The Mongol Destruction of the Tangut Kingdom, 1226-1227

The final campaign of Chinggis Khan was directed against the Tangut Xi Xia, who had rebelled against Mongol rule and conspired with their enemy, the Jin Dynasty. In this video, we examine the build up to, and course of, the Mongol destruction of the Tangut Kingdom. In following videos, we will then focus on Chinggis Khan's death, and the theories around it.
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VIDEOS MENTIONED
Mongol Invasion of the Tangut Kingdom, 1209-1210: • The Mongol Invasion of...
Mongol Invasion of the Jin Empire, 1211-1212: • The Mongol Invasion of...
Mongol Invasion of the Jin Empire, 1212-1214:
• The Mongol Invasion of...
Mongol Invasion of the Jin Empire, 1214-1216:
• Mongol-Jin War 1214-12...
The Campaigns of Mukhali, 1217-1223: • The Campaigns of Mukha...
The Mongol Invasion of the Khwarezmian Empire: • The Mongol Invasion of...
Chinggis Khan and Qiu Chuji: • Chinggis Khan's Quest ...
PRIMARY SOURCES
The Secret History of the Mongols: A Mongolian Epic Chronicle of the
Thirteenth Century. Translated by Igor de Rachewiltz. Edited by John C. Street.
University of Wisconsin: Madison, 2015. cedar.wwu.edu/... See chapter 12 (page 185) for the Tangut campaign
‘Ala-ad-Din ‘Ata-Malik Juvaini, The History of the World-Conqueror. Vol. I. Translated by John Andrew Boyle. Harvard: Harvard University Press, 1958. archive.org/st... See Chapter XXIX, starting page 178, for the relevant chapter
De Rachewiltz, Igor. “THE HSI-YU LU 西 遊 錄 BY YEH-LÜ CH'U-TS'AI 耶 律 楚 材,” Monumenta Serica 21 (1962): 1-128.
Rashiddudin Fazlullah. Jami’ u’t-tawarikh: Compendium of Chronicles: A History of the Mongols. Translated by W. M. Thackston. Cambridge: MA, 1998.
SECONDARY SOURCES:
Dunnell, Ruth. “The Fall of the Xia Empire: Sino-Steppe Relations in the Late 12th-Early 13th Centuries.” in Rulers from the Steppe: State Formation on the Eurasian Periphery, edited by Gary Seaman and Danie Marks. Ethnographic Press: University of Southern California, 1991. 158-185.
Ruth Dunnell, “The Hsi Hsia.” The Cambridge History of China, vol. 6 Alien Regimes and Border States 907-1368. Edited by Herbert Franke and Denis Twitchett. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. 154-214. books.google.c...
Kepping, Ksenia. “Chinggis Khan’s Last Campaign as Seen by the Tanguts.” kepping.net/pdf...
Kepping, Ksenia. “The Guanyin Icon (Chinggis Khan’s Last Campaign).” www.kepping.net...
For pictures and more info on the Xi Xia tombs, check out these writeups from the Rambling Antiquarian:
babelstone.co.u...
babelstone.co.u...
MUSIC USED
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Himalayan Atmosphere by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommon...)
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Final Count by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommon...)
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[@TheJackmeisterMongolHistory]

The final campaign of Chinggis Khan was directed against the Tangut Xi Xia, who had rebelled against Mongol rule and conspired with their enemy, the Jin Dynasty. In this video, we examine the build up to, and course of, the Mongol destruction of the Tangut Kingdom. In following videos, we will then focus on Chinggis Khan's death, and the theories around it. Patreon: www.patreon.com/jackmeister The Secret History of the Mongols: A Mongolian Epic Chronicle of the Thirteenth Century. Translated by Igor de Rachewiltz. Edited by John C. Street. University of Wisconsin: Madison, 2015. cedar.wwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=cedarbooks See chapter 12 (page 185) for the Tangut campaign

[@christafarion9]

*GENGHIS (pronounce it however you want, but leave the spelling alone. Did they use those characters? No, no they didn't. No good reason for randomly changing the (English) spelling. Bad historians! BAD!

[@lyhthegreat]

the mongols were crazy..fighting so many battles simultaneously at the same time..

[@antoniobowden4849]

They wouldve been a superpower today if they werent so Eager to imperialism.

