Mongol Empire

Mongol Empire - Wikipedia Page 1 of 44
Not to be confused with Mughal Empire.
The Mongol Empire (Mongolian: Mongolyn Ezent Güren listen ; Mongolian Cyrillic: Монголын эзэнт
гүрэн; [mɔŋɡ(ɔ)ɮˈiːŋ ɛt͡sˈɛnt ˈɡurəŋ]; also Орда ("Horde") in Russian chronicles) existed during the 13th
and 14th centuries and was the largest contiguous land empire in history.[2] Originating in the steppes of
Central Asia, the Mongol Empire eventually stretched from Central Europe to the Sea of Japan, extending
northwards into Siberia, eastwards and southwards into the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, and the
Iranian plateau, and westwards as far as the Levant and Arabia.
The Mongol Empire emerged from the unification of

Mongol Empire
nomadic tribes in the Mongol homeland under the
leadership of Genghis Khan, whom a council proclaimed Ikh Mongol Uls
ruler of all the Mongols in 1206. The empire grew rapidly
Nomadic empire
under his rule and that of his descendants, who sent
invasions in every direction.[3][4] The vast transcontinental 1206–1368
empire connected the east with the west with an
enforced Pax Mongolica, allowing the dissemination and
exchange of trade, technologies, commodities, and
ideologies across Eurasia.[5][6]
The empire began to split due to wars over succession,

as the grandchildren of Genghis Khan disputed whether
the royal line should follow from his son and initial heir
Ögedei or from one of his other sons, such as Tolui,
Expansion of the Mongol Empire 1206–1294.
Chagatai, or Jochi. The Toluids prevailed after a bloody
purge of Ögedeid and Chagataid factions, but disputes Capital 1206–35 Avarga
continued even among the descendants of Tolui. After
1235–60 Karakorum
Möngke Khan died (1259), rival kurultai councils
1260–1368 Khanbaliq
simultaneously elected different successors, the
brothers Ariq Böke and Kublai Khan, who then not only Languages Mongoli Chine
fought each other in the Toluid Civil War (1260-1264), an se
but also dealt with challenges from descendants of other Persian and other
[7][8]
sons of Genghis. Kublai successfully took power, but languages
civil war ensued as Kublai sought unsuccessfully to
Religion Mostly-Buddhism
regain control of the Chagatayid and Ögedeid families.
Tengrism Shamanism
The Battle of Ain Jalut in Galilee in 1260 marked both
Nestoriani
the high point of the Mongol conquests and the first time
sm
opponents had ever beaten back a Mongol advance in
direct combat on the battlefield. Though the Mongols Government Elective monarchy
launched many more invasions on the Levant, briefly later also hereditary
occupying it and raiding as far as Gaza after a decisive
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_Empire 2017/6/4
victory at the Battle of Wadi al-Khazandar in 1299, they Great Khan
withdrew due to various geopolitical factors. • 1206–1227 Genghis Khan
By the time of Kublai's death in 1294, the Mongol

• 1229–1241 Ögedei Khan
Empire had fractured into four separate khanates or
empires, each pursuing its own separate interests and • 1246–1248 Güyük Khan
objectives:
• 1251–1259 Möngke Khan
◾ the Golden Horde khanate in the northwest
◾ the Chagatai Khanate in Central Asia • 1260–1294 Kublai Khan (Nominal
◾ the Ilkhanate in the southwest • 1333–1368 Toghan Temür Khan

◾ the Yuan dynasty in the east based near modern- (Nominal)
[9]
day Beijing.
Legislature Kurultai
In 1304 the three western khanates briefly accepted the
nominal suzerainty of the Yuan dynasty,[10][11] but in 1368 History
the Han Chinese Ming dynasty took over the Mongol • Genghis Khan proclaims
capital. The Genghisid rulers of the Yuan retreated to the Mongol Empire 1206
the Mongolian homeland and continued to rule there as
• Death of Genghis Khan
the Northern Yuan dynasty, while the Golden Horde and 1227
the Chagatai Khanate lasted in one form or another for • Pax Mongolica
some additional centuries after the fall of the Yuan 1250–1350
dynasty and of the Ilkhanate (which disintegrated in the • Empire fragments

1260–1294
period 1335-1353).
• Fall of Yuan dynasty
1368
• Collapse of the
Chagatai Khanate 1687
Area
• 1206 (Unification of 4,000,000 km²

[1]
Mongolia) (1,544,409 sq mi)
• 1227 (Genghis Khan's 13,500,000 km²

death)[1] (5,212,379 sq mi)
• 1294 (Kublai's death)[1] 23,500,000 km²

(9,073,401 sq mi)
• 1309 (Last formal 24,000,000 km²

[1]
reunification) (9,266,452 sq mi)
Currency Various [c]
Preceded by Succeeded by
Khamag Mongol Chagatai Khan

Khwarazmian Empire Golden Ho
Qara Khitai Ilkhan
Jīn dynasty Yuan dyna
Song dynasty Northern Yuan dyna
Western Xia Timurid Emp
Abbasid Caliphate Anatolian Bey
Nizari Ismaili state Mamluk Sultan
Kievan Rus' Kingdom of Pola
Volga Bulgaria Grand Duchy of Lithua
Cumania
Alania
Kingdom of Dali
Kimek Khanate
Sultanate of Rum
 
Name
What is referred to in English as the Mongol Empire was called the Ikh Mongol Uls (ikh: great, uls: state;
Great Mongolian State).[12] In the 1240s, one of Genghis's descendants, Güyük Khan, wrote a letter to
Pope Innocent IV which used the preamble "Dalai (great/oceanic) Khagan of the great Mongolian state
(ulus)".[13]
After the succession war between Kublai Khan and his brother Ariq Böke, Ariq limited Kublai's power to the
eastern part of the empire. Kublai officially issued an imperial edict on December 18, 1271 to name the
country "Great Yuan" (Dai Yuan, or Dai Ön Ulus) to establish the Yuan dynasty. Some sources state that
the full Mongolian name was Dai Ön Yehe Monggul Ulus.[14]
History
Pre-empire context
Main article: Proto-Mongols
Mongolian tribes during the Khitan Liao
dynasty (907-1125)
Eurasia on the eve of the Mongol invasions,

c. 1200.
The area around Mongolia, Manchuria, and parts of North China had been controlled by the Liao dynasty
since the 10th century. In 1125, the Jin dynasty founded by the Jurchens overthrew the Liao dynasty and
attempted to gain control over former Liao territory in Mongolia. In the 1130s the Jin dynasty rulers, known
as the Golden Kings, successfully resisted the Khamag Mongol confederation, ruled at the time by Khabul
Khan, great-grandfather of Temujin (Genghis Khan).[15]
The Mongolian plateau was occupied mainly by five powerful tribal confederations (khanlig): Keraites,
Khamag Mongol, Naiman, Mergid, and Tatar. The Jin emperors, following a policy of divide and rule,
encouraged disputes among the tribes, especially between the Tatars and Mongols, in order to keep the
nomadic tribes distracted by their own battles and thereby away from the Jin. Khabul's successor was
Ambaghai Khan, who was betrayed by the Tatars, handed over to the Jurchen, and executed. The
Mongols retaliated by raiding the frontier, resulting in a failed Jurchen counter-attack in 1143.[15]
In 1147, the Jin somewhat changed their policy, signing a peace treaty with the Mongols and withdrawing
from a score of forts. The Mongols then resumed attacks on the Tatars to avenge the death of their late
khan, opening a long period of active hostilities. The Jin and Tatar armies defeated the Mongols in 1161.[15]
During the rise of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century, the usually cold, parched steppes of Central Asia
enjoyed their mildest, wettest conditions in more than a millennium. It is thought that as a result, a rapid
increase in the number of war horses and other livestock significantly enhanced Mongol military strength.
[16]
Rise of Genghis Khan

Main articles: Khamag Mongol and Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan, National Palace

