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MongoliaEarly Wars in China
A major goal of Chinggis was the conquest of Jin, both to
avenge earlier defeats and to gain the riches of northern China.
He declared war in 1211, and at first the pattern of operations
against Jin was the same as it had been against Western Xia. The
Mongols were victorious in the field, but they were frustrated in
their efforts to take major cities. In his typically logical and
determined fashion, Chinggis and his highly developed staff
studied the problems of the assault of fortifications. With the
help of Chinese engineers, they gradually developed the
techniques that eventually would make them the most accomplished
and most successful besiegers in the history of warfare.
As a result of a number of overwhelming victories in the
field and a few successes in the capture of fortifications deep
within China, Chinggis had conquered and had consolidated Jin
territory as far south as the Great Wall by 1213. He then
advanced with three armies into the heart of Jin territory,
between the Great Wall and the Huang He. He defeated the Jin
forces, devastated northern China, captured numerous cities, and
in 1215 besieged, captured, and sacked the Jin capital of Yanjing
(later known as Beijing). The Jin emperor did not surrender,
however, but removed his capital to Kaifeng. There his successors
finally were defeated, but not until 1234. Meanwhile, Kuchlug,
the deposed khan of the Naiman Mongols, had fled west and had
conquered the state of Karakitai, the western allies that had
decided to side with Chinggis.
By this time, the Mongol army was exhausted by ten years of
continuous campaigning against Western Xia and Jin. Therefore,
Chinggis sent only two tumen under a brilliant young
general, Jebe, against Kuchlug. An internal revolt was incited by
Mongol agents; then Jebe overran the country. Kuchlug's forces
were defeated west of Kashgar; he was captured and executed, and
Karakitai was annexed. By 1218 the Mongol state extended as far
west as Lake Balkash and adjoined Khwarizm, a Muslim state that
reached to the Caspian Sea in the west and to the Persian Gulf
and the Arabian Sea in the south.
Data as of June 1989
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