ca. 7,000 men ca. 4,000 men | Result Decisive Umayyad victory | |
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Similar Muslim conquest of Transoxiana, Abbasid Revolution, Battle of Talas, First Fitna | ||
The Battle of Kharistan was fought between the forces of the Umayyad Caliphate and the Turkic Turgesh in December 737 near the town of Kharistan in Juzjan, eastern Khurasan (modern northern Afghanistan). The Umayyads under the governor of Khurasan, Asad ibn Abdallah al-Qasri, managed to surprise and defeat the Turgesh khagan, Suluk, and his ally the Arab renegade al-Harith ibn Surayj, thereby forestalling the collapse of Arab rule over Khurasan.
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The Umayyads had conquered most of Transoxiana in the early years of the 8th century, but had been increasingly hard-pressed by Turgesh attacks and the revolts of the native princes in the 720s. After a major defeat in the Battle of the Defile in 731, most of Transoxiana was lost, while in 734–736 al-Harith ibn Surayj led a major rebellion against the caliphal governors in Khurasan. The appointment of the veteran Asad ibn Abdallah al-Qasri as governor led to the defeat of Ibn Surayj, but in 737 Asad's attempt to restore control over Khuttal led to a debacle when the Turgesh attacked his army. Although Asad managed to save most of his force, he suffered heavy losses and his army's baggage train was annihilated in the "Battle of the Baggage". Asad withdrew to Balkh, while the Turgesh ruler Suluk, advised by Ibn Surayj, launched a winter invasion of lower Tokharistan. When the Turgesh ruler dispersed his army to raid and gather forage, Asad seized the opportunity to confront him. With 7,000 men he surprised Suluk, who had only about 4,000 troops with him, and defeated him near Kharistan. The Turgesh ruler and Ibn Surayj managed to flee, but his camp fell into Arab hands, and most of the roaming bands of his army were destroyed. This unexpected victory shored up the threatened Umayyad position in Khurasan, while diminishing the prestige of Suluk, who fell victim to inter-Turgesh rivalries in early 738. Asad's successor Nasr ibn Sayyar was able to use the collapse of Turgesh power to restore the Arab position in Transoxiana almost to what it had been before the Turgesh intervention.
Background
The region of Transoxiana (Arabic: Ma wara' al-nahr) had been conquered by the Arab Muslims under Qutayba ibn Muslim in 705–715, following the Muslim conquest of Persia and of Khurasan in the mid-7th century. The loyalty of Transoxiana's native Iranian and Turkic populations to the Umayyad Caliphate remained questionable, however, and in 719 the various Transoxianian princes sent a petition to the Chinese court and their Turgesh vassals for military aid against the Caliphate's governors. In response, from 720 on the Turgesh launched a series of attacks against the Muslims in Transoxiana, coupled with uprisings among the native Sogdians. The Umayyad governors initially managed to suppress the unrest, but control over the Ferghana Valley was lost and in 724 the Arabs suffered a major disaster (the "Day of Thirst") while trying to recapture it. The Umayyad government made some half-hearted attempts to placate the local population and win the support of local elites, but in 728 a large-scale uprising broke out with Turgesh aid, which led to the Caliphate losing most of Transoxiana except for the region around Samarkand.
The Muslims suffered another major defeat in the Battle of the Defile in 731, after which Samarkand too was lost. the Sogdians under Ghurak regained their independence, while Muslim military activity north of the Oxus River was severely curtailed, with the Umayyads focusing their efforts at keeping control of the principalities of Tokharistan in the upper Oxus valley. In addition, the Umayyad authorities were preoccupied by the rebellion of al-Harith ibn Surayj, which broke out in early 734, spread quickly and gathered the support of a large portion of the indigenous Iranian population. At one point, the rebel army even threatened the provincial capital, Marw. The arrival of the experienced Asad ibn Abdallah al-Qasri, who had already served as governor of Khurasan before and now brought with him 20,000 veteran and loyal Syrian troops, managed to reverse the tide and suppress Ibn Surayj's revolt, although the rebel leader himself managed to escape.
In 737, Asad launched a campaign into the principality of Khuttal, whose rulers had supported the Turgesh and Ibn Surayj's rebellion. Asad was initially successful, but the Khuttalans called on the Turgesh for aid. The Turgesh khagan Suluk led some 50,000 of his men south in response. Asad was informed barely in time, but at the approach of the Turgesh the Arab army panicked and fled headlong to the Oxus. Amidst much confusion, and with the Turgesh on their heels, the Arabs managed to cross the river. They were followed, however, by the Turgesh, who attacked the Arabs in their camp. On the next day, 30 September, the Turgesh found and virtually annihilated the Arab baggage train and the Arabs' allied contingent from al-Saghaniyan, which Asad had sent off ahead, in the so-called "Battle of the Baggage".
Battle
The campaign had been a disaster for Asad and his now mainly Syrian army; Muslim control north of the Oxus had collapsed entirely, and while the governor had been able to escape complete destruction, he had suffered considerable casualties. Asad led his troops back to Balkh, but the Turgesh remained in Tokharistan, where they were joined by Ibn Surayj. As the Arabs customarily did not campaign during winter, Asad demobilized his men. On Ibn Surayj's urging, on the other hand, the Turgesh khagan decided to launch a winter attack into Lower Tokharistan, hoping to raise the local population in revolt against the Arabs. In this he was joined not only by Ibn Surayj and his followers, but by most of the native princes of Sogdiana and Tokharistan.
