Jebe (or Jebei, , pronounced as ''Zev''; birth name: Jirqo'adai (Modern Mongolian: Zurgaadai), , ) (death: approximately 1224) was one of the most prominent Noyans (generals) of

Genghis Khan Genghis Khan (born Temüjin; August 1227), also known as Chinggis Khan, was the founder and first khan (title), khan of the Mongol Empire. After spending most of his life uniting the Mongols, Mongol tribes, he launched Mongol invasions and ...

. He belonged to the Besud clan, part of the Taichud tribe, which was under Targudai Khiriltug's leadership at the time of Genghis Khan. Even though Jebe was originally an enemy soldier, Genghis Khan recruited him and turned him into one of his greatest generals. Jebe played an important role in helping to expand the territory of Genghis Khan's empire. Despite playing a large role as a general for Genghis Khan, there are relatively few sources or biographies about his life. Jebe has been described as "the greatest cavalry general in history" for his unorthodox and daring maneuvers.

Life

In 1202, during the Battle of the Thirteen Sides, an arrow wounded

's horse in the neck. His loyal subordinate, Jelme, cared for him. After winning the battle, he asked the defeated to reveal who shot his horse in the neck. This was a euphemism for his own injury in an attempt to conceal his injury or possibly to prevent false confessions. Jebe, known then as Jirqo'adai, voluntarily confessed and further added that it was Genghis Khan's choice to kill him, but if allowed to live, would serve Genghis Khan loyally. Genghis Khan valued demonstrated skills by men and their loyalty. He thus pardoned and praised Jirqo'adai in this account. He then gave Jirqo'adai a new name, Jebe, which means both "arrow" and "weapon" in Mongolian. Jebe quickly became one of the best and most loyal commanders of Genghis Khan in later conquests, rising to one of Genghis Khan's top generals in just 3 years, and commanding the critical left army wing in the 1211 invasion of Jin China. His ability as a general put him on the level of Muqali and

Subutai Subutai (c. 1175–1248) was a Mongol general and the primary military strategist of Genghis Khan and Ögedei Khan. He ultimately directed more than 20 campaigns, during which he conquered more territory than any other commander in history a ...

ba'atur. A Song emissary, Zhao Hong, noted that Jebe was considered to have the same level of authority as a third tier governor and held command of elite troops in Genghis Khan's army. This can be attributed to many successful military achievements while he served under Genghis Khan.

War against Jin dynasty

He served with distinction in the initial war against Jin dynasty (1211–1214). During this first invasion, Jebe commanded the left wing with Subutai. His unit went around the wall to the east, capturing two fortresses. He then re-circled his tracks to destroy the second Jin army at Wusha Fortress and linked up with Genghis's main army, who later went on to win the Battle of Yehuling. After this crushing victory, the Mongols took command of the passes that lead into the

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

plains and continued to spread their control through the territory. Jebe was sent to capture numerous chains of fortresses, which he accomplished by using a feigned retreat to lure out defenders. Genghis Khan seemed to rely on Jebe as his long ranged general: in winter 1211, Jebe was sent to capture Liaoyang, when Mongol forces had barely secured the great plains around Zhongdu. After riding several hundred miles away from the main battle front, Jebe lured the defenders of Liaoyang on a feigned retreat that lasted over 100 miles and left a large amount of Mongol booty on the ground. The Chinese troops paused to plunder it, and using the long nights of the northern winter, Jebe's army rode 100 miles in 24 hours to rout the disorderly Jin forces and seize Liaoyang. In 1213, Genghis sent Jebe to secure the heavily defended Juyong Pass. Jebe managed to find a mountain pass that enveloped the Jin fortifications, forcing the defenders to take the field. Jebe and Subutai then made forced marches the opposite way, retracing their steps and falling behind the enemy's new rear, encircling and liquidating this crucial army. After inciting a revolt in Manchuria and reducing a number of fortresses, Genghis split his army into five parts to raid vast swathes of Jin territory. Jebe was placed in the elite force under Muqali with Subutai, and they successfully raided the territory to the ocean while destroying or capturing many Jin towns and cities.

Battles against Kuchlug

In 1218, Jebe was tasked to defeat the perennial Mongol adversary

Kuchlug Kuchlug (also spelled ''Küchlüg'', ''Küçlüg'', ''Güčülüg'', ''Quqluq'') (; ; d. 1218) was a member of the Naiman tribe who became the last emperor of the Western Liao dynasty (Qara Khitai). The Naimans were defeated by Genghis Khan and h ...

and conquer Kara-Khitai. Given only 20,000 men, Jebe conserved manpower by inciting and backing religious revolts between the ruling Buddhists and oppressed Muslims. His forces moved with incredible alacrity which allowed him to overwhelm Kuchlug and his 30,000 men. Kuchlug was later hunted down after a long chase through the mountains. After Jebe scored victories over

of Kara-Khitan, Genghis Khan was said to be concerned. Although Genghis Khan was glad of his general's victory, he was unsure if Jebe would seek greater ambition and rebel against him. When word of this reached Jebe, he immediately returned to where Genghis Khan was and offered 100 white horses (the same kind that Genghis Khan rode when Jebe wounded him) as a sign of loyalty and put any doubts to rest.

