Mongol invasions of Vietnam
Encyclopedia
Mongol invasions of Vietnam or Mongol-Vietnamese War refer to the three times that the Mongol Empire
and its chief khanate the Yuan Dynasty
invaded Đại Việt during the Trần Dynasty and the Kingdom of Champa
: in 1257–1258, 1284–1285, and 1287–1288. The Mongols were defeated by Đại Việt and were forced to withdraw their troops from Đại Việt and Champa. However, the Dai Viet and Champa became tributary state
s of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty.
controlled most of Eurasia
including Eastern Europe
, North China
, Central Asia
, Manchuria
, Turkey
, Tibet
and Iran
. At the same time the Koreans revolted against the rule of the Great Khan
of the Mongol Empire
though the Goryeo
court accepted the demand of submission.
Mongke Khan
(r. 1251–59) planned to attack Song China from three directions in 1256. Therefore, he ordered the prince Kublai to pacify the Dali Kingdom. After subjugating the Dali, Kublai sent one column under Uriyankhadai to south. Uriyankhadai sent envoys to ask the Vietnamese a route to attack Southern Song Dynasty. But the Tran Vietnamese imprisoned Mongol envoys. This action led Uriyankhadai and his son Aju
to invade Đại Việt with 3,000 Mongols and 10,000 Yi tribesmen
.
In 1257, a Mongol column under Uriyankhadai, the son of Subotai, invaded Đại Việt, routing the Vietnamese militant
s and sacking the capital at Thăng Long (renamed Hà Nội in 1831). He executed its inhabitants for the murder of the envoys. Uriyankhadai's troops suffered from disease, heat and guerrilla warfare. Uriyankhadai withdrew when the Trần Emperor accepted Mongol overlordship. The king Trần Thái Tông
paid tribute to Uriyankhadi who had quickly evacuated Đại Việt. Peace lasted until the Mongol invasion in 1280's.
When Kublai became the Great Khan, the relationship between the two nations was in good shape. According to the history of the Yuan Dynasty
, the Trần court sent tribute every three years and received a darughachi
. By 1266, however, a standoff developed, as the King Thánh Tông
sought to a loose tributary relationship. While Kublai demanded full submission, Thánh Tông sent official letter strongly requiring Kublai to take his darughachi back. Because of the civil war of the Mongol Empire and the conquest of China, armed conflict was delayed. Instead Kublai reminded him of the peace treaty signed by the Mongols and Đại Việt.
By 1278–79, the Mongol troops stationed along Đại Việt's borders. The Trầns' new ruler Nhân Tông resisted renewed Mongol demands for personal attendance at Kublai's court but dispatched his uncle Tran Di Ai as envoy. Kublai tried to enthrone Di Ai as prince in 1281 but Di Ai and his small army were ambushed by Đại Việt forces.
, the governor of Canton
, was dispatched to demand full-submission of Champa. Although, the king of Champa accepted the Mongol protectorate
, his subjects strongly ignored it. In 1282, Sogetu led a maritime invasion of Champa with 5,000 men, but could only muster 100 ships because most of the Yuan dynasty's ships had been lost in the invasions of Japan
. However, Sogetu was successful in capturing Vijaya
, the Champa capital later that year. The aged Champa king Indravarman V
retreated out of the capital, avoiding Mongol attempts to capture him in the hills. His son would wage a guerilla war with the Mongols for the next few years, eventually wearing down the invaders. Stymied by the withdrawal of the Champa king, Sogetu asked reinforcements from Kublai but sailed home in 1284, just as another Mongol fleets with more than 15,000 troops under Ataqai and Arikhgiya reembarked on a fruitless mission to reinforce him. Sogetu presented his plan to have more troops come over through Đại Việt, because he believed the Tran was a Mongol vassal
. Kublai liked the idea and put his son Toghan, in command, with Sogetu in second command.
in June, 1285. Drawing from experience with previous Chinese invasions, the Đại Việt royal family abandoned the capital, and retreated south, while enacting a scorched earth
campaign by burning villages and crops. At the same time, Sogetu moved his army up north in an attempt to envelop Đại Việt in a pincer movement
. The Cham were in hot pursuit of Sogetu, however, and managed to kill Sogetu and defeat his army while it was moving north. As the Yuan forces advanced down the Red River, dispersing their power, General Quang Khải counterattacked them at Chương Dương, forcing Toghan to withdraw. Toghan returned without a huge loss of the army under him thanks to Kypchak officer Sidor and his navy
. Seeing the Mongol force weakened under the Vietnamese heat and sickness, Trần Hưng Đạo took this opportunity to strike, selecting battlefields where the Mongol cavalry could not be fully employed. The Mongol forces under Sogetu and Li Heng (tiếng Việt: Lí Hằng) suffered a major defeat on the muddy grounds of the Red River. The Yuan army retreated north, but few made it back to China due to constant harassment by Đại Việt troops and fighters from the Hmong
and Yao
peoples.
