Why Two Kurultais in One Year Split the Mongol Empire

The Challenge

When Möngke Khan died in 1259 during his campaign in China, the Mongol Empire had no binding rule for choosing his successor. His brothers Kublai, campaigning in China, and Ariq Böke, holding the homeland and the capital Karakorum, each had a strong claim and powerful supporters.

The Approach

• Kublai held a kurultai in 1260 in his own territory and was proclaimed Great Khan
• Ariq Böke held a rival kurultai at Karakorum the same year and was proclaimed Great Khan as well
• Each side sought allies among the other branches of the family; Alghu of the Chagatai Khanate first backed Ariq Böke, then changed sides
• Kublai, with the resources of China behind him, cut the steppe off from supplies

The Impact

Four years of civil war followed, ending with Ariq Böke's surrender in 1264. Kublai won, but the empire never again acted as a single state.

The western khanates went their own way, and the Mongol world settled into separate realms: the Yuan, the Golden Horde, the Chagatai Khanate and the Ilkhanate.

The Lesson for Leaders

A succession process without a binding rule invites rival claims, and rival claims invite outsiders to take sides. The Mongols had a forum for choosing leaders, the kurultai, but no agreed rule for when and where it met or how its decision bound everyone. Process without clear rules is not a safeguard.