Today in Mongol Imperial History

On this day in 1307 Kulug Khan was enthroned as Emperor of the Mongols (Emperor Wuzong of the Great Yuan in China). An accomplished warrior, he ruled in the fashion of a traditional Mongol chieftain, making him very popular with the other Mongol princes but less popular with the Han people of China. He supported the major religions and the military, completing the seizure of Sakhalin Island during his reign.

Story of Monarchy: The Ulus of Jochi

It seems to me that one of the most significant former powers that is all but forgotten today, at least in the western world, is the Ulus of Jochi. Presumably it is more well known in Eastern Europe and Central Asia where it was most dominant but it was a state that everyone should at least be aware of. The Ulus of Jochi (also later known in the west as the Golden Horde) was the dominant power of central Asia for quite some time and it had a significant impact on the course of history in Russia, Europe and the Middle East as well as Central Asia as various people banded together in opposition to the common threat of the dreaded Golden Horde. As the name implies, it has its origins in the career of Jochi Khan, eldest son of the great Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan (Ulus of Jochi simply means the ‘lands/state/realm/territory of Jochi’) who, during the reign of his father, had played a leading part in the Mongol conquest of Siberia, Central Asia and Persia. He was to inherit the westernmost portion of the Mongol Empire when Genghis Khan died but as Jochi predeceased his father the Ulus of Jochi went to his son Batu Khan who is generally regarded as the true founder of this khanate which was part of the wider Mongol Empire.

Batu Khan

Ogedei Khan succeeded his father as Great Khan (or Emperor) of the Mongols while the Ulus of Jochi were divided between Batu Khan (who received the Blue Horde) and his brother Orda (who received the White Horde). Before he could concentrate on “nation building”, however, Batu assisted Ogedei Khan in his conquest of the Jin Dynasty of Manchuria while his brother fought Bulgars, Cumens and other peoples in the west. After Manchuria was conquered (it would be left to Kublai Khan to conquer southern China), Batu Khan turned west and took on the formidable task of conquering the Russians. It was a brutal and bitter struggle but, in the end, Batu Khan was successful and the Russian states and all those in the area of modern Russia were devastated from Moscow to the Crimea. He conquered Ruthenia and drove the Cumens into the Kingdom of Hungary but when he demanded that these refugees be expelled, King Bela IV of Hungary not only refused but had the Mongol messengers killed (the Hungarians had a history of dealing with the Cumens, as we have covered previously, having earlier employed the Teutonic Knights against them). Batu Khan was outraged at this defiance and vowed to conquer Hungary and all the land to the Atlantic Ocean. Given that the man had just conquered Russia one can perhaps forgive him for being a bit arrogant.

The Mongols swept westward, conquering Poland, Hungary and Bohemia, besting the forces of the Holy Roman Empire, alarming all of Europe and prompting the Pope to call for a crusade against them. Fortunately for Europe, the Mongols were not to stay long. The death of Odegei Khan prompted a power struggle and Batu Khan, reluctantly, returned home to press his claim to become the next Mongol Emperor. However, that came to nothing with the throne going to Guyuk Khan and so Batu returned to the west to focus on expanding his own central Asian kingdom. He further consolidated his rule and established his capital at Sarai in what is now southern Russia (near what is now Selitrennoye). Batu became so powerful that some believed Guyuk Khan considered him a threat and was preparing to move against him when he died in what is now the western Chinese province of Xinjiang. Batu Khan had reached such a position of influence that he was in large part responsible for placing the next Mongol Emperor, Mongke Khan, on the throne. Batu Khan set up the Princes of Vladimir and St Alexander Nevsky was one of his tributaries. Batu Khan died in 1256 as the master of central Asia and none of his successors would ever be able to outshine him.

Eventually, leadership of the Ulus of Jochi fell to Batu’s younger brother Berke Khan. His reign lacked the smashing conquests of prior years but he still attacked with great ferocity against Lithuania, Poland, the Teutonic Knights and Hungary, even declaring war on the King of France. He is also most remembered for converting to Islam and allying with the Mamluks of Egypt against the Persian-centered Ilkhanate (another successor state of the empire of Genghis Khan). He died fighting his fellow Mongols for power while the overall state of the Golden Horde declined, though he did manage to force the Byzantine Emperor to pay him tribute. He also, just before his death, backed a winner in the person of Kublai Khan who would become Emperor of the Mongols, founder of the Yuan Dynasty in China and rule the largest land empire in history. However, after his death, the Ulus of Jochi was again paralyzed by infighting for power, eventually drawing in Kublai Khan himself. And, of course, in the meantime there were devastating raids into tributaries such as Lithuania and Bulgaria. There was even another invasion of Hungary which proved ruinous but which was a failure. During this time it was the Hungarians who most often proved to be the sentinels of Europe against Mongol invasion (or “Mongol” invasion as the vast majority of the troops were not Mongolians at all). There were also struggles between the Muslim and Buddhist members of the ruling family but eventually it was Islam that would dominate.

