Subutai

Biography

Family Background and Early Years

Subutai came from the Mongol Uriankhai. The source describes his ancestors as hereditary servants of Mongol nobles. Around the summer of 1182, Subutai left the Uriankhai and entered the service of Temüjin, leader of the Kiyad Mongols. By around 1189 he was serving in Genghis Khan's household guard in a role the Chinese source describes as a hostage-guard or personal guard. Because of his bravery and military ability, he was later selected for elite central service and became one of Genghis Khan's nökers, or loyal military companions. Together with Jelme, Jebe, and Qubilai Barlas, he was counted among the “Four Dogs” described in the Secret History of the Mongols. Beginning as a commander of a hundred, he followed Genghis Khan in the destruction of the Kereit and the defeat of the Naiman and helped unify the tribes of the Mongolian steppe. In 1206, when the Mongol Empire was founded, Subutai became one of the ninety-five commanders of a thousand appointed by Genghis Khan.

Campaigns Against Jin and the Merkit

Between 1211 and 1215, Subutai became one of the principal Mongol commanders in the wars against Jin. In the 1212 attack on Huanzhou, near present-day Zhenglan Banner in Inner Mongolia, he was among the first to scale the walls, and Genghis Khan ordered that he be rewarded with a cart of gold and silk.

Between 1217 and 1219, according to the dating preserved in the source, Subutai asked to campaign against remnants of the Merkit who had fled west of the Uyghur regions. During the advance, he ordered a subordinate commander named in the source as Alichu to travel with carts carrying infants and then leave the carts behind after camping, creating the impression of people fleeing with their families. The Merkit believed the deception and relaxed their defenses. Subutai advanced to the Chu River region in Central Asia and destroyed the remaining Merkit forces.

According to the Jami' al-Tawarikh compiled by the Persian historian Rashid al-Din, after Subutai defeated the Merkit leader Qudu, Sultan Ala al-Din Muhammad II of Khwarazm had already advanced east of the Syr Darya. Genghis Khan had instructed Subutai to avoid battle if he encountered Khwarazmian forces, but Muhammad's army attacked and Subutai was forced to fight. The source states that he defeated the Khwarazmian army and nearly captured Muhammad. It was in connection with such exploits that Subutai was celebrated with the honorific ba'atur, “valiant warrior” or “hero.”

First Western Campaign

From 1219 onward Subutai accompanied Genghis Khan on the western campaign. In the spring of 1220, Mongol forces attacked Samarkand. Sultan Muhammad II abandoned the city and fled, and Subutai and Jebe were ordered to pursue him. After crossing the Amu Darya and reaching Nishapur, the two commanders temporarily separated. Subutai's forces raided Isfahan, Damghan, Semnan, and Ray. He and Jebe pursued Muhammad across Khorasan and forced him to flee to an island in the Caspian Sea, where he died soon afterward.

After sweeping through Khorasan, Subutai and Jebe continued across Persian Iraq, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. The Chinese source lists the devastated cities under the transcriptions Ha'er, Ximonian (Semnan), Layi (Ray), Humu, Sazhasi, Zanzhang (Zanjan), Kejiyun (Qazvin), Mielihe (Maragheh), Hamadan, Nahechewang (Nakhchivan), Xielawu, A'erdiebile (Ardabil), Bailahan (Baylaqan), and Jiyangzha (Ganja). In early 1221, they defeated Georgian forces near Tbilisi. In the spring of 1222, the Jami' al-Tawarikh describes another engagement in which Jebe concealed five thousand men while Subutai attacked openly. The Mongol main force initially withdrew, drawing the Georgians forward, after which Jebe emerged from ambush and the two forces surrounded and destroyed a large part of the Georgian army.

After the victory in Georgia, Jebe and Subutai advanced toward Derbent, crossed the Caucasus, and entered the northern Caucasian and steppe regions. The Alans and Kipchaks formed a coalition against the Mongols. Jebe and Subutai sent messages to the Kipchaks claiming common affinity and arguing that the Alans were outsiders, while also sending gifts. The Kipchaks withdrew, allowing the Mongols to defeat the Alans. The Mongols then attacked the Kipchaks as well and took back the gifts they had previously sent.