Asad was apprised of this on the evening of 7 December, when messages arrived at Balkh that the Turgesh and their allies, some 30,000 strong, were at Jazza. Asad ordered signal fires to be lit and mobilized his Syrian troops, although he had to pay each man twenty dirhams to persuade them to fight. The Umayyad governor initially refused to call upon the help of the local Khurasani Arabs, indicating the level of mistrust existing by now between the latter and the representatives of the Umayyad regime; in the end, however, he relented, and gathered a force of 7,000 men. In the meantime, Suluk attacked Khulm, but after being repelled marched on to Peroz Nakhsher/Peroz Bakhshin. Bypassing Balkh, the Turgesh seized the capital of Juzjan, and then dispersed and sent out mounted raiding parties in all directions, with some reaching as far as Marw al-Rudh. This was possibly done in search of forage, since such a large army could not otherwise be sustained during the winter. Against the expectations of Ibn Surayj, however, the ruler of Juzjan elected to side with Asad, who, informed of these events by the governor of Khulm, set out to engage the Turgesh.
The account in al-Tabari of the ensuing battle is confused and, according to the Orientalist H. A. R. Gibb, "shows the marks of rehandling", but it appears that Asad managed to surprise the Turgesh ruler and Ibn Surayj near Kharistan. According to al-Tabari, the Arabs learned of the dispersal of the Turgesh army when their advance guard, 300 cavalry under Mansur ibn Salim al-Bajali, encountered a Turgesh reconnaissance party of equal size, defeated it and took a few of them prisoner. Asad then marched on, encamping first in the village of al-Sidrah, then at Kharistan, until he finally reached a site some two farsakhs—roughly 10–12 kilometres (6.2–7.5 miles)—from the capital of Juzjan.
According to the report of Amr ibn Musa, relayed by al-Tabari, Asad gave command of his battle line to al-Qasim ibn Bukhayt al-Muraghi. The latter placed the Azdi and Tamimi tribal contingents, as well as the ruler of Juzjan and his personal guard (shakiriyya) and the contingents of the Syrian districts of Filastin (under Mus'ab ibn Amr al-Khuza'i) and Qinnasrin (under Maghra ibn Ahmar al-Numayri) on the right, while the left was held by the Rabi'ah tribe (under Yahya ibn Hudayn) and the contingent of the districts of Homs (under Ja'far ibn Hanzalah al-Bahrani) and Jordan (under Sulayman ibn Amr al-Muqri). Mansur al-Bajali commanded the vanguard as before, reinforced by the troops of the district of Damascus (under Hamlah ibn Nu'aym al-Kalbi) and the personal retinue of Asad. The khagan, who had only 4,000 of his men with him, placed Ibn Surayj and his followers on the right, while the rest of his force consisted not only of his Turgesh but also of contingents from the princes of Transoxiana—al-Tabari implies they were there in person, but this is unlikely—including the rulers of Sughd, Shash (Tashkent), Usrushana, Khuttal, and the Jabghu of Tokharistan.
In the ensuing clash, the Turgesh right under Ibn Surayj was victorious, reportedly reaching Asad's tent, but after an attack from the rear, reportedly on the suggestion of the ruler of Juzjan, the Turgesh and their allies broke and fled, leaving behind their encampment with their women, including the wife of the khaghan, who was stabbed by a eunuch servant to prevent her from being taken captive. The Arabs also recovered the enormous spoils taken by the Turgesh, including 155,000 sheep, "every kind of silver vessel", and many Muslim captives. Suluk barely managed to escape, as his horse got stuck in the mud. Fortunately for him, Muslims did not recognize him, and he was rescued by Ibn Surayj.
Asad divided the spoils among his men, sending the captive Turgesh women to the local Iranian dehgans. He remained at the site of his victory for five days, before returning to Balkh, nine days after his departure. From there he set out for Jazza, where the khagan had fled. Suluk fled before the Arab pursuit, but the Arabs were soon beset by heavy rain and snow, allowing the khagan and Ibn Surayj to escape to Upper Tokharistan, whence they moved on to Usrushana. The Turgesh raiding parties left behind in Khurasan were captured or destroyed one by one by Asad and his officers, and only a few Sogdians managed to escape back across the Oxus.
Aftermath
Asad's resolution in confronting the khagan, and the wise strategic choice of making Balkh his residence, paid off, and allowed him to salvage a situation that, in the wake of several defeats at the hands of the Turgesh, appeared seemingly hopeless—indeed, Caliph Hisham is said to have been incredulous at the first news of Asad's victory. The victory at Kharistan consolidated the Arab position in Khurasan, and particularly in Tokharistan, where the local rulers would certainly have gone over to the Turgesh if the latter had won or remained unopposed. Conversely the defeat diminished the prestige of Suluk, and may possibly have played a role in his assassination early in 738, although rivalries between the Turgesh, fanned by the Chinese court, were more directly responsible for it. The Turgesh khaganate then collapsed into infighting, and stopped being a serious threat to Arab interests in the area. As a result, the Battle of Kharistan is considered a turning point for the Arab fortunes in Central Asia.
Under Asad's successor, Nasr ibn Sayyar, the Muslim armies recovered most of Transoxiana, and with the Battle of Talas in 751 and the turmoil of the An Shi Rebellion, which terminated Chinese influence in Central Asia, Muslim dominance in the region was secured. Nevertheless, the losses suffered by the Syrians under Asad's command in the 737 campaign in Khuttal were of particularly grave importance in the long term, as the Syrian army was the main pillar of the Umayyad regime. Its numerical decline in Khurasan meant that the Khurasan-born Arabs could no longer be completely controlled by force; this opened the way not only for the appointment of a native Khurasani Arab governor in the person of Nasr ibn Sayyar, but also, eventually, for the outbreak of the Abbasid Revolution that toppled the Umayyad regime.