In 1313 Uzbeg came to the throne and made Islam the official, mandatory religion of the Ulus of Jochi, banning Buddhism and the traditional shamanism of the Mongols. Still maintaining the alliance with the Mamluks and even marrying into the Egyptian Royal Family, the Jochi were becoming further and further removed, in both blood and custom, from their Mongol roots. Uzbeg held Russia by setting the local princes against each other and kept his state running by periodic raids into Europe as far as Serbia and Greece. He involved himself in power disputes within the Muslim world and met with setbacks at the hands of the Poles and Hungarians before the spread of the Black Death brought ruin and an end to any dream of the Golden Horde expanding into central and western Europe. As the years past and the Golden Horde descended more and more into civil wars territory began to be steadily lost. The Lithuanians began to rebel and push back, the Russians began to rise in rebellion and it was only by an alliance with the emerging Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth that the Golden Horde was able to hold Russia and reassert control over it.

Eventually, however, the Golden Horde was brought down by various powers chipping away at the periphery. The Russians began to unify and rise against them, the Moldavians fought back, the Turks were expanding from the south and by that time the last ties with China and the Mongolian homeland had long been cut. A last, desperate invasion of the Kingdom of Poland was mounted in 1491 but it was defeated and very soon what had once been the Golden Horde was reduced to being the Crimean Khanate, a vassal of the Ottoman Empire. The last Khan of the Ulus of Jochi was forced to flee to Lithuania and died in prison. Eventually, the Russians would unite and the last remnant of the Golden Horde would be annexed to the Russian Empire by Empress Catherine the Great.

Although not always given a high profile, the Ulus of Jochi had a profound impact on world history and the development of many countries we know today. It was the western frontier of the great Mongol Empire founded by Genghis Khan. Russia united and became the strong country we all know, famous for immense endurance, after being ruled for quite a long time by the Tartars. The effect this had on the history of Russia and the Russian national character cannot be dismissed. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was formed, in part, because of the shared threat they faced from the Golden Horde. The Hungarians proved themselves matchless warriors and gained the support of western Europe for standing on the frontline against Tartar expansion and much of the expansion of the Ottoman Empire came about because of the weakening of the Ulus of Jochi. As a monarchy, it was not terribly stable or effectively managed, but its life, though long past, left a legacy that is still felt even today by the peoples of central Asia and Eastern Europe.

Mongolia, Monarchy and Hope

Recently, NHK reported that Mongolia (independent Outer Mongolia) was seeking closer ties with the State of Japan as an alternative to the ever-encroaching pressure from Russia to their north and China to their south. This is not an altogether new position for Mongolia to be in and it is not the first time that Mongols have looked for support from Japan in the face of domination from their more immediate neighbors. In the past, monarchy played a key role in this drama and it is something worth considering as few people tend to be very familiar with the monarchial history of Mongolia, at least following the fall of the massive Mongol Empire that once dominated most of the known world. Many people seem to be under the mistaken belief that Mongolia was, at some point, conquered by Imperial China. Such is not the case. Mongolia was never a part of Imperial China but China could be said to have been part of Mongolia for a time. As most know, Genghis Khan conquered most of northern China and it was left to his grandson, Kublai Khan, to conquer the rest of China and establish the Great Yuan Empire, the Yuan Dynasty being one of the major imperial dynasties of Chinese history. Eventually, the Mongols were displaced and China came under the rule of the Ming Dynasty as the Great Ming Empire of which Mongolia was never a part.

Ligden Khan

Just because the Mongols were evicted from ruling China does not mean it all came to an end. They retreated to their Mongolian homeland and continued there as the “Northern Yuan Dynasty” until the reign of Ligden Khan. After his death many Mongols, and they were fractured at the time, allied with the rising power of the Manchus and the son of Ligden Khan handed over the dynastic seal to Hong Taiji, son of Nurhaci who was the founder of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. The Manchus and the Mongols were then allies and the Mongols certainly saw themselves as partners with the Manchus in taking control of China and establishing the Great Qing Empire. Because of this, the monarchial tradition in Mongolia continued in the person of the Manchu Emperor who also held the title ‘Great Khan of the Mongols’. This continued up until the duplicitous overthrow of the Qing Dynasty in 1911/1912 with the abdication of the famous ‘last emperor’. Already, by that time, Mongolia was feeling pressure from the Russian Empire. In the agreements drawn up among the European powers, Mongolia and Manchuria were both considered to be part of the Russian sphere of influence. However, when the Qing Dynasty lost power, it happened with the Mongols (and the Manchus for that matter) having no say in the decision and they were not prepared to just accept being a part of the Republic of China when they had never been ruled by China.