Surviving Kipchak forces fled to Rus'. Their leader, identified in the source as Kotian, sought help from his son-in-law, Prince Mstislav of Halych. The southern Rus' princes assembled at Kyiv and agreed to resist the Mongols. A large Rus'-Kipchak coalition advanced. Jebe and Subutai used a prolonged feigned retreat, allowing the allied army to pursue for many days and become exhausted. The Mongols then turned and attacked on the Kalka River near the Sea of Azov, winning a decisive victory in May 1223. The source states that the prince of Kyiv and his men surrendered after holding out for three days but were subsequently killed.

The expedition then entered Crimea and plundered Sudak, described in the source as a trading center connected with Genoese merchants and politically linked to the Empire of Trebizond. The Mongols next moved toward Volga Bulgaria. The army then turned southeast, subdued Qangli groups in the Ural region, and traveled across the steppe north of the Syr Darya to reunite with the main army of Genghis Khan. In the spring of 1225, Subutai returned to Karakorum. The source states that Genghis Khan praised his western-campaign achievements and awarded him precious pearls and a silver vessel.

Subutai also reported that he had released a Kipchak slave who had betrayed his own master. Genghis Khan replied that a slave disloyal to his master could not be expected to be loyal to another and ordered the man killed. Subutai further proposed combining units from conquered Merkit, Naiman, Kereit, Qangli, and Kipchak groups into a single army, and the proposal was approved.

Western Xia and the Conquest of Jin

When Genghis Khan later prepared to campaign against Western Xia, he initially worried that Subutai's parents would miss him after so many years of campaigning and ordered him to return home. Subutai instead asked to accompany the campaign, and Genghis Khan allowed him to continue. In 1226 Subutai subdued Sari Uighur groups identified in the source as Digin/Tegin and Simen, among others, and captured the prefectures of Deshun, Rong, Lan, Hui, Tao, and He, seizing five thousand mares. In 1227 he received news of Genghis Khan's death and withdrew.

In 1229 Ögedei became Great Khan and gave a princess named in the source as Tumiegan in marriage to Subutai. Soon afterward Ögedei decided on a renewed southern campaign against Jin, and Subutai again became one of the principal commanders. In 1230 he participated in an unsuccessful attack on Tong Pass and was criticized by Ögedei. Tolui, Ögedei's younger brother, argued that victory and defeat were normal occurrences in war and asked that Subutai be allowed to redeem himself through further service.

From the spring of 1231 Subutai served under Tolui. As part of the right-wing army he first took Fengxiang Prefecture, moved south through Baoji and Dasan Pass, then made a strategic detour through territories of the Southern Song, passing Fengzhou, Yangzhou, Xingyuan, Jinzhou, and Fangzhou before crossing the Han River and turning north toward Bianjing, present-day Kaifeng. In the first month of 1232, after Tolui and Subutai completed this wide outflanking movement, Ögedei led the central army across the Yellow River near Heqing and advanced east to capture Zhengzhou, placing Bianjing between converging Mongol forces.

The Jin commander Wanyan Heda led the main Jin army south from Tong Pass to intercept Tolui but failed, then turned northeast under orders from Emperor Aizong to relieve Bianjing. Tolui and Subutai followed with thirty thousand troops and met the Jin army at Sanfengshan near present-day Yuzhou in Henan. Subutai advised that people accustomed to city life could not endure prolonged hardship and should be repeatedly harassed and exhausted before the decisive attack. Heavy snow froze the Jin army, and the Mongols attacked. The Jin forces were decisively defeated, Wanyan Heda and others were captured, and the main Jin field army was largely destroyed.

