Page 21 - All About History - Issue 180-19
P. 21
Hall Of Fame
huLaGu
khan
1218 Ce-1265 Ce
Given most of Persia
as a Khanate, Hulagu
proceeded to expand
Subutai’s his domain at a rapid
record is clip. The rest of the
astonishing: he Middle East, then
under the Abbasid
conquered 32 nations Caliphate, was unprepared to block the
and won 65 Mongol advance. As entire towns and cities
pitched battles were razed, Hulagu’s ferocity almost plunged
the region into a dark age; the Ilkhanate he
led was the most destructive force to ever
assail the Muslim world. Two years after the
assassins of Alamut were wiped out, the fall
subutai 1175 Ce-1248 Ce of Baghdad in 1258 CE marked an enormous
Though not a blood relative of Genghis, Subutai loss of wealth and cultural artefacts. As the
was responsible for leading the Mongols on their Mongol legions marched toward Jerusalem,
European campaigns and had the great Khan’s own an army of Mamelukes from Egypt led by a
grandchildren under his command. In the span former Mongol slave blocked their advance in
of just four bloody years, from 1236 until 1240 CE, a place called Ain Jalut on 3 September 1260.
Subutai’s army carved a path of destruction across It was in Ain Jalut where the Mongols
Russia, clearing the way for the ‘Golden Horde’ that suffered a crushing defeat that marked
would rule it for almost two centuries. the apogee of their empire-building. The
Guyuk khan 1206 Ce-1249 Ce It was also Subutai who led the Mongols towards
Being an empire founded by excellent horsemen the Danube as they sought to conquer Hungary and Persianised Ilkhanate slowly lost its vigour
and after a hundred years was crushed by
and keen strategists, the Mongols had an menaced Poland. Victorious in every battle, all of
overabundance of fine commanders. But least Europe learned to fear the Mongols. the upstart Timur.
distinguished among them was Guyuk Khan, who
was the third Great Khan after Genghis and Ogedei.
Unfortunately, by the time Guyuk assumed his batu khan 1207 Ce-1255 Ce
new title in 1246 CE there was such dissatisfaction Having led his armies across the Volga River and despoiled
among the Mongols that a civil war ensued between the Kyivan Rus, Batu Khan’s power loomed menacingly over
the faction that ruled China and the faction of Batu Europe. But like his peers in China and Persia, Batu halted his
Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan, whose armies campaigning to govern his immense realm, the Khanate of
overran Russia. Unlike other Mongol rulers, little is Kipchak, also known as the ‘Golden Horde’. Under the stern
known about Guyuk Khan’s sudden death in 1249. Mongol regime the realm prospered from the free movement of
He did not fall in battle. goods and people. But its longevity was tenuous. By the late 14th
century the so-called ‘Golden Horde’ had fallen apart and a new
Russian kingdom — Christian and feudal — arose in Muscovy.
ChaGatai khan 1183 Ce-1242 Ce
The territories annexed by
Chagatai’s armies were even
greater than those held by his oGedei khan 1185 Ce-1241 Ce
brother Ogedei in northern A successor of Genghis earned his title by consensus under
China. The immense pasture the kuriltai system, where the Mongol lords gathered in their
lands of Central Asia allowed capital to deliberate on who should be their supreme leader.
the Mongols to thrive in this Having spent his entire adult life on his father’s campaigns,
environment and trade routes Ogedei’s first priority as the next Great Khan was finishing off
were secured connecting the Chinese. Ogedei then focused his attention on the Song
China with the continent of Europe. The earliest Dynasty that still resisted the Mongols.
instances of cultural mixing with Islam also occurred Elsewhere, his brother Chagatay was
at the time as the Mongols assimilated into the preoccupied with securing the vast plains
societies under their rule. of Central Asia, where the Khorasan One of
Like his brother, the final years of Chagatai’s Empire’s remnants kept fighting on. Ogedei’s most
life were the Mongol Empire’s glory days. The Ogedei’s reign lasted 12 short years horrific crimes was
distribution of plunder fuelled economic growth and his untimely passing delayed the
and a Pax Mongolica within the various Khanates invasion of Western Europe, triggering ordering the rape of
attracted breathtaking wealth. Of course, further a succession crisis among the Mongols. 4,000 Oirat girls
victories in Europe and the Middle East beckoned. above the age of
seven
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