Ögedei Khan

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Ögedei Khan
2nd Khagan of the Mongol Empire
(Supreme Khan of the Mongols)
King of Kings
A portrait of Ögedei produced during the Yuan dynasty. Original size is 47 cm wide and 59.4 cm high. Paint and ink on silk. Now located in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan.
2nd Great Khan of the Mongol Empire
Reign 13 September 1229 – 11 December 1241
Coronation 13 September 1229 in Khuruldai at the Kherlen's Khödöö Aral, Mongolia
Predecessor Genghis Khan
Successor Güyük Khan
Born 7 November 1186
Died 11 December 1241 (aged 55)
Consort Borakchin Khatun
Töregene Khatun
Moge Khatun
Alqui Khatun
Kirgistani Khatun
Kujulder Khatun
Jujai Khatun
Jachin Khatun
Argana Khatun
Issue Güyük Khan
Posthumous name
Emperor Yingwen (英文皇帝, posthumously given in 1266)
Temple name
Taizong (太宗, posthumously given in 1266)
Clan Borjigin
Father Genghis Khan
Mother Börte Ujin
Religion Tengriism

Ögedei (also Ogodei; Mongolian: Өгэдэй, translit. Ögedei, Mongolian: ᠥᠭᠡᠳᠡᠢ Ögedei,[1][2] ᠣᠭᠡᠳᠡᠢ Ogedei, ᠥᠭᠦᠳᠡᠢ Ögüdei;[3] Chinese: 窩闊台; 7 November 1186 – 11 December 1241), was the third son of Genghis Khan and second Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, succeeding his father. He continued the expansion of the empire that his father had begun, and was a world figure when the Mongol Empire reached its farthest extent west and south during the Mongol invasions of Europe and East Asia.[4] Like all of Genghis' primary sons, he participated extensively in conquests in China, Iran, and Central Asia.


Ögedei was the third son of Genghis Khan and Börte Ujin. He participated in the turbulent events of his father's rise. When he was 17 years old, Genghis Khan experienced the disastrous defeat of Khalakhaljid Sands against the army of Jamukha. Ögedei was heavily wounded and lost on the battlefield.[5] His father's adopted brother and companion Borokhula rescued him. Although already married, in 1204 his father gave him Töregene, the wife of a defeated Merkit chief. The addition of such a wife was not uncommon in steppe culture.

After Genghis was proclaimed Emperor or Khagan in 1206, myangans (thousands) of the Jalayir, Besud, Suldus, and Khongqatan clans were given to him as his appanage. Ögedei's territory occupied the Emil and Hobok rivers. According to his father's wish, Ilugei, the commander of the Jalayir, became Ögedei's tutor.

Genghis Khan and three of his four sons.

Ögedei, along with his brothers, campaigned independently for the first time in November 1211 against the Jin dynasty (1115–1234). He was sent to ravage the land south through Hebei and then north through Shanxi in 1213. Ögedei's force drove the Jin garrison out of the Ordos, and he rode to the juncture of the Xi Xia, Jin, and Song domains.[6]

During the Mongol conquest of Eastern Persia, Ögedei and Chagatai massacred the residents of Otrar after a five-month siege in 1219–20 and joined Jochi who was outside the walls of Urganch.[7] Because Jochi and Chagatai were quarreling over the military strategy, Ögedei was appointed by Genghis Khan to oversee the siege of Urganch.[8] They captured the city in 1221. When the rebellion broke out in southeast Persia and Afghanistan, Ögedei also pacified Ghazni.[9]

Ascendancy to Supreme Khan[edit]

Coronation of Ögedei in 1229. Rashid al-Din, early 14th century.

The Empress Yisui insisted that Genghis Khan designate an heir before the invasion of Khwarezmid Empire in 1219. After the terrible brawl between two elder sons Jochi and Chagatai, they agreed that Ögedei was to be chosen as heir. Genghis confirmed their decision.

Genghis Khan died in 1227, and Jochi had died a year or two earlier. Ögedei's younger brother Tolui held the regency until 1229. Ögedei was elected supreme khan in 1229, according to the kurultai held at Kodoe Aral on the Kherlen River after Genghis' death, although this was never really in doubt as it was Genghis' clear wish that he be succeeded by Ögedei. After ritually declining three times, Ögedei was proclaimed Khagan of the Mongols on 13 September 1229.[10] Chagatai continued to support his younger brother's claim.