[@viracocha6093]

“Even if we die, let us challenge their boasts! Eternal heaven, you be the judge!” When you hear that from Genghis Khan you know shit is going to go down

[@RealmofGenghisKhan]

What an underrated channel!

[@TheJackmeisterMongolHistory]

Thank you, I think I agree with you!

[@TheXanian]

The rulers of Jurchen Jin and the Tangut Western Xia were both quite dumb and made too many mistakes. For the Tanguts, instead of allying with Jin they allied with the Mongols and attacked Jin, but with little success and lost many troops. For the Jin, they should have allied with the Tanguts and made peace with the Song, but instead of doing that they attacked both the Tanguts and the Song. Their southern campaign against the Song from 1217 to 1223 was a particularly costly one. Contrary to popular misconception of the Song being weak in military, the Song actually defended their cities quite well and repelled Jin attacks numerous times. At the end of this costly campaign, the Jin lost many troops and cavalry, and their power had been significantly weakened. It was only until the reign of Jin Aizong in 1224 that the Jin finally made peace with the Song and the Tanguts, but it was all too late.

[@TheXanian]

For instance, this is the passage recorded in Song Shi about the battles between Jin and Song in 1218: "十一年，金军数万复攻枣阳，扈再兴奉命率师入援，金人闻风连夜溃逃，扈再兴俘获数万。金军复围城，相持九十日。扈再兴夜以铁蒺藜密布地，黎明佯遁，金人驰中蒺藜者十踣七八。金军败退，扈再兴领兵追至十五里冈。后来金兵攻城东隅，薄南门北角，扈再兴与孟宗政、刘世兴各当一面，大战数十合，大败金兵。" In translation, the Jin attacked Zaoyang (in modern-day Hubei province) with several tens of thousands of troops, (Song general) Hu Zaixing was ordered to relieve the city, the Jin was so frightened that they retreated during the night and Hu managed to capture many Jin troops. Then the Jin came back and besieged the city again for 90 days. Hu set up traps and caltrops at night and performed a feigned retreat at dawn. The Jin cavalry carelessly pursued him but most of them (seven or eight out of ten) had fallen into his traps and got stuck with caltrops on their feet.

[@TheJackmeisterMongolHistory]

Well said. The Jin Dynasty was suffering from numerous internal problems by the 13th century, but was still a formidable foe. Poor leadership cost the Jin the Mandate of heaven as much as anything. One wonders what might have happened had Jin Aizong, or someone like minded, had been in power earlier instead Xuanzong of Jin or Weishao Wang, who might have been able to rally the considerable resources of the dynasty into that important initial defence. As it was, the fact that the Jin made it to the 1220s owed more to Chinggis' excursion in Khwarezm rather than the efforts of the Jurchen leadership. Though the Jin defence at the start of Ogedai's reign was surprisingly effective, especially considering the enormous setbacks the Dynasty had suffered in the previous decades, it was a defence which was too late to change fate. I am eager to further research the final efforts of the Jin, as it's a period often overlooked.

[@Mtrl-newer]

@@TheJackmeisterMongolHistory 你该不会是中国人吧？

[@longlost247]

Yue Fei and han Shizhong who defeated the jurchens in their prime compared to 1210s jurchens definitely shows song chinese military prowess@@TheXanian

[@HikmaHistory]

Been looking forward to this since we spoke about it, gladly not disappointed!

[@TheJackmeisterMongolHistory]

Thank you! I am glad it lived up to the hype, such as it was!

[@ottomanosman2463]

Genghis Khan had a serious attitude of the loyal and trust. He wanted the Tanguts to be nice and he would leave them alone. But the Tanguts simply could not afford this willingness.

[@kaybevang536]

Can you do how the Nomads (Mongols , Huns , Xiongu, Cumans, Gogkturks) where able to make it aquire sabers or Spears and arrow tip and armor in the steppes who are the middle of nowhere?

[@TheJackmeisterMongolHistory]

I definitely will be covering information like that, and more general matters on steppe peoples other than the Mongols, in the future. There is lots of interest in that, and I love researching all of these topics! The only hurdle is my own time and resources, but rest assured I have many, many ideas for the future. I am in the process of tracking down relevant historians to learn more on the matters of smithing, weapon forging etc. in the steppe, but as these aren't topics covered as much in English (Russian is by fay the chief language for these studies) it has been slow going.