Museum in Taipei, Taiwan
Known during his childhood as Temujin, Genghis Khan was the son of a Mongol chieftain. When he was
young he was from one of Yesugis orphaned and deserted families, he rose very rapidly by working with
Toghrul Khan of the Kerait. Kurtait was the most powerful Mongol leader during this time and was given
the Chinese title "Wang" which means Prince.[17] Temujin went to war with Wang Khan. After Temujin
defeated Wang Khan he gave himself the name Genghis Khan. He then enlarged his Mongol state under
himself and his kin. Genghis Khan is remembered for his system of laws for the Mongols he called this the
Great Yasa. The Great Yasa was regarded by many generations of Mongols ranging all over Asia. He had
most of Asia under his control. The Yasa provided necessary powers for taxation, and for all able bodied
Mongols to take part in the great hunt to gather meat for the winter months.[18] The term Mongol became
used to refer to all Mongolic Speaking tribes under the control of Genghis Khan. His most powerful allies
were his father's friend, Khereid chieftain Wang Khan Toghoril, and Temujin's childhood anda (friend)
Jamukha of the Jadran clan. With their help, Temujin defeated the Merkit tribe, rescued his wife Börte, and
went on to defeat the Naimans and Tatars.[19]
Temujin forbade looting of his enemies without permission, and he implemented a policy of sharing spoils
with his warriors and their families instead of giving it all to the aristocrats.[20] He thus held the Khan title.
These policies brought him into conflict with his uncles, who were also legitimate heirs to the throne; they
regarded Temujin not as leader but merely an insolent usurper. This controversy spread to his generals
and other associates, and some Mongols who had previously been allies with him broke their allegiance.[19]
War ensued, and Temujin and the forces still loyal to him prevailed, destroying all the remaining rival tribes
from 1203 to 1205 and bringing them under his sway. In 1206, Temujin was crowned as the khagan of the
Yekhe Mongol Ulus (Great Mongol State) at a kurultai (general assembly/council). It was there that he
assumed the title of Genghis Khan (universal leader) instead of one of the old tribal titles such as Gur
Khan or Tayang Khan, marking the start of the Mongol Empire.[19]
Early organization
Genghis Khan ascended the throne in

the Yeke Quriltay region in the Onan
river, from the Jami' al-tawarikh.
Genghis Khan introduced many innovative ways of organizing his army, dividing it into decimal
subsections of arbans (10 people), zuuns (100), Mingghans (1000), and tumens (10,000). The Kheshig, or
the imperial guard, was founded and divided into day (khorchin torghuds) and night guards (khevtuul).[21]
Genghis rewarded those who had been loyal to him and placed them in high positions, placing them as
heads of army units and households, even though many of his allies had been from very low-rank clans.[22]
Compared to the units he gave to his loyal companions, those assigned to his own family members were
quite few. He proclaimed a new law of the empire, Ikh Zasag or Yassa, and codified everything related to
the everyday life and political affairs of the nomads at the time. He forbade the selling of women, theft,
fighting among the Mongols, and the hunting of animals during the breeding season.[22]
He appointed his adopted brother Shigi-Khuthugh supreme judge (jarughachi), ordering him to keep
records of the empire. In addition to laws regarding family, food, and the army, Genghis also decreed
religious freedom and supported domestic and international trade. He exempted the poor and the clergy
from taxation.[23] He also encouraged literacy, adopting the Uyghur script, which would form the Uyghur-
Mongolian script of the empire, and he ordered the Uyghur Tatatunga, who had previously served the khan
of Naimans, to instruct his sons.[24]
Push into Central Asia

Main article: Mongol invasion of Central Asia
Mongol Empire circa 1207
Genghis quickly came into conflict with the Jin dynasty of the Jurchens and the Western Xia of the Tanguts
in northern China. He also had to deal with two other powers, Tibet and Khara Khitai.[25] Towards the west
he moved into Central Asia, devastating Transoxiana and eastern Persia, then raiding into Kievan Rus' (a
predecessor state of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine) and the Caucasus.[19]
Before his death, Genghis Khan divided his empire among his sons and immediate family, making the
Mongol Empire the joint property of the entire imperial family who, along with the Mongol aristocracy,
constituted the ruling class.[26]
Religious policies
Genghis Khan and the following Yuan emperors forbade Islamic practices like Halal butchering, forcing
Muslims to comply with Mongol methods of butchering animals, and other restrictive decrees continued.
Muslims had to slaughter sheep in secret.[27] Genghis Khan directly called Muslims and Jews "slaves", and
demanded that they follow the Mongol method of eating rather than the halal method. Circumcision was
also forbidden. Jews were also affected, and forbidden by the Mongols to eat kosher.[28]
Among all the [subject] alien peoples only the Hui-hui say “we do not eat Mongol food”.
[Cinggis Qa’an replied:] “By the aid of heaven we have pacified you; you are our slaves.
Yet you do not eat our food or drink. How can this be right?” He thereupon made them
eat. “If you slaughter sheep, you will be considered guilty of a crime.” He issued a
regulation to that effect ... [In 1279/1280 under Qubilai] all the Muslims say: “if someone
else slaughters [the animal] we do not eat”. Because the poor people are upset by this,
from now on, Musuluman [Muslim] Huihui and Zhuhu [Jewish] Huihui, no matter who
kills [the animal] will eat [it] and must cease slaughtering sheep themselves, and cease
the rite of circumcision.[29]
Genghis Khan arranged for the Chinese Daoist master Qiu Chuji to visit him in Afghanistan and put him in
charge of all religious affairs in the empire.
Death of Genghis Khan and expansion under Ögedei (1227–1241)

Main article: Mongol invasions and conquests
Coronation of Ögedei Khan in 1229 as

the successor of Genghis Khan. By
Rashid al-Din, early 14th century.
Genghis Khan died on August 18, 1227, by which time the Mongol Empire ruled from the Pacific Ocean to
the Caspian Sea — an empire twice the size of the Roman Empire and Muslim Caliphate. Genghis named
his third son, the charismatic Ögedei, as his heir. According to Mongol tradition, Genghis Khan was buried
in a secret location. The regency was originally held by Ögedei's younger brother Tolui until Ögedei's
formal election at the kurultai in 1229.[30]
Among his first actions, Ögedei sent troops to subjugate the Bashkirs, Bulgars, and other nations in the
Kipchak-controlled steppes.[31] In the east, Ögedei's armies re-established Mongol authority in Manchuria,
crushing the Eastern Xia regime and Water Tatars. In 1230, the great khan personally led his army in the
campaign against the Jin dynasty (China). Ögedei's general Subutai captured the capital of Emperor
Wanyan Shouxu in the siege of Kaifeng in 1232.[32] The Jin dynasty collapsed in 1234 when the Mongols
captured Caizhou, the town where Wanyan Shouxu had fled. In 1234, three armies commanded by
Ögedei's sons Kochu and Koten, as well as the Tangut general Chagan, invaded southern China. With the
assistance of the Song dynasty, the Mongols finished off the Jin in 1234.[33][34]
Many Han Chinese and Khitan defected to the Mongols to fight against the Jin. Two Han Chinese leaders,
Shi Tianze, Liu Heima (劉⿊⾺, Liu Ni),[35] and the Khitan Xiao Zhala defected and commanded the 3
Tumens in the Mongol army.[36] Liu Heima and Shi Tianze served Ogödei Khan.[37] Liu Heima and Shi
Tianxiang led armies against Western Xia for the Mongols.[38] There were four Han Tumens and three
Khitan Tumens, with each Tumen consisting of 10,000 troops.
Shi Tianze was a Han Chinese who lived in the Jin dynasty (1115–1234). Interethnic marriage between
Han and Jurchen became common at this time. His father was Shi Bingzhi (史秉直, Shih Ping-chih). Shi
Bingzhi was married to a Jurchen woman (surname Na-ho) and a Han Chinese woman (surname Chang).
It is unknown which of them was Shi Tianze's mother.[39] Shi Tianze was married to two Jurchen women, a
Han Chinese woman, and a Korean woman, and his son Shi Gang was born to one of his Jurchen wives.
[40]
His Jurchen wive's surnames were Mo-nien and Na-ho, his Korean wife's surname was Li, and his Han
Chinese wife's surname was Shi.[39] Shi Tianze defected to the Mongol Empire's forces upon their invasion
of the Jin dynasty. His son Shi Gang married a Kerait woman. The Kerait were Mongolified Turkic people
and considered part of the Mongol nation.[41][42]
The Yuan dynasty created a Han army 漢軍 out of defected Jin troops and army of defected Song troops
called the Newly Submitted Army 新附軍.[43]
In the West, Ögedei's general Chormaqan destroyed Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu, the last shah of the
Khwarizmian Empire. The small kingdoms in Southern Persia voluntarily accepted Mongol supremacy.[44][45]
In East Asia, there were a number of Mongolian campaigns into Goryeo Korea, but Ögedei's attempt to
annex the Korean Peninsula met with little success. Gojong, the king of Goryeo, surrendered but later
revolted and massacred Mongol darughachis (overseers); he then moved his imperial court from
Gaeseong to Ganghwa Island.[46]
As the empire grew, Ögedei established a Mongol capital at Karakorum in northwestern Mongolia.[47]
Invasions of Kievan Rus' and central China

Main articles: Mongol invasion of Rus' and Mongol invasion of China
See also: Mongol invasions of India, Mongol invasions of Korea, and Mongol conquest of Tibet
The sack of Suzdal by Batu Khan in