It was at this time that the last monarch to hold power in Outer Mongolia came to prominence. In the absence of their former monarch, the Qing Emperor, the Mongols turned for leadership to their highest religious official, the Bogd Gegeen or “Holy Shining One” and invested him with secular power as the Bogd Khan of Mongolia. Long-time readers will remember the fate that befell him. He was first removed from power and placed under house arrest by a warlord of the Republic of China only to be liberated and restored in 1921 by the multi-national White Russian-led army of Baron von Ungern-Sternberg. When he was defeated and captured the Bogd Khan spent the rest of his life under house arrest as Outer Mongolia became the first satellite state of the Soviet Union, ruled with the most extreme brutality by a succession of Soviet stooges, the most infamous being the Stalin-worshipping Choibalsan. All the while, the Republic of China still claimed jurisdiction over all of Mongolia just as they did over all lands formerly a part of the Great Qing Empire even though these had never been part of China. So, Outer Mongolia was effectively being ruled by Soviet Russia and Inner Mongolia was being ruled (somewhat intermittently) by the Republic of China which also claimed Outer Mongolia as their own as well but were still fighting among themselves for control of what territory they actually occupied.

Prince De Wang

An obvious place to look to for help in this situation was the Empire of Japan. There had, in fact, been some elements in Japan working for some time on forging a pan-monarchist coalition across northeast Asia of Japanese, Manchus and Mongols. It was to further cement such an alliance that the tough, colorful Japanese-raised Manchu princess, Kawashima Yoshiko, was (briefly) married into one of the leading Mongol noble families. However, whereas Outer Mongolia had to be taken off the priority list after the ineffective border clashes with the Soviet Red Army and the subsequent Soviet-Japanese Non-Aggression Pact, Inner Mongolia remained a region of potential. In this area, the man looked to for leadership was Prince Demchugdongrub or Prince De Wang. He had been loyal to the Qing Emperor during his time in the Forbidden City and after his expulsion and exile to Tientsin. He also visited the Emperor after he was restored to the throne in Manchuria. The Japanese Kwantung Army, operating in Manchuria, supported Prince De Wang in establishing an autonomous government and while he controlled relatively little territory and his state consisted mostly of an army and a monarchy, he was a pan-Mongol visionary and his ultimate goal was no secret to anyone. That was to reunite all the Mongol peoples into a restored Mongol Empire or, perhaps, even another partnership with the restored Manchu Empire.

As Mengjiang (as it was called -the territory of the Mongols) did not survive the Japanese defeat in 1945 and was conquered by communist forces along with Manchuria, we will never know how it would have developed. Prince De Wang was certainly no puppet, despite what his detractors may say. The first Japanese advances made toward him were rejected and his first official alliance was with the restored Emperor of Manchuria (who may have been his cousin but I am not sure about that) who also bestowed on him a special title. When the Prince did come to an agreement with the Japanese Kwantung Army he remained very alert to any hint of a move that would infringe on his authority. Officially, his regime was autonomous, which it was, but also was seen as something temporary. Even the name, Mengjiang, suggested to all who saw it that the intention was to recover all the lands inhabited by the Mongol people. He always dealt with the Emperor of Manchuria as he would have (and did) in the pre-revolutionary days of the Qing Empire. However, after 1940, Inner Mongolia was listed as an autonomous region of the Reorganized National Government of China led by President Wang Jingwei. However, it was truly autonomous and no activities by the Kuomintang party were permitted there nor were any Han Chinese allowed to settle in Mengjiang.

It seems unlikely then that, even if the war had ended differently, Mengjiang would have remained a part of the Republic of China. The goal of Prince De Wang was always to revive the Mongol nation, reuniting Inner and Outer Mongolia, and most assume that this would have meant that Prince De Wang would have been the monarch of this new restored Mongolia. There was certainly a Royal Family on hand ready to take up the responsibility. However, given his own character and personal history, it is also possible that Mengjiang, somewhat enlarged, would have become a partner with Manchuria again under the reign of Emperor Kang Te (PuYi). It is also encouraging that, unlike the Manchu Emperor, after the war Prince De Wang remained fairly popular amongst the Mongol people despite the best efforts of the communist regimes in both China and Mongolia. He spent about 13 years in a Chinese prison of course as a “traitor” and “collaborator” but his own people still, to a large extent, viewed him as a visionary national leader who wanted to restore Mongol glory and make them a proud and united nation once again. That is something to be thankful for as we move forward.

