page_title: Kublai Khan
section_title: Warfare and foreign relations
hierarchical_section_title: Kublai Khan / Warfare and foreign relations
caption_attribution_description: English: old Chinese Hand Cannon on display at the Shaanxi history museum in Xi'An, China. The placard reads "Bronze firearm, Yuan dynasty (1271-1368 ACE)". Photo taken by Yannick Trottier, 2007.
context_page_description: Kublai, also known as the Emperor Shizu of Yuan, was the fifth khagan of the Mongol Empire, reigning from 1260 to 1294. He also founded the Yuan dynasty in China as a conquest dynasty in 1271, and ruled as the first Yuan emperor until his death in 1294.
  Kublai was the fourth son of Tolui and a grandson of Genghis Khan. He succeeded his older brother Möngke as Khagan in 1260, but had to defeat his younger brother Ariq Böke in the Toluid Civil War lasting until 1264. This episode marked the beginning of disunity in the empire. Kublai's real power was limited to China and Mongolia, though as Khagan he still had influence in the Ilkhanate and, to a significantly lesser degree, in the Golden Horde. If one counts the Mongol Empire at that time as a whole, his realm reached from the Pacific Ocean to the Black Sea, from Siberia to what is now Afghanistan.
  In 1271, Kublai established the Yuan dynasty, which ruled over present-day Mongolia, China, Korea, and some adjacent areas, and assumed the role of Emperor of China. By 1279, the Mongol conquest of the Song dynasty was completed and Kublai became the first non-Han emperor to conquer all of China.
context_section_description: Although Kublai restricted the functions of the kheshig, he created a new imperial bodyguard, at first entirely Chinese in composition but later strengthened with Kipchak, Alan (Asud), and Russian units. Once his own kheshig was organized in 1263, Kublai put three of the original kheshigs under the charge of the descendants of Genghis Khan's assistants, Borokhula, Boorchu, and Muqali. Kublai began the practice of having the four great aristocrats in his kheshig sign jarligs (decrees), a practice that spread to all other Mongol khanates. Mongol and Chinese units were organized using the same decimal organization that Genghis Khan used. The Mongols eagerly adopted new artillery and technologies. Kublai and his generals adopted an elaborate, moderate style of military campaigns in South China. Effective assimilation of Chinese naval techniques allowed the Yuan army to quickly conquer the Song.
caption: A Yuan dynasty hand cannon
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