1238, miniature from 16th-century
chronicle
Meanwhile, in an offensive action against the Song dynasty, Mongol armies captured Siyang-yang, the
Yangtze and Sichuan, but did not secure their control over the conquered sites. The Song generals were
able to recapture Siyang-yang from the Mongols in 1239. After the sudden death of Ögedei's son Kochu in
Chinese territory, the Mongols withdrew from southern China, although Kochu's brother Prince Koten
invaded Tibet right after their withdrawal.[19]
Batu Khan, another grandson of Genghis Khan, overran the countries of the Bulgars, the Alans, the
Kypchaks, Bashkirs, Mordvins, Chuvash, and other nations of the southern Russian steppe. By 1237, the
Mongols began encroaching upon Ryazan, their first Kievan Rus' principality. After a three-day siege using
heavy attacks, the Mongols captured the city and massacred its inhabitants, then proceeded to destroy the
army of the Grand principality of Vladimir at the Battle of the Sit River.[48]
The Mongols captured the Alania capital Maghas in 1238. By 1240, all Kievan Rus' had fallen to the Asian
invaders except for a few northern cities. Mongol troops under Chormaqan in Persia connected his
invasion of Transcaucasia with the invasion of Batu and Subutai, forced the Georgian and Armenian
nobles to surrender as well.[48]
Giovanni de Plano Carpini, the pope's envoy to the Mongol great khan, traveled through Kiev in February
1246 and wrote:
They [the Mongols] attacked Russia, where they made great havoc, destroying cities and
fortresses and slaughtering men; and they laid siege to Kiev, the capital of Russia; after
they had besieged the city for a long time, they took it and put the inhabitants to death.
When we were journeying through that land we came across countless skulls and bones of
dead men lying about on the ground. Kiev had been a very large and thickly populated
town, but now it has been reduced almost to nothing, for there are at the present time
scarce two hundred houses there and the inhabitants are kept in complete slavery.[49]
Despite the military successes, strife continued within the Mongol ranks. Batu's relations with Güyük,
Ögedei's eldest son, and Büri, the beloved grandson of Chagatai Khan, remained tense and worsened
during Batu's victory banquet in southern Kievan Rus'. Nevertheless, Güyük and Buri could not do
anything to harm Batu's position as long as his uncle Ögedei was still alive. Meanwhile, Ögedei continued
with invasions into the Indian subcontinent, temporarily investing Uchch, Lahore, and Multan of the Delhi
Sultanate and stationing a Mongol overseer in Kashmir,[50] though the invasions into India eventually failed
and were forced to retreat. In northeastern Asia, Ögedei agreed to settle conflicts with Goryeo by making it
a client state and sent Mongolian princesses to wed Goryeo princes. He then reinforced his keshig with the
Koreans through both diplomacy and military force.[51][52][53]
Push into central Europe

Main article: Mongol invasion of Europe
The battle of Liegnitz, 1241. From a
medieval manuscript of the Hedwig
legend.
The advance into Europe continued with Mongol invasions of Poland and Hungary. When the western
flank of the Mongols plundered Polish cities, a European alliance among the Poles, the Moravians, and the
Christian military orders of the Hospitallers, Teutonic Knights and the Templars assembled sufficient forces
to halt, although briefly, the Mongol advance at Legnica. The Hungarian army, their Croatian allies and the
Templar Knights were beaten by Mongols at the banks of Sajo River on April 11, 1241. After their victories
over European knights at Legnica and Muhi, Mongol armies quickly advanced across Bohemia, Serbia,
Babenberg Austria and then into the Holy Roman Empire.[54][55]
Before Batu's forces could continue into Vienna and northern Albania, news of Ögedei's death in
December 1241 brought a halt to the invasion.[56][57] As was customary in Mongol military tradition, all
princes of Genghis's line had to attend the kurultai to elect a successor. Batu and his western Mongol army
withdrew from Central Europe the next year.[58]
Post-Ögedei power struggles (1241–1251)
Following the Great Khan Ögedei's death in 1241, and before the next kurultai, Ögedei's widow Töregene
took over the empire. She persecuted her husband's Khitan and Muslim officials, giving high positions to
her own allies. She built palaces, cathedrals, and social structures on an imperial scale, supporting religion
and education.[59] She was able to win over most Mongol aristocrats to support Ögedei's son Güyük. But
Batu, ruler of the Golden Horde, refused to come to the kurultai, claiming that he was ill and that the
Mongolian climate was too harsh for him. The resulting stalemate lasted more than four years and further
destabilized the unity of the empire.[59]
Batu Khan consolidates the Golden

Horde
When Genghis Khan's youngest brother Temüge threatened Töregene to seize the throne, Güyük came to
Karakorum to try to secure his position.[60] Batu eventually agreed to send his brothers and generals to the
kurultai convened by Töregene in 1246. Güyük by this time was ill and alcoholic, but his campaigns in
Manchuria and Europe gave him the kind of stature necessary for a great khan. He was duly elected at a
ceremony attended by Mongols and foreign dignitaries from both within and without the empire — leaders
of vassal nations, representatives from Rome, and other entities who came to the kurultai to show their
respects and negotiate diplomacy.[61][62]
Güyük Khan
demanding Pope
Innocent IV's
submission. The
letter was written
in Persian.
Güyük took steps to reduce corruption, announcing that he would continue the policies of his father
Ögedei, not Töregene. He punished Töregene's supporters except governor Arghun the Elder. He also
replaced young Qara Hülëgü, the khan of the Chagatai Khanate, with his favorite cousin Yesü Möngke to
assert his newly conferred powers.[63] He restored his father's officials to their former positions and was
surrounded by the Uyghur, Naiman, and Central Asian officials, favoring Han Chinese commanders who
helped his father conquer Northern China. He continued military operations in Korea, advanced into Song
China in the south and Iraq in the west, and ordered an empire-wide census. Güyük also divided the
Sultanate of Rum between Izz-ad-Din Kaykawus and Rukn ad-Din Kilij Arslan, though Kaykawus
disagreed with this decision.[63]
Not all parts of the empire respected Güyük's election. The Hashshashins, former Mongol allies whose
Grand Master Hasan Jalalud-Din had offered his submission to Genghis Khan in 1221, angered Güyük by
refusing to submit. He instead murdered Mongol generals in Persia. Güyük appointed his best friend's
father Eljigidei as chief commander of the troops in Persia and gave them the task of both reducing the
strongholds of the Assassins Muslim movement and conquering the Abbasids in the center of the Islamic
world, Iran and Iraq.[63][64][65]
Death of Güyük (1248)
In 1248, Güyük raised more troops and suddenly marched westwards from the Mongol capital of
Karakorum. The reasoning was unclear. Some sources wrote that he sought to recuperate his personal
property Emyl; others suggested that he might have been moving to join Eljigidei to conduct a full-scale
conquest of the Middle East or possibly to make a surprise attack on his rival cousin Batu Khan in Russia.
[66]
Suspicious of Güyük's motives, Sorghaghtani Beki, the widow of Genghis's son Tolui, secretly warned her
nephew Batu of Güyük's approach. Batu had himself been traveling eastwards at the time, possibly to pay
homage, or perhaps with other plans in mind. Before the forces of Batu and Güyük met, Güyük, sick and
worn out by travel, died en route at Qum-Senggir (Hong-siang-yi-eulh) in Xinjiang, possibly a victim of
poison.[66]
A Stone Turtle at the site of the Mongol

capital, Karakorum.
Güyük's widow Oghul Qaimish stepped forward to take control of the empire, but she lacked the skills of
her mother-in-law Töregene, and her young sons Khoja and Naku and other princes challenged her
authority. To decide on a new great khan, Batu called a kurultai on his own territory in 1250. As it was far
from the Mongolian heartland, members of the Ögedeid and Chagataid families refused to attend. The
kurultai offered the throne to Batu, but he rejected it, claiming he had no interest in the position.[67]
Batu instead nominated Möngke, a grandson of Genghis from his son Tolui's lineage. Möngke was leading
a Mongol army in Russia, the Northern Caucasus, and Hungary. The pro-Tolui faction rose up and
supported Batu's choice, and Möngke was elected, though given the kurultai's limited attendance and
location, it was of questionable validity.[67]
Batu sent Möngke under the protection of his brothers, Berke and Tukhtemur, and his son Sartaq to
assemble a more formal kurultai at Kodoe Aral in the heartland. The supporters of Möngke invited Oghul
Qaimish and other main Ögedeid and Chagataid princes to attend the kurultai, but they refused each time.
The Ögedeid and Chagataid princes refused to accept a descendant of Genghis's son Tolui as leader,
demanding that only descendants of Genghis's son Ögedei could be great khan.[67]
Rule of Möngke Khan (1251–1259)
When Möngke's mother Sorghaghtani and their cousin Berke organized a second kurultai on July 1, 1251,
the assembled throng proclaimed Möngke great khan of the Mongol Empire. This marked a major shift in
the leadership of the empire, transferring power from the descendants of Genghis's son Ögedei to the
descendants of Genghis's son Tolui. The decision was acknowledged by a few of the Ögedeid and
Chagataid princes, such as Möngke's cousin Kadan and the deposed khan Qara Hülëgü, but one of the
other legitimate heirs, Ögedei's grandson Shiremun, sought to topple Möngke.[68]
Shiremun moved with his own forces towards the emperor's nomadic palace with a plan for an armed
attack, but Möngke was alerted by his falconer of the plan. Möngke ordered an investigation of the plot,
which led to a series of major trials all across the empire. Many members of the Mongol elite were found
guilty and put to death, with estimates ranging from 77–300, though princes of Genghis's royal line were
often exiled rather than executed.[68]
Möngke eliminated the estates of the Ögedeid and the Chagatai families and shared the western part of
the empire with his ally Batu Khan. After the bloody purge, Möngke ordered a general amnesty for
prisoners and captives, but thereafter the power of the great khan's throne remained firmly with the
descendants of Genghis's son Tolui.[68]
Administrative reforms
Möngke was a serious man who followed the laws of his ancestors and avoided alcoholism. He was
tolerant of outside religions and artistic styles, leading to the building of foreign merchants' quarters,
Buddhist monasteries, mosques, and Christian churches in the Mongol capital. As construction projects
continued, Karakorum was adorned with Chinese, European, and Persian architecture. One famous
example was a large silver tree with cleverly designed pipes that dispensed various drinks. The tree,
topped by a triumphant angel, was crafted by Guillaume Boucher, a Parisian goldsmith.[69]
Hulagu, Genghis Khan's grandson and

