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"On the Tatars," from The Complete History by Ibn al-Athir, 1221

Ali Ibn al-Athir was an Arab-Kurdish historian from southeast Anatolia (near the modern-day border of Turkey, Syria, and Iraq). This excerpt, from his work the Complete History, describes the Mongol takeover of Muslim lands, illustrating the Mongols as cruel and efficient. It suggests that terror was a key tactic and explains that Mongol pastoral culture enabled them to expand rapidly without the need of maintaining robust supply lines.

For some years I continued averse from mentioning this event, deeming it so horrible that I shrank from recording it. . . To whom, indeed, can it be easy to write the announcement of the death-blow of Islam and the Muslims, or who is he on whom the remembrance thereof can weigh lightly? Oh, would that my mother had not born me or that I had died and become a forgotten thing [before] this befell! Yet . . .a number of my friends urged me to set it down in writing, and I hesitated long, but at last came to the conclusion that to omit this matter could serve no useful purpose. . . This thing involves the description of the greatest catastrophe . . . which befell all men generally, and the Muslims in particular. . .

For even Antichrist will spare such as follow him, though he destroy those who oppose him, but these Tatars spared none, slaying women and men and children, ripping open pregnant women and killing unborn babes. Verily to God do we belong, and unto Him do we return, and there is no strength and no power save in God, the High, the Almighty, in face of this catastrophe. . .For these were a people who emerged from the confines of China, and attacked the cities of Turkestan, like Kashghar and Balasaghun, and thence advanced on the cities of Transoxiana, such as Samarqand, Bukhara [in Uzbekistan] and the like, taking possession of them. . .and destroying, and slaying, and plundering, and thence passing on to Ray, Hamadan and the Highlands, and the cities contained therein, even to the limits of Iraq, whence they marched on the towns of Adharbayjan and Arraniyya, destroying them and slaying most of their inhabitants, of whom none escaped save a small remnant; and all this in less than a year. . .. [then] they passed on to Darband-i-Shirwan, and occupied its cities, none of which escaped save the fortress wherein was their King; wherefore they passed by it to the countries of the Lan and the Lakiz and the various nationalities which dwell in that region, and plundered, slew, and destroyed them to the full. And thence they made their way to the lands of Qipchaq, who are the most numerous of the Turks, and slew all such as withstood them, while the survivors fled to the fords and mountain-tops, and abandoned their country, which these Tatars overran. All this they did in the briefest space of time, remaining only for so long as their march required and no more.

[In the city of Merv, Turkmenistan] Genghis Khan sat on a golden throne and ordered the troops who had been seized should be brought before him. When they were in front of him, they were executed and the people looked on and wept. When it came to the common people, they separated men, women, children and possessions. It was a memorable day for shrieking and weeping and wailing. They took the wealthy people and beat them and tortured them with all sorts of cruelties in the search for wealth … Then they set fire to the city and burned the tomb of Sultan Sanjar and dug up his grave looking for money. They said, ‘These people have resisted us’ so they killed them all. Then Genghis Khan ordered that the dead should be counted and there were around 700,000 corpses…

Another division, distinct from that mentioned above, marched on Ghazna [in Afghanistan] and its dependencies, and those parts of India, Sistan and Kirman which border thereon, and wrought therein deeds like unto the other, nay, yet more grievous. Now this is a thing the like of which ear has not heard; for Alexander, concerning whom historians agree that he conquered the world, did not do so with such swiftness, but only in the space of about ten years; neither did he slay, but was satisfied that men should be subject to him. But these Tatars conquered most of the habitable globe, and the best, the most flourishing and most populous part thereof, and that whereof the inhabitants were the most advanced in character and conduct, in about a year; nor did any country escape their devastations which did not fearfully expect them and dread their arrival.

Moreover they need no commissariat, nor the conveyance of supplies, for they have with them sheep, cows, horses, and the like quadrupeds, the flesh of which they eat, naught else. As for their beasts which they ride, these dig into the earth with their hoofs and eat the roots of plants, knowing naught of barley. And so, when they alight anywhere, they have need of nothing from without. As for their religion, they worship the sun when it rises, and regard nothing as unlawful, for they eat all beasts, even dogs, pigs, and the like; nor do they recognize the marriage-tie, for several men are in marital relations with one woman, and if a child is born, it knows not who is its father. . .