[@dindu551]

ghengis was ridiculously strong. mad respect. he's top 5 for sure. that army, whew lad. a machine.

[@notsoroyalacademy7001]

your videos are really informative and entertaining. looking forward for more

[@TheJackmeisterMongolHistory]

Thank you for the kind words! They are much appreciated!

[@supremelordoftheauspicious2928]

What made you interested in Mongol history?

[@TheJackmeisterMongolHistory]

I would say Conn Iggulden's Conqueror series of books, a fictionalized narrative of the Empire from Temujin through to Kublai, first sparked my interest. Not long afterwards I found Weatherford's 'Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern Workd,' and my interest grew ever more serious from there.

[@YanChingVideos]

The kingdom was destroyed, but people fled...

[@ElBandito]

Tanguts did not choose wisely in this matter.

[@viracocha6093]

No shit.

[@andersschmich8600]

The subjugation of the Tangut Kingdom, Kara-Khitai and Dali Kingdom are quite fascinating, I know you've worked with Kings & Generals, do you think you might go back and do those in more detail? Also, from what little I know the follow up campaigns in Eastern Europe and the Caucuses were quite interesting as well.

[@TheJackmeisterMongolHistory]

Probably not in the form of a video (not impossible though, as we will be revisiting Ankara 1402 in an upcoming video, but that was an older one and this will approach it more from Temur's side). But I will be writing scripts for their upcoming podcast series on the Mongol Empire, so I would say we'd look at all of that there. The script I am working on for them right now is actually on the later Jochid incursions into Eastern Europe. That will be a very exciting one, as there is very little on those campaigns which has actually been made accessible in English. I've been in contact with a number of historians on this topic, and it seems that, essentially, this video might be the most detailed English language work ever put together and made accessible which focuses on the 2nd Invasions of Hungary and the like. Right now if you want an English source on that campaign, your options are limited almost exclusively to the Wikipedia article, and Peter Jackson's "The Mongols and the West," which discusses it briefly.

[@andersschmich8600]

@@TheJackmeisterMongolHistory Well I certainly look forward to it then. It should be interesting to see that battle more from a Timurid perspective.

[@teovu5557]

The tangut rulers were a formerly mongolic clan while the commoners were related to tibetans.

[@TheJackmeisterMongolHistory]

For pictures and info on the Xi Xia imperial tombs, check out these writeups from the Rambling Antiquarian: babelstone.co.uk/BabelDiary/2016/08/western-xia-tombs.html babelstone.co.uk/BabelDiary/2016/08/western-xia-tombs-revisited.html

[@pamelalogan2804]

This story about Chinggis Khan's horse taking fright from an encounter with wild asses -- I doubt it, because wild asses are themselves members of the genus equus, and so are close cousins of the horse.

[@TheJackmeisterMongolHistory]

I can assure you from my own personal experience, it doesn't take much to spook a horse. If this wild asses darted suddenly in an unexpected direction, or even in a fit of panic charged at Chinggis' horse, or even while focusing on one, another came running out of the bush in front of the khan's horse, any of these scenarios could result in his horse getting spooked, regardless of how closely related the animals are.

[@zayysavvo5271]

800 years later the great conjunction.

[@FLYSTARTVLONDON]

Check the 1528 map in the British museum

[@liyawei]

Tangguut was very resilient people

[@thomassugg5621]

Great video, what is the name of the song at the start of the video.

[@TheJackmeisterMongolHistory]

Thank you! The opening music is called Sao Meo (or Seo Mao, some variation of that), free to download from KZbin's Audiolibrary

[@thomassugg5621]

The Jackmeister: Mongol History thanks

[@ElBandito]

Can't believe Chingis' tomb still hasn't been located yet despite technological advancement. Do you think it should be found?

[@archmeasterjackimer6217]

Heck yay from me

[@TheJackmeisterMongolHistory]

I'm on the fence on whether it should. Partly due to the absolute political nightmare which would happen. What to do with the bones and items? It would be a huge firestorm in Mongolia on what to do with them, whether to celebrate and build monuments, display them for what would be insane tourist revenue, to many who would argue he should be undisturbed and left to rest. Certainly, his is a spirit best not to anger. Not to mention, China probably wouldn't be too pleased either, and their relationship is often uncomfortable enough as it is. Of course, for history and science, that pursuit of knowledge, there will always be that curiousity. But we wonder if there even was a tomb or anything to find beyond a simple burial. The Mongolian government is hesitant when allowing excavation on Sacred Burkhan Khaldun, so efforts to find it non-obstrusively would be quite difficult.