founder of the Il-Khanate. From a
medieval Persian manuscript.
Although he had a strong Chinese contingent, Möngke relied heavily on Muslim and Mongol administrators
and launched a series of economic reforms to make government expenses more predictable. His court
limited government spending and prohibited nobles and troops from abusing civilians or issuing edicts
without authorization. He commuted the contribution system into a fixed poll tax that was collected by
imperial agents and forwarded to units in need.[70]
His court also tried to lighten the tax burden on commoners by reducing tax rates. Along with the reform of
the tax system, he reinforced the guards at the postal relays and centralized control of monetary affairs.
Möngke also ordered an empire-wide census in 1252 that took several years to complete, not finished until
Novgorod in the far northwest was counted in 1258.[70]
In another move to consolidate his power, Möngke assigned his brothers Hulagu and Kublai to rule Persia
and Mongol-held China. In the southern part of the empire, he continued his predecessors' struggle
against the Song dynasty. In order to outflank the Song from three directions, Möngke dispatched Mongol
armies under his brother Kublai to Yunnan, and under his uncle Iyeku to subdue Korea and pressure the
Song from that direction as well.[63]
Kublai conquered the Dali Kingdom in 1253 after the Dali King Duan Xingzhi defected to the Mongols and
helped them conquer the rest of Yunnan, and Möngke's general Qoridai stabilized his control over Tibet,
inducing leading monasteries to submit to Mongol rule. Subutai's son Uryankhadai reduced the
neighboring peoples of Yunnan to submission and defeated the Trần dynasty in northern Vietnam in 1257,
but they had to draw back in 1258.[63] The Mongol Empire tried to invade Vietnam again in 1284 and 1287
but were defeated both times.
New invasions of the Middle East and Southern China

Main article: Mongol invasions of the Levant
See also: Mongol invasion of China and Siege of Baghdad (1258)
Mongol invasion of Baghdad
After stabilizing the empire's finances, Möngke once again sought to expand its borders. At kurultais in
Karakorum in 1253 and 1258 he approved new invasions of the Middle East and south China. Möngke put
Hulagu in overall charge of military and civil affairs in Persia, and appointed Chagataids and Jochids to join
Hulagu's army.[71]
The Muslims from Qazvin denounced the menace of the Nizari Ismailis, a heretical sect of Shiites. The
Mongol Naiman commander Kitbuqa began to assault several Ismaili fortresses in 1253, before Hulagu
deliberately advanced in 1256. Ismaili Grand Master Rukn ud-Din surrendered in 1257 and was executed.
All of the Ismaili strongholds in Persia were destroyed by Hulagu's army in 1257, though Girdukh held out
until 1271.[71]
Fall of Baghdad, 1258
The center of the Islamic Empire at the time was Baghdad, which had held power for 500 years but was
suffering internal divisions. When its caliph al-Mustasim refused to submit to the Mongols, Baghdad was
besieged and captured by the Mongols in 1258, an event considered as one of the more catastrophic
events in the history of Islam, and sometimes compared to the rupture of the Kaaba. With the destruction
of the Abbasid Caliphate, Hulagu had an open route to Syria and moved against the other Muslim powers
in the region.[72]
His army advanced towards Ayyubid-ruled Syria, capturing small local states en route. The sultan Al-Nasir
Yusuf of the Ayyubids refused to show himself before Hulagu; however, he had accepted Mongol
supremacy two decades earlier. When Hulagu headed further west, the Armenians from Cilicia, the
Seljuks from Rum and the Christian realms of Antioch and Tripoli submitted to Mongol authority, joining the
Mongols in their assault against the Muslims. While some cities surrendered without resisting, others such
as Mayafarriqin fought back; their populations were massacred and the cities were sacked.[72]
Death of Möngke Khan (1259)
The extent of the Mongol Empire after

the death of Möngke Khan (reigned
1251–59).
Meanwhile, in the northwestern portion of the empire, Batu's successor and younger brother Berke sent
punitive expeditions to Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, and Poland. Dissension began brewing between the
northwestern and southwestern sections of the Mongol Empire as Batu suspected that Hulagu's invasion
of Western Asia would result in the elimination of Batu's own predominance there.[73]
In the southern part of the empire, Möngke Khan himself led his army to complete the conquest of China.
Military operations were generally successful, but prolonged, so the forces did not withdraw to the north as
was customary when the weather turned hot. Disease ravaged the Mongol forces with bloody epidemics,
and Möngke died there on August 11, 1259. This event began a new chapter of history for the Mongols, as
again a decision needed to be made on a new great khan. Mongol armies across the empire withdrew
from their campaigns to once again convene for a new kurultai.[74]
Disunity
Dispute over succession
The Mongols at war
Möngke's brother Hulagu broke off his successful military advance into Syria, withdrawing the bulk of his
forces to Mughan and leaving only a small contingent under his general Kitbuqa. The opposing forces in
the region, the Christian Crusaders and Muslim Mamluks, both recognizing that the Mongols were the
greater threat, took advantage of the weakened state of the Mongol army and engaged in an unusual
passive truce with each other.[75]
In 1260, the Mamluks advanced from Egypt, being allowed to camp and resupply near the Christian
stronghold of Acre, and engaged Kitbuqa's forces just north of Galilee at the Battle of Ain Jalut. The
Mongols were defeated, and Kitbuqa executed. This pivotal battle marked the western limit for Mongol
expansion, and the Mongols were never again able to make any serious military advances farther than
Syria.[75]
In a separate part of the empire, Kublai Khan, another brother of Hulagu and Möngke, heard of the great
khan's death at the Huai River in China. Rather than returning to the capital, he continued his advance into
the Wuchang area of China, near the Yangtze River. Their younger brother Ariqboke took advantage of
the absence of Hulagu and Kublai, and used his position at the capital to win the title of great khan for
himself, with representatives of all the family branches proclaiming him as the leader at the kurultai in
Karakorum. When Kublai learned of this, he summoned his own kurultai at Kaiping, and nearly all the
senior princes and great noyans in North China and Manchuria supported his own candidacy over that of
Ariqboke.[58]
Mongolian Civil War

See also: Toluid Civil War and Berke–Hulagu war
Kublai Khan, Genghis Khan's

grandson and founder of the Yuan
dynasty
Battles ensued between the armies of Kublai and those of his brother Ariqboke, which included forces still
loyal to Möngke's previous administration. Kublai's army easily eliminated Ariqboke's supporters and
seized control of the civil administration in southern Mongolia. Further challenges took place from their
cousins, the Chagataids.[76][77][78] Kublai sent Abishka, a Chagataid prince loyal to him, to take charge of
Chagatai's realm. But Ariqboke captured and then executed Abishka, having his own man Alghu crowned
there instead. Kublai's new administration blockaded Ariqboke in Mongolia to cut food supplies, causing a
famine. Karakorum fell quickly to Kublai, but Ariqboke rallied and re-took the capital in 1261.[76][77][78]
In the southwestern Ilkhanate, Hulagu was loyal to his brother Kublai, but clashes with their cousin Berke,
the ruler of the Golden Horde in the northwestern part of the empire, began in 1262. The suspicious
deaths of Jochid princes in Hulagu's service, unequal distribution of war booty, and Hulagu's massacres of
the Muslims increased the anger of Berke, who considered supporting a rebellion of the Georgian
Kingdom against Hulagu's rule in 1259–1260.[79] Berke also forged an alliance with the Egyptian Mamluks
against Hulagu and supported Kublai's rival claimant, Ariqboke.[80]
Hulagu died on February 8, 1264. Berke sought to take advantage and invade Hulagu's realm, but he died
along the way, and a few months later Alghu Khan of the Chagatai Khanate died as well. Kublai named
Hulagu's son Abaqa as a new Ilkhan, and Abaqa sought foreign alliances, such as attempting to form a
Franco-Mongol alliance with the Europeans against the Egyptian Mamluks. Kublai nominated Batu's
grandson Möngke Temür to lead the Golden Horde.[81] Ariqboqe surrendered to Kublai at Shangdu on
August 21, 1264.[82]
Campaigns of Kublai Khan (1264–1294)
Main article: Kublai Khan's Campaigns
The samurai Suenaga facing Mongol's