Genghis Khan saw Ögedei as a courteous and generous character.[11] His charisma is partially credited for his success in keeping the Empire on his father's path. Thanks mostly to the organization left behind by Genghis Khan, and to the personal charisma of Ögedei, the affairs of the Mongol Empire remained for the most part stable during his reign. Ögedei was an extremely pragmatic man, though he made some mistakes during his reign. He had no delusions that he was his father's equal as a military commander or organizer and used the abilities of those he found most capable.

World conquests[edit]

Expansion in the Middle East[edit]

After destroying the Khwarazmian empire, Genghis Khan was free to move against Western Xia. In 1226, however, Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu, the last of the Khwarizm monarchs, returned to Persia to revive the empire lost by his father, Muhammad ‘Ala al-Din II. The Mongol forces sent against him in 1227 were defeated at Dameghan. Another army that marched against Jalal al-Din scored a pyrrhic victory in the vicinity of Isfahan but was unable to follow up that success.

With Ögedei's consent to launch a campaign, Chormaqan left Bukhara at the head of 30,000 to 50,000 Mongol soldiers. He occupied Persia and Khorasan, two long-standing bases of Khwarazmian support. Crossing the Amu Darya River in 1230 and entering Khorasan without encountering any opposition, Chormaqan passed through quickly. He left a sizable contingent behind under the command of Dayir Noyan, who had further instructions to invade western Afghanistan. Chormaqan and the majority of his army then entered the northern section of Persia known as Mazandaran in the autumn of 1230, thus avoiding the mountainous area south of the Caspian Sea. That region was controlled by the Ismailis.

Upon reaching the city of Rey, Chormaqan made his winter camp there and dispatched his armies to pacify the rest of northern Persia. In 1231, he led his army southward and quickly captured the cities of Qum and Hamadan. From there, he sent armies into the regions of Fars and Kirman, whose rulers quickly submitted, preferring to pay tribute to Mongol overlords rather than having their states ravaged. Meanwhile, further east, Dayir steadily achieved his goals in capturing Kabul, Ghazni, and Zawulistan. With the Mongols already in control of Persia, Jalal al-Din was isolated in Transcaucasia where he was banished. Thus all of Persia was added to the Mongol Empire.

The fall of the Jin dynasty[edit]

At the end of 1230, responding to the Jin's unexpected defeat of the Mongol general Doqulkhu, the Khagan went south to Shanxi province with Tolui, clearing the area of the Jin forces and taking the city of Fengxiang. After passing the summer in the north, they again campaigned against the Jin in Henan, cutting through territory of South China to assault the Jin's rear. By 1232 the Jin Emperor was besieged in his capital of Kaifeng. Ögedei soon departed, leaving the final conquest to his generals. After taking several cities, the Mongols, with the belated assistance of the Song dynasty, destroyed the Jin with the fall of Caizhou in February 1234. However, a viceroy of the Song murdered a Mongol ambassador, and the Song armies recaptured the former imperial capitals of Kaifeng, Luoyang, and Chang'an, which were now ruled by the Mongols.

In addition to the war with the Jin dynasty, Ögedei crushed the Eastern Xia founded by Puxian Wannu in 1233, pacifying southern Manchuria. Ögedei subdued the Water Tatars in the northern part of the region and suppressed their rebellion in 1237.

Conquest of Georgia and Armenia[edit]

Ögedei conquered the Kingdom of Georgia and Armenia

The Mongols under Chormaqan returned to the Caucasus in 1232. The walls of Ganjak were breached by catapult and battering ram in 1235. The Mongols eventually withdrew after the citizens of Irbil agreed to send a yearly tribute to the court of the khagan. Chormaqan waited until 1238, when the force of Möngke Khan was also active in the north Caucasus.[12] After subduing Armenia, Chormaqan took Tiflis. In 1238, the Mongols captured Lorhe whose ruler, Shahanshah, fled with his family before the Mongols arrived, leaving the rich city to its fate. After putting up a spirited defense at Hohanaberd, the city's ruler, Hasan Jalal, submitted to the Mongols. Another column then advanced against Gaian, ruled by Prince Avak. The Mongol commander Tokhta ruled out a direct assault and had his men construct a wall around the city, and Avak soon surrendered. By 1240, Chormaqan had completed the conquest of Transcaucasia, forcing the Georgian nobles to surrender.

