World history1206 – 129417 events
The Mongol Conquests
From the rise of Genghis Khan to the Yuan conquest of the Song — eighty years in which the Mongols swept Eurasia from Goryeo to Hungary
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17 events in this theme
Temüjin was proclaimed Genghis Khan at a kurultai. The Mongol Empire became the largest contiguous land empire in history.
- 1209 – 1227Mongol Conquest of Western Xia
Genghis Khan attacked the Tangut state of Western Xia several times, forcing its submission and finally destroying it in 1227. He died during this last campaign.
- 1211 – 1234Mongol Conquest of the Jin
Genghis Khan invaded the Jurchen Jin and overran northern China; Ögedei Khan, allied with the Southern Song, destroyed the Jin in 1234.
- 1215Fall of Zhongdu
The Mongols took Zhongdu (present-day Beijing), the Jin capital — after the Jin court had already moved south to Bianjing.
- 1219 – 1221Mongol Invasion of Khwarazm
After a Mongol caravan and envoys were killed at Otrar, Genghis Khan attacked the Khwarazmian Empire. Bukhara, Samarkand and the other great cities of Central Asia fell.
Jebe and Subutai, scouting west during the Khwarazmian campaign, routed an army of Rus princes and Cumans (Polovtsians) on the Kalka River — the first clash between the Mongols and Europe.
Genghis Khan’s third son Ögedei became Great Khan and built the capital at Karakorum. A network of relay stations (yam) tied the vast empire together.
- 1231 – 1259Mongol Invasions of Goryeo
The Mongols invaded Goryeo repeatedly for nearly thirty years. Goryeo held out by moving its capital to Ganghwa Island.
- 1236 – 1242Mongol Invasion of Europe
Genghis Khan’s grandson Batu destroyed Volga Bulgaria and the Rus principalities and struck as far as Poland and Hungary. On the death of Ögedei he withdrew and founded the Golden Horde.
A Mongol column of Batu’s army that entered Poland defeated a Polish and German knightly army under Henry II the Pious at Legnica. Henry was killed.
- 1241Battle of Mohi
Batu and Subutai surrounded and annihilated the army of King Béla IV of Hungary at Mohi on the Sajó River. Hungary was ravaged until the Mongols withdrew the next year.
- 1258Siege of Baghdad
Hulagu, brother of Möngke Khan, took Baghdad and executed the caliph. The Abbasid Caliphate, over five centuries old, came to an end, and Hulagu founded the Ilkhanate.
The Mamluks of Egypt under Qutuz and Baybars defeated the Mongols at Ain Jalut in Palestine, halting the Mongol advance to the west.
- 1268 – 1279Fall of the Southern Song
Yuan forces took Xiangyang and received the surrender of the Song capital Lin’an. In 1279 the last Song fleet was destroyed at Yamen, and all of China came under the rule of a northern nomadic people for the first time.
Kublai adopted the dynastic name Great Yuan and made Dadu (present-day Beijing) his capital. The Mongol Empire divided into the Yuan and several khanates.
- 1271 – 1295Travels of Marco Polo
The Venetian merchant Marco Polo came to Yuan China with his father and uncle and stayed seventeen years in Kublai’s service. The book he left, The Travels, introduced the East to Europe.
- 1274 – 1281Goryeo-Yuan Invasions of Japan
The Yuan, using Goryeo as its spearhead, twice invaded Japan, and both times its fleets were wrecked by storms. Supplying ships, troops and grain placed a heavy burden on Goryeo.
Key people
- Genghis Khan1162 – 1227
Founder of the Mongol Empire, born Temüjin, proclaimed Genghis Khan at the kurultai of 1206; he attacked Western Xia, Jin and Khwarazm
- Subutai1175 – 1248
General of Genghis Khan and Ögedei, who with Jebe defeated the Rus at the Kalka and was the operational commander of Batu’s European campaign
- Kublai Khan (Emperor Shizu of Yuan)1215 – 1294
Fifth Great Khan and founder of the Yuan dynasty, who made peace with Goryeo and launched the invasions of Japan
- Ögedei Khan1186 – 1241
Third son of Genghis Khan and second Great Khan, who destroyed the Jin, walled Karakorum and sent armies against Goryeo and Europe
- Batu Khan1207 – 1255
Grandson of Genghis Khan who led the European campaign of 1236–1242 and founded the Golden Horde with its capital at Sarai on the Volga
- Hulagu Khan1217 – 1265
Grandson of Genghis Khan who took Baghdad in 1258, ending the Abbasid Caliphate, and founded the Ilkhanate
- Muhammad II of Khwarazm1220
Khwarazmian sultan whose killing of Mongol envoys provoked the Mongol invasion; he fled and died on an island in the Caspian Sea
- Jalal al-Din Mingburnu1231
Last Khwarazmian sultan, defeated by Genghis Khan on the Indus in 1221; he escaped across the river and resisted for a decade
- Henry II the Pious1196 – 1241
High Duke of Poland and Duke of Silesia, killed fighting the Mongols at the Battle of Legnica in 1241
- Béla IV of Hungary1206 – 1270
King of Hungary, routed by the Mongols at Mohi in 1241, who after their withdrawal rebuilt the kingdom with a programme of castle building
- al-Musta’sim1213 – 1258
Last Abbasid caliph of Baghdad, executed by the Mongols after the city fell in 1258
- Möngke Khan1209 – 1259
Fourth Great Khan, who sent his brothers Hulagu to West Asia and Kublai against the Song, and died campaigning in Sichuan