Until the 1250s, Mongol control in eastern Persia and surrounding lands was not complete, because some local rulers still held power. Although Chinggis had won important victories in Khorazm and Khurasan, a region in Iran, it took Hulegu’s campaign in 1256 to truly bring the region into the empire. Hulegu was the first khan of what was eventually called the
Ilkhanate. Il is a Mongol word meaning “controlled” or “not rebellious.” The name reflected the fact that Hulegu accepted Khubilai as the Great Khan and would not challenge his authority.
Seeking a Western Alliance
In 1262, Hulegu tried to make contact with leaders in Western Europe, looking for allies against the Mamluks and the Golden Horde. A letter that he wrote to King Louis IX of France survives, and Hulegu also sent diplomats to Italy. Abagha (d. 1282), Hulegu's son and the second Ilkhan, continued these efforts to find allies in the West. Letters from him reached Pope Urban IV, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, and King Edward I of England. Abagha also signed a trade treaty with Venice, whose merchants sold goods at trading posts along the Black Sea. Politically, however, the Mongol effort to win Western allies failed. No European leaders sent troops to help Abagha fight the Mamluks.
Hulegu’s khanate stretched from the Oxus River and the Hindu Kush to Anatolia, which is now the major part of modern Turkey. The Ilkhanate’s southern border was the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea.
On the north was the ulus of the Golden Horde. Some of the modern nations within the Ilkhanate’s borders are Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq, and parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Turkmenistan. As khan, Hulegu showed far more restraint than he had during his earlier conquest of Baghdad. After Hulegu died, the Christian historian Bar Hebraeus wrote (as quoted by David Nicholle in The Mongol Warlords), “The wisdom of this man, and his greatness of soul, and his wonderful actions are incomparable.”
While ruling the Ilkhanate, Hulegu faced problems on several sides. One of his enemies was his cousin Berke, third khan of the Golden Horde. Berke did not support Khubilai’s election as the Great Khan, which placed him and Hulegu on opposite sides of the Chinggisid family. The two cousins also had a border dispute, battling over Azerbaijan. Finally, Berke converted to Islam, and he disliked Hulegu’s leniency toward Christians and other people who did not practice Islam. Berke joined the Mamluks of Egypt in an alliance against the Ilkhanate.
In 1262, Berke and the Mamluks launched attacks on Hulegu from two fronts. The Mamluk leader Baybars (1233-1277) fought Christians in Syria and Armenia who were allied with Hulegu. Berke’s forces invaded Hulegu’s lands in Georgia and Azerbaijan, and the two sides also fought in southern Russia. In 1263, the Golden Horde won a major victory at the Terek River. Retreating forces from the Ilkhanate drowned when the ice on the river gave way. The loss, however, spurred Hulegu to launch a major
The Gates of Baghdad
A 13th-century manuscript shows the Mongols storming Baghdad in 1288. Under Arghun, the Mongols of the Ilkhanate rejected Islam.
Offensive the following year. A rebellion in his empire delayed the attack, though, and Hulegu died in 1265 before he could lead the army against his cousin. Hulegu’s son Abagha then took command, and two major Mongol armies prepared to go to war. The war, however, never fully developed. Berke died in 1266, and the next khan of the Golden Horde, Mongke Temur (d. 1280), decided not to continue the struggle with the Ilkhanate.
Soon after one struggle with a relative ended, Abagha faced a new threat from another. Barak, from the Chaghatai ulus, attacked the eastern borders of the Ilkhanate. In 1269, he took over part of Khurasan. Abagha eventually pushed the invaders out of his realm and carried the counterattack into Transoxiana.
Around the same time, Baybars attacked Antioch in Syria and invaded Armenia. In 1277 he fought Mongol forces in Anatolia and Lesser Armenia, a Christian kingdom allied with the Ilkhanate. (Today this area is part of Turkey.) Abagha launched a successful counterattack, but the
Mamluks continued to threaten the western edges of his lands. In 1281 Abagha led a major invasion of Syria. He hoped to do what his father had not: defeat the Mamluks and extend Mongol rule as far west as Egypt. Once again, however, the Mamluks repelled the Mongols.
The Ilkhan's Capital
Abagha set up his capital at Tabriz, a city in what is now northwest Iran. Abagha relied on Persian officials to run his government from there, and it served as the capital of the Ilkhanate until Sultaniyya was built early in the 14th century. Tabriz was a center of art and commerce as well the capital. Remains of a Mongol fortress still stand in the city, which is one of the largest in modern Iran. However, the Mongol rulers continued to lead a nomadic life, and capitals were more for the locals than the Mongols.
World History
