Fall of the Western Liao (Qara Khitai) (1180s)

Timeline

1. 1181–1184Balasagun · KyrgyzstanUnder Gurkhan Zhilugu (acceded c. 1177), the Western Liao faced noble factional struggles and fiscal pressure. Vassal Kara-Khanid tribes and Karluk forces grew increasingly autonomous, the court's suzerainty over distant city-states became nominal, and central authority began a systematic decline.
2. 1185–1188Semirechye · SemirechyeKhwarazmshah Tekish advanced eastward and annexed Samarkand and other places, and the Western Liao was powerless to intervene effectively. The cities of Transoxiana that had paid tribute to Balasagun now submitted to Khwarazm or declared independence, and Western Liao's suzerainty over southern Turkistan effectively collapsed.
3. 1189–1190Ili River Valley · Ili River ValleyBy 1190, the Western Liao's effective rule had contracted to the Chu-Ili core region. The Qara Khitai hegemony that once spanned Central Asia no longer matched reality, and the empire entered a phase of defense and internal attrition, paving the way for Kuchlug's usurpation and the Mongol conquest.