Möngke Khan

Möngke (1209–1259) was the fourth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, reigning from 1251 to 1259. The eldest son of Tolui and Sorghaghtani Beki, he was the first Great Khan from the Toluid line, the branch of the family that went on to rule China as the Yuan dynasty. The Yuan later honoured him with the temple name Xianzong.

An experienced general and a determined reformer, Möngke curbed the excesses of the years after Ögedei's death and restored order to the empire's finances. Under him the Mongols conquered the Kingdom of Dali in the south-west and destroyed the Abbasid caliphate at Baghdad. He died in 1259 while leading the war against the Song, and he is often regarded as the last Great Khan whose authority was recognised across the whole empire.

Enthronement of Möngke Khan

After the death of Güyük Khan in 1248, most of the princes regarded Batu, the senior member of the family and ruler of the western lands, as the natural choice for Great Khan. The main exceptions were the families of Ögedei and Chagatai.

Batu preferred to stay on the steppes of the Volga and declined. He backed Möngke instead, and Möngke's election was confirmed by a kurultai in Mongolia in 1251.

Some descendants of Ögedei and Chagatai opposed the election and were accused of plotting against the new khan. Möngke answered with a purge in which many were executed or exiled, among them Güyük's widow, Oghul Qaimish, who was put to death.

The Rule of Möngke Khan

Möngke ruled from Karakorum over an empire that was still expanding rapidly. It had become so large and diverse that no later khan was able to hold it together as he did.

Administrative Changes

Möngke divided responsibility for the empire among his brothers. Kublai was given charge of northern China, and Hülegü was sent west to Iran, where his descendants ruled as the Ilkhans. The lands of the Ögedeid princes were broken up, and the domains of Chagatai's successors were kept within limits.

He also carried out important reforms to mobilise manpower and resources. He curbed the abuses of princes and officials who had drawn freely on the relay stations and the treasury, unified the collection of taxes and helped restore the economies of conquered lands.

In 1252 he ordered a census of people and resources across the empire, to fix taxes and military obligations and to register skilled craftsmen.

The Campaigns in the West

In the west, Möngke's brother Hülegü led a great army into Iran. By the end of 1256 he had destroyed the strongholds of the Nizari Ismailis, the last serious resistance there. In February 1258 he took Baghdad, bringing the Abbasid caliphate to an end. Hülegü moved on Syria late in 1259, and Aleppo and Damascus fell in 1260, after Möngke's death.

The War in China

Möngke pursued the war in China with great energy. Kublai, acting as his viceroy there, conquered the Kingdom of Dali, in present-day Yunnan, in 1253–1254, and the general Uriyangkhadai went on to invade Đại Việt in northern Vietnam in 1257–1258.

In 1258 Möngke launched a full-scale assault on the Southern Song, taking personal command of the army in Sichuan while Kublai advanced further east. The Song resisted stubbornly.

Death of Möngke Khan

In August 1259, during the siege of Diaoyu Fortress near present-day Chongqing, Möngke died in camp. The sources disagree on the cause: most describe an illness such as dysentery or cholera, while some say he was wounded in the fighting.

His death gave the Southern Song a long reprieve. Kublai soon broke off his own campaign to secure the succession, and the conquest of the Song was not completed until 1279.

Möngke had no agreed successor, and civil war broke out between Kublai and their younger brother Ariq Böke, lasting until 1264. The empire never recovered its unity. The western khanates went increasingly their own way, and Kublai turned to China, where he proclaimed the Yuan dynasty in 1271.