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Kublai Khan, Khubilai Khan or "the last of the Great Khans" (September 23, 1215 - February 18, 1294) (Mongolian: Хубилай хаан, Chinese: 忽必烈汗; Pinyin: Hūbìliè Hàn), was a Mongol military leader. He was the fifth Khagan (1260–1294) of the Mongol Empire as well as the founder and the first Emperor (1271–1294) of the Chinese Yuan Dynasty.
Born the second son of Tolui and Sorghaghtani Beki and the grandson of Genghis Khan, he succeeded his older brother Möngke in 1260. Kublai Khan's brother, Hulagu, conquered Persia and founded the Ilkhanate. Kublai also had a cousin named Kaidu, who died in 1301.
Contents
Early Years
Kublai studied Chinese culture and became enamored of it. In 1251, his elder brother Möngke
became Khan of the Mongol Empire, and Kublai became the governor of the
southern territories of the Mongol Empire. During his years as
governor, Kublai managed his territory well, boosting the agricultural
output of Henan and increasing social welfare spendings after receiving Xi'an. These acts received great acclaim from the Chinese warlords and were essential to the building of the Yuan Dynasty.
In 1253, Kublai was ordered to attack Yunnan, and he destroyed the Kingdom of Dali. In 1258, Möngke put Kublai in command of the Eastern Army and summoned him to assist with attacks on Sichuan and, again, Yunnan. Before Kublai could arrive in 1259, word reached him that Möngke had died. Kublai continued to attack Wuhan, but soon received news that his younger brother Arik Boke had held a Khuriltai
at the Mongolian imperial capital of Karakorum and was pronounced Great
Khan. Most of Genghis Khan's decendants favored Arik Boke as Great Khan, however his two brothers Kublai and Hulegu were in oppostion.
Kubulai quickly reached a peace agreement with Song troops and returned north to the Mongolian plains, in order to oppose Arik Boke's claim to the title of Great Khan
Upon returning to his own territories, Kubulai summoned a khuriltai
of his own, and was proclaimed Great Khan. Only a small number of the
royal family supported Kubulai's claims to the title, however the small
number of attendees still proclaimed him Great Khan.
This subsequently led to warfare between Kubulai and his younger
brother Arik Boke, which resulted in the eventual destruction of the
Mongolian capital at Karakorum.
Both his brother and Kublai crowned themselves Khan
in 1260, and the two brothers battled for three years before Kublai
finally won. However, during this civil war, Yizhou governor Li
revolted against Mongol rule. The revolt was swiftly crushed by Kublai,
but this incident instilled in him a strong distrust of ethnic Hans.
After he became emperor, Kublai instituted several anti-Han laws, such
as banning the titles of and tithes to Han Chinese warlords.
Mongol Empire
The empire was separated into four khanates, each ruled by a separate khan and overseen by the Great Khan. The Kipchak Khanate (also called the Golden Horde) ruled Russia; the Ilkhanate ruled the Middle East, the Chagatai Khanate ruled over central Asia, and the Great Khanate controlled Mongolia and eventually the whole of China. The empire reached its greatest extent under Kublai with his conquest of Song Dynasty which was completed by his final victory in 1279
Emperor of Yuan
As emperor of Yuan Dynasty, Kublai Khan worked to minimize the
influences of regional lords who had held immense power before and
during the Song Dynasty. His mistrust of ethnic Han Chinese caused him
to hire other ethnic group members as officials more often than Han
Chinese.
At the Eighth Year of Zhiyuan (1271), Kublai Khan officially
declared the creation of the Yuan Dynasty, and proclaimed the capital
to be at Dadu
(Beijing, China) in the following year. To unify China, Kublai Khan
began a massive offensive against the remnants of the southern Song
Dynasty in the 11th year of Zhiyuan, and finally destroyed the Song
Dynasty in the 16th year of Zhiyuan, unifying the country at last.
He ruled better than his predecessors, promoting economic growth with the rebuilding of the Grand Canal,
repairing public buildings, and extending highways. However, Kublai
Khan's domestic policy also included some aspects of the old Mongol
living traditions, and as Kublai Khan continued his reign, these
traditions would clash more and more frequently with traditional
Chinese economic and social culture.
