The Mongol Empire's Fracture and Legacy

In December 1241, the Great Khan Ögödei died in a drunken stupor at age fifty-five, and with him died the Mongol momentum that had been sweeping across Europe. His armies had just crushed the kingdoms of Poland and Hungary, and Western Europe lay exposed before them. But the news of his death pulled the Mongol generals back east for a succession struggle, and Europe was spared. This pattern—a great Khan dying just as Mongol conquests reached their zenith—would repeat itself, and each time the empire's internal divisions would reshape world history.

The Succession Crisis and the Rise of Möngke

Ögödei had been a very different ruler from his father Chinggis Khan. Where Chinggis had distrusted cities and settled peoples, Ögödei dreamed of building a proper capital. He constructed Karakorum in the Mongolian steppe, complete with Chinese-style palaces and Persian craftsmen, and established an extensive postal system called the yam that connected the empire with relay stations and fresh horses every twenty-five miles. But Ögödei was also a profligate drinker and spender who gave away his father's vast treasury until the money ran dry. To refill it, he sent the Mongols back to war.