The quriltai: Chinggis Khan proclaimed
1206
At a great quriltai on the Onon River, Temüjin took the title Chinggis Khan and founded the Yeke Mongghol Ulus. The state spanned ~4M km².
1218–1227
Mongol Expansion · Монголын тэлэлт
At the 1206 quriltai on the Onon, Temüjin was acclaimed Chinggis Khan and the Great Mongol State was born. Decimal organization that broke tribal lines, the Ikh Zasag legal tradition, the örtöö relay network, religious tolerance and promotion by merit carried it from ~4M to ~20M km² within half a century, history's largest contiguous land empire. In 1995 The Washington Post named Chinggis Khan its 'Man of the Millennium', the «Мянганы суут» legacy of a world he connected.
1218 is Jebe's conquest of Qara Khitai, the first move west; 1227 is the death of Chinggis Khan. The Tangut (1209) and Jin (1211) wars were expansion too, and it went on to 1279. This row tells the western campaign of Chinggis Khan's own lifetime.
Death tolls are contested: the famous 40–60 million figure traces to a single criticized source (McEvedy & Jones 1978), and scholars treat medieval chroniclers' numbers as exaggerated (Morgan, May). This site shows ranges only.
This period has a page and its sources; the scroll-through chapter is not written yet.
Events
The new state: decimal system, Ikh Zasag, a written chancery
1206 · the sources disagree about this
Army and society were reorganized into tens–hundreds–thousands–tümens across tribal lines, with the khishigten guard at the core. From 1204 the Uyghur script served the Mongolian chancery (Tata-tonga); the Chinggis Stone (c. 1224–25, now in the Hermitage) is the oldest surviving monument of the Mongolian script.
Whether the Ikh Zasag was a fixed written code is disputed (Morgan 1986); treat it as an evolving legal tradition.
The nine örlög: the khan's paladins
1206 · the sources disagree about this
With the great rewards of 1206 Chinggis Khan appointed 95 mingghan commanders (Secret History §202) and honored his companions led by Bo'orchu and Muqali (§§205–206), granting some the privilege of nine unpunished offenses (§§205–219). From this grew the famous list of nine örlög: the 'four hounds' Jebe, Qubilai, Jelme, Sübe'etei (§195) and the 'four steeds' Bo'orchu, Muqali, Boroqul, Chila'un among them.
No fixed 'nine örlög' office appears in the primary sources; the list of nine varies by tradition (Shigi Qutuqu, Naya'a, etc.). The great Mongolian dictionary glosses the phrase as 'those pardoned nine times.'
The Tangut submit
1209–1210
After the third campaign the Tangut (Xi Xia) state submitted; the final 1226–27 campaign destroyed it.
War on the Jin; Zhongdu falls
1211–1215
The war on the Jurchen Jin began; Zhongdu (Beijing) fell in 1215. ~5M km² by 1215.
Khwarazm destroyed
1219–1221 · the sources disagree about this
After his envoys were murdered, Chinggis Khan marched west: Otrar besieged (1219), Bukhara and Samarkand fell (1220), Urgench (1221). ~11M km² by 1222.
May dates the campaign's start to 1218 (the westward march); we use 1219–1221 for the fighting in Khwarazm proper.
Jebe and Sübe'etei's great raid: the Kalka
1220–1223
The ~20,000 men sent to hunt Shah Muhammad swept through northern Persia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (1221) and the Caucasus, beat the Alans and Kipchaks on the North Caucasus steppe, and in 1223 crushed a Rus'–Cuman coalition at the Kalka River (in today's eastern Ukraine): one of the longest cavalry raids in medieval history.
Death of Chinggis Khan
1227
Chinggis Khan died during the final Tangut campaign (August 1227). The empire spanned ~13.5 ± 1.5M km².
Karakorum and the örtöö network
1235
Chinggis Khan fixed the site of Karakorum as a base in 1220; Ögödei walled it and built its palace in 1235, making it the capital, and regularized the örtöö (jam) relay network across the empire (1234–35): the communications spine of the largest contiguous state on earth. The stone turtles at Kharkhorin still mark that capital today.