bomb and Goryeo's arrows. Mōko
Shūrai Ekotoba (蒙古襲来絵詞), circa
1293.
In the south, after the fall of Xiangyang in 1273, the Mongols sought the final conquest of the Song dynasty
in South China. In 1271, Kublai renamed the new Mongol regime in China as the Yuan dynasty and sought
to sinicize his image as Emperor of China to win the control of the Chinese people. Kublai moved his
headquarters to Dadu, the genesis for what later became the modern city of Beijing, although his
establishment of a capital there was a controversial move to many Mongols who accused him of being too
closely tied to Chinese culture.[83][84]
The Mongols were eventually successful in their campaigns against (Song) China, and the Chinese Song
imperial family surrendered to the Yuan in 1276, making the Mongols the first non-Chinese people to
conquer all of China. Kublai used his base to build a powerful empire, creating an academy, offices, trade
ports and canals, and sponsoring arts and science. Mongol records list 20,166 public schools created
during his reign.[85]
Mongol warrior on horseback,

preparing a mounted archery shot.
After achieving actual or nominal dominion over much of Eurasia and successfully conquering China,
Kublai pursued further expansion. His invasions of Burma and Sakhalin were costly, and his attempted
invasions of Annam and Champa ended in devastating defeat, but secured vassal statuses of those
countries. The Mongol armies were massacred and smashed repeatedly in Annam and at the Battle of
Bạch Đằng (1288). Annam (Vietnam) was ruled by the Tran dynasty. The ancestors of the Trần clan
originated from the province of Fujian and later migrated to Đại Việt under Trần Kinh 陳京 (Chén Jīng), the
ancestor of the Trần clan. Their descendants, the later rulers of Đại Việt who were of mixed-blooded
descent later established the Tran dynasty, which ruled Vietnam (Đại Việt); despite many intermarriages
between the Trần and several royal members of the Lý dynasty alongside members of their royal court as
in the case of Trần Lý[86][87] and Trần Thừa,[88] some of the mixed-blooded descendants of the Trần dynasty
and certain members of the clan were still capable of speaking Chinese such as when a Yuan dynasty
envoy had a meeting with the Chinese-speaking Trần prince Trần Quốc Tuấn in 1282.[89][90][91][92][93][94][95]
Nogai and Konchi, the khan of the White Horde, established friendly relations with the Yuan dynasty and
the Ilkhanate. Political disagreement among contending branches of the family over the office of great
khan continued, but the economic and commercial success of the Mongol Empire continued despite the
squabbling.[96][97][98]
Disintegration into competing entities

Main article: Division of the Mongol Empire
The funeral of Chagatai Khan.
Major changes occurred in the Mongol Empire in the late 1200s. Kublai Khan, after having conquered all of
China and established the Yuan dynasty, died in 1294, and was succeeded by his grandson Temür Khan,
who continued Kublai's policies. At the same time, the Toluid Civil War, along with the Berke–Hulagu war
and the subsequent Kaidu–Kublai war greatly weakened the authority of the great khan over the entirety of
the Mongol Empire and the empire fractured into autonomous khanates, including the Yuan dynasty and
the three western khanates (the Golden Horde, the Chagatai Khanate and the Ilkhanate). All of them
became functionally autonomous; only the Ilkhanate remained loyal to the Yuan court but endured its own
power struggle, in part because of a dispute with the growing Islamic factions within the southwestern part
of the empire.[99]
After the death of Kaidu, the Chatagai ruler Duwa initiated a peace proposal and persuaded the Ögedeids
to submit to Temür Khan.[100][101] In 1304, all khanates approved a peace treaty and accepted Yuan emperor
Temür's supremacy.[102][103][104][105] This established the nominal supremacy of the Yuan dynasty over the
western khanates. While this supremacy based on nothing like the same foundations as that of the earlier
Khagans (such as the continued border clashes among them) and each of the four khanates continued to
develop separately and function as different states, the nominal supremacy did last for a few decades.
Nearly a century of conquest and civil war was followed by relative stability (Pax Mongolica), and
international trade and cultural exchanges flourished between Asia and Europe. Communication between
the Yuan dynasty in China and Ilkhanate in Persia further encouraged trade and commerce between east
and west. Patterns of Yuan royal textiles could be found on the opposite side of the empire adorning
Armenian decorations; trees and vegetables were transplanted across the empire; and technological
innovations spread from Mongol dominions towards the West.[106] Pope John XXII was presented a
memorandum from the eastern church describing the Pax Mongolica: "... Khagan is one of the greatest
monarchs and all lords of the state, e.g., the king of Almaligh (Chagatai Khanate), emperor Abu Said and
Uzbek Khan, are his subjects, saluting his holiness to pay their respects."[107] However, while the four
khanates continued to interact with one another well into the 14th century, they did so as sovereign states
and never again pooled their resources in a cooperative military endeavor.[108]
Developments of the khanates
A European depiction of the four

khans, Temür (Yuan), Chapar (House
of Ögedei), Toqta (Golden Horde), and
Öljaitü (Ilkhanate), in the Fleur des
histoires d'orient.[109]
In spite of his conflicts with Kaidu and Duwa, Yuan emperor Temür established a tributary relationship with
the war-like Shan brothers after his series of military operations against Thailand from 1297 to 1303. This
was to mark the end of the southern expansion of the Mongols.
When Ghazan took the throne of the Ilkhanate in 1295, he formally accepted Islam as his own religion,
marking a turning point in Mongol history after which Mongol Persia became more and more Islamic.
Despite this though, Ghazan continued to strengthen ties with Temür Khan and the Yuan dynasty in the
east. It was politically useful to advertise the great khan's authority in the Ilkhanate, because the Golden
Horde in Russia had long made claims on nearby Georgia.[99] Within four years, Ghazan began sending
tributes to the Yuan court and appealing to other khans to accept Temür Khan as their overlord. He
oversaw an extensive program of cultural and scientific interaction between the Ilkhanate and the Yuan
dynasty in the following decades.[110]
Ghazan's faith may have been Islamic, but he continued his ancestors' war with the Egyptian Mamluks,
and consulted with his old Mongolian advisers in his native tongue. He defeated the Mamluk army at the
Battle of Wadi al-Khazandar in 1299, but he was only briefly able to occupy Syria, due to distracting raids
from the Chagatai Khanate under its de facto ruler Kaidu, who was at war with both the Ilkhans and the
Yuan dynasty.
Struggling for influence within the Golden Horde, Kaidu sponsored his own candidate Kobeleg against
Bayan (r. 1299–1304), the khan of the White Horde. Bayan, after receiving military support from the
Mongols in Russia, requested assistance from both Temür Khan and the Ilkhanate to organize a unified
attack against Kaidu's forces. Temür was amenable and enlarged counterattacks against Kaidu a year
later. After a bloody battle with Temür's armies near Zawkhan River in 1301, the old valiant Kaidu died and
was succeeded by Duwa.[111][112]
Hungarian King Béla IV in flight from

the Mongols under general Kadan of
the Golden Horde.
Duwa was challenged by Kaidu's son Chapar, but with the assistance of Temür, Duwa defeated the
Ögedeids. Tokhta of the Golden Horde, also seeking a general peace, sent 20,000 men to buttress the
Yuan frontier.[113] Tokhta died in 1312, though, and was succeeded by Ozbeg (r. 1313–41), who seized the
throne of the Golden Horde and persecuted non-Muslim Mongols. The Yuan's influence on the Horde was
largely reversed and border clashes between Mongol states resumed. Ayurbarwada Buyantu Khan's
envoys backed Tokhta's son against Ozbeg.
In the Chagatai Khanate, Esen Buqa I (r. 1309-1318) was enthroned as khan after suppressing a sudden
rebellion by Ögedei's descendants and driving Chapar into exile. The Yuan and Ilkhanid armies eventually
attacked the Chagatai Khanate. Realizing economic benefits and the Genghisid legacy, Ozbeg reopened
friendly relations with the Yuan in 1326, and strengthened ties with the Muslim world as well, building
mosques and other elaborate places such as baths. By the second decade of the 14th century, Mongol
invasions had further decreased. In 1323, Abu Said Khan (r. 1316-35) of the Ilkhanate signed a peace
treaty with Egypt. At his request, the Yuan court awarded his custodian Chupan the title of commander-in-
chief of all Mongol khanates, but Chupan died in late 1327.[114]
Civil war erupted in the Yuan dynasty in 1328–29. After the death of Yesün Temür in 1328, Tugh Temür
became the new leader in Dadu, while Yesün Temür's son Ragibagh succeeded to the throne in Shangdu,
leading to the civil war known as the War of the Two Capitals. Tugh Temür defeated Ragibagh, but the
Chagatai khan Eljigidey (r. 1326–29) supported Kusala, elder brother of Tugh Temür, as great khan. He
invaded with a commanding force, and Tugh Temür abdicated. Kusala was elected khan on August 30,
1329. Kusala was then poisoned by a Kypchak commander under Tugh Temür, who returned to power.
Tugh Temür (1304–32) was knowledgeable about Chinese language and history and was also a creditable
poet, calligrapher, and painter. In order to be accepted by other khanates as the sovereign of the Mongol
world, he sent Genghisid princes and descendants of other notable Mongol generals to the Chagatai
Khanate, Ilkhan Abu Said, and Ozbeg. In response to the emissaries, they all agreed to send tribute each
year.[115] Furthermore, Tugh Temür gave lavish presents and an imperial seal to Eljigidey to mollify his
anger.
Relict states of the Mongol Empire

