Battle of the Baggage The Battle of the Baggage was fought between the forces of the Umayyad Caliphate and the Turkic Turgesh tribes in September / October 737 CE . The Umayyads under the governor of Khurasan , Asad ibn Abdallah al - Qasri , had invaded the principality of Khuttal in Transoxiana , and the local ruler called upon the Turgesh for aid . The Umayyad army retreated in haste before the Turgesh arrived , managing to cross the Oxus river just in time , while their rearguard engaged the pursuing Turgesh . The Turgesh crossed immediately after , and attacked the exposed Muslim baggage train , which had been sent ahead , and captured it . The main Umayyad army came to the rescue of the baggage train ' s garrison , which suffered heavy casualties . The failure of the Umayyad campaign meant the complete collapse of the Arab control in the Upper Oxus valley , and opened Khurasan itself to the Turgesh . Background . The region of Transoxiana ( Arabic : " Ma wara ' al - nahr " ) had been conquered by the Muslims under Qutayba ibn Muslim in the reign of Al - Walid I ( r . 705 – 715 ) , following the Muslim conquest of Persia and of Khurasan in the mid - 7th century . The loyalties of its native Iranian and Turkic inhabitants and autonomous local rulers remained volatile , and in 719 , they sent a petition to the Chinese and their Turgesh vassals for military aid against the Muslims . In response , Turgesh attacks began in 720 , and the native Sogdians launched uprisings against the Caliphate . These were suppressed with great brutality by the governor of Khurasan , Sa ' id ibn Amr al - Harashi , and in 724 his successor , Muslim ibn Sa ' id al - Kilabi , suffered a major disaster while trying to capture Ferghana ( the so - called " Day of Thirst " ) . Half - hearted efforts to placate the local population and win their support were soon reversed , and heavy - handed Arab actions further alienated the local elites . In 728 , a large - scale Transoxianan uprising , coupled with a Turgesh invasion , led to the Caliphate ' s forces ' abandonment of most of Transoxiana except for the region around Samarkand . The Muslims suffered another major defeat in the Battle of the Defile in 731 , in which they lost some 20 , 000 – 30 , 000 men . The loss of a major portion of the native Khurasani Arab army necessitated the transfer of new troops from Iraq . In the years after the Defile , Samarkand too was lost and the Sogdians under Ghurak regained their independence , while Muslim military activity north of the Oxus was severely curtailed : what little campaigning is mentioned in the contemporary sources before 735 concerns operations to maintain the allegiance of the principalities of Tokharistan in the upper Oxus valley . In addition , the Umayyad authorities were preoccupied by the rebellion of al - Harith ibn Surayj , which broke out in early 734 , spread quickly and gathered the support of a large portion of the indigenous Iranian population . At one point , the rebel army even threatened the provincial capital , Marw . Only the arrival of the experienced Asad ibn Abdallah al - Qasri , who had already served as governor of Khurasan in 725 – 727 and now brought with him twenty thousand veteran and loyal Syrian troops , managed to reverse the tide and suppress Harith ' s revolt , although the rebel leader himself managed to escape to Badakhshan . During the year 736 , Asad devoted himself to administrative matters in his province , the most important of which was the rebuilding of Balkh , to which he transferred his seat . In the meantime , Asad sent Junayd al - Kirmani against the remnants of Harith ' s followers , whom Junayd succeeded in evicting from their strongholds in Upper Tokharistan and Badakhshan . Battle . In 737 , Asad launched a campaign into the principality of Khuttal , whose rulers had supported the Turgesh and Harith ' s rebellion . Asad was initially successful , but the Khuttalan regent , Ibn al - Sa ' iji , called upon the Turgesh for aid . Within 17 days , the Turgesh " khagan " Sulu had descended with his army , allegedly 50 , 000 strong , from his capital Tokmok into Khuttal , while the Muslim army was scattered ravaging the principality . Ibn al - Sa ' iji , who tried to play both sides off against each other , informed Asad of the Turgesh expedition only shortly before its arrival . Asad had time enough to send his baggage train , laden with the plunder from Khuttal , back south under the command of Ibrahim ibn Asim , and with the troops from the allied principality of Chaghaniyan ; the arrival of the Turgesh host , however , provoked a headlong flight of the main Muslim army , which managed to reach the Oxus just ahead of the Turgesh . The crossing was a confused affair , as Asad ordered his soldiers to carry the sheep the army brought with it as provisions across . In the end , the sheep had to be abandoned as the Turgesh attacked the Arab rearguard left on the north bank , and Asad ' s army hurried to cross the river in panic . Once south of the river , Asad , believing himself to be safe from pursuit , ordered his men to set up camp and sent orders to Ibrahim to halt the baggage train and likewise set up camp . The Turgesh crossed the Oxus themselves soon after , and laid siege to the Muslim camp . During the night they departed , and rode south to overtake the Arab baggage train . The " khagan " dispatched a portion of his men to attack the troops of Chaghaniyan from behind , while he attacked the Muslim escort . The Turgesh attack almost annihilated the defenders : the greater part of the troops of Chaghaniyan , along with their king , the " Chaghan Khudah " , fell , and the Turgesh seized most of the baggage train . Only the timely arrival of Asad with the main Arab army saved the baggage train escort from destruction . According to the account of al - Tabari , the Turgesh launched another unsuccessful attack on Asad ' s camp the following day , 1 October 737 , and then departed . Aftermath . While the Arab army returned to its base at Balkh , the Turgesh wintered in Tokharistan , where they were joined by Harith . The campaign had been a disaster for Asad and his now mainly Syrian army ; Muslim control north of the Oxus had collapsed entirely , and while the Arab governor had been able to escape complete destruction , he had suffered considerable casualties . The losses suffered by the Syrians under Asad ' s command in the 737 campaign in Khuttal were of particularly grave importance in the long term , as the Syrian army was the main pillar of the Umayyad regime . Its numerical decline in Khurasan meant that the Khurasan - born Arabs could no longer be completely controlled by force ; this opened the way for the appointment of a native Arab governor , Nasr ibn Sayyar , to succeed Asad , and , eventually , for the outbreak of the Abbasid Revolution that toppled the Umayyad regime . As the Arabs did not campaign during winter , Asad demobilized his men , as was customary . On Harith ' s urging , the Turgesh " khagan " decided to launch a winter attack south of the Oxus , hoping to raise the local population in revolt against the Arabs . In this he was joined not only by Harith and his followers , but by the great majority of the native princes of Sogdiana and Tokharistan . Asad mobilized his forces and managed to catch the " khagan " himself with a small part of his army and defeat them at Kharistan . Although both the " khagan " and Harith escaped capture , the Battle of Kharistan struck a blow to the " khagan " ' s prestige , and Sulu ' s murder by his rivals a short while afterwards saved the Muslims from worse . Under Asad ' s successor , Nasr ibn Sayyar , the Muslim armies recovered most of Transoxiana , and with the Battle of Talas in 751 and the turmoils of the An Shi Rebellion , which excluded Chinese influence from Central Asia , Muslim dominance in the region was secured .