The Great Western Campaign
1235–1242
Batu and Sübe'etei took Volga Bulgaria (1236), Ryazan (1237), Vladimir (1238) and Kiev (1240), then won at Legnica and Mohi within days (April 1241). The withdrawal of 1242 is conventionally put down to news of Ögödei's death.
Hülegü's campaign: the fall of Baghdad
1253–1258
Sent by Möngke, Hülegü marched west from 1253, crossed the Amu Darya (1256) and took the Nizari (Assassin) fortresses at Alamut, reaching Baghdad in 1258: the assault began January 29, the caliph surrendered February 10, the city was pillaged for a week and the caliph executed February 20: the Abbasid caliphate ended.
Two great khans: the fracture begins Заавар, эх сурвалж биш
1260
Möngke died besieging Diaoyu Castle (1259) with no declared successor. In 1260 Kublai was proclaimed at Kaiping and Ariq Böke at Karakorum: the Toluid Civil War (1260–64). The same year, the Mamluks halted the Mongol advance at Ayn Jalut.
People
- Chinggis Khan c. 1162–1227 — Founder of the empire
- Ögödei Khan r. 1229–1241 — Second great khan Заавар, эх сурвалж биш
- Sübe'etei c. 1175–1248 — Greatest of the generals
- Batu Khan c. 1205–1255 — Leader of the western campaign, lord of the Golden Horde Заавар, эх сурвалж биш
- Hülegü Khan c. 1217–1265 — Conqueror of Baghdad, founder of the Ilkhanate
Sources
- Atwood, C. P., Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire (2004): 1206 quriltai; campaign entries; Baghdad day-level dates.
- Монголын нууц товчоо / The Secret History of the Mongols (de Rachewiltz tr., 2004): §202 the 1206 quriltai & 95 mingghans; §195 the 'four hounds'; §§205–219 the rewards and nine-pardon privileges.
- «Ес», Монгол хэлний их тайлбар толь (mongoltoli.mn). «Есөн өрлөг» гэдэг нь есөн удаагийн өршөөлтөн гэсэн утга; есөн удаа осол гаргавч яллахгүй өршөөдөг байжээ.
- Taagepera, R. (ISQ 41, 1997): growth: 4M km² (1206), 5M (1215), 11M (1222), 13.5±1.5M (1227), 18.5M (1250), 20M (1260).
- May, T., “The Mongol Empire in World History” (World History Connected 5.2, 2008).
- “Division of the Mongol Empire” (Wikipedia; footnotes to Atwood, Jackson, Morgan): Möngke's death, rival quriltais, Toluid Civil War. Заавар, эх сурвалж биш
- Britannica, “Mongolia — The successor states of the Mongol empire”: 1260 Kaiping/Karakorum proclamations. Заавар, эх сурвалж биш
- Morgan, D., “The ‘Great Yasa of Chingiz Khan’ and Mongol Law in the Ilkhanate” (BSOAS 49, 1986): the jasaq-as-written-code debate
- The Washington Post, “The Era of His Ways” (Dec 31, 1995): Chinggis Khan named “Man of the Millennium” («Мянганы суут»); a journalistic accolade
- William of Rubruck, Itinerarium (1253–55), ch. II. An eyewitness at Batu's camp and Möngke's court, inside this chapter's window. Used for the ger's orientation and furnishing: the door to the south, the master's couch on the north, the women's side east and the men's west, the felt images over the heads of the house, the bench with a skin of milk in the entry, and the coffers of woven twigs under black felt: the chest excepted: a later painted авдар stands there now, and is not credited to him. Consulted in Rockhill's 1900 translation (public domain); Jackson (Hakluyt Society, 1990) is the scholarly standard.
- Asia for Educators, Columbia University, “Standards of Chinggis Khan”: photograph by Morris Rossabi, Museum of History, Ulaanbaatar. Calls the surviving examples “horse-hair battle standards” and records that nine are held in the building housing the Mongolian Khural. Used for the сүлд at the entry.