Subutai then commanded forces from multiple routes in the siege of Bianjing. Emperor Aizong abandoned the city and fled north; Subutai pursued and defeated him at Huanglonggang, with the source claiming more than ten thousand enemy heads taken. The emperor then fled south to Guide Prefecture and later to Caizhou. Bianjing surrendered, and Subutai sent members of the Jin imperial household and state treasures as captives and booty. He then joined the siege of Caizhou. In the first month of 1234 Caizhou fell, Emperor Aizong died by suicide, and the Jin dynasty ended. The source states that after Bianjing had suffered a prolonged siege, famine became so severe that people ate one another; Subutai ordered civilians to cross northward in search of food.

Western Campaign of the Princes and Later Years

In 1235 Ögedei launched another major western campaign. Batu, eldest son of Jochi, was appointed overall commander and Subutai served in the vanguard. Because eldest sons or grandsons from the branches of Genghis Khan's four sons participated, Chinese historiography commonly calls it the “Western Campaign of the Princes.” Subutai and Batu conquered Volga Bulgaria and the Rus' principalities. In 1237 they entered Ryazan, in 1238 captured Moscow, and in 1240 captured Kyiv before continuing west.

In 1241 Subutai helped defeat the army of King Béla IV of Hungary at the Battle of Mohi on the Sajó River, which the source describes as a classic battle in European military history. Mongol forces advanced toward the Adriatic region and threatened the lands toward Venice. In 1242 news arrived of Ögedei's death, and Subutai returned east with Batu. He attended the enthronement of Güyük Khan in 1246. In 1248 Subutai died at the age of seventy-three, according to the History of Yuan.

Major Activities

Military Contributions

The source presents Subutai as one of the Mongol Empire's outstanding tacticians. His military career spanned nearly fifty years and involved many of the empire's major campaigns. He became particularly associated with wide outflanking maneuvers, surprise attacks, feigned retreats, and the deliberate exhaustion of enemy forces. At the Battle of the Kalka River he and Jebe used a prolonged feigned withdrawal to stretch and tire the Rus'-Kipchak coalition before turning to attack. At the Battle of Mohi on the Sajó River, the source credits him with tactics involving night operations and the struggle for bridge crossings that contributed to the defeat of the Hungarian army. His methods are described as influential in later military interpretation.

Political Activities

Subutai also participated in political and administrative decisions of the Mongol Empire. He proposed that commanders of units drawn from conquered Merkit, Naiman, Kereit, Qangli, and Kipchak groups be combined into a unified army, strengthening Mongol control over subjected peoples. During the conquest of Jin he proposed repeatedly harassing and tiring urban-based troops before decisive battle, a plan accepted by Tolui. The source also credits him with ordering or supporting relief for civilians after the fall of Bianjing by allowing them to cross northward to obtain food.

Travels and Campaign Geography

Subutai campaigned over an exceptionally wide geographic range. The source places his operations as far east as Goryeo on the Korean Peninsula, as far west as Poland and Hungary, north into Siberia, and south to Kaifeng. He participated in the first Mongol western campaign of 1219–1225 and the later western expedition of 1235–1242, traveling through Central Asia, Persia, the Caucasus, Eastern Europe, and Central Europe. His routes included crossing the Caucasus and traversing the Ural region, illustrating the extreme mobility of Mongol field armies.

Relations with Contemporaries

Subutai maintained close working relationships with Genghis Khan, Ögedei, Tolui, Batu, and other Mongol rulers and princes. He partnered with Jebe during the western campaigns, and the two cooperated in the pursuit of Muhammad II and in the campaigns through the Caucasus and Rus'. During the conquest of Jin, Tolui defended him after a setback and later accepted his tactical advice. During the later western expedition, Batu relied heavily on Subutai's military experience.

His western campaign in later life can be set out by year: in 1235 (second year of Duanping), at sixty, he joined Batu's western campaign as vanguard; in 1237 (first year of Jiaxi) he entered Rus and took Ryazan; in 1238 (second year of Jiaxi) he took Moscow (Mokhshi); in 1240 (fourth year of Jiaxi) he took Kiev; in 1241 (first year of Chunyou) he destroyed the Hungarian army at the battle of the Sajó River and reached the Adriatic; in 1242 (second year of Chunyou) he turned back on hearing of Ögedei's death; in 1246 (sixth year of Chunyou) he attended the enthronement of Güyük; in 1248 (eighth year of Chunyou) he died at the age of seventy-three. Partnered with Jebe in the western campaign, cooperating with Tolui in the war against the Jin and relied on by Batu in the western expedition, his military career ran through almost every front of the early Mongol empire.

