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Mongol Empire

1206 CE – 1368 CE

From Genghis Khan's unification of the steppe to the fall of the Yuan — the largest contiguous land empire in history, sweeping from Korea to the gates of Europe.

290 events · 429 people · 5 eras

Key events

1. Battle of the Kalka River1223 CE
   The Battle of the Kalka River was fought between the Mongol Empire, whose armies were led by Jebe and Subutai, and a coalition of several Rus' principalities, including Kiev and Galicia-Volhynia, and the Cumans under Köten. They were under the joint command of Mstislav the Bold and Mstislav III of Kiev. The battle was fought on May 31, 1223 on the banks of the Kalka River in present-day Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, and ended in a decisive Mongol victory.
2. Siege of Baghdad1258 CE
   The Siege of Baghdad, also known as the Sack of Baghdad, took place in early 1258. A large army commanded by Hulegu, a prince of the Mongol Empire, attacked the historic capital of the Abbasid Caliphate after a series of provocations from its ruler, caliph al-Musta'sim. Within a few weeks, Baghdad fell and was sacked by the Mongol army—al-Musta'sim was killed alongside hundreds of thousands of his subjects. The city's fall has traditionally been seen as marking the end of the Islamic Golden Age; in reality, its ramifications are uncertain.
3. Battle of Ain Jalut1260 CE
   The Battle of Ain Jalut, also spelled Ayn Jalut, was fought between the Bahri Mamluks of Egypt and the Ilkhanate on 3 September 1260 near the spring of Ain Jalut in southeastern Galilee in the Jezreel Valley. It marks the first major halt to Mongolian advances and paused their expansion into Arabia and Europe.
4. Black Death1346 CE
   The Black Death was a plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the most fatal pandemics in human history, leading to the death of up to 50 million people, or 50% of Europe's 14th-century population. The disease is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and is spread by fleas and through the air. One of the most significant events in European history, the Black Death had far-reaching population, economic, and cultural effects. It was the beginning of the second plague pandemic. The plague created religious, social, and economic upheavals, with profound effects on the course of European history.
5. Mongol invasions and conquests1206 CE
   The Mongol conquests took place during the 13th and 14th centuries, creating the largest contiguous empire in history, the Mongol Empire (1206–1368), which by 1260 covered a significant portion of Eurasia. At its height, it stretched from the Pacific to Central Europe. As the Mongol Empire began to fragment from 1260, conflict between the Mongols and Eastern European polities continued for centuries. Mongols continued to rule China into the 14th century under the Yuan dynasty, while Mongol rule in Persia persisted into the 15th century under the Timurid Empire. In the Indian subcontinent, the later Mughal Empire survived into the 19th century.
6. Red Turban Rebellion1351 CE
   The Red Turban Rebellions were uprisings against the Yuan dynasty between 1351 and 1368, eventually leading to its collapse. Remnants of the Yuan imperial court retreated northwards and is thereafter known as the Northern Yuan in historiography.
7. Battle of Köse Dağ1243 CE
   The Battle of Köse Dağ took place in eastern Anatolia on 26 June 1243 when an army of the Sultanate of Rum, led by Sultan Kaykhusraw II, confronted an invading Mongol army under the general Baiju and was decisively defeated. The battle was the pivotal event of the Mongol conquest of Anatolia: Rum, previously a significant independent power in the eastern Mediterranean, was reduced to the status of a client kingdom, and its territories were later absorbed into the Mongol Ilkhanate.
8. Byzantine–Ottoman wars1265 CE
   The Byzantine–Ottoman wars were a series of decisive conflicts between the Byzantine Greeks and Ottoman Turks and their allies that led to the final destruction of the Byzantine Empire and the rise of the Ottoman Empire. The Byzantines, already having been in a weak state even before the dismemberment of their Empire following the Fourth Crusade, failed to recover fully under the rule of the Palaiologos dynasty. Thus, the Byzantines faced increasingly disastrous defeats at the hands of the Ottomans. Ultimately, they lost Constantinople in 1453, formally ending the conflicts.
9. Siege of Acre1291 CE
   The siege of Acre took place in 1291 and resulted in the Crusaders' losing control of Acre to the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt. It is considered one of the most important battles of the period. Although the crusading movement continued for several more centuries, the capture of the city marked the end of further crusades to the Levant. When Acre fell to the Egyptians, the Crusaders lost their last major stronghold of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.
10. Battle of Bapheus1302 CE
    The Battle of Bapheus occurred on 27 July 1302, between an Ottoman army under Osman I and a Byzantine army under George Mouzalon. The battle ended in a crucial Ottoman victory, cementing the Ottoman state and heralding the final capture of Byzantine Bithynia by the Ottoman Turks.
11. Battle of Forbie1244 CE
    The Battle of Forbie, also known as the Battle of La Forbie or the Battle of Hiribya, was fought on October 17–18, 1244 between the allied armies and the Egyptian army of the Ayyubid Sultan as-Salih Ayyub, reinforced with Khwarezmian mercenaries. The resulting Ayyubid victory led to the call for the Seventh Crusade and marked the collapse of Christian power in the Holy Land.
12. Battle of Fariskur1250 CE
    The Battle of Fariskur was the last major battle of the Seventh Crusade. The battle was fought on 6 April 1250, between the Crusaders led by King Louis IX of France and Egyptian forces led by Turanshah of the Ayyubid dynasty.

Notable people

• Genghis Khan1162 CE – 1227 CE
• Timur1336 CE – 1405 CE
• Kublai Khan1215 CE – 1294 CE
• Osman I1258 CE – 1326 CE
• Louis IX of France1214 CE – 1270 CE
• Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor1194 CE – 1250 CE
• Edward I of England1239 CE – 1307 CE
• Orhan1281 CE – 1362 CE
• Gregory IX1170 CE – 1241 CE
• Ögedei Khan1186 CE – 1241 CE
• Alexander Nevsky1220 CE – 1263 CE
• Batu Khan1205 CE – 1255 CE

Eras spanning this view

Related atlas views

• China
• Russia
• Abbasid Baghdad

Explore more of the atlas

• Tang Dynasty China
• Three Kingdoms
• Japan
• Heian Japan
• East Asia
• India

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Events from Wikipedia/Wikidata (CC-BY-SA); base map © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL); era boundaries are a hand-curated set in v1. Spotted a mistake? Email [email protected].