[@ElBandito]

@@TheJackmeisterMongolHistory There's another point. We do not know for sure if the actual tomb is in Mongolia or in historically conquered parts of present day China, such as Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region. I wonder if the Chinese government would be silent if they find the tomb first. And since the PRC is a massively powerful neighbor in which Mongolia currently depends on economically, I dunno how far the Mongolian government would pursue the matter if the tomb is found in China.

[@jabs615]

I can't remember the source, but it was said that till the Yuan dynasty mongols didn't have any memorials or burials. The corpse would have been given to the nature. Wherever his officers decided to begin the ceremony, his corpse was probably left in the middle of nowhere. Let's suppose there is a tomb and it's found. I know it's unscientific, but some people like say that the start of WW2 coincided with the opening of tomb of Timur (Tumur, Tamerlane). Surely, if Timur's spirit can start WW2, then i would rather not disturb Chinggis Khaan's spirit.

[@Brandonhayhew]

just leave that man be. he just wants to rest in heaven

[@turmunhkganba1705]

+

[@Antipossevino]

The true appearance of Chinghiz Khan, the real History of the Tatars and many of Turkic peoples: Perhaps you know, that an outstanding historian-scientist D. Iskhakov wrote: ‘the true history of the Tatars, of the people in every respect historical, is not written yet’. However, recently were published books about the unwritten (hidden) real history of the Tatars by independent Tatar historian Gali Yenikey. His books present a new, or rather ‘well-forgotted old’ information about the real history of the Tatars and other Turkic peoples. It must be said, that in official history there are many falsifications and slanders about the ‘Tatars - wild nomads’ etc., which were written by pro-Chinese, Persian, also both Romanovs and Bolshevik ideologists. However primarily we should know the truth about the meaning of the names ‘Mongol’ and ‘Tatar’ (‘Tartar’) in the medieval Eurasia: According to data of many medieval sources, the name ‘Mongol’ until the 17th-18th centuries meant belonging to a political community, and was not the ethnic name. While ‘‘the name ‘Tatar’ was ‘the name of the own ethnos (nation) of Chinghiz Khan'. Also ‘…Chinghiz Khan and his people did not speak the language, which we now call the ‘Mongolian’…’’ (an academician-orientalist V.P.Vasiliev, 19th century). This confirmed by many little known facts. So in fact Chinghiz Khan was from among the medieval Tatars and the outstanding and progressive leader of the Turkic peoples. It is worth saying that according to many little-known data, the ancient and medieval Tatars were a very developed people both in spiritual and material aspects. It was the medieval Tatars who created the first Constitution of Eurasia, which was called in Tatar ‘Great Yasu’ (in Tatar means 'Great Scripture'). But with time many of their descendants became spiritually disabled and forgot invaluable doctrine and covenants of the creators of Great Yasu... So that the Tatars of Chinghiz Khan - medieval Tatars - were one of the Turkic nations, whose descendants now live in many of the fraternal Turkic peoples of Eurasia - among the Tatars, Kazakhs, Bashkirs, Uighurs, and many others. And few people know that the ethnos of medieval Tatars, which stopped the expansion of the Persians and the Chinese to the West of the World in Medieval centuries, is still alive. Despite to the politicians of the tsars Romanovs and Bolsheviks dictators, which had divided and scattered this ethnos to different nations... About everything above mentioned and a lot of the true history of the Tatars and other fraternal Turkic peoples, which was hidden from us, had been written, in detail and proved, in the book ‘Forgotten Heritage of Tatars’ - it is one of the dooks by Gali Yenikey, translated in Engilsh. There are a lot of previously little-known historical facts, as well as 16 maps and illustrations in this book. This e-book (in English language) you can easily find in the Internet: payhip.com/b/Xujb On the cover of this book you can see the true appearance of Chinghiz Khan. It is his lifetime portrait. In the ancient Tatar historical source ‘About the clan of Chinghiz Khan’ its author gave the words of the mother of Chinghiz Khan: ‘My son Chinghiz looks like this: he has a golden bushy beard, he wears a white fur coat and rides on a white horse’. As we can see, the portrait of an unknown medieval artist in many ways corresponds to the words of the mother of the Hero, which have come down to us in this ancient Tatar epic. Therefore, this portrait, which corresponds to the information of the Tatar source and to data from other sources, we believe, the most reliably transmits the appearance of Chinghiz Khan...’. And here's another interesting thing: We can't keep silent that some 'very important' official historians try to retell the content (or rather, the concept) of the works of the independent historian Gali Yenikey (Yenikeiev). But they conceal where the information was by them taken from. However it turned out they were unsuccessful and confused - this official historians, apparently, do not dare to show the real history of the Tatars, being afraid of their ‘scientific chiefs’. But not only this - see the portrait of Chingiz Khan - see on the 7th minute of the video of the Institute of history of the Academy of Sciences of Tatarstan (Russia): kzbin.info/www/bejne/aYjUc2pnnNhomMU - also this portrait is shown there both before and after. This portrait is reconstruction, which made by Yenikeiev on the basis of a lifetime portrait of Chingiz Khan and of information from the medieval Tatar Dastan (epic) 'About the Origin of Ciingiz Khan', as well as from other historical sources. This portrait was used by authors of the video without Yenikeiev's permission and without telling where the portrait came from. This portrait is published on the cover of G. R. Yenikeiev's book ‘Forgotten heritage of the Tatars’: see: payhip.com/b/Xujb For the first time this portrait was published on the cover of the third book by G. R. Yenikeiev ‘In the footsteps of the black legend’ (published in 2009), see its electronic version: payhip.com/b/DNdC This ‘creativity’ of the official historians is called among the decent people as plagiarism - that is, as theft.