The unfortunate thing is that Inner Mongolia today is mostly a lost cause. Mongol traditions are slowly going away and the Mongols themselves are being drowned out in a flood of Han Chinese settlers (particularly after the coal boom and other related mineral exploitation in the region). Today Mongols make up only 20% of the population of the “Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region” of the People’s Bandit Republic of China. The Chinese Communist Party is not about to change its ways and no other country or countries will do anything about it because China has the bomb -and if you have the bomb, no one can touch you (which is why so many of the worst regimes want it so badly). Outer, independent, Mongolia, while not encouraging, at least has room for hope. In the absence of a secular monarch, they had the Bogd Khan who ruled until the country became a Soviet client state. In 1926 the communist regime ruled that there would be no further reincarnations but, apparently, the spirit world paid them no heed and after the Soviet collapse it was announced that there had been a reincarnation who was enthroned in 1999 in Mongolia as the spiritual leader of Mongolian Buddhists by the Dalai Lama. That incarnation has since past away and, I presume, the search is continuing for his successor.

The (now) late Bogd Gegeen

If there is to be a royal restoration in Mongolia it seems most likely that the spiritual variety will be the most likely avenue. Of course, the Chinese bandit government has expressed their great displeasure at every kindness or courtesy shown to the Bogd Gegeen or the Dalai Lama in Mongolia and the Mongolian government still tends to be dominated by communists with a cosmetic make-over. However, a restored Bogd Khan would seem to be the least threatening to those in political power and the most likely, at this point, to be able to unite the Mongol people. In the past, some high ranking officials expressed that they were at least open to the idea of having another Bogd Khan as a ceremonial head of state. Unless a more dynamic secular figure comes along who could do better, I would hope that other countries, such as Japan if Mongolia is looking to the Japanese to offset the influence of the Russians and Chinese, would support and encourage the next Bogd Gegeen when his new incarnation is found and made public. I say “hope” because, unfortunately, too many in Japan these days take the monarchy for granted and tend to view things in purely economic or racial terms rather than in terms of politics. The past support for Prince De Wang should serve as an example. Just as in the past, Mongolia is becoming unhappy with their level of dependence on Russia or China and just as in the past, a revival of a traditional Mongol monarchy should be the solution that Japan (and hopefully other countries) unite in support of.

Monarch Profile: Yesun Temur Khan of Mongolia

The great Mongol emperors who ruled after Kublai Khan are often divided by historians into two groups; those who governed more in keeping with Chinese traditions and those who governed as more traditional Mongol conquerors. As all were Mongols, that influence was a constant but among them all, Yesun Temur Khan is usually regard as the farthest removed from any sort of Chinese influence at all. He was born in Outer Mongolia in 1293, the son of Kammala, the firstborn son of Zhen Jin who was a son of the great Kublai Khan. Kammala was granted the prestigious title of “Jinong” with control over the Gobi Desert and the final resting place of Genghis Khan. For a time, it was thought he might be a contender for the throne of the Mongol Empire but was passed over. Nonetheless, he had a prestigious position and upon his death in 1302 his son Yesun Temur succeeded him as Jinong. Throughout the reigns of Kulug Khan, Ayurbarwada Khan and Gegeen Khan, Yesun Temur built up a powerful position for himself, became quite successful and with his powerful army was acknowledged by other Mongol princes as their representative on the steppes of the north, particularly those who held to the traditional Mongol ways.

His great chance came in 1323 when Shidebala Khan was assassinated by a group of Mongol princes whose tribute he had cut in what was a more Sino-style Confucian reign. Empress Dowager Targi had placed him on the throne (though she later came to regret it) because of his connections with the Khunggirad clan and Yesun Temur was welcomed to take the throne because his mother likewise belonged to the same clan and because he could be counted on to rule in a more traditionally Mongolian fashion, essentially jumping over the two previous reigns to that of Khaishan Khan. Some historians have since speculated that Yesun Temur was himself one of the conspirators in the assassination of Shidebala Khan, yet other evidence suggests that he had tried to warn the Emperor of the plot against him but was too late. In any event, he was looked to for leadership and on October 4, 1323 on the banks of the Kherlen River in Mongolia he was handed the badges of office, the imperial seal and thus became Yesun Temur Khan, tenth Great Khan of the Mongols and Emperor Taiding of the Great Yuan (as he was known in China). Two of those who had instigated the downfall of Shidebala Khan were accorded high rank immediately with the Grand Censor Tegshi becoming effectively the Minister of War and Esen Temur appointed Grand Councilor.