The next year Kublai installed Nhân Tông's younger brother Trần Ích Tắc, a defector to the Yuan, as prince of Đại Việt. But hardship in the Yuan's Hunan
supply base aborted his plan.
The third Mongol invasion was also defeated by the Đại Việt forces under the leadership of General, later Prince Trần Hưng Đạo. In 1287 Toghan invaded with 70,000 regular troops, 21,000 tribal auxiliaries
from Yunnan
and Hainan
, a 1,000-man vanguard under Abachi, and 500 ships under the Muslim
Omar
(tiếng Việt: Ô Mã Nhi) and Chinese
Fanji (according to some sources, the Mongol force was composed of 300,000–500,000 men). Kublai sent the veterans such as Arikhgiya, Nasir al-Din and his grandson Esen-Temur. The strategy of this invasion was different: a huge base was to be established just inland from Hải Phòng, and a large-scale naval assault mounted as well as a land attack. Trần Hưng Đạo withdrew from inhabited areas, leaving the Mongols with nothing to conquer. 500 vessels were prepared to bring provisions to Toghan's army. Borrowing a tactic used by general, later Emperor Ngô Quyền
in 938 to defeat an invading Chinese fleet, the Đại Việt forces drove iron-tipped stakes into the bed of the Bạch Đằng River, and then, with a small flotilla, lured the Mongol fleet into the river just as the tide was starting to ebb. Trapped or impaled by the iron-tipped stakes (some of which have been recently recovered and now being displayed in a Hanoi museum), the entire Mongol fleet of 400 craft was sunk, captured, or burned by fire arrows. This would later become known as the Battle of Bạch Đằng. Caught between the Champa and Đại Việt, Sogetu lost his life. The Mongol army retreated to China, harassed en-route by Trần Hưng Đạo's troops. The Yuan officers such as Abachi and Fanji died in bloody retreat and Omar was captured.
Kublai angrily banished Toghan to Yangzhou
for life. The Mongols and the Tran Vietnamese agreed to exchange their war prisoners. While Nhan Tong was willing to pay tribute to the Yuan, relations again foundered on the question of attendance at the Mongol court and hostile relations continued.
The Trần Dynasty decided to accept Mongol supremacy in order to avoid further conflicts. Tran Nhon Tong acknowledged himself Kublai's vassal in late 1288. Because he refused to come in person, Kublai detained his envoy, Dao-tu Ki, in 1293. Kublai's successor Temur Khan (r.1294-1307), finally released all detained envoys, settling for a tributary relationship, which continued to the end of the Mongol Empire.
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
and its chief khanate the Yuan Dynasty
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...
invaded Đại Việt during the Trần Dynasty and the Kingdom of Champa
Champa
The kingdom of Champa was an Indianized kingdom that controlled what is now southern and central Vietnam from approximately the 7th century through to 1832.The Cham people are remnants...
: in 1257–1258, 1284–1285, and 1287–1288. The Mongols were defeated by Đại Việt and were forced to withdraw their troops from Đại Việt and Champa. However, the Dai Viet and Champa became tributary state
Tributary state
The term tributary state refers to one of the two main ways in which a pre-modern state might be subordinate to a more powerful neighbour. The heart of the relationship was that the tributary would send a regular token of submission to the superior power...
s of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty.
Background
By 1250, the MongolsMongols
Mongols ) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia...
controlled most of Eurasia
Eurasia
Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...
including Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
, North China
North China
thumb|250px|Northern [[People's Republic of China]] region.Northern China or North China is a geographical region of China. The heartland of North China is the North China Plain....
, Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
, Manchuria
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
and Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
. At the same time the Koreans revolted against the rule of the Great Khan
Mongol invasions of Korea
The Mongol invasions of Korea consisted of a series of campaigns by the Mongol Empire against Korea, then known as Goryeo, from 1231 to 1270...
of the Mongol Empire
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
though the Goryeo
Goryeo
The Goryeo Dynasty or Koryŏ was a Korean dynasty established in 918 by Emperor Taejo. Korea gets its name from this kingdom which came to be pronounced Korea. It united the Later Three Kingdoms in 936 and ruled most of the Korean peninsula until it was removed by the Joseon dynasty in 1392...
court accepted the demand of submission.
Mongke Khan
Möngke Khan
Möngke Khan , born Möngke, , was the fourth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire from July 1, 1251 – August 11, 1259. He was the first Great Khan from the Toluid line, and made significant reforms to improve the administration of the Empire during his reign...
(r. 1251–59) planned to attack Song China from three directions in 1256. Therefore, he ordered the prince Kublai to pacify the Dali Kingdom. After subjugating the Dali, Kublai sent one column under Uriyankhadai to south. Uriyankhadai sent envoys to ask the Vietnamese a route to attack Southern Song Dynasty. But the Tran Vietnamese imprisoned Mongol envoys. This action led Uriyankhadai and his son Aju
Aju
Aju was a general and chancellor of the Mongol Empire and the Yuan Dynasty. He was from the Jarchud clan of the Mongol Uriankhai....
to invade Đại Việt with 3,000 Mongols and 10,000 Yi tribesmen
Yi people
The Yi or Lolo people are an ethnic group in China, Vietnam, and Thailand. Numbering 8 million, they are the seventh largest of the 55 ethnic minority groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China...
.
The first sack of Thăng Long (Hanoi)
Militant
The word militant, which is both an adjective and a noun, usually is used to mean vigorously active, combative and aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in 'militant reformers'. It comes from the 15th century Latin "militare" meaning "to serve as a soldier"...
s and sacking the capital at Thăng Long (renamed Hà Nội in 1831). He executed its inhabitants for the murder of the envoys. Uriyankhadai's troops suffered from disease, heat and guerrilla warfare. Uriyankhadai withdrew when the Trần Emperor accepted Mongol overlordship. The king Trần Thái Tông
Trần Thái Tông
Trần Thái Tông, born name: Trần Cảnh , July 17, 1218-May 4, 1277) was the first emperor of the Trần Dynasty, seated on the throne for 33 years , being Grand Emperor for 19 years.-Biography:...
paid tribute to Uriyankhadi who had quickly evacuated Đại Việt. Peace lasted until the Mongol invasion in 1280's.
When Kublai became the Great Khan, the relationship between the two nations was in good shape. According to the history of the Yuan Dynasty
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...
, the Trần court sent tribute every three years and received a darughachi
Darughachi
Darughachi, which originally designated officials in the Mongol Empire in charge of taxes and administration in a certain province, is the plural form of the Mongolian word darugha. They were sometimes referred to as governors...
. By 1266, however, a standoff developed, as the King Thánh Tông
Tran Thanh Tong
Trần Thánh Tông , given name Trần Hoảng , was the second emperor of the Trần Dynasty, reigning over Đại Việt from 1258 to 1278. After ceding the throne to his son Trần Nhân Tông, Thánh Tông held the title Thái thượng hoàng from 1279 to his death in 1290...
sought to a loose tributary relationship. While Kublai demanded full submission, Thánh Tông sent official letter strongly requiring Kublai to take his darughachi back. Because of the civil war of the Mongol Empire and the conquest of China, armed conflict was delayed. Instead Kublai reminded him of the peace treaty signed by the Mongols and Đại Việt.
By 1278–79, the Mongol troops stationed along Đại Việt's borders. The Trầns' new ruler Nhân Tông resisted renewed Mongol demands for personal attendance at Kublai's court but dispatched his uncle Tran Di Ai as envoy. Kublai tried to enthrone Di Ai as prince in 1281 but Di Ai and his small army were ambushed by Đại Việt forces.
Champa
Sogetu of the JalayirJalayir
Jalayir is one of the Darliqin Mongol tribes according to Rashid-al-Din Hamadani's Jami' al-tawarikh. After the Mongol conquest in the 13th century many Jalayirs spread over Central Asia and the Middle East. Jalayirs are one of the founding tribes of Mongolia's largest ethnic group Khalkha....
