The
Mongol conquest of Western Xia was a series of conflicts between the
Mongol Empire and the
Western Xia dynasty, also known as the
Tangut Empire, or Minya. Hoping to gain both plunder and a powerful
vassal state, Mongol leader
Genghis Khan commanded some initial raids against Western Xia before launching a full-scale invasion in 1209. This invasion marked both the first major invasion conducted by Genghis and the beginning of the
Mongol invasion of China. Despite a major set-back during a nearly year-long siege of the capital,
Yinchuan, when the diverted river accidentally flooded their camp, the Mongols convinced Emperor
Li Anquan to surrender in January 1210. For nearly a decade the Western Xia served the Mongols as vassals and aided them in the
Mongol–Jin War, but when Genghis
invaded the Islamic
Khwarazmian dynasty in 1219, Western Xia attempted to break away from the Empire and ally with the
Jin and
Song dynasties. Angered by this betrayal, in 1225 Genghis Khan sent a second,
punitive expedition into Western Xia. Genghis intended to annihilate the entire Western Xia culture, and his campaign systematically destroyed Western Xia cities and the countryside, culminating in the siege of the capital in 1227 along with forays into Jin territory. Near the end of the siege, in August 1227, Genghis Khan died from an uncertain cause, though some accounts say he was killed in action against Western Xia. After his death, Yinchuan fell to the Mongols and most of its population was massacred.