otrar. Inalchik and the city's defenders, who had massively underestimated the enemy military power, were defeated after a prolonged siege. The Mongols killed the entire garrison (allegedly 60,000 men, according to sources). Most of the residents of Otrar were also massacred and the city plundered. Inalchik was captured and taken to Samarkand, where he was punished by the Mongols: he was killed by pouring molten silver down his throat. Then the Mongols advanced and in a few years subjugated large parts of the Khorezmian Empire.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Svat Soucek: A History of Inner Asia. Cambridge 2002, p. 106.
2. ↑ Timothy May: The Mongol Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, Santa Barbara u. a. 2017, p. 36.