Invasion of Korea[edit]

In 1224, a Mongol envoy was killed in obscure circumstances and Korea stopped paying tribute.[13] Ögedei dispatched Saritai to subdue Korea and avenge the dead envoy in 1231. Thus, Mongol armies began to invade Korea in order to subdue the kingdom. The Goryeo King temporarily submitted and agreed to accept Mongol overseers. When they withdrew for the summer, however, Choe U moved the capital from Kaesong to Ganghwa Island. Saritai was hit with a stray arrow and died as he campaigned against them.

Ögedei announced plans for the conquest of the Koreans, the Southern Song, the Kipchaks and their European allies, all of whom killed Mongol envoys at the kurultai in Mongolia in 1234. Ögedei appointed Danqu commander of the Mongol army and made Bog Wong, a defected Korean general, governor of 40 cities with their subjects. When the court of Goryeo sued for peace in 1238, Ögedei demanded that the king of Goryeo appear before him in person. The Goryeo king finally sent his relative Yeong Nong-gun Sung with ten noble boys to Mongolia as hostages, temporarily ending the war in 1241.[14]


The Mongol army captures a Rus' city

The Mongol Empire expanded westward under the command of Batu Khan to subdue the Russian steppe and drive into Europe. Their western conquests included almost all of Russia (save Novgorod, which became a vassal, and Minsk, which became part of Lithuania), Hungary, Poland, Serbia and Bulgaria. During the siege of Kolomna, the Khagan's half brother Khulgen[15] was killed by an arrow.

After the conquest of Volga-Bulgaria, Alania, and the Rus' principalities, Ögedei's son Güyük and Chagatai's grandson Büri ridiculed Batu, and the Mongol camp suffered dissension. The Khagan harshly criticized Güyük: "You broke the spirit of every man in your army...Do you think that the Russians surrendered because of how mean you were to your own men?". He then sent Güyük back to continue the conquest of Europe. Güyük and another of Ögedei's sons, Kadan, attacked Transylvania and Poland, respectively.

Ögedei Khan had granted permission to invade the remainder of Europe, all the way to the "Great Sea", the Atlantic Ocean, but his death prevented the invasions from continuing west.

Conflict with the Song China[edit]

In a series of razzias from 1235 to 1245, the Mongols commanded by Ögedei's sons penetrated deep into the Song Dynasty and reached Chengdu, Xiangyang and Yangtze River. But they could not succeed in completing their conquest due to climate and number of the Song troops, and Ögedei's son Khochu died in the process. In 1240, Ögedei's other son Khuden dispatched a subsidiary expedition to Tibet. The situation between the two nations worsened when the Song officers murdered Ögedei's envoys headed by Selmus.[16]

The Mongol expansion throughout the Asian continent under the leadership of Ögedei helped bring political stability and re-establish the Silk Road, the primary trading route between East and West.



Some time after 1235 another Mongol force invaded Kashmir, stationing a darughachi there for several years. Soon Kashmir became a Mongolian dependency.[18] Around the same time, a Kashmiri Buddhist master, Otochi, and his brother Namo arrived at the court of Ögedei.


Portrait of Ögedei Khan (the 14th century). Recreation of a Yuan portrait in the National Palace Museum in Taipei.

Ögedei began bureaucratization of Mongol administration. Three cultures constituted his administration:

Mahamud Yalavach promoted a system in which the government would delegate tax collection to tax farmers who collect payments in silver. Yelu Chucai encouraged Ögedei to institute a traditional Chinese system of government, with taxation in the hands of government agents and payment in a government issued currency. The Muslim merchants, working with capital supplied by the Mongol aristocrats, loaned at higher interest the silver needed for tax payments. At the same time the Mongols began circulating paper currency backed by silver reserves.