No doubt they felt highly pleased with themselves but that didn’t last long. Once Yesun Temur Khan was told what these men had done and that by appointing them to high office he would appear to have been complicit in their crimes, Yesun Temur immediately had them dismissed and executed for treason. With that action, those loyal to Shidebala recognized Yesun Temur as a fair leader they could trust and called on him, likewise, to take the throne and to punish those who had murdered his predecessor. This, Yesun Temur did, sending troops to Dadu and Shangdu where the rebellious officers were executed and the princes who had supported the coup were all sent into exile. Regardless of the justice of this, Yesun Temur equally had in mind that if he left these men alive they would see him as their own creature and attempt to control him and would likely murder him as well if he failed to please them. Traitors can never be trusted. The Chinese tried to persuade him to go even farther and massacre anyone connected with those who had brought down the last Great Khan but Yesun Temur refused to do this, regarding the guilty as sufficiently punished, granting an amnesty to the rest and even returning the property of the guilty men to their families.

Still, if the plotters had wanted a “more Mongolian” Mongol Emperor, that is certainly what they achieved in Yesun Temur Khan. He reigned in the traditional style of a Mongol chieftain from the steppes. In the official history of the Yuan Dynasty he is quoted as saying, “The Empire is a family of which the Emperor is the father” and that is how he tended to rule. Chinese officials were dismissed and he appointed new ministers from Mongolia, from the ranks of those he trusted and who had proven themselves loyal to him. He also reverted to the traditional Mongol practice of religious freedom and impartiality. Where Shidebala Khan had been influenced by the Buddhist Lamas to restrict Islam, Yesun Temur Khan stopped all persecutions and extended religious benefits (such as exemption from conscript labor) to Muslims and Christians. This did not mean these were rewarded and others were punished though as he also continued to support Confucian and Buddhist temples and, like most, still showed favor to the Lama-Buddhist community.

In his rule of the Mongol Empire, he favored those who he knew best, the other princes and nobles of the Mongolian steppes though, unlike some others, he preferred to live more simply and objected to the wasteful spending he witnessed at the imperial court. Peking (as it would later be known) was still a cosmopolitan place, despite the change in leadership styles and it is believed that Yesun Temur was the Great Khan met by the Catholic friar Blessed Odoric of Pordenone during his extensive travels in the Far East. During his reign, one of the important acts of Yesun Temur was the division of the Mongol Empire into eighteen departments whose oversight was placed in the hands of an advisory council called the “Lords of the Provinces”. However, Yesun Temur did not have a great interest in day-to-day administration and like most Mongol princes, tended to dislike bureaucrats. The “Exalted and Decisive Emperor” lived only to the age of 34. He died quite suddenly and unexpectedly on August 15, 1328 in Shangdu (Xanadu). He was succeeded by his son Tugh Temur but as he was overthrown barely a month later he is seldom listed amongst the Mongol emperors.

Mad Motivation

MM Video: Prince De Wang of Mengjiang

MM Video: Five Minute History of Mongolia

MM Video: The Great Yuan Empire

MM Video: Great Khans of Mongolia

Monarch Profile: Shidebala Khan

Shidebala, Gegeen Khan, Emperor Yingzong of the Great Yuan, was the son and heir of Ayurbarwada Khan and his accession is the sole example of the throne of the Yuan passing peacefully from father to son throughout their reign. Ever since the Mongol conquest of China the throne had passed back and forth between those who favored adopting aspects of the Chinese civilization to solidify and maintain their empire and those who felt that success would only come by holding fast to their Mongol traditions which had brought them to power in the first place. As we have seen, Temur Khan was (slightly) more inclined to Chinese methods, Khaishan Khan ruled in nomadic Mongol style and Ayurbarwada had swung back the other way to heavily favor Chinese administrative policies. The reign of Shidebala was to see this division continue and tensions ran very high between the two factions, each convinced that their way was the only way that the Yuan Empire could be maintained. For Shidebala it would result in tragedy.