, the governor of Canton
Guangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
, was dispatched to demand full-submission of Champa. Although, the king of Champa accepted the Mongol protectorate
Protectorate
In history, the term protectorate has two different meanings. In its earliest inception, which has been adopted by modern international law, it is an autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically or militarily against third parties by a stronger state or entity...
, his subjects strongly ignored it. In 1282, Sogetu led a maritime invasion of Champa with 5,000 men, but could only muster 100 ships because most of the Yuan dynasty's ships had been lost in the invasions of Japan
Mongol invasions of Japan
The ' of 1274 and 1281 were major military efforts undertaken by Kublai Khan to conquer the Japanese islands after the submission of Goryeo to vassaldom. Despite their ultimate failure, the invasion attempts are of macrohistorical importance, because they set a limit on Mongol expansion, and rank...
. However, Sogetu was successful in capturing Vijaya
Vijaya (Champa)
Vijaya was a city-state in the ancient kingdom of Champa in what is now south-central Vietnam. It was the capital of Champa for several centuries until it was conquered by Vietnam in 1471.-Geography, Economy, Transport:...
, the Champa capital later that year. The aged Champa king Indravarman V
Indravarman V
Indravarman V was a king of Champa whose reign began in 1265 by declining to give his respects in person to the Mongol Khan, Kublai Khan. He died, however, before he could face the wrath of Mongolia, leaving his son, Chế Mân, to face the challenge....
retreated out of the capital, avoiding Mongol attempts to capture him in the hills. His son would wage a guerilla war with the Mongols for the next few years, eventually wearing down the invaders. Stymied by the withdrawal of the Champa king, Sogetu asked reinforcements from Kublai but sailed home in 1284, just as another Mongol fleets with more than 15,000 troops under Ataqai and Arikhgiya reembarked on a fruitless mission to reinforce him. Sogetu presented his plan to have more troops come over through Đại Việt, because he believed the Tran was a Mongol vassal
Vassal
A vassal or feudatory is a person who has entered into a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, usually including the grant of land held...
. Kublai liked the idea and put his son Toghan, in command, with Sogetu in second command.
Mongol wars 1284-88
In 1284 Kublai appointed his son Toghan (tiếng Việt: Thoát Hoan) to conquer Champa. Toghan demanded from the Tran a route to Champa, which would trap the Champan army from both north and south. While Nhân Tông preferred the surrender, General Hưng Đạo rallied 15,000 troops and refused to help the Mongols by providing a route and supplies. However, Toghan defeated Hung Dao's army and reoccupied Thăng LongThang Long
Thang Long can be:*Former name of Hanoi*Thang Long Imperial City...
in June, 1285. Drawing from experience with previous Chinese invasions, the Đại Việt royal family abandoned the capital, and retreated south, while enacting a scorched earth
Scorched earth
A scorched earth policy is a military strategy or operational method which involves destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area...
campaign by burning villages and crops. At the same time, Sogetu moved his army up north in an attempt to envelop Đại Việt in a pincer movement
Pincer movement
The pincer movement or double envelopment is a military maneuver. The flanks of the opponent are attacked simultaneously in a pinching motion after the opponent has advanced towards the center of an army which is responding by moving its outside forces to the enemy's flanks, in order to surround it...
. The Cham were in hot pursuit of Sogetu, however, and managed to kill Sogetu and defeat his army while it was moving north. As the Yuan forces advanced down the Red River, dispersing their power, General Quang Khải counterattacked them at Chương Dương, forcing Toghan to withdraw. Toghan returned without a huge loss of the army under him thanks to Kypchak officer Sidor and his navy
Navy
A navy is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions...
. Seeing the Mongol force weakened under the Vietnamese heat and sickness, Trần Hưng Đạo took this opportunity to strike, selecting battlefields where the Mongol cavalry could not be fully employed. The Mongol forces under Sogetu and Li Heng (tiếng Việt: Lí Hằng) suffered a major defeat on the muddy grounds of the Red River. The Yuan army retreated north, but few made it back to China due to constant harassment by Đại Việt troops and fighters from the Hmong
Hmong people
The Hmong , are an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Hmong are also one of the sub-groups of the Miao ethnicity in southern China...
and Yao
Yao people
The Yao nationality is a government classification for various minorities in China. They form one of the 55 ethnic minority groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China, where they reside in the mountainous terrain of the southwest and south...
peoples.