Ögedei Khan in traditional Mongolian script

Ögedei abolished the branch departments of state affairs and divided the areas of Mongol-ruled China into ten routes according to the suggestion of Yelü Chucai. He also divided the empire into Beshbalik and Yanjing administration, while the headquarters in Karakorum directly dealt with Manchuria, Mongolia and Siberia. Late in his reign, Amu Darya administration was established. Turkestan was administered by Mahamud Yalavach, while Yelu Chucai administered North China from 1229 to 1240. Ögedei appointed Shigi Khutugh chief judge in China. In Iran, Ögedei appointed first Chin-temur, a Kara-kitai, and then Korguz, an Uyghur who proved to be honest administrator. Later, some of Yelu Chucai's duties were transferred to Mahamud Yalavach and taxes were handed over to Abd-ur-Rahman, who promised to double the annual payments of silver.[19] The Ortoq or partner merchants lent Ögedei's money at exorbitant rates of interest to the peasants, though Ögedei banned considerably higher rates. Despite it proving profitable, many people fled their homes to avoid the tax collectors and their strong-arm gangs.

Ögedei had imperial princes tutored by the Christian scribe Qadaq and the Taoist priest Li Zhichang and built schools and an academy. Ögedei Khan also decreed to issue paper currency backed by silk reserves and founded a Department responsible for destroying old notes. Yelu Chucai protested to Ögedei that his large-scale distribution of appanages in Iran, Western and North China, and Khorazm could lead to a disintegration of the Empire.[20] Ögedei thus decreed that the Mongol nobles could appoint overseers in the appanages, but the court would appoint other officials and collect taxes.

The Khagan proclaimed the Great Yassa as an integral body of precedents, confirming the continuing validity of his father's commands and ordinances, while adding his own. Ögedei codified rules of dress and conduct during the kurultais. Throughout the Empire, in 1234, he created postroad stations (Yam) with a permanent staff who would supply post riders' needs.[21] Relay stations were set up every 25 miles and the yam staff supplied remounts to the envoys and served specified rations. The attached households were exempt from other taxes, but they had to pay a qubchuri tax to supply the goods. Ögedei ordered Chagatai and Batu to control their yams separately. The Khagan prohibited the nobility from issuing paizas (tablets that gave the bearer authority to demand goods and services from civilian populations) and jarliqs. Ögedei decreed that within decimal units one out of every 100 sheep of the well-off should be levied for the poor of the unit, and that one sheep and one mare from every herd should be forwarded to form a herd for the imperial table.[22]


Stone tortoise of Karakorum

From 1235–38 Ögedei constructed a series of palaces and pavilions at stopping places in his annual nomadic route through central Mongolia. The first palace Wanangong was constructed by North Chinese artisans. The Emperor urged his relatives build residences nearby and settled the deported craftsmen from China near the site. The construction of the city, Karakorum (Хархорум), was finished in 1235, assigning different quarters to Islamic and North Chinese craftsmen, who competed to win Ögedei's favor. Earthen walls with 4 gates surrounded the city. Attached were private apartments, while in front of stood a giant stone tortoise bearing an engraved pillar, like those that were commonly used in East Asia. There was a castle with doors like the gates of the garden and a series of lakes where many water fowl gathered. Ögedei erected several houses of worship for his Buddhist, Muslim, Taoist, and Christian followers. In the Chinese ward, there was a Confucian temple where Yelu Chucai used to create or regulate a calendar on the Chinese model.


Statue of Ögedei Khan in Mongolia


Ögedei kept peace among his family, criticizing his son and Chagatai's grandson. The sudden death of Tolui seems to have affected him deeply. According to some sources, Tolui sacrificed his own life, accepting a poisoned drink in shamanist ritual in order to save Ögedei who was suffering from illness.[23] Ögedei fell victim to alcoholism. Chagatai entrusted an official to watch his habit, but Ögedei managed to drink anyway. It is commonly told that he did so by vowing to reduce the number of cups he drank a day then had cups twice the size created for his personal use. When he died at dawn on 11 December 1241, after a late-night drinking bout with Abd-ur-Rahman, the people blamed the sister of Tolui's widow and Abd-ur-Rahman. The Mongol aristocrats recognized, however, that the Khagan's own lack of self-control had killed him.

Ögedei was also known to be a humble man, who did not believe himself to be a genius, and who was willing to listen to and use the great generals that his father left him, as well as those he himself found to be most capable. He was the Emperor (Khagan) but not a dictator.[24] Like all Mongols at his time, he was raised and educated as a warrior from childhood, and as the son of Genghis Khan, he was a part of his father's plan to establish a world empire. His military experience was notable for his willingness to listen to his generals and adapt to circumstances. He was an extremely pragmatic person, much like his father, and looked at the end rather than the means. His steadiness of character and dependability were the traits that his father most valued, and that gained him the role of successor to his father, despite his two older brothers.