Shidebala was born on February 22, 1303 to Ayurbarwada Khan (Emperor Renzong to the Chinese) and his wife Radnashiri of the Khunggirad clan. His early life was dominated by his grandmother the empress-dowager Targi and her favorite minister Temudur, a rather villainous fellow who was appointed tutor to the young prince and his grandmother worked to assure his eventual accession to the Mongol throne. His father, however, had taken care that he be educated in Chinese style as well so as to continue his policies of reliance on Confucian doctrines and traditions, suitably Chinese, to rule China. In 1316 he was declared crown prince and heir to the throne and on April 19, 1320 he succeeded his father Great Khan of the Mongols and Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty. For the empress-dowager it seemed that all had gone according to plan and she could become the effective ruler of China and the vast Mongol dominions.

Convinced that they could dominate the young emperor, Empress Targi and in particular Temudur, were quick to enact their own policies and Temudur began exacting revenge against his own political enemies. Also targeted by him were the pro-Chinese supporters of the more Sino-oriented policy set down by Ayurbarwada. However, Shidebala was not the helpless babe many took him for. He was Chinese educated and tended to favor Confucian policies of administration (the Chinese did have a pretty long and successful record when it came to administering a large empire) but he was, like all of the Yuan emperors, still a Mongol. He was not weak, not pliant and would not allow others to flout his authority or work against the vision that he had for the Mongol Empire. Confucian scholars came to him for protection, which he extended, and he stood up against the persecution Temudur was bringing down on them.

Shidebala Khan showed great promise. He had strength of character, was very well educated (he could recite Tang dynasty poems from memory and was an accomplished calligrapher) and a devout Buddhist. When he stood up against Temudur and showed that he was his own man and would not be dominated by others, his exasperated grandmother, the Empress dowager Targi, lamented that, “We should never have reared this boy!” He replaced Temudur with a new chief minister named Baiju and though Temudur later tried to return to court and humble himself, the Great Khan would not have him back and he died embittered around 1322, in roughly the same period as his patron the dowager empress.

As emperor, Shidebala began enacting many reforms to try to bring under control the political and economic chaos that had been growing for a very long time, much of it due to the lack of a consistent policy on the part of the dynasty. He showed favor to the Confucian scholars and to the Buddhist lamas but took a rather dim view of Islam and there was some persecution of Muslims. This antagonism, however, should not be too surprising considering that there are probably no two religions that stand in starker contrast than Buddhism and Islam. The renewed emphasis on Confucianism also led to a somewhat more restrictive role for women than was traditionally the case in Mongol society.

However, what was most important was the efforts by Shidebala to bring about economic reform and stamp out corruption. Patronage had run rampant in the empire and efforts to stop this in particular had the effect of making Shidebala very unpopular with many Mongol princes. His dismissal of Temudur and his appointment of Chinese officials also caused bitter feelings among many who felt the new Khan was taking their empire in a non-Mongolian direction. Five princes colluded with the supporters of the late Temudur to launch the “Nanpo Coup” on September 4, 1323. The Emperor and Baiju had stopped at Nanpo on their way from Xanadu to Peking and it was there that the conspirators struck and assassinated them both. The next Khan would take a much more Mongol purist style as ruler though even he (Yesun Temur) was outraged by the murder.

Shidebala had shown great promise and one cannot help but speculate about what would have happened had he lived out his reign. Might the Yuan Empire have been put or a more solid setting that might have allowed it to endure longer? In any event, as it happened, the “tradition” continued as the pendulum swung back in the opposite direction. As a result of this, Shidebala has the unique position of being one of the few non-Chinese rulers of China that Chinese history tends to speak favorably of. Considering how they were treated by him and his father compared to their predecessor and successor it is no wonder that Shidebala Khan, or Emperor Yingzong as they would have called him, in one of the most highly regarded of the Mongol emperors by the Chinese even today.

Monarch Profile: Ayurbarwada Khan

Ayurbarwada Khan, as known as Emperor Renzong of the Yuan Dynasty, was the eighth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire. In stark contrast to his predecessor and brother, Khaishan Khan, who ruled like in traditional Mongol fashion, as a nomadic chieftain of the steppe, Ayurbarwada Khan employed a more distinctly Chinese style in the administration of his vast realm. Ayurbarwada was born on April 9, 1285 to Darmabala and Dagi of the Khunggirat and was a great-grandson of the famous Kublai Khan. His destiny was shaped as a teenage boy when he was tutored by the Confucian scholar Li Meng. In 1305 the Dowager Empress Bulugan, wife of his uncle Temur Khan, removed him from court and sent him to Honan as the Prince of Huai-ning as part of her desire to remove all of the Khunggirat brothers of Khaishan Khan. Her aim was to have the governor of Ningxia, the Muslim Ananda, one of her favorites, take power.

