Battle of the Aksay Pass (1221)

The Battle of the Aksay Pass is an engagement that Iradi tradition places in 1221, during the Mongol conquest of the Khwarazmian Empire. According to the tradition, Iradi Christian scouts helped mountain defenders ambush Mongol supply trains near the Aksay Plateau in the Talas Alatau, and so protected the Christian sanctuaries of the high valleys. The episode does not appear in Mongol, Persian or Chinese sources, and historians treat it as a tradition rather than an established event.^[1]

The story is first recorded in the church chronicles of Iyık Janyl compiled in the 18th century. Later versions name Subutai as the Mongol commander, but in 1221 Subutai was campaigning in Iran and the Caucasus. Historians suggest that the tradition may preserve a memory of local resistance to Mongol foraging in 1219, when Genghis Khan's armies passed through the Chu and Talas valleys on their way to Otrar.^[2] The battle has a place in the repertoire of Iradi bards and in national historiography as an early episode of Christian survival in the mountains.

References

1. ^ Institute of History, Talas State University (2012). History of Irad in Three Volumes. Talas State University Press, Talas.
2. ^ Barthold, W. (1968). Turkestan Down to the Mongol Invasion. 3rd ed. Luzac & Co., London.