Aftermath of Ögedei's death[edit]

Ögedei had nominated his grandson Shiremun as his heir, but Güyük eventually succeeded him after the five-year regency of his widow Töregene Khatun. However, Batu, the Khan of the Golden Horde (also known as the Kipchak Khanate or the Ulus of Jochi) nominally accepted Güyük, who died on the way to confront Batu. It was not until 1255, well into the reign of Möngke Khan, that Batu felt secure enough to again prepare to invade Europe. He died before his plans could be implemented.

When Kublai Khan established the Yuan dynasty in 1271, he had Ögedei Khan placed on the official record as Taizong (Chinese: 太宗).


Ögedei had many khatuns and concubines. Ögedei married first Borakchin and then Töregene. Other wives included Mukha and Jachin.

He had 7 sons:


Yesugei Baghatur
Temüjin (Genghis Khan)


Mongolian Airlines named its Boeing 737-800 EI-CSG Ogoodei Khan.

See also[edit]



  1. ^ "Güyük entry, the official Mongolian glossary of history". mongoltoli.mn/history/h/813 (in Mongolian). Retrieved 2017-03-17. 
  2. ^ "Instances of 'ᠥᠭᠡᠳᠡᠢ ᠬᠠᠭᠠᠨ' in The Abbreviated Golden History, and The Story of the Asragch". tmsdl.media.ritsumei.ac.jp. Retrieved 2017-03-17. 
  3. ^ "Instances of 'ᠥᠭᠦᠳᠡᠢ ᠬᠠᠭᠠᠨ' in The Story of the Asragch". tmsdl.media.ritsumei.ac.jp. Retrieved 2017-03-03. 
  4. ^ John Joseph Saunders The History of the Mongol Conquests, p.74
  5. ^ Secret history of the Mongols, $3, II
  6. ^ Marvin C Whiting Imperial Chinese Military History, p.355
  7. ^ John Joseph Saunders The History of the Mongol Conquests, p.57
  8. ^ John Powell Magill's Guide to Military History: Jap-Pel, p.1148
  9. ^ Richard Ernest Dupuy, Trevor Nevitt Dupuy The encyclopedia of military history, p.336
  10. ^ Michael Prawdin, Gerard (INT) Chaliand, The Mongol Empire, p.237
  11. ^ The Secret history of the Mongols
  12. ^ Timothy May-Mongol Empire: Chormaquan and the Mongol Conquest of the Middle East
  13. ^ Michel Hoàng, Ingrid Cranfield Genghis Khan, p.159
  14. ^ J.Bor Mongol hiigeed Eurasiin diplomat shashtir, vol.II, p.197
  15. ^ He was the son of Genghis Khan by Khulan khatun of the Merkid clan.
  17. ^ Islamic Culture Board Islamic culture, p.256
  18. ^ Thomas T. Allsen Culture and Conquest in Mongol Eurasia, p.84
  19. ^ David Morgan The Mongols, p.102
  20. ^ Chunjiang Fu, Asiapac Editorial, Liping Yang Chinese History, p.148
  21. ^ Josef W. Meri, Jere L. Bacharach Medieval Islamic Civilization, p.632
  22. ^ Mongolia Society – Occasional Papers – p.17
  23. ^ Denis Sinor, John R. Krueger, Rudi Paul Lindner, Valentin Aleksandrovich The Uralic and Altaic Series, p.176
  24. ^ David Morgan The Mongols, p.104


  • Amitai-Preiss, Reuven, The Mamluk-Ilkhanid War, 1998
  • Nicolle, David, The Mongol Warlords Brockhampton Press, 1998
  • Reagan, Geoffry, The Guinness Book of Decisive Battles, Canopy Books, New York (1992)
  • Saunders, J.J., The History of the Mongol Conquests, Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd, 1971, ISBN 0-8122-1766-7
  • Sicker, Martin, The Islamic World in Ascendancy: From the Arab Conquests to the Siege of Vienna, Praeger Publishers, 2000
  • Soucek, Svatopluk, A History of Inner Asia, Cambridge, 2000

External links[edit]

Ögedei Khan
House of Borjigin (1206–1634)
Born: 1186 Died: 1241
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Great Khan of the Mongol Empire
Succeeded by
Töregene Khatun (regent)