The relict states of the Mongol Empire by

1300.
With the death of Ilkhan Abu Said Bahatur in 1335, Mongol rule faltered and Persia fell into political
anarchy. A year later his successor was killed by an Oirat governor, and the Ilkhanate was divided
between the Suldus, the Jalayir, Qasarid Togha Temür (d. 1353), and Persian warlords. Taking advantage
of the chaos, the Georgians pushed the Mongols out of their own territory, and the Uyghur commander
Eretna established an independent state (Ertenids) in Anatolia in 1336. Following the downfall of their
Mongol masters, the loyal vassal, the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, received escalating threats from the
Mamluks and were eventually overrun.
Along with the dissolution of the Ilkhanate in Persia, Mongol rulers in China and the Chagatai Khanate
were also in turmoil. The plague known as the Black Death, which started in the Mongol dominions and
spread to Europe, added to the confusion. Disease devastated all the khanates, cutting off commercial ties
and killing millions.[116] Plague may have taken 50 million lives in Europe alone in the 14th century.[117]
The Battle of Blue Waters between the

armies of Lithuania and the Golden
Horde in 1362
As the power of the Mongols declined, chaos erupted throughout the empire as non-Mongol leaders
expanded their own influence. The Golden Horde lost all of its western dominions (including modern
Belarus and Ukraine) to Poland and Lithuania from 1342 to 1369. Muslim and non-Muslim princes in the
Chagatai Khanate warred with each other from 1331–43, and the Chagatai Khanate disintegrated when
non-Genghisid warlords set up their own puppet khans in Transoxiana and Moghulistan. Janibeg Khan (r.
1342–1357) briefly reasserted Jochid dominance over the Chaghataids to restore their former glory.
Demanding submission from an offshoot of the Ilkhanate in Azerbaijan, he boasted that "today three
uluses are under my control".[118]
Crimean Tatar
khan, Mengli Giray.
However, rival families of the Jochids began fighting for the throne of the Golden Horde after the
assassination of his successor Berdibek Khan in 1359. The last Yuan ruler Toghan Temür (r. 1333–70)
was powerless to regulate those troubles because the empire had nearly reached its end. His court's
unbacked currency had entered a hyperinflationary spiral and the Han-Chinese people revolted due to the
Yuan's harsh restrictions. In the 1350s Gongmin of Goryeo successfully pushed Mongolian garrisons back
and exterminated the family of Toghan Temür Khan's empress while Tai Situ Changchub Gyaltsen
managed to eliminate the Mongol influence in Tibet.[118]
Increasingly isolated from their subjects, the Mongols quickly lost most of China to the rebellious Ming
forces in 1368 and fled to their homeland Mongolia. After the overthrow of the Yuan dynasty, the Golden
Horde lost touch with Mongolia and China, while the two main parts of the Chagatai Khanate were
defeated by Timur (Tamerlane) (1336–1405), who founded the Timurid Empire. However, remnants of the
Chagatai Khanate survived; the last Chagataid state to survive was the Yarkent Khanate, until its defeat by
the Oirat Dzungar Khanate in the Dzungar conquest of Altishahr in 1680. The Golden Horde broke into
smaller Turkic-hordes that declined steadily in power through four long centuries. Among them, the
khanate's shadow Great Horde survived until 1502, when one of its successors, the Crimean Khanate,
sacked Sarai.[119] The Crimean Khanate lasted until 1783, whereas khanates such as the Khanate of
Bukhara and the Kazakh Khanate lasted even longer.
Military organization
Main article: Mongol military tactics and organization
Reconstruction of a Mongol warrior
The number of troops mustered by the Mongols is the subject of some scholarly debate,[120] but was at
least 105,000 in 1206.[121] The Mongol military organization was simple but effective, based on the decimal
system. The army was built up from squads of ten men each, arbans (10 people), zuuns (100), Mingghans
(1000), and tumens (10,000).[122]
The Mongols were most famous for their horse archers, but troops armed with lances were equally skilled,
and the Mongols recruited other military talents from the cities they conquered. With experienced Chinese
engineers and bombardier corps who were experts in building trebuchets, Xuanfeng catapults and other
machines, the Mongols could lay siege to fortified positions, sometimes building machinery on the spot
using available local resources.[122]
Mongol general Subutai of the Golden

Horde
Forces under the command of the Mongol Empire were trained, organized, and equipped for mobility and
speed. Mongol soldiers were more lightly armored than many of the armies they faced but were able to
make up for it with maneuverability. Each Mongol warrior would usually travel with multiple horses,
allowing him to quickly switch to a fresh mount as needed. In addition, soldiers of the Mongol army
functioned independently of supply lines, considerably speeding up army movement.[123]
Skillful use of couriers enabled these armies to maintain contact with each other and their leadership.
Discipline was inculcated during a nerge (traditional hunt), as reported by Juvayni. These hunts were
distinctive from hunts in other cultures where they were the equivalent to small unit actions. Mongol forces
would spread out in a line, surround an entire region, and then drive all of the game within that area
together. The goal was to let none of the animals escape and to slaughter them all.[123]
Another advantage of the Mongols was their ability to traverse large distances, even in unusually cold
winters; for instance, frozen rivers led them like highways to large urban centers on their banks. In addition
to siege engineering, the Mongols were also adept at river-work, crossing the river Sajó in spring flood
conditions with thirty thousand cavalry soldiers in a single night during the Battle of Mohi (April 1241) to
defeat the Hungarian king Béla IV. Similarly, in the attack against the Muslim Khwarezmshah, a flotilla of
barges was used to prevent escape on the river.
Traditionally known for their prowess with ground forces, the Mongols rarely used naval power, with a few
exceptions. In the 1260s and 1270s they used seapower while conquering the Song dynasty of China,
though their attempts to mount seaborne campaigns against Japan were unsuccessful. Around the
Eastern Mediterranean, their campaigns were almost exclusively land-based, with the seas controlled by
the Crusader and Mamluk forces.[124]
All military campaigns were preceded by careful planning, reconnaissance, and gathering sensitive
information relating to enemy territories and forces. The success, organization, and mobility of the Mongol
armies permitted them to fight on several fronts at once. All adult males up to the age of 60 were eligible
for conscription into the army, a source of honor in their tribal warrior tradition.[125]
Society
Main article: Society of the Mongol Empire
Law and governance

See also: Organization of the Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan
The executed - long and full beard

probably means he is not a Mongol -
has been thrown off a cliff.
The Mongol Empire was governed by a code of law devised by Genghis, called Yassa, meaning "order" or
"decree". A particular canon of this code was that those of rank shared much of the same hardship as the
common man. It also imposed severe penalties — e.g., the death penalty was decreed if one mounted
soldier following another did not pick up something dropped from the mount in front. Penalties were also
decreed for rape and to some extent for murder. Any resistance to Mongol rule was met with massive
collective punishment. Cities were destroyed and their inhabitants slaughtered if they defied Mongol
orders. On the whole, the tight discipline made the Mongol Empire extremely safe and well-run.
Under Yassa, chiefs and generals were selected based on merit. The empire was governed by a non-
democratic, parliamentary-style central assembly, called kurultai, in which the Mongol chiefs met with the
great khan to discuss domestic and foreign policies. Kurultais were also convened for the selection of each
new great khan.[126] Throughout the empire, trade routes and an extensive postal system (yam) were
created. Many merchants, messengers, and travelers from China, the Middle East, and Europe used the
system. Genghis Khan also created a national seal, encouraged the use of a written alphabet in Mongolia,
and exempted teachers, lawyers, and artists from taxes, although taxes were heavy on all other subjects
of the empire.
At the same time the Mongols imported Central Asian Muslims to serve as administrators in China, the
Mongols also sent Han Chinese and Khitans from China to serve as administrators over the Muslim
population in Bukhara in Central Asia, using foreigners to curtail the power of the local peoples of both
lands.[127] The Mongols were very tolerant of other religions, and never persecuted people on religious
grounds. This was associated with their culture and progressive thought. Some historians of the 20th
century thought this was a good military strategy: when Genghis was at war with Sultan Muhammad of
Khwarezm, other Islamic leaders did not join the fight, as it was seen as a non-holy war between two
individuals.
Religions
Main article: Religion in the Mongol Empire
Persian miniature depicting Ghazan's

conversion from Buddhism to Islam.
At the time of Genghis Khan, virtually every religion had found Mongol converts, from Buddhism to
Christianity and Manichaeism to Islam, while all religions were accepted in Mongol society. To avoid strife,
Genghis Khan set up an institution that ensured complete religious freedom, though he himself was a
tengrist. Under his administration, all religious leaders were exempt from taxation and from public service.
[128]
Initially there were few formal places of worship because of the nomadic lifestyle. However, under Ögedei
(1186–1241), several building projects were undertaken in the Mongol capital of Karakorum. Along with
palaces, Ögedei built houses of worship for the Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, and Taoist followers. The
dominant religions at that time were Shamanism, Tengrism, and Buddhism, although Ögedei's wife was a
Nestorian Christian.[129] Eventually, each of the successor states adopted the dominant religion of the local
populations: the Chinese-Mongolian Yuan dynasty in the East (originally the great khan's domain)
embraced Buddhism, while the three Western khanates (the Central Asian Chagatai Khanate, the Iranian
Ilkhanate and the Eastern European Golden Horde) adopted Islam.[130][131][132]
Arts and literature