It is now time for us to describe how they first burst forth into the lands. Stories have been related to me, which the hearer can scarcely credit, as to the terror of the Tatars, which God Almighty cast into men’s hearts; so that it is said that a single one of them would enter a village or a quarter wherein were many people, and would continue to slay them one after another, none daring to stretch forth his hand against this horseman. And I have heard that one of them took a man captive, but had not with him any weapon wherewith to kill him; and he said to his prisoner, “Lay your head on the ground and do not move,” and he did so, and the Tatar went and fetched his sword and slew him therewith. Another man related to me as follows: “I was going,” said he, “with seventeen others along a road, and there met us a Tatar horseman, and bade us bind one another’s arms. My companions began to do as he bade them, but I said to them, “He is but one man; wherefore, then, should we not kill him and flee?’ They replied, ‘We are afraid.’ I said, ‘This man intends to kill you immediately; let us therefore rather kill him, that perhaps God may deliver us.’ But I swear by God that not one of them dared to do this, so I took a knife and slew him, and we fled and escaped.’ And such occurrences were many.

Juvaini Describes Mongol Conquests in Central Asia, 1260

Ala-ad-Din Ata- Malik Juvaini (1226-1283) was a Persian civil servant and historian who worked for the Mongol Empire. He wrote a history of the Mongol Empire called Tarīkh-i Jahān-gushā (History of the World Conqueror). Because of his political ties, he had access to information that others did not. In this excerpt, he describes how Chinggis Khan united the Mongol tribes and conquered many countries. It describes in detail the siege of Bokhara and Samarkand in Central Asia, which were major Silk Road cities and were to become key urban centers in the Mongol Empire.

When Chinggis Khan’s cause prospered and the stars of his fortune were in the ascendant, he dispatched envoys to the other tribes [of Mongols] also; and all that came to tender submission, such as the Oirat and the Qonqurat [two Mongol tribes], admitted to the number of his commanders and followers and were regarded with the eye of indulgence and favor; while as for the refractory and rebellious, he struck the breath from their bodies with the whip of calamity and the sword of annihilation; until all the tribes were of one color and obedient to his command. Then he established new laws and laid the foundation of justice; and whichever of their customs were abominable, such as theft and adultery, he abolished. . . . When these regions had been purged of rebels and all the tribes had become as his army, he dispatched ambassadors to Khitai [the Khitan Empire of northern China], and afterwards went there in person, and slew Altun-Khan, the Emperor of Khitai, and subjugated the country. And gradually he conquered other kingdoms also. . . .

And from [there] Chinggis Khan proceeded to Bokhara...Genghis Khan then began a speech: “know that you have committed great sins, and that the great ones among you have committed these sins...If you had not committed these great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you…” Of the Qanqli [Turkic defenders of the city] no male was spared...whilst their small children, the children of their nobles and their womenfolk, were sold to slavery...the inhabitants of the town, men and women, ugly and beautiful, were driven out onto the field of the musalla [an open space outside of a mosque]. Genghis Khan spared their lives, but the youths and full-grown men that were fit for such service were pressed into a levy [body of soldiers] for the attack on Samarqand and Dabusiya.

. . . [When] he took Bokhara and Samarqand [both in Uzbekistan], he contented himself with slaughtering and looting once only, and did not go to the extreme of a general massacre. As for the adjoining territories that were subject to these towns or bordered on them, since for the most part they tendered submission [surrendered], the hand of molestation was to some extent withheld from them. And afterwards, the Mongols pacified the survivors and proceeded with work of reconstruction, so that at the present time. . . the prosperity and well-being of these districts have in some cases attained their original level and in others have closely approached it. It is otherwise with Khorasan and Iraq...every town and every village has been several times subjected to pillage and massacre and has suffered this confusion for years, so that...the population will not attain to a tenth part of what it was before. . .

[In Samarkand] Genghis Khan mounted in person and stationed his troops in a circle round about the town...The Mongols and the [other] troops busied themselves with pillaging; and many people who had hidden in cellars and cavities were [discovered and] slain. They shaved the front of the Turks’ heads in the Mongol fashion...30,000 Turkish soldiers were executed... thirty thousand others who were noted craftsmen were taken captive and sent back to the Mongol lands.