Mongol campaign against the Nizaris

The Nizaris were a branch of Ismailis, itself a branch of Shia Muslims. By establishing strategic and self-sufficient mountain strongholds, they had established a state of their own within the territories of the Seljuq and later Khwarezmian empires of Persia. In 1192 or 1193, Rashid al-Din Sinan had been succeeded by the Persian ''da'i Nasr al-Ajami, who restored Alamut suzerainty over the Nizaris in Syria. After the Mongol invasion of Persia, many Sunni and Shia Muslims (including the prominent scholar al-Tusi) had taken refuge with the Nizaris of Quhistan. The governor (muhtasham'') of Quhistan was Nasir al-Din Abu al-Fath Abd al-Rahim ibn Abi Mansur. ==Early Nizari–Mongol relations==

In 1221, the Nizari Imam Jalal al-Din Hasan sent emissaries to Genghis Khan in Balkh. The Imam died in the same year and was succeeded by his 9-years-old son, Ala al-Din Muhammad. After the fall of the Khwarezmian dynasty as a result of the Mongol invasion, direct confrontations began between the Nizaris under Imam Ala al-Din Muhammad and the Mongols under Ögedei Khan. The latter had just begun to conquer the rest of Persia. Soon the Nizaris lost Damghan in Qumis to the Mongols; the Nizaris had recently taken control of the city after the fall of the Khwarezmshahs. The Nizari Imam sought anti-Mongol alliances as far as China, France, and England: in 1238, he and the Abbasid caliph Al-Mustansir sent a joint diplomatic mission to the European kings Louis IX of France and Edward I of England to forge a Muslim–Christian alliance against the Mongols, but this was unsuccessful. The European kings later joined the Mongols against the Muslims. Güyük's successor, Möngke Khan, began to implement the former's schemes. Möngke's decision followed anti-Nizari urges by Sunnis in the Mongol court, new anti-Nizari complaints (such as that of Shams al-Din, qadi of Qazvin), and warnings from the local Mongol commanders in Persia. In 1252, Möngke entrusted the mission of conquering the rest of Western Asia to his brother Hülegü, with the highest priority being the conquest of the Nizari state and the Abbasid Caliphate. Elaborate preparations were made, and Hülegü did not set out until 1253, and actually arrived in Persia more than two years later. ==Hülegü's campaign==

