Battle of Sarakhs took place in March 1459, at a location between

Merv Merv ( tk, Merw, ', مرو; fa, مرو, ''Marv''), also known as the Merve Oasis, formerly known as Alexandria ( grc-gre, Ἀλεξάνδρεια), Antiochia in Margiana ( grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐν τῇ Μαργιανῇ) and ...

and

Sarakhs Sarakhs ( fa, سرخس, Saraxs, also Romanized as Serakhs) is a city in Sarakhs County, Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. Sarakhs was once a stopping point along the Silk Road, and in its 11th century heyday had many libraries. Much of the origina ...

. It was fought between the Timurids of

Samarkand fa, سمرقند , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from the top:Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zinda, ...

under

Abu Sa'id Mirza Abu Sa'id Mirza ( Chagatay/ fa, ابو سعید میرزا; 14248 February 1469) was the ruler of the Timurid Empire during the mid-fifteenth century. Born a minor prince of the Timurid dynasty, Abu Sa'id quickly established himself as the most ...

and the confederacy of his rivals to Central Asian throne, the Timurids of

Khurasan Greater Khorāsān,Dabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 or Khorāsān ( pal, Xwarāsān; fa, خراسان ), is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plat ...

and Marv, namely;

Ala al-Dawla Mirza Rukn-ud-din Ala al-Dawla Mirza, also spelt Ala ud-Dawla and Ala ud-Daula, (1417 – 1460) was a Timurid prince and a grandson of the Central Asian ruler Shah Rukh. Following his grandfather's death, Ala al-Dawla became embroiled in the ens ...

, his son Ibrahim Mirza and Sultan Sanjar Mirza.

Background

Recognizing the weakness of Timurid authority in

Herat Herāt (; Persian: ) is an oasis city and the third-largest city of Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Selseleh-ye Safē ...

, Jahan Shah of

Kara Koyunlu The Qara Qoyunlu or Kara Koyunlu ( az, Qaraqoyunlular , fa, قره قویونلو), also known as the Black Sheep Turkomans, were a culturally Persianate, Muslim Turkoman "Kara Koyunlu, also spelled Qara Qoyunlu, Turkish Karakoyunlular, En ...

invaded & took the city on June 28, 1458, which was then occupied by Ibrahim Mirza's father

. But

could not tolerate this occupation. After Jahan Shah had taken Herat, he was in a tough position and unable to keep it due to pressures from within his kingdom of Kara Koyunlu plus the increasing threat from Uzun Hasan of

Aq Qoyunlu The Aq Qoyunlu ( az, Ağqoyunlular , ) was a culturally Persianate,Kaushik Roy, ''Military Transition in Early Modern Asia, 1400–1750'', (Bloomsbury, 2014), 38; "Post-Mongol Persia and Iraq were ruled by two tribal confederations: Akkoyunlu (W ...

. He was obliged to negotiate the borders of his state with Abu Sa'id Mirza and after negotiations Jahan Shah decided to return territorial demarcation to

Shah Rukh Shah Rukh or Shahrukh ( fa, شاهرخ, ''Šāhrokh'') (20 August 1377 – 13 March 1447) was the ruler of the Timurid Empire between 1405 and 1447. He was the son of the Central Asian conqueror Timur (Tamerlane), who founded the Timurid dynas ...

's times. Thus,

, Mazandaran and

Jurjan Gorgan ( fa, گرگان ; also romanized as ''Gorgān'', ''Gurgān'', and ''Gurgan''), formerly Esterabad ( ; also romanized as ''Astarābād'', ''Asterabad'', and ''Esterābād''), is the capital city of Golestan Province, Iran. It lies appro ...

were returned to the Timurids and Abu Sa'id Mirza returned and took Herat a second time on December 22, 1458. While leaving the territory, however, the Turkmens ravaged Khurasan and when Abu Sa'id Mirza arrived to take Herat the people were frightened. So in order to ease their fears, he sent back the major portion of his army towards

Bukhara Bukhara ( Uzbek: /, ; tg, Бухоро, ) is the seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan, with a population of 280,187 , and the capital of Bukhara Region. People have inhabited the region around Bukhara for at least five millennia, and the city ...

. His rival claimants to the Kingdom of

, namely, Ala al-Dawla Mirza, his son Ibrahim Mirza and Sultan Sanjar Mirza seeing his position weakened decided to form an alliance and take this opportunity to destroy him once and for all. They planned to meet at

and from there move forward to attack Herat. When Abu Sa'id Mirza received intelligence of this advance, he set out to meet this threat head on despite being numerically outnumbered and sent for reinforcements.

Battle

The battle of Sarakhs was fought when the vanguard of Ala al-Dawla Mirza, Ibrahim Mirza and Sultan Sanjar Mirza appeared between Marv and Sarakhs. Battle lines were drawn and a pitched battle ensued. Reinforcements arrived for Abu Sa'id Mirza at the right time under Amir Ali Farsi and Amir Syed Asil with the help of whom he defeated his enemies. Amir Ali Farsi and Amir Syed Asil were sent in pursuit of Ala al-Dawla Mirza and Ibrahim Mirza, who had fled to Mazniyan whereas Sultan Sanjar Mirza was captured and was executed. Ibrahim Mirza died in 1460 and Ala al-Dawla Mirza died in 1461, ending all opposition to a sole Timurid ruler in Transoxiana.

Notes

{{reflist Sarakhs 1459 Samarkand Sarakhs 1459 1459 in Asia Sarakhs 1459 1450s in the Middle East