Succession of Mongol

The Succession of the Mongols refers to the series of political transitions and power struggles that occurred after the death of Genghis Khan in 1227. These successions determined the leadership of the vast Mongol Empire and influenced its eventual fragmentation. While Genghis Khan’s descendants continued his conquests, internal rivalries among his sons and grandsons—such as Ogedei, Mongke, Kublai, and Ariq Böke—led to disputes over the Great Khanate. The succession process shaped the division of the empire into distinct khanates, including the Yuan Dynasty, Ilkhanate, Chagatai Khanate, and Golden Horde, marking both the expansion and the gradual disunity of Mongol power across Eurasia.

Succession of Mongol

Succession of Mongol

Introduction

The Succession of the Mongols was a crucial phase in the history of the Mongol Empire, shaping its political structure and long-term stability. Following the death of Genghis Khan in 1227, the question of leadership became central to maintaining control over the vast territories the Mongols had conquered. Although Genghis Khan designated his third son, Ogedei Khan, as his successor, power struggles soon emerged among his descendants. Each succession brought new challenges as rival factions vied for the position of Great Khan, leading to internal conflicts that ultimately weakened the unity of the empire. This complex succession process not only influenced the political direction of the Mongol Empire but also contributed to its eventual fragmentation into regional khanates across Eurasia.

Most Mongol conquests

The Mongols were the only steppe tribes whose empire actually expanded upon the death of its founder. In fact, most of the Mongol conquests actually transpired after the passing of Genghis Khan. Unlike previous tribal confederations, it did not implode because Genghis Khan had invented a safe and reliable means of transferring power. He also stabilized Mongol society and made it less fractious, constructing a framework for subsequent generations to follow. To maintain political legitimacy and inherit the throne under this new system, one had to trace their ancestry back to Genghis Khan through his wife Borte and her four sons, Juchi, Chagatai, Ogedei, and Tolui. This concept dramatically limited contenders for the khanate, mitigating future competition for succession. Only they possessed the required Genghis Khanid legitimacy.

Divided into four states

The khan’s plan to transfer power upon his death also fused older steppe traditions with his new vision. He bequeathed to his sons parts of the world yet unconquered, so that they had to win these new areas. This stipulation produced an incentive for his sons to cooperate in order to collect their patrimony. Genghis Khan had divided the four patrimonial ulus, or states, amongst his sons. The four subsequent empires that grew out of these ulus included the Golden Horde, who were the descendants of Juchi and controlled Russia; the Chagatai Khanate, which traced its lineage to Chagatai and governed Central Asia; the Mongol-founded Yuan Dynasty in China, the progeny of Tolui; and the Ilkhanate of Persia, inheritors of the House of Hulegu and also the successors of Tolui.

Successor of Genghis Khan

Prior to his death in 1227, Genghis Khan expressed a desire that his son Ogedei succeed him, a decision that affronted Juchi, his eldest, whose lineage was questioned. Fortunately for the Mongols, Juchi’s death preceded that of his father’s, narrowly averting a potential civil war. A khuriltai in 1229 confirmed the khan’s wishes, and it was under Ogedei that the Mongols realized their destiny of world domination.

Mongol invasion of Russia

Between 1230 and 1233, Ogedei’s troops defeated the remnants of the Jin dynasty in central China. Then they focused their attention on Russia, as they had actionable intelligence on the divisions among the Russian principalities dating to a 1223 reconnaissance mission that utterly crushed a coalition of Russian and Kipchak princes. In 1236, Ogedei launched his campaign in the dead of winter and used rivers as frozen ice highways. By end of 1237, they had taken the Black Steppe, Vladimir, and Riazan. It was only some fortuitous flooding that prevented the complete destruction of Novgorod. The Prince of Novgorod was, however, sufficiently impressed by the Mongol onslaught so voluntarily agreed to pay their tribute.

Mongol invasion of Kyiv and Vienna

The Mongols commenced a devastating attack on the city of Kiev in December of 1240, culminating in a nine-day siege. They ultimately destroyed the city as retribution for its resistance. The Mongols steamrolled the Hungarians soon thereafter and left the region in ruins en route to Vienna. By December of 1241, their forces were approaching the outskirts of the city. No military power in Europe was capable of withstanding a Mongol attack.

Death of Ogedei

Fortunately for the Viennese, Ogedei died that very same month, and a one year period of mourning ensued. The Mongols were summoned home in order to choose the next great khan. What was supposed to be a quick election turned into a five-year ordeal because Batu, son of Juchi and grandson of Genghis Khan, refused to return to Mongolia for the khuriltai. This founder of the Golden Horde believed that he would not be chosen and knew that his relatives could not officially convene a khuriltai without him, thus preventing the body from proclaiming the next great khan. It was Ogedei’s death and Batu’s independence of thought that saved Europe from Mongol conquest.

Guyuk and Mongke as Great Khans

The khuriltai finally proclaimed Guyuk, eldest son of Ogedei, the next khan in 1246. This was not a legitimate election though because of Batu’s conspicuous absence. Guyuk quickly dispatched an army to punish Batu for meddling in the political process of succession, but Batu had already arranged for his cousin’s assassination in Guyuk’s death led to another period of paralysis. A khuriltai eventually nominated Mongke, Tolui’s oldest son, as the next great khan in 1251. Now Möngke had to deal with the problem that Batu presented. He was willing to allow for Batu’s autonomy so long as he recognized Mongke as the legitimate khan. It was at this point that Batu’s horde become the Golden Horde. He adopted the moniker of “golden” because he was asserting his independence.

Berke converts to Islam

Batu died in 1256, and his younger brother Berke became the first khan of the Golden Horde to accept Islam. This sudden conversion to Islam caused systemic problems in the Mongol Empire because different parts of the four lines of Genghis Khan would adopt different faiths, resulting in political divisions that aligned with religious divisions. As a Muslim, Berke spurned his Buddhist cousins and established firm links with the Turkic Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt, thus making an alliance based on faith with a power outside of the Mongol Empire.

The collapse of the Mongol Empire

Genghis Khan’s empire had exceeded normal steppe expectations, and, with potential fault lines emerging already, his vision of a politically unified empire was never truly realized. A series of civil wars erupted not long thereafter that fractured the Mongol Empire. First came the Toluid Civil War (1260 – 1264), then the Berke-Hulegu War (1262), and finally the Kaidu Kublai War (1268 – 1301). These three wars had the combined effect of undermining the great khan’s authority, and the empire ended up breaking apart on along the lines of the patrimonial ulus, with each moving in their own direction. In fact, the successors of Kublai Khan (1260 – 1294), who presided over the Yuan Dynasty in China, could not even convene a khuriltai to appoint a great khan following his death. By 1294, there was neither fiction nor facade of a unified Mongol Empire. It was the end of a unified political unit.

Conclusion

The Succession of the Mongols played a decisive role in the transformation of the Mongol Empire from a unified world power into a collection of regional states. While the early successions under leaders like Ogedei and Mongke Khan maintained imperial strength and expansion, later disputes—especially the conflict between Kublai Khan and Ariq Boke—revealed deep divisions within the ruling family. These rivalries, combined with the vast geographic and cultural diversity of the empire, made centralized control increasingly difficult. Ultimately, the succession struggles led to the emergence of independent khanates such as the Yuan Dynasty, Golden Horde, Chagatai Khanate, and Ilkhanate. Though political unity was lost, each successor state carried forward elements of Mongol governance, culture, and influence, ensuring that the legacy of Genghis Khan endured long after the empire’s fragmentation.

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