Campaign against Quhistan, Qumis, and Khurasan , from a manuscript of '''' by Hayton of Corycus. The garrison resisted for 17 years, long after the surrender of the Nizari leaders. In March 1253, Hülegü's advance guard under the command of Kitbuqa crossed the Oxus (Amu Darya) with 12,000 men (one tümen plus two mingghans under Köke Ilgei). In April 1253, they captured several Nizari fortresses in Quhistan and killed their inhabitants, and in May they attacked the district of Qumis and laid siege to Gerdkuh, the main Nizari stronghold there. His army consisted of 5,000 (probably Mongol) cavalrymen and 5,000 (probably Tajik) infantrymen. Kitbuqa left an army under amir Büri to besiege Gerdkuh, and himself attacked the nearby Mihrin (Mehrnegar) castle and Shah (in Qasran?). In August 1253, he sent raiding parties to the Tarem and Rudbar districts with little results. Afterward they attacked and slaughtered the inhabitants of Mansuriah and Alabeshin (Alah beshin). In October 1253, Hülegü left his orda in Mongolia and began his march with a tümen at a leisurely pace and increased his number in his way. In July 1253, Kitbuqa who had been in Quhistan, pillaged, slaughtered, and seized probably temporarily Tun (Ferdows) and Turshiz. A few months later, Mehrin and several other castles in Qumis fell as well. In September 1255, Hülegü arrived near Samarqand. All of the rulers of Rum (Anatolia), Fars, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Arran, Shirvan, Georgia, and supposedly also Armenia, acknowledged their service with many gifts. As Hülegü reached Bistam, his army had enlarged into five tümens, and new commanders were added. Many of them were the relatives of Batu Khan. From the ulus of Jochi representing the Golden Horde came Quli (son of Orda), Balagha, and Tutar. The Chagatai Khanate forces were under Tegüder. A contingent of Oirat tribesmen also joined under Buqa Temür. No member of Ögedei's family is mentioned. Hülegü had with him a thousand squads of siege engineers (probably north Chinese, Khitan and Muslim) skilled in the use of mangonels and naphtha. The right wing, under Buqa Temür and Köke Ilgei, marched via Tabaristan. The left wing, under Tegüder and Kitbuqa, marched via Khuwar and Semnan. The center was under Hulegu himself. Meanwhile, Hülegü sent another warning to Khurshah. Khurshah was at the Maymun-Diz fortress and was apparently playing for time; by resisting longer, the arrival of winter could have stopped the Mongol campaigning. He sent his vizier Kayqubad; they met the Mongols in Firuzkuh and offered the surrender of all strongholds except Alamut and Lambsar, and again asked for a year's delay for Khurshah to visit Hülegü in person. Meanwhile, Khurshah ordered Gerdkuh and the fortresses of Quhistan to surrender, which their chiefs did, but the garrison of Gerdkuh continued to resist. The Mongols continued to advance and reached Lar, Damavand, and Shahdiz. Khurshah sent his 7- or 8-years-old son as a show of good faith, but he was sent back due to his young age. Khurshah then sent his second brother Shahanshah (Shahin Shah), who met the Mongols at Rey. But Hülegü demanded the dismantling of the Nizari fortifications to show his goodwill. Capitulation of Alamut depicting Hülegü and the Mongols dismantling Alamut Khurshah instructed all Nizari castles of the Rusbar valley to capitulate, evacuate, and dismantle their forts. All castles (around forty) subsequently capitulated, except Alamut (under sipahsalar Muqaddam al-Din Muhammad Mubariz) and Lambsar, possibly because their commanders thought the Imam had issued orders under duress and was practicing a sort of taqiyya. Despite the small size of the fortress and its garrison, Alamut was stone-built (unlike Maymun-Diz), well-provisioned, and featured a reliable water supply. However, the Nizari faith demands the faithful pay absolute obedience to the Imam in all circumstances. Hülegü surrounded Alamut with his army, and Khurshah unsuccessfully attempted to persuade its commander to surrender. Hülegü left a large force under Balaghai to besiege Alamut, and himself together with Khurshah set out to besiege the nearby Lambsar. Muqaddam al-Din eventually capitulated when he learned that the Imam wasn't obligated to surrender after a few days in December 1256. Juvayni describes the difficulty by which the Mongols dismantled the plastered walls and lead-covered ramparts of Alamut. The Mongols had to set fire to the buildings and then destroy them piece by piece. He also notes the extensive chambers, galleries, and deep tanks, replete with wine, vinegar, honey, and other goods. During the pillage, one man was almost drowned in a honey store. After examining Alamut's famous library, Juvayni saved "copies of the Qur'an and other choice books" as well as "astronomical instruments such as kursis (part of an astrolabe), armillary spheres, complete and partial astrolabes, and others", and burned the other books "which related to their heresy and error". He also picked Hasan Sabbah's biography, Sargudhasht-i Bābā Sayyidinā (), which interested him, but he claims he burnt it after reading it. Juvayni has extensively cited its contents in his Tarikh-i Jahangushay. Juvayni noted the impregnability and self-sufficiency of Alamut and the other Nizari fortresses. Rashid al-Din similarly writes of the good fortune of Mongols in their war against the Nizaris. ==Massacres of the Nizaris==

collapsed in 1257 after a cholera outbreak By 1256, Hülegü almost eliminated the Persian Nizaris as an independent military force. Around 100,000 people are estimated to have been killed. in June 1272, probably by a Syrian ''fida'i'' employed by Baibars, contributed to the termination of the Ninth Crusade. As the centralized government of the Nizaris was disestablished, the Nizaris either were killed or had abandoned their traditional strongholds. Many of them migrated to Afghanistan, Badakhshan, and Sindh. Little is known about the history of the Ismailis in this stage, until two centuries later, when they again began to grow as scattered communities under regional ''da'is in Iran, Afghanistan, Badakhshan, Syria, and India. The Nizaris of Syria were tolerated by the Bahri Mamluks and held a few castles under Mamluk suzerainty. The Mamluks may have employed Nizari fedai''s against their own enemies, notably the attempted assassination of the Crusader Prince Edward of England in 1271. Resistance by the Nizaris in Persia was still ongoing in some forts, notably Lambsar, Gerdkuh, and several forts in Quhistan. Gerdkuh resisted much longer. The Mongols had built permanent structures and houses around this fortress, the ruins of which, together with two types of stones used for the Nizari and Mongol mangonels, are still extant today. By 1273, all the Syrian Nizari castles were also captured by Baibars. In 1275, a Nizari force under a son of Khurshah (titled Naw Dawlat or Abu Dawlat) The Nizaris also re-established their Imamate at the village of Anjudan, where they are recorded to be active in the 14–15th century. ==References==