Sack of Bukhara (1273)
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changes Bukhara destroyed; Ilkhanids withdraw beyond the Oxus
| Sack of Bukhara (1273) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Kaidu–Kublai war | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Ilkhanate | Chagatai Khanate | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Abaqa Khan | Ghiyas-ud-din Baraq | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Unknown | City destroyed; Massive emigration | ||||||||
The Sack of Bukhara was a military action that happened on January 1273 carried out by the forces of the Ilkhanate against the city of Bukhara. The attack was ordered by the Ilkhanid ruler Abaqa Khan amid the power struggles among the Mongol successor khanates following the fragmentation of the Mongol Empire.
After the defeat of Barak at Herat it marked the collapse of his reign. He then retreated to Bukhara, where he was struck by paralysis and had to be borne in a litter. His army started breaking up, as some of the commanders defected to Abaqa, while two of the princes tried to escape east.[1] Baraq sent faithful followers after them and sent his brother, Basar, to request Kaidu's assistance, attributing his defeat to Qipchaq and Chabat's desertion. But Kaidu imprisoned Basar but promised Baraq that he would send an army.[2]
In place of this, Kaidu marched 20,000 men west to take advantage of Chagataid weakness and to forestall Baraq from obtaining the assistance of Kublai Khan. By the time Baraq had received news of Kaidu's advance, his own men had taken captive the fugitive princes. Baraq sought to deter Kaidu, but soon his camp was encircled. On the following morning, Baraq was dead, and the majority of his 30,000 men surrendered to Kaidu, who granted them pasturelands and portions of his treasury. Baraq died in August 1271, and within a month, Kaidu was crowned khan at Talas.[3]