See also: List of historical cities and towns of Mongolia
The oldest surviving literary work in the Mongolian language is The Secret History of the Mongols, which
was written for the royal family some time after Genghis Khan's death in 1227. It is the most significant
native account of Genghis's life and genealogy, covering his origins and childhood through to the
establishment of the Mongol Empire and the reign of his son, Ögedei.
Another classic from the empire is the Jami' al-tawarikh, or "Universal History". It was commissioned in the
early 14th century by the Ilkhan Abaqa Khan as a way of documenting the entire world's history, to help
establish the Mongols' own cultural legacy.
Mongol scribes in the 14th century used a mixture of resin and vegetable pigments as a primitive form of
correction fluid;[133] this is arguably its first known usage.
The Mongols also appreciated the visual arts, though their taste in portraiture was strictly focused on
portraits of their horses, rather than of people.
Mail system
Main article: Yam (route)
A 1305 letter (on a scroll measuring

302 by 50 centimetres (9.91 by
1.64 ft)) from the Ilkhan Mongol Öljaitü
to King Philip IV of France.
The Mongol Empire had an ingenious and efficient mail system for the time, often referred to by scholars
as the Yam, which had lavishly- furnished and well-guarded relay posts known as örtöö setup all over the
Empire. The yam system would be replicated later in the United States, in the form of the Pony Express.[134]
A messenger would typically travel 25 miles (40 km) from one station to the next, either receiving a fresh,
rested horse, or relaying the mail to the next rider to ensure the speediest possible delivery. The Mongol
riders regularly covered 125 miles (200 km) per day, better than the fastest record set by the Pony
Express some 600 years later.
Genghis and his successor Ögedei built a wide system of roadways, one of which carved the Altai Range.
After his enthronement, Ögedei further organized the road system, ordering the Chagatai Khanate and
Golden Horde to link up roads in western parts of the Mongol Empire.[135] In order to reduce pressure on
households, he set up relay stations with attached households every 25 miles (40 km). Anyone with paiza
was allowed to stop there for re-mounts and specified rations, while those carrying military identities used
the Yam even without a paiza. When the great khan died in Karakorum, news reached the Mongol forces
under Batu Khan in Central Europe within 4–6 weeks thanks to the Yam.[56]
Kublai Khan, founder of the Yuan dynasty, built special relays for high officials, as well as ordinary relays
that had hostels. During Kublai's reign, the Yuan communication system consisted of some 1,400 postal
stations, which used 50,000 horses, 8,400 oxen, 6,700 mules, 4,000 carts, and 6,000 boats.
In Manchuria and southern Siberia, the Mongols still used dogsled relays for the yam. In the Ilkhanate,
Ghazan restored the declining relay system in the Middle East on a restricted scale. He constructed some
hostels and decreed that only imperial envoys could receive a stipend. The Jochids of the Golden Horde
financed their relay system by a special yam tax.
Silk Road
Main article: Silk Road
See also: Pax Mongolica and Black Death
Tuda Mengu of the Golden

Horde.
The Mongols had a history of supporting merchants and trade. Genghis Khan had encouraged foreign
merchants early in his career, even before uniting the Mongols. Merchants provided him with information
about neighboring cultures, served as diplomats and official traders for the Mongols, and were essential for
many needed goods, since the Mongols produced little of their own.
Mongols sometimes provided capital for merchants and sent them far afield, in an ortoq (merchant partner)
arrangement. As the empire grew, any merchants or ambassadors with proper documentation and
authorization received protection and sanctuary as they traveled through Mongol realms. Well-traveled and
relatively well-maintained roads linked lands from the Mediterranean basin to China, greatly increasing
overland trade and resulting in some dramatic stories of those who travelled through what would become
known as the Silk Road.
Western explorer Marco Polo traveled east along the Silk Road, and the Chinese Mongol monk Rabban
Bar Sauma made a comparably epic journey along the route, venturing from his home of Khanbaliq
(Beijing) as far as Europe. European missionaries, such as William of Rubruck, also traveled to the Mongol
court to convert believers to their cause, or went as papal envoys to correspond with Mongol rulers in an
attempt to secure a Franco-Mongol alliance. It was rare, however, for anyone to journey the full length of
Silk Road. Instead, merchants moved products like a bucket brigade, goods being traded from one
middleman to another, moving from China all the way to the West; the goods moving over such long
distances reached extravagant prices.
An Islamic gold coin inscribed in the

name of Genghis Khan
After Genghis, the merchant partner business continued to flourish under his successors Ögedei and
Güyük. Merchants brought clothing, food, information, and other provisions to the imperial palaces, and in
return the great khans gave the merchants tax exemptions and allowed them to use the official relay
stations of the Mongol Empire. Merchants also served as tax farmers in China, Russia and Iran. If the
merchants were attacked by bandits, losses were made up from the imperial treasury.
Policies changed under the Great Khan Möngke. Because of money laundering and overtaxing, he
attempted to limit abuses and sent imperial investigators to supervise the ortoq businesses. He decreed all
merchants must pay commercial and property taxes, and he paid off all drafts drawn by high-ranking
Mongol elites from the merchants. This policy continued in the Yuan dynasty.
The fall of the Mongol Empire in the 14th century led to the collapse of the political, cultural, and economic
unity along the Silk Road. Turkic tribes seized the western end of the route from the Byzantine Empire,
sowing the seeds of a Turkic culture that would later crystallize into the Ottoman Empire under the Sunni
faith. In the East, the native Chinese overthrew the Yuan dynasty in 1368, launching their own Ming
dynasty and pursuing a policy of economic isolationism.[136]
Legacy
See also: History of Mongolia
Map showing the boundary of 13th

century Mongol Empire compared to
today's Mongols in Mongolia, Russia,
the Central Asian States, and China
The Mongol Empire — at its height the largest contiguous empire in history — had a lasting impact,
unifying large regions. Some of these (such as eastern and western Russia and the western parts of
China) remain unified today, albeit under different rulership.[137] Mongols other than the main population
might have been assimilated into local populations after the fall of the empire, and some of these
descendants adopted local religions — for example, the eastern khanate largely adopted Buddhism, and
the three western khanates adopted Islam, largely under Sufi influence.[130]
According to some interpretations, Genghis Khan's conquests caused wholesale destruction on an

unprecedented scale in certain geographical regions, leading to changes in the demographics of Asia,
such as the mass migration of the Iranian tribes of Central Asia into modern-day Iran. The Islamic world
was also subject to massive changes as a result of Mongol invasions. The population of the Iranian
plateau suffered from widespread disease and famine, resulting in the deaths of up to three-quarters of its
population, possibly 10 to 15 million people. Historian Steven Ward estimates that Iran's population did not
again reach its pre-Mongol levels until the mid-20th century.[138]
Non-military achievements of the Mongol Empire included the introduction of a writing system, a Mongol
alphabet based on Uyghur language characters, that is still used today in Inner Mongolia.[139]
Tokhtamysh and the armies of the

Golden Horde initiate the Siege of
Moscow (1382).
Some of the other long-term consequences of the Mongol Empire include:
◾ Moscow rose to prominence during the Mongol-Tatar yoke, some time after Russian rulers were
accorded the status of tax collectors for the Mongols. The fact that the Russians collected tribute and taxes
for the Mongols meant that the Mongols themselves would rarely visit the lands that they owned. The
Russians eventually gained military power, and their ruler Ivan III overthrew the Mongols completely to
form the Russian Tsardom. After the Great stand on the Ugra river proved the Mongols vulnerable, the
Grand Duke of Moscow gained independence.
◾ Europe's knowledge of the known world was immensely expanded by the information brought back by
ambassadors and merchants. When Columbus sailed in 1492, his missions were to reach Cathay, the land
of the Grand Khan in China, and give him a letter from the monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I
of Castile.
◾ Some studies indicate that the Black Death that devastated Europe in the late 1340s may have
traveled from China to Europe along the trade routes of the Mongol Empire. In 1347, the Genoese
possessor of Caffa, a great trade emporium on the Crimean Peninsula, came under siege by an army of
Mongol warriors under the command of Janibeg. After a protracted siege during which the Mongol army
was reportedly withering from the disease, they decided to use the infected corpses as a biological
weapon. The corpses were catapulted over the city walls, infecting the inhabitants.[140] The Genoese
traders fled, transferring the plague via their ships into the south of Europe, whence it rapidly spread. The
total number of deaths worldwide from the pandemic is estimated at 75 million people, with an estimated
20 million deaths in Europe alone.
Dominican martyrs killed by

