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Kublai Khan won the Mongol throne by defeating his younger brother Ariq Böke in
1260 Event

May 5

Kublai Khan Takes Over the Mongol Empire: China Is Next

Kublai Khan won the Mongol throne by defeating his younger brother Ariq Böke in a four-year civil war that killed tens of thousands of their own people. The empire split. Kublai controlled China and the east, but the western khanates—including the Golden Horde and the Ilkhanate—never truly recognized his authority again. He'd become Great Khan by tearing apart the very thing Genghis had built: a unified Mongol world. The largest contiguous empire in history fractured the moment he claimed it.

May 5, 1260

766 years ago

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