Toluid Civil War in the context of "Kublai Khan"

The division of the Mongol Empire began after Möngke Khan died in 1259 in the siege of Diaoyu Castle with no declared successor, precipitating infighting between members of the Tolui family line for the title of khagan that escalated into the Toluid Civil War. This civil war, along with the Berke–Hulagu war and the subsequent Kaidu–Kublai war, greatly weakened the authority of the great khan over the entirety of the Mongol Empire, and the empire fractured into four khanates: the Golden Horde in Eastern Europe, the Chagatai Khanate in Central Asia, the Ilkhanate in Iran, and the Yuan dynasty in China based in modern-day Beijing – although the Yuan emperors held the nominal title of khagan of the empire.

The four divisions each pursued their own interests and objectives and fell at different times. Most of the western khanates did not recognize Kublai as Great Khan. Although some of them still asked Kublai to confirm the enthronement of their new regional khans, the four khanates were functionally independent sovereign states. The Ilkhanate and the Yuan dynasty had close diplomatic relations, and shared scientific and cultural knowledge, but military cooperation between all four Mongol khanates would never occur again — the united Mongol Empire had disintegrated.

Ariq Böke (after 1219–1266) was the seventh and youngest son of Tolui and a grandson of Genghis Khan. After the death of his brother the Great Khan Möngke, Ariq Böke claimed the title of the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire and briefly took power while his brothers Kublai and Hulagu were absent from the Mongolian Plateau. When Kublai returned for an election in 1260, rival factions could not agree, and elected both claimants, Kublai and Ariq Böke, to the throne, resulting in the Toluid Civil War that fragmented the Mongol Empire. Ariq Böke was supported by the traditionalists of the Mongol Empire, while his brother Kublai was supported by the senior princes of North China and Manchuria.
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The House of Ögedei, sometimes called the Ögedeids, was an influential Mongol family and a cadet branch of the Borjigin clan from the 12th to 14th centuries: having been descended from Ögedei Khan (1186-1241) who was the third son and successor of Genghis Khan (1162-1227) that continued the expansion of the Mongol Empire far beyond the East Asian homeland of the Mongols.

When, after the Toluid Möngke Khan's death, the Mongol Empire disintegrated into civil war, the members of the House of Ögedei were influential players in the politics of the region. Among the lines of Genghis Khan's sons — Ögedei, Jochi, Chagatai, and Tolui, the House of Ögedei tended to ally with the Chagataids (descendants of Chagatai) against the House of Jochi, while seeking control for themselves within the Chagatai Khanate at first. The Ögedeids also allied with the Golden Horde against the Yuan founding emperor Kublai (son of Tolui), who was allied with his brother Hulagu, leader of the Ilkhanate in Persia. The Ögedeids attempted to unite the Mongol Empire under their own rule, and Ögedeid princes continued to march against the Yuan dynasty well into the 14th century, such as during the Kaidu–Kublai war.

The Berke–Hulegu war was fought between two Mongol leaders, Berke Khan of the Golden Horde and Hulegu Khan of the Ilkhanate. It was fought mostly in the Caucasus Mountains area in the 1260s after the destruction of Baghdad in 1258. The war overlaps with the Toluid Civil War in the Mongol Empire between two members of the Tolui family line, Kublai Khan and Ariq Böke, who both claimed the title of Great Khan (Khagan). Kublai allied with Hulegu, while Ariq Böke sided with Berke. Hulegu headed to Mongolia for the election of a new Khagan to succeed Möngke Khan, but the loss of the Battle of Ain Jalut to the Mamluks forced him to withdraw back to the Middle East. The Mamluk victory emboldened Berke to invade the Ilkhanate. The Berke–Hulegu war and the Toluid Civil War as well as the subsequent Kaidu–Kublai war marked a key moment in the fragmentation of the Mongol empire after the death of Möngke, the fourth khan of the Mongol Empire.

Kaidu, the leader of the Mongol House of Ögedei, fought a war against Kublai Khan and his successor Temür from 1268 to 1301. Kaidu was the de facto khan of the Chagatai Khanate, while Kublai was the founder of the Yuan dynasty. The Kaidu–Kublai war followed the Toluid Civil War (1260–1264) and resulted in the permanent division of the Mongol Empire. By the time of Kublai's death in 1294, the Mongol Empire had fractured into four separate polities: the Golden Horde khanate in the northwest, the Chagatai Khanate in the middle, the Ilkhanate in the southwest, and the Yuan dynasty in the east based in modern-day Beijing. Although Temür later made peace with the three western khanates in 1304 after Kaidu's death, the four successor states of the Mongol Empire continued their own separate development and fell at different times.