His cooperation with the successive Mongol khans forms the background to his career: he and Jebe campaigned west in pursuit of Muhammad and as far as the Caucasus and Rus; he worked with Tolui in the war against the Jin, Tolui defending him after a setback and adopting his tactical advice; and in the great western campaign he served with Batu and was much relied on by him. From the time of Chinggis Khan to that of Güyük he served four courts in succession, his later achievements belonging to the reigns of Ögedei and Güyük, which is why he is still counted among the foremost commanders of the early Mongol empire.

That his career could span decades and several fronts has to do with the way the early Mongol empire used its men: commanders could be transferred across regions on the strength of service and loyalty rather than being confined to the pastures and following of their own tribe. Subutai benefited from this institutional setting, moving from the Jin front in the east to the Kipchaks and Rus in the west and back to the Central Plain for the wars against the Jin and the Song, his movements and victories alike reflecting the rhythm of early imperial expansion. In later discussions of Mongol military achievement his expedition with Jebe is commonly set beside the great western campaign, which shows the standing he was accorded.

The end of his western campaign and the reason for turning back were directly bound up with the change of khans in Mongolia.

Personal Relations

• Elder brother: Jelme, Uriankhai Mongol general and one of the “Four Dogs”
• Son: Uriyangkhadai, senior commander who campaigned against Dali and in Yunnan
• Grandson: Kökötei, military commander
• Grandson: Aju, senior commander and Left Chief Councillor of the Secretariat, noted for campaigns against Song
• Great-grandson: Burenjidei, Prince of Henan
• Great-great-grandson: Tongtong, senior official of the Jiangzhe Branch Secretariat
• Genghis Khan (Temüjin): ruler whom Subutai entered early and served as a nöker
• Jebe: fellow commander and partner in the western campaigns
• Tolui: Mongol prince and superior during the conquest of Jin
• Batu: commander of the later western expedition
• Ögedei: Great Khan who employed Subutai in the conquest of Jin and gave him a princess in marriage
• Güyük: Great Khan whose enthronement ceremony Subutai attended
• Muhammad II of Khwarazm: Khwarazmian sultan pursued by Subutai and Jebe
• Wanyan Heda: Jin commander and opponent at the Battle of Sanfengshan
• Béla IV: king of Hungary and opponent in the campaign culminating in the Battle of Mohi

Historical Assessment

Yuan / Contemporary and Near-Contemporary

• Genghis Khan: “Subutai rested on his spear and fought blood-soaked battles, exerting himself for my house; I greatly commend him.” (History of Yuan, biography of Subutai)
• Wang Yun, inscription for the ancestral temple of the Uriankhai clan: praised Subutai for exerting intelligence and courage, assisting imperial arms, suppressing disorder, and earning merit recorded among the covenant officers.
• History of Yuan: records that Subutai, together with Jelme, Jebe, and Qubilai, was renowned for courage and that they were called the “Four Dogs.”

Ming and Qing Periods

• The History of Yuan, compiled in the early Ming under Song Lian and others, placed Subutai in juan 121 and praised his exceptional courage and strategy.
• Ke Shaomin's Qing-era New History of Yuan described him as employing troops with extraordinary skill and as rarely suffering defeat.
• Gu Zuyu's Essentials of Historical Geography mentioned Subutai in discussing the Mongol western campaigns and described him as fighting over ten thousand li and advancing without effective resistance.

Modern and Contemporary

• British military historian B. H. Liddell Hart is cited in the source as calling Subutai “one of the greatest tacticians in history.”
• French scholar René Grousset, in The Empire of the Steppes, described Subutai as one of the most outstanding commanders in the Mongol army.
• American writer Jack Weatherford, in Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, is cited in the source as stating that Subutai surpassed contemporary European commanders in tactics and strategy.