Toluid Civil War (1260-1264): Kublai Khan Versus Ariq Böke

The Toluid Civil War was the struggle for the Mongol throne fought between 1260 and 1264 by two grandsons of Genghis Khan, the brothers Kublai and Ariq Böke. Both were proclaimed Great Khan in 1260 after the death of their brother Möngke. Kublai won, but the war shattered the unity of the Mongol Empire, which from then on was divided into four rival khanates.

Background: Möngke’s death

The brothers were sons of Tolui, Genghis Khan’s youngest son, and his wife Sorghaghtani Beki. In 1251 the Toluid branch seized the throne from the descendants of Ögedei when Möngke became Great Khan. Möngke gave Kublai responsibility for northern China and sent Hulagu to conquer Iran, while the youngest brother, Ariq Böke, stayed in Mongolia.

In 1258 Möngke launched a great campaign against the Song dynasty of southern China. He died on 11 August 1259 while besieging the Diaoyu fortress near modern Chongqing, probably of disease. Ariq Böke was in charge at the capital Karakorum, while Kublai was leading an army against Ezhou (Wuchang) on the Yangtze.

Two Great Khans

Ariq Böke began gathering support in Mongolia and raising troops in northern China. Kublai, warned by his wife Chabi and his advisers, made a truce with the Song and hurried north.

On 5 May 1260 Kublai’s supporters held a kurultai, or assembly of princes, at his city of Kaiping, later known as Xanadu, and proclaimed him Great Khan. A rival kurultai in Mongolia proclaimed Ariq Böke shortly afterwards. Ariq Böke had the stronger claim by tradition, since he held the homeland and was backed by much of Möngke’s family and by Berke of the Golden Horde. Kublai, however, held the richer lands.

Kublai also took a Chinese reign title, Zhongtong (“Central Rule”), and issued new paper money in 1260, signalling that he intended to rule as a Chinese-style emperor as well as a khan.

Two visions of empire

The war was more than a quarrel between brothers. Ariq Böke stood for the traditions of the steppe: a Great Khan who lived among the herds of Mongolia, chosen by the princes in the homeland and drawing tribute from conquered lands. His supporters included Möngke’s widow and sons, many commanders of the central Mongol army, and Berke of the Golden Horde.

Kublai stood for a new model. For a decade he had governed northern China through Chinese officials, and his power rested on its cities, farms and workshops. His backers included the princes of the eastern wing, descended from Genghis Khan’s brothers, and veteran commanders such as Uriyangkhadai, who had fought for him in the south.

Neither claim was obviously illegal. Mongol law expected a kurultai of all branches of the family to choose the khan, but neither assembly of 1260 was complete. In practice, the throne would go to the brother who could feed and pay his army longer.

The course of the war

The decisive factor was supply. Karakorum depended on grain and goods brought from China. Kublai cut off these supplies and in late 1260 occupied the capital, forcing Ariq Böke to retreat north-west to the upper Yenisei region.

Fighting also spread into north-western China. Ariq Böke sent his commander Alamdar to win over Shaanxi and Sichuan, but Kublai’s forces defeated and killed him in Gansu in 1260, securing the lands between China and Central Asia.

The war was also fought for Central Asia. Ariq Böke sent Alghu, a grandson of Chagatai, to take control of the Chagatai Khanate and supply him from its oasis cities. In late 1261 Kublai’s armies defeated Ariq Böke at Shimultai, near the Gobi, though a second battle soon afterwards was indecisive. In 1262 Alghu changed sides and kept the Central Asian resources for himself.

Ariq Böke attacked Alghu and at first defeated him, but his harsh treatment of captured troops and a famine in the region cost him support. In the same year Kublai had to deal with a rebellion in Shandong by Li Tan, a Chinese commander who had long ruled the province almost independently and now made contact with the Song. Kublai’s armies besieged him in Jinan, and he was captured and executed within months. The revolt made Kublai more wary of giving Chinese officials military power. By 1264 Ariq Böke’s following had melted away, and he came to Kublai’s court and surrendered.

Key people

• Kublai (1215-1294): governor of northern China, backed by Chinese advisers and the armies of the north.
• Ariq Böke (died 1266): youngest son of Tolui, guardian of the Mongol homeland and favoured by traditionalists.
• Alghu (died c. 1266): Chagatayid prince who first served Ariq Böke and then deserted him.
• Berke (died 1266): khan of the Golden Horde, who supported Ariq Böke and fought Hulagu.
• Hulagu (died 1265): ruler of Iran, who supported Kublai.

Consequences

Kublai pardoned Ariq Böke, sparing a fellow descendant of Genghis Khan, but executed several of his leading supporters as those responsible for the war. Ariq Böke died in 1266, in circumstances that some contemporaries found suspicious. Kublai called a kurultai to confirm his title, but the khans of the west found reasons not to attend. Before any full assembly could meet, Hulagu died in 1265 and Berke and Alghu in 1266, and their successors were absorbed in their own wars. No general kurultai of the whole family was ever held again.

The war turned the Mongol world into separate states: the Yuan dynasty in China, the Ilkhanate in Iran, the Golden Horde in the western steppe and the Chagatai Khanate in Central Asia. From 1262 the Golden Horde and the Ilkhanate fought each other in the Caucasus. In Central Asia, Ögedei’s grandson Kaidu built up power and fought Kublai and his successor until his death in 1301.

Legacy

Kublai’s victory moved the centre of Mongol power from Karakorum to China. He began building a new capital at Dadu (Beijing) in 1267 and proclaimed the Yuan dynasty in 1271. To traditionalists in the steppe he seemed to have become more Chinese than Mongol, a criticism that partly explains the long resistance led by Kaidu.

The split was confirmed in 1269, when princes of the western branches met near the Talas River in Central Asia without Kublai. They agreed how to share the pastures and oasis revenues of the region among themselves, treating Central Asia as their own affair. Historians often see this meeting as the moment the western khanates openly acted as independent powers, even though Kublai’s title as Great Khan was still formally acknowledged in some quarters.

Timeline

• 1259, 11 August: Möngke dies near the Diaoyu fortress in Sichuan.
• 1260, 5 May: Kublai is proclaimed Great Khan at Kaiping.
• 1260, June: Ariq Böke is proclaimed Great Khan in Mongolia.
• 1260, late: Kublai occupies Karakorum after blockading its supplies.
• 1261, late: Kublai’s forces defeat Ariq Böke at Shimultai.
• 1262: Alghu defects to Kublai; Li Tan’s revolt is crushed; war begins between Berke and Hulagu.
• 1264: Ariq Böke surrenders to Kublai.
• 1266: Death of Ariq Böke.

Why it matters

The Toluid Civil War marked the end of a single Mongol Empire ruled from Mongolia. It made Kublai the founder of a Chinese dynasty and left the western khanates to follow their own paths, shaping the political map of Asia and eastern Europe for the next century.