[@sainaasainkhuu6025]

All American are also came from Turcks 😂

[@PathsUnwritten]

Why was it call "Xi Xia" when there was no East Xia or other contemporary Xia dynasty? And why do so many dynasties name themselves Xia, anyway?

[@TheJackmeisterMongolHistory]

The Xi, as far as I am aware, is added by later (maybe even contemporary Song?) writers to differentiate the Tangut state from other Xia Dynasties (it may also be a recognition of how western they were compared to other dynasties, similar to why the Qara-Khitai were called the Xi Liao). The Tangut called it Da Xia, "great Xia." I cannot speak for why other dynasties bore the name (In Chinese legends the very first dynasty is the Xia, though I have no idea if there's any evidence it actually existed). The reason the Tangut had the name for their state, is that Xia was also a historical name for the Gansu region west of the Ordos that they inhabited. The Tang, Liao and Song gave the Tangut rulers the titles of Duke (and later King) of Xia. When the Tangut king Weiming Yuanhao was enthroned as emperor in 1038 (of Da Xia), it appears he just took the region name for his dynasty. This at least is my understanding of the matter in this specific case.

[@PathsUnwritten]

@@TheJackmeisterMongolHistory I remember reading of a late Xiongnu kingdom that settled down that also called themselves Da Xia, and a couple other dynasties that went by Xia as well. I also don't know the meaning of the term 'xia' or why/if these dynasties (who are non-Han Chinese) are trying to associate themselves with that legendary first dynasty. Thank you for the information. I really enjoy this series!

[@purevjavterbish33]

@@TheJackmeisterMongolHistory I am mongol,writing from Mongolia.This empire was the most powerful military super power👹💥🔥in all human history,much more strong than Romans,British e,Nazy Germany,USSR and USA.Only short reign of Great Khans-Ugedei 1229-1241,Guek 1246-1248 ,Munke 1251-1259 and 40 years civil war prevented to occupy all Eurasia continent,muslim countries in North Africa & Japan.

[@user-cg2tw8pw7j]

​@@purevjavterbish33Why do the Huns say they are from the Xia dynasty?

[@purevjavterbish33]

@@user-cg2tw8pw7j I never read that Huns of Attilla take origin from Xia dynasty.

[@royalquliyev3274]

Tangut vahşi

[@MrTTuguldur]

Not Mukhali. It’s Mukhulai...

[@FLYSTARTVLONDON]

Tangof xi empire is in America in the east