Conflicts & Resolutions · Battle

Battle of the Defile

731 · 8th century · Part of the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana

The Battle of the Defile was fought in 731 at the Takhtakaracha pass between Kesh and Samarkand in Central Asia. An Umayyad army under the governor of Khurasan, Junayd ibn Abd al-Rahman, marching to relieve Samarkand, was ambushed by the Turgesh under Suluk and their Sogdian allies. The Arabs broke through but suffered very heavy losses, and the battle weakened Umayyad power in Transoxiana for several years.

Battle of the Defile
Image: Ymblanter · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 state history

Turgesh Khaganate

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Battle of the Defile. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/battle-of-the-defile
MLA
“Battle of the Defile.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/battle-of-the-defile. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Battle of the Defile.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/battle-of-the-defile.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Battle of the Defile’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/battle-of-the-defile (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