Chagatai Khan in the context of "Jochi"

The siege of Gurganj occurred during the Mongol invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire. The siege's length is variable, with historians such as Rashid al-Din Hamadani stating that it lasted for seven months, but it is largely agreed that it ended with the defeat and annihilation of the city in April 1221. Genghis Khan, ruler of the Mongol Empire, had launched a multi-pronged assault on the Khwarazmian Empire, ruled by Shah Muhammad II. Through a combination of efficient planning and excellent manoeuvering, the Khan's army managed to take the border town of Otrar swiftly, followed by the large cities of Bukhara and Samarkand. The siege, among others, was witnessed by the Persian biographer Shihab al-Din Muhammad al-Nasawi, who recorded an account in Arabic c. 1241.

Genghis sent a detachment, led by his sons Jochi and Chagatai, northwest to lay siege to the former capital of Gurganj. Immensely wealthy, the city lay on marshy grounds on the delta of the Amu Darya, making it difficult to assault. Adapting to the lack of stones to use as projectiles, the Mongols cut down huge groves of mulberry trees, soaked the trunks in water to harden them, and used them as battering rams and catapult projectiles.

Tolui (c. 1191 – 1232) was the youngest son of Genghis Khan and Börte. A prominent general during the early Mongol conquests, Tolui was a leading candidate to succeed his father after his death in 1227 and ultimately served as regent of the Mongol Empire until the accession of his brother Ögedei two years later. Tolui's wife was Sorghaghtani Beki; their sons included Möngke and Kublai, the fourth and fifth khans of the empire, and Hulagu, the founder of the Ilkhanate.

Tolui was less active than his elder brothers Jochi, Chagatai, and Ögedei during their father's rise to power, but once he reached adulthood he was considered the finest warrior of the four. He commanded armies under his father during the first invasion of Jin China (1211–1215), and his distinguished service during the Mongol invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire secured his reputation. After the fall of the cities of Transoxiana in 1220, Genghis dispatched Tolui early the following year to subjugate the region of Khorasan, which had begun to cause trouble for the Mongol armies. Tolui executed his orders with ruthless efficiency, assaulting the major cities of Merv, Nishapur, and Herat, and subjugating numerous others. Medieval chroniclers attributed more than three million deaths to the massacres he ordered at Nishapur and Merv; while these figures are considered exaggerated by modern historians, they are evidence of the abnormal brutality of Tolui's campaign.

Ögedei Khan (also Ögedei Khagan or Ogodei; c. 1186  – 11 December 1241) was the second khan of the Mongol Empire. The third son of Genghis Khan, he continued the expansion of the empire that his father had begun.

Born in c. 1186 AD, Ögedei fought in numerous battles during his father's rise to power. After being granted a large appanage and taking a number of wives, including Töregene, he played a prominent role in the Mongol invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire. When his older brothers Jochi and Chagatai quarrelled over strategies when besieging Gurganj, Genghis appointed Ögedei sole commander; his successful capture of the city in 1221 ensured his military reputation. He was confirmed as heir after further infighting between his elder brothers led to both being excluded from succession plans. Genghis died in 1227, and Ögedei was elected as khan in 1229, after a two-year regency led by his younger brother Tolui.

The Chagatai Khanate, also known as the Chagatai Ulus, was a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate that comprised the lands ruled by Chagatai Khan, second son of Genghis Khan, and his descendants and successors. With the division of the Mongol Empire after 1259, it became a functionally separate khanate. At its height in the late 13th century, the khanate extended from the Amu Darya south of the Aral Sea to the Altai Mountains on the border of modern-day Mongolia and China, roughly corresponding to the area once ruled by the Qara Khitai (Western Liao dynasty).

Initially, the rulers of the Chagatai Khanate recognized the supremacy of the Great Khan, but by the reign of Kublai Khan, Ghiyas-ud-din Baraq no longer obeyed the emperor's orders. From 1363, the Chagatais progressively lost Transoxiana to the Timurids. The reduced realm came to be known as Moghulistan, which lasted until the late 15th century, when it broke off into the Yarkent Khanate and Turpan Khanate. In 1680, the remaining Chagatai domains lost their independence to the Dzungar Khanate. Finally, the Kumul Khanate, an autonomous division of China established during the Qing dynasty in 1696 and governed by descendants of Chagatai Khan, was abolished during the Republic of China in 1930, ending the dynasty.

Kadan (also Qadan) was the son of the second Great Khan of the Mongols Ögedei and a concubine. He was the grandson of Genghis Khan and the brother of Güyük Khan. During the Mongol invasion of Europe, Kadan, along with his cousin Baidar (son of Chagatai Khan) and Orda Khan (the eldest brother of Batu Khan and khan of the White Horde), led the Mongol diversionary force that attacked Poland, while the main Mongol force struck the Kingdom of Hungary.

The House of Ögedei, sometimes called the Ögedeids, was an influential Mongol family and a cadet branch of the Borjigin clan from the 12th to 14th centuries: having been descended from Ögedei Khan (1186-1241) who was the third son and successor of Genghis Khan (1162-1227) that continued the expansion of the Mongol Empire far beyond the East Asian homeland of the Mongols.

When, after the Toluid Möngke Khan's death, the Mongol Empire disintegrated into civil war, the members of the House of Ögedei were influential players in the politics of the region. Among the lines of Genghis Khan's sons — Ögedei, Jochi, Chagatai, and Tolui, the House of Ögedei tended to ally with the Chagataids (descendants of Chagatai) against the House of Jochi, while seeking control for themselves within the Chagatai Khanate at first. The Ögedeids also allied with the Golden Horde against the Yuan founding emperor Kublai (son of Tolui), who was allied with his brother Hulagu, leader of the Ilkhanate in Persia. The Ögedeids attempted to unite the Mongol Empire under their own rule, and Ögedeid princes continued to march against the Yuan dynasty well into the 14th century, such as during the Kaidu–Kublai war.

Shahr-e-Gholghola or Gholghola City (Dari: شهر غلغله) (also City of Screams, City of Woe, City of Sorrows) is an archaeological site located near the town of Bamyan, Afghanistan.

The Siege of Bamyan took place here in 1221 during the Mongol pursuit of Jalal al-Din Mangburni, the last ruler of the Khwarazmian Empire. Mutukan, eldest son of Chagatai Khan and favourite grandson of Genghis Khan, was killed in battle by an arrow from the besieged walls, which led Genghis to massacre the population of the city and its surrounding region (the origin of the city's moniker "City of Woe").

The Otrar Catastrophe was a siege that took place between December 1219 and February 1220 during the Mongol invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire at Otrar, a large trading city on the Syr Darya river. Inalchuq, the city's governor, had seized the goods of a Mongol trade caravan the previous year; after more provocations from Inalchuq's liege and ruler of the Khwarazmian Empire, Shah Muhammad II, Genghis Khan launched a full-scale invasion of the empire.

The city had been extensively garrisoned and fortified, and the Mongol troops found it difficult to breach the battlements. Progress was slowly made, and by February Genghis felt confident enough to detach part of his army and head southwards towards Transoxiana. His sons Chagatai and Ogedei were left behind to continue the siege. Qaracha, the leading general of the city, deserted in February 1220 and the inner citadel fell soon afterwards. Inalchuq was captured alive, and was executed. Some sources relate that he was executed by having molten metal poured into his orifices; this story, symbolising his greed in seizing the caravans, is almost certainly apocryphal.