He also introduced paper currency, although eventually a lack of
fiscal discipline and inflation turned this move into an economic
disaster. He encouraged Chinese arts and demonstrated religious
tolerance, except in regards to Taoism. His capital was at Beijing (then Cambuluc or Dadu 大都 lit. big capital). The empire was visited by several Europeans, notably Marco Polo in the 1270s who may have seen the summer capital in Shangdu (上都 lit. upper capital or Xanadu).
He conquered Dali (Yunnan) and Goryeo (Korea). Under pressure from his Mongolian advisors, Kublai attempted to conquer Japan, Myanmar, Vietnam and Java.
All these failed attempts, costly expeditions, along with the
introduction of paper currency caused inflation. However, Kublai Khan
also forced warlords from the Northwest and Northeast to capitulate,
ensuring stability for those regions. Kublai Khan died in the 31st year
of Zhiyuan. (1294)
Invasions of Japan
Kublai Khan twice attempted to invade Japan in search of gold; however, both times the samurai resisted firmly, and bad weather destroyed the fleets. The first invasion attempt took place in 1274, with a fleet of 900 ships. The second invasion occurred in 1281,
with a fleet of over 1,170 large war junks, each close to 240 feet
long. The Japanese were prepared for this invasion and they had built a
wall several feet high on the island where Mongols were predicted to
land, in order to prevent horses from coming ashore easily. The
campaign was badly organized as the Korean fleet reached Japan much
ahead of the Chinese fleet. Japanese samurai fought with great valor
and defeated the largely Chinese and Korean army of Mongols.
Dr. Kenzo Hayashida, the marine archaeologist, headed the investigation that discovered the wreckage of the second invasion fleet off the western coast of Takashima.
His team's findings strongly indicate that Kublai Khan rushed to
conquer Japan and attempted to construct his enormous fleet in only one
year (a task that should have taken up to 5 years), which forced the
Chinese to use any available ships, including river boats, in order to
achieve readiness. Most importantly, the Chinese, then under the Khan's
control, were forced to build many ships quickly in order to contribute
to the fleet in both of the invasions. Had Kublai used standard,
well-constructed ocean-going ships, which have a curved keel to prevent capsizing, his navy might have survived the journey to and from Japan and might have conquered it as intended.
John Pearson, author of Kublai Khan
(2005), writes, "The cost of these defeats led the Khan to devalue the
central currency, further exacerbating growing inflation. He also
increased tax assessments. These economic problems lead to growing
resentment of the Mongols, who paid no taxes, among the Chinese
populace." David Nicole writes in The Mongol Conquerors that
"these disastrous defeats shattered the myth of Mongol invincibility
throughout Asia." He also wrote that Kublai Khan was determined to
mount a third invasion, despite the horrendous cost to the economy and
to his and Mongol prestige of the first two defeats, and only his death
prevented such a third attempt, despite the unanimous agreement of his
advisors against such an attempt."
In early 2006, previous theories that Kublai's fleet was made up entirely of river boats were weakened when archaeologists discovered evidence of keel-building.
One current theory is that the new Mongol technology of explosives
(grenade-like weapons) may have backfired owing to inexperience when
the Mongols attempted to apply it against Japan.
Invasions of Vietnam
By 1225, the Mongols controlled most of northern China and Manchuria and were eyeing southern China, Vietnam, and Champa. In 1257, 1284, and 1287, the Mongol armies of Kublai Khan invaded Vietnam, sacking the capital at Thang Long (modern day Hanoi)
on each occasion, only to find that the Vietnamese had anticipated
their attacks and evacuated the city beforehand. Disease, shortage of
supplies, the climate, and the Vietnamese strategy of harassment and
scorched-earth tactics foiled the first two invasions. The third Mongol
invasion, of 300,000 men and a vast fleet, was also defeated by the
Vietnamese under the leadership of General Tran Hung Dao. Borrowing a tactic used by Ngo Quyen
in 938 to defeat an invading Chinese fleet, the Vietnamese drove
iron-tipped stakes into the bed of the Bach Dang River and then, with a
small Vietnamese flotilla, lured the Mongol fleet into the river just
as the tide was starting to ebb. Trapped or impaled by the iron-tipped
stakes, the entire Mongol fleet of 400 craft was sunk, captured, or
burned by Vietnamese fire arrows. The Mongol army retreated to China,
harassed enroute by Tran Hung Dao's troops.