The next year Kublai installed Nhân Tông's younger brother Trần Ích Tắc, a defector to the Yuan, as prince of Đại Việt. But hardship in the Yuan's Hunan
Hunan
' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...
supply base aborted his plan.
The third Mongol invasion was also defeated by the Đại Việt forces under the leadership of General, later Prince Trần Hưng Đạo. In 1287 Toghan invaded with 70,000 regular troops, 21,000 tribal auxiliaries
Auxiliaries
An auxiliary force is a group affiliated with, but not part of, a military or police organization. In some cases, auxiliaries are armed forces operating in the same manner as regular soldiers...
from Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
and Hainan
Hainan
Hainan is the smallest province of the People's Republic of China . Although the province comprises some two hundred islands scattered among three archipelagos off the southern coast, of its land mass is Hainan Island , from which the province takes its name...
, a 1,000-man vanguard under Abachi, and 500 ships under the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
Omar
Omar
Omar can refer to:-Name:* Omar , including a list of people with the given name or surname Omar, Omer or Umar as well-Places:* Omar, Konar, a village in Afghanistan...
(tiếng Việt: Ô Mã Nhi) and Chinese
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
Fanji (according to some sources, the Mongol force was composed of 300,000–500,000 men). Kublai sent the veterans such as Arikhgiya, Nasir al-Din and his grandson Esen-Temur. The strategy of this invasion was different: a huge base was to be established just inland from Hải Phòng, and a large-scale naval assault mounted as well as a land attack. Trần Hưng Đạo withdrew from inhabited areas, leaving the Mongols with nothing to conquer. 500 vessels were prepared to bring provisions to Toghan's army. Borrowing a tactic used by general, later Emperor Ngô Quyền
Ngo Quyen
Ngô Quyền was a Vietnamese prefect and general during the Southern Han Dynasty occupation of Giao Châu in the Red River Valley in what is now northern Vietnam...
in 938 to defeat an invading Chinese fleet, the Đại Việt forces drove iron-tipped stakes into the bed of the Bạch Đằng River, and then, with a small flotilla, lured the Mongol fleet into the river just as the tide was starting to ebb. Trapped or impaled by the iron-tipped stakes (some of which have been recently recovered and now being displayed in a Hanoi museum), the entire Mongol fleet of 400 craft was sunk, captured, or burned by fire arrows. This would later become known as the Battle of Bạch Đằng. Caught between the Champa and Đại Việt, Sogetu lost his life. The Mongol army retreated to China, harassed en-route by Trần Hưng Đạo's troops. The Yuan officers such as Abachi and Fanji died in bloody retreat and Omar was captured.
Aftermath in Đại Việt
Yangzhou
Yangzhou is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu Province, People's Republic of China. Sitting on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, it borders the provincial capital of Nanjing to the southwest, Huai'an to the north, Yancheng to the northeast, Taizhou to the east, and Zhenjiang across...
for life. The Mongols and the Tran Vietnamese agreed to exchange their war prisoners. While Nhan Tong was willing to pay tribute to the Yuan, relations again foundered on the question of attendance at the Mongol court and hostile relations continued.
The Trần Dynasty decided to accept Mongol supremacy in order to avoid further conflicts. Tran Nhon Tong acknowledged himself Kublai's vassal in late 1288. Because he refused to come in person, Kublai detained his envoy, Dao-tu Ki, in 1293. Kublai's successor Temur Khan (r.1294-1307), finally released all detained envoys, settling for a tributary relationship, which continued to the end of the Mongol Empire.
Aftermath in Champa
The Champa Kingdom decided to accept Mongol supremacy. A tributary relationship, which continued for the life of the Mongol Empire. The king of Champa made the act of vassalage to the Mongols.See also
- Kingdom of ChampaChampaThe kingdom of Champa was an Indianized kingdom that controlled what is now southern and central Vietnam from approximately the 7th century through to 1832.The Cham people are remnants...
- Battle of Bạch Đằng (1288)
- Tran Hung Dao
- Mongol EmpireMongol EmpireThe Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
- Yuan DynastyYuan DynastyThe Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...
- Kublai KhanKublai KhanKublai Khan , born Kublai and also known by the temple name Shizu , was the fifth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire from 1260 to 1294 and the founder of the Yuan Dynasty in China...
- Mongol invasionsMongol invasionsMongol invasions progressed throughout the 13th century, resulting in the vast Mongol Empire which covered much of Asia and Eastern Europe by 1300....