Genghis khan wanted to become friends with neighboring king Ala Ud-Din Mohammad of the Khwarezmian Empire ( modern day Iran and Central Asia). Genghis sends pretty looking gift baskets to Ala ud-din along with the message “You are the ruler of the land of the rising sun and I of the setting sun”.
Thoughtful on Genghis' part , if Ala Ud-din didn't like the gifts, flattery would get him there (desperate much?).
But Ala Ud-din did not budge. To make matters worse he slaughtered every one of the mongols who carried the gift baskets. Genghis, perhaps giving Ala ud-din the benefit of doubt, sent three royal ambassadors (One Muslim and Two Mongols), to politely enquire about his missing people and the baskets.
He still wanted to be friends.
Ala ud-din, still adamant that he doesn't want to be friends with Genghis, shaved the heads of the two Mongol ambassadors and beheaded the Muslim one. By sending the bald men with a dead man's head, he sent a message to Genghis loud and clear that he doesn't want anything to do with him.
Genghis couldn't take the insult. With an army of 250,000, to avenge his dead ambassador.
What followed was an orgy of blood and violence which was one of the most ruthless in human history.Khwarezmian cities was captured. Six to eight million Khwarezmian civilians and 1 million soldiers were ruthlessly murdered and decapitated. Ala Ud-din tried to escape to a town on the Caspian sea, where he finally died of some inflammation that he contracted while hiding from Genghis khan.
Which could have been avoided if he simply accepted the pretty gifts.
After Ala Ud-din’s death, you would think the war would have been over and the survivers would have surrendered . But not his son Jalal. Jalal Ud-din continued the war in Afghanistan, but he was easily defeated and Jalal ran for his life pleading for asylum from none other than India.
Iltutmish said NO.
And that my friends, was one of the wisest decisions any ruler has ever taken in India