Dadu
On 5 May 1260 Kublai was elected Khan at his residence in Shangdu
and he began to organize the country. Zhang Wenqian, who was a friend
of Guo and like him was a central government official, was sent by
Kublai Khan in 1260 to Daming where unrest had been reported in the
local population. Guo accompanied Zhang on his mission. Guo was not
only interested in engineering, but he was also an expert astronomer.
In particular he was a skilled instrument maker and understood that
good astronomical observations depended on expertly made instruments.
He now began to construct astronomical instruments, including water
clocks for accurate timing and armillary spheres which represent the
celestial globe.
Zhang advised Kublai Khan that his friend Guo was a leading expert
in hydraulic engineering. Kublai knew the importance of water
management, for irrigation, transport of grain, and flood control, and
he asked Guo to look at these aspects in the area between Dadu (now
Beijing or Peking) and the Yellow River. To provide Dadu with a new
supply of water, Guo found the Baifu spring in the Shenshan Mountain
and had a 30 km channel built to bring the water to Dadu. He proposed
connecting the water supply across different river basins, built new
canals with many sluices to control the water level, and achieved great
success with the improvements which he was able to make. This pleased
Kublai Khan and led to Guo being asked to undertake similar projects in
other parts of the country. In 1264 he was asked to go to Gansu
province to repair the damage that had been caused to the irrigation
systems by the years of war during the Mongul advance through the
region. Guo travelled extensively along with his friend Zhang taking
notes of the work which needed to be done to unblock damaged parts of
the system and to make improvements to its efficiency. He sent his
report directly to Kublai Khan.
Later life
Kublai, in the later part of his life developed severe gout.
He also put on a lot of weight due to eating lots of animal organs. It
is believed that this was a result of the death of not only his
favorite wife, but also his chosen heir shortly before this period.
This also more than likely increased the amount of purines in his blood
which probably lead to his problems with gout, ultimately leading to
his death in 1294.
Notes
General note: Dates given here are in the Julian calendar. They are not in the proleptic Gregorian calendar.
- ^ This is the singular. The plural is Borjigi.
- ^ This is the most frequent Chinese version of the clan name nowadays.
- ^ This Chinese version of the clan name was the most frequent during the Qing Dynasty.
- ^
The Cambridge History of China thinks that Khiyad was a sublineage
inside the larger Borjigin clan, but other scholars disagree and think
that Borjigin was a sublineage inside the larger Khiyad clan, while
there are those who think that Khiyad and Borjigin were both used
interchangeably.
- ^ This is the plural. The singular is Khiyan.
- ^ This Chinese version of Khiyad is the one that appears in the Chinese history of the Yuan Dynasty.
- ^ Founded the Yuan Dynasty on that day. However, was not in control of southern China until February 1276,
when the Southern Song emperor was captured and the imperial seal was
relinquished to the Yuan. The last pockets of resistance in southern
China fell in 1279.
- ^ Rossabi, Morris (1988). Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times. University of California Press, 13. ISBN 0-520-06740-1.
- ^ Rossabi, Morris (1988). Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times. University of California Press, 227-228. ISBN 0-520-06740-1.
External links
References
- Morgan, David. The Mongols (Blackwell Publishers; Reprint edition, April 1990), ISBN 0-631-17563-6.
- Rossabi, Morris. Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times (University of California Press (May 1, 1990)) ISBN 0-520-06740-1.
- Saunders, J.J. The History of the Mongol Conquests (University of Pennsylvania Press (March 1, 2001)) ISBN 0-8122-1766-7.
This page was last modified 15:39, 1 July 2007.All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.) Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a US-registered 501(c)(3) tax-deductible nonprofit charity. taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khubilai_Khan
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