This article is about the Mongol battle against the Merkit and Naimans. For the battle between the Tang dynasty and the Western Turkic Khaganate, see Battle of Irtysh River.
The Battle of the Irtysh River or Battle Along the Buqdarma was a battle between the Mongol Empire and remnants of the Merkit and Naimans, fought at the junction of the Bukhtarma with the Irtysh in late 1208 or very early 1209. The Merkit had a longstanding rivalry with the Borjigin, the family of Genghis Khan, and together with the Naimans opposed Genghis Khan's rise to power. The Battle of Chakirmaut in 1204 shattered the forces of the Merkit-Naimans alliance and the survivors fled into southern Western Siberia. When Jochi, the son of Genghis, led an expedition into Siberia to subjugate what the Mongols called the "Forest Peoples", he encountered the remnant armies of the Merkits and Naimans at the Irtysh and soundly defeated them, shattering the alliance. The Merkit commander Toqto'a was slain and the Naiman leader Kuchlug fled.