Mongols during the Mongol
invasion of Poland in 1260.
◾ Western researcher R. J. Rummel estimated that 30 million people were killed under the rule of the
Mongol Empire. This is a low-end estimate, as some estimates go as high as 80 million, with 50 million
deaths being the middle ground. The population of China fell by half in fifty years of Mongol rule. Before
the Mongol invasion, the territories of the Chinese dynasties reportedly had approximately 120 million
inhabitants; after the conquest was completed in 1279, the 1300 census reported roughly 60 million
people. While it is tempting to attribute this major decline solely to Mongol ferocity, scholars today have
mixed opinions regarding this subject. Scholars such as Frederick W. Mote argue that the wide drop in
numbers reflects an administrative failure to record rather than a de facto decrease, whilst others such as
Timothy Brook argue that the Mongols reduced much of the south Chinese population, and very debatably
of the Han Chinese population, to an invisible status through cancellation of the right to passports and
denial of the right to direct land ownership. This meant that the Chinese had to depend on and be cared for
chiefly by Mongols and Tartars, which also involved recruitment into the Mongol army. Other historians
such as William McNeill and David Morgan argue that the Bubonic Plague was the main factor behind the
demographic decline during this period.
◾ David Nicole states in The Mongol Warlords, "terror and mass extermination of anyone opposing them
was a well tested Mongol tactic."[141] About half of the Russian population may have died during the
invasion.[142] However, Colin McEvedy (Atlas of World Population History, 1978) estimates the population of
Russia-in-Europe dropped from 7.5 million prior to the invasion to 7 million afterwards.[141] Historians
estimate that up to half of Hungary's two million population at that time were victims of the Mongol
invasion.[143] Historian Andrea Peto says that Rogerius, an eyewitness, said "the Mongols killed everybody
regardless of gender or age" and that "the Mongols especially 'found pleasure' in humiliating women."[144]
The first Mughal Emperor Babur and
his heir Humayun.
◾ One of the more successful tactics employed by the Mongols was to wipe out urban populations that
refused to surrender. In the Mongol invasion of Rus', almost all major cities were destroyed. If they chose
to submit, the people were generally spared, though this was not guaranteed. For example, the city of
Hamadan in modern-day Iran was destroyed and every man, woman, and child executed by Mongol
general Subadai, after surrendering to him but failing to have enough provisions for his Mongol scouting
force. Several days after the initial razing of the city, Subadai sent a force back to the burning ruins and the
site of the massacre to kill any inhabitants of the city who had been away at the time of the initial slaughter
and had returned in the meantime. Mongolian armies made use of local peoples and their soldiers, often
incorporating them into their armies. Prisoners of war sometimes were given the choice between death
and becoming part of the Mongol army to aid in future conquests.[145] In addition to intimidation tactics, the
rapid expansion of the empire was facilitated by military hardiness (especially during bitterly cold winters),
military skill, meritocracy, and discipline.
Kalmyk migration from Russia to China

in 1770–1771
◾ The Crimean Khanate and other descendants, such as the Mughal royal family of South Asia, are also
descended from Genghis Khan: Babur's mother was a descendant — whereas his father was directly
descended from Timur (Tamerlane). The word "Mughol" is a Persian word for Mongol.
◾ The Kalmyks were the last Mongol nomads to penetrate European territory, having migrated to Europe
from Central Asia at the turn of the 17th century. In the winter of 1770–1771, approximately 200,000
Kalmyks began the journey from their pastures on the left bank of the Volga River to Dzungaria, through
the territories of their Kazakh and Kyrgyz enemies. After several months of travel, only one-third of the
original group reached Dzungaria in northwest China.[146]
◾ Some Turko-Mongol Khanates lasted into recent centuries: The Crimean Khanate lasted until 1783;
the Khanate of Bukhara until 1785; the Kazakh Khanate until 1847; the Khanate of Kokand until 1876; and
the Khanate of Khiva survived under a Russian protectorate until 1917.
See also
◾ Mughal-Mongol genealogy
◾ Destruction under the Mongol Empire
◾ Yelü Chucai
Notes
a. Karakorum was founded in 1220 and served as capital from 1235 to 1260.
b. Following the death of Möngke Khan in 1259, no one city served as capital. Khanbaliq (Dadu),
modern-day Beijing, was the Yuan capital between 1271 and 1368.
c. Including coins such as dirhams and paper currencies based on silver (sukhe) or silk, or the later Chao
currency of the Yuan dynasty.
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◾ Brent, Peter. The Mongol Empire: Genghis Khan: His Triumph and his Legacy. Book Club Associates,
London. 1976.
◾ Buell, Paul D. (2003). Historical Dictionary of the Mongol World Empire. The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
ISBN 0-8108-4571-7.
◾ Cleaves, Francis Woodman. 1954. “A Medical Practice of the Mongols in the Thirteenth Century”.
Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 17 (3/4). Harvard-Yenching Institute: 428–44. doi:10.2307/2718323.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2718323
◾ Halperin, Charles J.. 1983. “Russia in the Mongol Empire in Comparative Perspective”. Harvard
Journal of Asiatic Studies 43 (1). Harvard-Yenching Institute: 239–61. doi:10.2307/2719023.
◾ May, Timothy. "The Mongol Art of War." Westholme Publishing, Yardley. 2007. ISBN 978-1-59416-
046-2 / ISBN 1-59416-046-5
◾ May, Timothy. The Mongol Conquests in World History (Reaktion Books, distributed by University of
Chicago Press; 2012) 319 pages
◾ Ostrowski, Donald. 1998. “The "tamma" and the Dual-administrative Structure of the Mongol Empire”.
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 61 (2). Cambridge University
Press: 262–77. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3107652 .
◾ Rossabi, Morris. The Mongols: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2012. ISBN 978-
0199840892
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mongol Empire.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Mongol Empire.
◾ Genghis Khan and the Mongols
◾ The Mongol Empire
◾ Mongols
◾ The Mongols in World History
◾ The Mongol Empire for students
◾ Paradoxplace Insight Pages on the Mongol Emperors
◾ William of Rubruck's Account of the Mongols
◾ Mongol invasion of Rus (pictures)
◾ Worldwide Death Toll
◾ Mongol Empire Google Earth
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Mongol Empire - Wikipedia Page 1 of 44

Not to be confused with Mughal Empire.

The Mongol Empire emerged from the unification of

The empire began to split due to wars over succession,

occupying it and raiding as far as Gaza after a decisive

By the time of Kublai's death in 1294, the Mongol

◾ the Chagatai Khanate in Central Asia • 1260–1294 Kublai Khan (Nominal

◾ the Ilkhanate in the southwest • 1333–1368 Toghan Temür Khan

dynasty and of the Ilkhanate (which disintegrated in the • Empire fragments

Chagatai Khanate 1687

• 1206 (Unification of 4,000,000 km²

• 1227 (Genghis Khan's 13,500,000 km²

• 1294 (Kublai's death)[1] 23,500,000 km²

• 1309 (Last formal 24,000,000 km²

Currency Various [c]

Khamag Mongol Chagatai Khan

Eurasia on the eve of the Mongol invasions,

Rise of Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan, National Palace

Genghis Khan ascended the throne in

Push into Central Asia

Mongol Empire circa 1207

Death of Genghis Khan and expansion under Ögedei (1227–1241)

Coronation of Ögedei Khan in 1229 as

Invasions of Kievan Rus' and central China

The sack of Suzdal by Batu Khan in

Push into central Europe

Post-Ögedei power struggles (1241–1251)

Batu Khan consolidates the Golden

Death of Güyük (1248)

A Stone Turtle at the site of the Mongol

Rule of Möngke Khan (1251–1259)

Hulagu, Genghis Khan's grandson and

New invasions of the Middle East and Southern China

See also: Mongol invasion of China and Siege of Baghdad (1258)

Mongol invasion of Baghdad

Fall of Baghdad, 1258

Death of Möngke Khan (1259)

The extent of the Mongol Empire after

Dispute over succession

The Mongols at war

Mongolian Civil War

Kublai Khan, Genghis Khan's

Campaigns of Kublai Khan (1264–1294)

Main article: Kublai Khan's Campaigns

The samurai Suenaga facing Mongol's

Mongol warrior on horseback,

Disintegration into competing entities

The funeral of Chagatai Khan.

Developments of the khanates

A European depiction of the four

Hungarian King Béla IV in flight from

Relict states of the Mongol Empire

The relict states of the Mongol Empire by

The Battle of Blue Waters between the

Reconstruction of a Mongol warrior

Mongol general Subutai of the Golden

Law and governance

The executed - long and full beard