Invasion of Khwarezm Empire

During the invasion of the Khwarezm Empire in 1219, Jebe was sent with a diversionary force over the

Tian Shan The Tian Shan, also known as the Tengri Tagh or Tengir-Too, meaning the "Mountains of God/Heaven", is a large system of mountain ranges in Central Asia. The highest peak is Jengish Chokusu at high and located in Kyrgyzstan. Its lowest point is ...

mountains during the winter to threaten the fertile Ferghana Valley. Jebe was able to navigate the tall mountain passes that had over five feet of snow, and he drew out Shah Mohammed II's elite 50,000 man cavalry reserve force. Jebe either won a victory or at least avoided defeat against this elite force and maneuvered further south to threaten Khorasan in order to cut off the far-away provinces. He then looped back to join Genghis's main army at the capital

Samarkand Samarkand ( ; Uzbek language, Uzbek and Tajik language, Tajik: Самарқанд / Samarqand, ) is a city in southeastern Uzbekistan and among the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central As ...

, effectively dividing Khwarezm into two. In order to prevent the Shah from rallying his forces in Khorasan and western Iran, Genghis Khan dispatched Jebe and Subutai to hunt the Shah throughout his own empire. Though they ultimately failed to catch him, their close pursuit prevented the Shah from rallying any new armies and the Shah was forced to flee toward Iran with Jebe and Subutai in close behind. As a result, the Khwarezmian forces were spread out and destroyed gradually.Golden, ""I Will Give the People Unto Thee"," 31.

Death

Jebe had made a legendary raid around the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...

where he and

defeated the

Georgians Georgians, or Kartvelians (; ka, ქართველები, tr, ), are a nation and Peoples of the Caucasus, Caucasian ethnic group native to present-day Georgia (country), Georgia and surrounding areas historically associated with the Ge ...

, who were set to join the

Fifth Crusade The Fifth Crusade (September 1217 - August 29, 1221) was a campaign in a series of Crusades by Western Europeans to reacquire Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land by first conquering Egypt, ruled by the powerful Ayyubid sultanate, led by al- ...

, as well as the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

Steppe tribes. He then later went on to defeat the

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus,. * was the first East Slavs, East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical At ...

and

Cumans The Cumans or Kumans were a Turkic people, Turkic nomadic people from Central Asia comprising the western branch of the Cumania, Cuman–Kipchak confederation who spoke the Cuman language. They are referred to as Polovtsians (''Polovtsy'') in Ru ...

at the

Battle of the Kalka River The Battle of the Kalka River was fought between the Mongol Empire, whose armies were led by Jebe and Subutai, and a coalition of several Rus' principalities, including Kievan Rus', Kiev and Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia, Galicia-Volhynia, and t ...

. This battle preceded the conquest of

and he likely died on his return from the conquests of the Kievan Rus' in approximately 1224. The circumstances surrounding his disappearance and death are mysterious. One scholar, Stephen Pow suggests that Jebe may have been killed by the Russian allied

Kipchaks The Kipchaks, also spelled Qipchaqs, known as Polovtsians (''Polovtsy'') in Russian annals, were Turkic nomads and then a confederation that existed in the Middle Ages inhabiting parts of the Eurasian Steppe. First mentioned in the eighth cent ...

forces near a

kurgan A kurgan is a type of tumulus (burial mound) constructed over a grave, often characterized by containing a single human body along with grave vessels, weapons, and horses. Originally in use on the Pontic–Caspian steppe, kurgans spread into mu ...

close to Khortytsia Island. The discrepancy behind this information may be a result of

linguistic Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

errors since the Turkic-speaking Kipchaks referred to Jebe as Gemya-Beg. But Russian scholars D.M. Timokhin and V.V. Tishin questioned his views; they believe that the version of Stephen Pow is not proven on the basis of written sources and has absolutely no linguistic evidence.Timokhin D.M., Tishin V.V. On New Trends in the Studies of the History of the Mongol Conquests: Based on the Example of Stephen Pow’s Article “The Last Campaign and Death of Jebe Noyan”. Zolotoordynskoe obozrenie=Golden Horde Review. 2018, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 597–598. Although the circumstances around his death are mysterious, Jebe left an indelible mark on history with his conquests in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

, and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

and the Rus.

Notes

References

元史/卷120 – 维基文库，自由的图书馆
* Golden, P. B. "'I Will Give the People Unto Thee': The Činggisid Conquests and Their Aftermath in the Turkic World." ''Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society'', Third Series, 10, no. 1 (2000): 21–41
"I Will Give the People unto Thee": The Činggisid Conquests and Their Aftermath in the Turkic World
* Hautala, Roman. "Latin Sources’ Information about the Mongols Related to their Reconquest of Transcaucaisa." ''Zolotoordynskoe Obozrenie'' no. 3 (2015): 6–22. * * Peers, Chris. ''Genghis Khan and the Mongol War Machine''. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2015. * * Timokhin D.M., Tishin V.V. On New Trends in the Studies of the History of the Mongol Conquests: Based on the Example of Stephen Pow’s Article “The Last Campaign and Death of Jebe Noyan”. Zolotoordynskoe obozrenie=Golden Horde Review. 2018, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 596–617.