Siege of Herat (1448)

Siege of Herat Part of the Timurid Civil Wars An inside view of the Qila Ikhtiyar-al-Din in Herat, Afghanistan Date Spring of 1448 Location Herat, Afghanistan Result Decisive Timurids of Samarkand Victory Belligerents Timurids of Khurasan Timurids of Samarkand Commanders and leaders Unknown Amirs? Ulugh Beg Abdal-Latif Mirza

Second Timurid Succession Crisis Ulugh Beg's campaigns 1st Balkh Tarnab 1st Herat Khurasan Amu Darya Samarkand Dimishq Abdal-Latif Mirza's campaigns Urdu Bazar Revolt Damghan Nishapur 2nd Balkh Tarnab 1st Herat Khurasan Amu Darya Dimishq Abul-Qasim Babur Mirza's campaigns Urdu Bazar Revolt Damghan Khurasan 1st Sistan 1st Asterabad Farhadgerd 2nd Asterabad Herat Balkh Herat Kaburan 2nd Sistan Ala-ud-Daulah Mirza's campaigns Nishapur 2nd Balkh Tarnab 1st Herat Balkh Sarakhs Abu Sa'id Mirza's campaigns 1st Samarkand 2nd Samarkand Yasi 3rd Samarkand 4th Samarkand 1st Herat Murghab 2nd Herat Sarakhs Jauzi Wali 3rd Herat Shahrukhiya Sultan Husayn Mirza Bayqarah's campaigns Jauzi Wali 1st Herat Torshiz Khurasan 2nd Herat

Ulugh Beg and his son Abdal-Latif Mirza marched towards Herat in the spring of 1448 in order to take Khurasan from his nephew, Ala-ud-Daulah Mirza, who had escaped to Quchan after the defeat at the Battle of Tarnab. They easily took the city except the Qila Ikhtiyar-al-Din and fort Neretu both of which offered stiff resistance. At this point only the advance troops had reached Herat, which was unable to take the citadel or the Fort Neretu. The Bakharz Tajik archers offered stiff resistance and beat back many assaults by the Timurids of Samarkand. Eventually Ulugh Beg arrived 17 days after the siege had begun; after which all resistance crumbled before him in no time. Abdal-Latif Mirza succeeded in capturing the citadel Qila Ikhtiyar-al-Din in which he was imprisoned after the debacle at Nishapur and now here he managed to take 4,000 Iranian toman in coins. They followed up their victory by taking Mashad. Ulugh Beg was unable to pursue his nephews and instead decided to return to Herat leaving his son Abdal-Latif Mirza in charge at Mashad.