However, Harghasun, the Yuan chancellor, recalled Ayurbarwada to Dadu where they plotted the overthrow of the Dowager Empress and Ananda who captured and imprisoned. He stepped aside for his brother Khaishan Khan to become Emperor and was in turn named crown prince and heir to the throne in June of 1307. The two brothers agreed that their descendents would rule the empire in turns. However, Ayurbarwada opposed the leadership style of his brother and some of his supporters abandoned him when he did not take the throne for himself. However, Ayurbarwada was a devout Confucian and said nothing of his disagreements with Khaishan Khan until his death in 1311 when Ayurbarwada Khan ascended the Yuan dynasty throne. Somewhat unusually for the Mongol Empire the transition from one Great Khan to another was largely peaceful and uncontested.

As Emperor, Ayurbarwada Khan was known for his Chinese sympathies. Being the product of a Chinese style education he loved painting and calligraphy and made a conscious effort to adopt Chinese methods of administration rather than carrying on with the Mongolian style of his predecessors. He got rid of the ministers left over from the reign of his brothers and replaced them with pro-Confucian ministers. In what was seen as the ultimate act of his reversal of policy to a more Chinese style he restored the civil service examination system for the first time since the Mongol conquest of China, at least for lower level administrators. Chinese scholars surrounded him and this naturally began to cause resentment amongst the Mongol princes at court. He met with more opposition when he encouraged Mongol nobles and commanders to learn from the principles of Confucius, implying, as they saw it, a form of Chinese superiority.

Opposition tended to form around the mother of the Great Khan, Empress Dowager Targi whose clique at court detested the pro-Chinese policies of the Emperor. Still, Ayurbarwada Khan went on reforming the judicial system, revising and codifying the legal system put in place by his ancestors and translating Confucian and other Chinese literature into Mongolian. In foreign policy there were no great successes but no major failures either. Attempts to assert influence over khanates in central Asia and southern Russia but to no effect. Authority was reestablished over what is now Xinjiang. Ayurbarwada Khan died on March 1, 1320, leaving the throne to his son and heir Crown Prince Shidebala in what was the only peaceful succession of a son in the history of the Yuan dynasty. His reign had been mostly stable and successful but his reforms left simmering resentment that would boil over in the years after his death. After his death he was given the temple name ’Emperor Renzong’ or ’Benevolent Ancestor’.

Consort Profile: Queen Genepil of Mongolia

Genepil, the last wife of the last Mongol Khan, is a woman shrouded in mystery yet one whose story has endured. She was queen consort for less than a year in 1924 but her story has captivated successive generations. At the debut of a film about the late queen her 70-year-old daughter Tserenkhand recalled the sudden disappearance of her mother as a child saying, “They took her away at night. She did not wake us, only left a piece of sugar on our pillows. I still remember the joy of a sudden discovery of that rare delicacy in the morning”. The VIII Jetsundhampa, the Bogd Khan, married his first wife, the famous Ekh Dagina, after falling madly in love with her and her death in 1923 effected the ailing monk-monarch profoundly.

By that time the Bogd Khan was monarch in name only with the country effectively under the control of the communist front-men for the Soviet Union. He would have been content to live out his remaining days alone but felt obliged to take another wife. The court was especially insistent, given the situation, that the full image of the monarchy be maintained. The guardians of the Bogd Khan took it upon themselves to pick a new bride for their sovereign even if she was to be wife in name only. In the summer of 1923 they began searching Khalkh Mongolia for a suitable bride. They finally narrowed their options to 15 girls ranging in age from 18 to 20. Their choice was a beautiful 19-year-old girl from a noble family in northern Mongolia at Baldan Bereeven named Genepil. She had also recently been married herself but the courtiers took no notice of this. As well as the different social norms of the time and place it must also be kept in mind that everyone knew this would most likely be a very short marriage and done mostly for appearances.

Genepil was, as her daughter related, taken in the night and carried to the Khan Palace where she first learned of what was to be her fate. What she thought about the arrangement can only be guessed at but she certainly knew that the Bogd Khan was 53-years-old, almost blind, practically immobile and very sick and she was assured she would soon be allowed to return to her first husband. When it came down to it though, Genepil balked and formally asked to return to her parents home. This was in keeping with Mongolian custom and the Bogd Khan had no choice but to agree. So, after only a few months the ailing Khan was single again and Genepil was back in the tent of her parents. However, courtiers soon came to find her and appealed to her to return to the palace. Her country and her monarch needed her and she was prevailed upon to return.

