The Toluid Civil War of 1260 to 1264 was caused by a complex mixture of political, personal, and ideological factors. The most immediate cause was the death of Möngke Khan in 1259, which left the imperial throne vacant and triggered a contest between the various branches of the imperial family. The deeper causes, however, were rooted in the structure of the Mongol state and in the long-term trends that had been shaping the empire since the death of Genghis Khan.
The civil war was not simply a struggle for the throne. It was a struggle between different visions of what the Mongol Empire should be, and it was driven by a combination of personal ambition, regional interest, and ideological disagreement.
The Problem of Succession
The most fundamental cause of the civil war was the absence of a clear law of succession in the Mongol state. The Mongol political tradition recognized the right of the imperial family to elect the great khan, but it had no clear principle for choosing among the candidates. The original principle of fraternal rotation (with the succession passing to the youngest brother, then to the eldest brother’s sons) had been broken by the election of Möngke Khan, and the new principle of father-to-son succession had not yet been clearly established.
The result was a situation in which every election was a contest. The Toluid branch of the family had been particularly successful in producing candidates for the throne: Tolui, the youngest son of Genghis Khan, had four sons (Möngke, Kublai, Hulagu, and Ariq Böke) who all had claims to the throne, and the Ögedeid branch had produced two candidates (Güyük and Kaidu) who were both potential claimants. The Chagataid branch was smaller, but it too had candidates who could potentially be elected.
The contested election of 1260 was, in a sense, a consequence of the demographic success of the Toluid branch. The Toluid candidates were all grandsons of Genghis Khan, and they all had the right to be considered for the throne. The political tradition, however, did not provide a clear way to choose among them, and the contest had to be decided by force.
The Ideological Conflict
The civil war was also driven by an ideological conflict between two visions of the Mongol Empire. The first vision, associated with Kublai and the Toluid princes, was that the empire should be a cosmopolitan, multi-ethnic state that adopted the best practices of the conquered peoples. Kublai was a sophisticated, multilingual ruler with a strong interest in Chinese culture, and he was committed to the idea of a Yuan Dynasty that combined Mongol military power with Chinese administrative experience.
The second vision, associated with the Ögedeid prince Kaidu and the conservative Mongol princes, was that the empire should remain a traditional steppe state, with the Mongol ruling class preserving its distinctively Mongol identity and way of life. Kaidu was a brilliant military commander who ruled a substantial portion of Central Asia from his base in the Ili Valley, and he was the most consistent opponent of the Toluid line.
The ideological conflict was sharpened by the geographical separation of the two sides. Kublai was based in China, where the majority of the population was Chinese and where the political tradition was Confucian; Kaidu was based in Central Asia, where the population was a mixture of Turks, Mongols, and other peoples and where the political tradition was more closely tied to the steppe.
The Personal Conflict
The civil war was also driven by a personal conflict between the two leading Toluid princes, Kublai and Hulagu, and their younger brother Ariq Böke. Ariq Böke, the youngest son of Tolui, had been the favorite of the conservative Mongol princes, and he was the preferred candidate of the Ögedeid and Chagataid branches. Kublai and Hulagu, on the other hand, were the most powerful of the Toluid princes, and they were the natural leaders of the cosmopolitan faction.
The personal conflict between Kublai and Ariq Böke was sharpened by the long-standing tensions between the two brothers. The two men had different political visions, different social networks, and different personal styles. Kublai was an intellectual, a patron of culture, and a careful politician; Ariq Böke was a more traditional Mongol prince, more interested in hunting, warfare, and the traditional steppe life. The contest between the two brothers was, in a sense, a contest between the two halves of the Mongol ruling class.
The Regional Conflicts
The civil war was also driven by a series of regional conflicts that had been building for decades. The Golden Horde, ruled by Berke Khan, was increasingly hostile to the Ilkhanate in Persia, and Berke supported Ariq Böke against Kublai and Hulagu. The Chagatai Khanate, ruled by Alghu, also supported Ariq Böke. The Ögedeid principality of Kaidu, based in the Ili Valley, was a major opponent of the Toluid line. The result was a complex web of alliances and rivalries that made the civil war a much more complicated affair than a simple contest between two candidates for the throne.
The regional conflicts were also connected to the broader question of the political unity of the empire. The khanates of Persia, the Russian steppes, and Central Asia had been developing their own political and cultural identities for decades, and the civil war provided an opportunity for these khanates to assert their independence. The civil war was, in a sense, the political expression of a deeper cultural fragmentation that had been developing in the Mongol world for decades.
The Triggers: 1259-1260
The immediate trigger of the civil war was the death of Möngke Khan in 1259. Möngke had been campaigning in southern China when he fell ill and died, and his death left the throne vacant. Kublai, who was based in North China, was elected great khan by a kurultai in Shangdu in 1260; a rival kurultai in Karakorum, attended by the conservative princes, elected Ariq Böke. The two elections, only weeks apart, triggered the civil war that would last for four years.
Sources
- David Morgan, The Mongols (2nd ed., Oxford, 2007).
- Peter Jackson, The Mongols and the West, 1221–1410 (London, 2005).
- Timothy May, The Mongol Conquests in World History (London, 2012).