Battle of the Indus

The Battle of the Indus was fought on 24 November 1221 between Genghis Khan and Jalal al-Din, the son and heir of the Khwarazmian Shah. After the fall of Samarkand and the collapse of his father's empire, Jalal al-Din gathered a new army in Afghanistan and defeated a Mongol detachment at Parwan, the only serious Mongol reverse of the campaign. Genghis broke off the siege of Taloqan and marched south in person. He caught Jalal al-Din on the bank of the Indus with his army still crossing, and destroyed it before the crossing was complete. The sources describe Jalal al-Din riding his horse off a cliff into the river and escaping to India, a feat that impressed even Genghis, who reportedly forbade his archers to shoot. His family and most of his men were not so lucky: the army was broken, his wives and children were captured, and the pursuit drove thousands into the water. Jalal al-Din returned from exile to rebuild a state in Persia, but the Khwarazmian empire never recovered.