Queen Genepil lived with the Bogd Khan until his death when the monarchy was abolished. She then returned to her family though it is unknown if she went back to her first husband or ever remarried. Sadly, with the Khan gone, the communists were able to drop all pretences and instituted a vicious crackdown against all reminders of the old regime. Because of her former status Queen Genepil was targeted, arrested in 1937 and, along with her family, was executed in the purges of 1938. All that remained of her memory was a secret, forbidden song passed on to a historian by an old man who had been taught it by a former servant of the Bogd Khan, who taught it to him while the two were imprisoned by the communists.

Website of Would-Be Khan

Here at the southern compound, keeping an eye on my lovely little neices, I came across a website (of which I was previously unaware) for the Ninth Jetsun Dhampa or Bogd Gegen, spiritual heir of the last Emperor of Mongolia. Jetsundhampa

Mad Rant: Socialism; Killing with Kindness

Recently "the One" Barack Obama decorated Joe Medicine Crow, a Native American historian and author, with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Unfortunately it coincided with the mass murder at Fort Hood so my outrage on that occasion was side-tracked to the more immediate and serious issue. However, outraged -dare I say mad- I certainly was! To be clear, I am not upset that Joe Medicine Crow got the Medal of Freedom; he probably deserved it more than many others who have been given it for blatantly political reasons. What outraged me was simply the image presented: the most adamantly socialist president in U.S. history decorating an American Indian. Friends, Romans and countrymen, there is no better group to look to than the Native Americans to see how socialism "kills with kindness". To sum it up, there is no group in the United States that is given more benefits and social welfare than the Native Americans and it is no coincidence that there is also no group in this country more worse off than they are.

Of course, many years ago, the U.S. government openly fought the Indians, conquered them, killed them and displaced them. That would be shameful enough but the crimes of the old U.S. Cavalry pale in comparison to the crimes visited on the Native Americans by the bleeding heart liberal socialists who claim to be so concerned about them. They have showered them with social welfare to the point that a great many of them are now totally dependent on the U.S. government. The army killed them but the socialists have enslaved them to the very system that brought about their downfall. Today unemployment is commonly rampant on the Indian reservations (they live off their pensions from the government) as is alcoholism. Many waste their whole lives in such a fashion while others move away, intermarry with non-Indians and over time who they are is completely lost. It is a tragedy greater than any they have ever suffered from outright violence.

I see it this way. Place the blame wherever you like but the fact is there was a succession of Indian Wars in North America, the Army and the Indians fought and the Indians were defeated. However, at least then, despite all of their suffering, they fought well, they kept their dignity and they died in honorable battle for their traditional way of life. They lost their land but they kept their pride knowing that there is no shame in falling before a superior enemy. Then, however, the socialists came along and tried to sympathize with them and make everything better with government hand-outs. Already robbed of their nomadic way of life they soon were robbed of much of the rest of their culture as well through the "gift" of modern education. The tribes became democracies with the once proud role of chief being reduced to the level of a sleazy politician with a ceremonial headdress. Government payments robbed them of their independence and over time made them dependent on the government and so all of the other social problems mentioned have been the result. Nor are they the only such example.

In a recent post I touched on the history of the Mongols, another proud people of nomadic warriors who once very nearly conquered the world. That, of course, was before socialism and their takeover by a communist government. Since that time they have been robbed of their culture in much the same way, only more quickly and blatantly so. The communists destroyed their religion, destroyed their nomadic way of life turning the bulk of the population into urban dwellers. Socialism robbed them of their pride and independence to the point that most of the big businesses in Mongolia import Chinese workers because too many Mongols will quit after getting their first pay check to feed their alcoholism. What is all the more sad and outrageous is that in the case of both the American Indians and the Mongols they have been the victims of a totally foreign ideology imposed on them by outside forces.

I have the greatest respect for these cultures and it absolutely kills me to see the state they have been reduced to by "caring", "compassionate" liberals preaching "social justice". Others might not have the interest or concern for these people as I have, but everyone should pay attention because no one is inferior or superior to anyone else and if socialism and communism prevail everyone will end up in exactly the same condition; hopeless, struggling people totally dependent on big-government and the small ruling elite to see that we continue, not to live, but simply exist from the crumbs they distribute from the table they are feasting at. Obama can give an Indian elder a medal but he cannot and will not give them back their pride, their independence and their traditional way of life and that makes me a very, very ...... Mad Monarchist.

*Additional Note: This is not rocket science folks. Even Angelina Jolie (who, let's be honest, did not get where she is because of her brains) has recently criticized Obama for being all smoke & mirrors, more about welfare handouts than actually helping people better their lot in life. If she can figure it out - anyone can (not to worry libs, Brad's still an Obama man).