Who Was When

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Mongol Empire

East Asia & PacificHeartland today: Mongolia

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Founded by Genghis Khan in 1206, the empire spread from Mongolia across Asia into eastern Europe, taking Beijing, Samarkand, Kyiv and Baghdad. From 1260 it broke into separate khanates, and Mongol rule in China ended in 1368.

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Key events

  1. A kurultai of tribal leaders proclaims Genghis Khan ruler of the Mongols

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  2. The Mongols take Zhongdu (Beijing) from the Jin dynasty

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  3. – The Mongols attack the Khwarazmian empire and take Bukhara, Samarkand and UrgenchDisputed

    Wikipedia dates the invasion to 1219–1221, after the Khwarazmshah had Mongol merchants executed at Otrar; Samarkand fell in 1220 and Urgench (Gurganj) in 1221. World History Encyclopedia has the attack beginning in 1218. Khwarazmian resistance under Jalal al-Din lasted until 1231.

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  4. Batu's army takes and sacks Kyiv

    The Encyclopedia of Ukraine dates the fall of the city to 6 December 1240.

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  5. Hülegü's army takes Baghdad, and the last Abbasid caliph of Baghdad is executedDisputed

    The siege ran from late January to 10 February 1258, and Wikipedia says the caliph al-Musta'sim was executed on 20 February. The Abbasid line continued in Cairo under the Mamluks. Death tolls are contested: Wikipedia lists Hülegü's own claim of about 200,000, Muslim chroniclers' figures of 800,000 to 2,000,000, and calls the highest count obviously inflated.

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  6. A Mamluk army defeats the Mongols at Ain Jalut

    EBSCO dates the battle to 3 September 1260.

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  7. – Kublai and his brother Ariq Böke fight a civil war for the throne, and the khanates begin to partDisputed

    Wikipedia dates the Toluid Civil War between Kublai and Ariq Böke to 1260–64. World History Encyclopedia says the four khanates were fully autonomous from 1260, while Wikipedia says the empire was four separate khanates by 1294.

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  8. The Yuan dynasty loses control of China to the Ming, and Mongol rule there ends

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