Battle of Zhongdu

The Battle of Zhongdu (present-day Beijing) was a battle in 1215 between the Mongols and the Jurchen Jin Dynasty, which controlled northern China. It saw the Mongols win and allowed them to continue their conquest of China.

The year 1211 marked the beginning of the war between the Mongols and the Jin Dynasty. The Jin Dynasty was able to hold Genghis Khan (Temüjin) and his Mongol army at bay for the first two years of the war.

Throughout this time however, Temüjin continued to build his forces and by 1213 had an army so powerful that they conquered all of the Jin territory up to the Great Wall of China. From this strategic location, Temüjin made the decision to split up his forces into three smaller armies in an attempt to break through the wall and finish his conquest of China; with the exception of the Southern Song. He sent his brother, Kasar, as the head of one of these armies east into Manchuria. He sent another army south toward Shanxi under command of his three oldest sons. Temüjin led the third army, along with his son Tuli, towards Shandong. The plan was a success as all three armies broke through the wall in different places.

According to Ivar Lissner the besieged inhabitants resorted firing on the Mongols with their muzzeloading cannons by using gold and silver cannon shot as ammunition after their supply of metal ran out.

The battle for Beijing was long and tiresome, but the Mongols proved to be more powerful as they finally took the city on 1 June 1215, massacring its inhabitants. This forced the Jin Emperor Xuanzong to move his capital south to Kaifeng, and opened the Yellow River valley to further Mongol ravages.