Overview
Baraq Khan was a great-grandson of Chagatai who seized the Chagatai throne in 1266, broke with the man who had raised him, Kublai Khan, and spent his short reign fighting on every side of the Mongol civil wars. He is one of the clearest examples in Mongol history of a ruler whose tactical boldness outran his strategy: he won his throne quickly, made a powerful partner in Kaidu, then squandered both in a failed invasion of the Ilkhanate.
His family had been exiled to China by Möngke Khan for supporting the house of Ögedei, and Baraq grew up in Kublai's camp. Kublai sent him west to secure the Chagatai lands for his side. Baraq did secure them, but for himself.
Rise to Power
In the early 1260s Baraq won the trust of the reigning khan, Mubarak Shah. In September 1266, having gained the army's support, he deposed Mubarak Shah and took the throne. He then repudiated Kublai's authority, expelled Kublai's representative in Turkestan and raided Khotan. Unable to dislodge him, Kublai sent him a grant in 1268 to end the conflict.
Baraq's real rival was Kaidu, the Ögedeid prince who was building a power base to the north. After fighting each other, the two made peace at a meeting that Rashid al-Din places at Talas in spring 1269. Transoxiana was divided, two-thirds to Baraq and one-third to Kaidu and the Golden Horde khan Möngke-Temür, and both sides agreed to leave the cities under the administrator Mas'ud Beg and keep their armies in the steppe and mountains.
Rule and Achievements
- Took the Chagatai throne in 1266 and asserted the khanate's independence from Kublai
- Reached a power-sharing settlement with Kaidu over Transoxiana, one of the first formal divisions of a Mongol realm between rival branches
- Invaded the Ilkhanate in 1269–1270 with troops supplied by Kaidu, persuaded the Chagatayid commander Tegüder to defect from the Ilkhan Abaqa, and won early victories in Khorasan
- Was decisively defeated by Abaqa near Herat on 22 July 1270; wounded, he retreated to Bukhara as many of his troops deserted
- Converted to Islam and took the name Ghiyas ud-Din, one of the first Chagatai khans to do so
Legacy
Baraq's reign ended in collapse. After Herat he broke his agreement with Kaidu by reoccupying Bukhara and plundered the cities of Transoxiana to rebuild his army, damaging the very tax base he had fought to control. He died on 9 August 1271 as Kaidu's forces arrived; some sources say from shock, others that Kaidu had him poisoned. Kaidu was proclaimed khan soon after and controlled the appointment of Chagatai khans for the rest of his life.
The lesson of Baraq's career is that an alliance is only as strong as the commitments that sustain it. He won a valuable partnership with Kaidu, then spent it on a war of expansion his partner did not fully support, and lost both the war and the partnership.