Tolui

Tolui (also rendered Toluy, c. 1190–1232) was the youngest son of Genghis Khan by B?rte. His ulus, or territorial inheritance, at his father's death in 1227 was the homelands in Mongolia, and it was he who served as civil administrator in the time it took to confirm ?gedei as second khan. Before that, he had served with distinction in the campaigns against the Jin Dynasty and the Khwarezmid Empire.

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When Genghis Khan was deciding who should succeed him he had trouble choosing between Tolui and ?godei. This was because Tolui had amazing military skills and was very successful as a general but Genghis Khan chose ?godei for a reason. ?godei, in comparison with Tolui, was more capable politically. Genghis Khan also felt that Tolui is too cautious to be an effective leader. After Genghis Khan's death, Mongol nobles gathered together and elected Tolui as the new Khan, but Tolui rejected and gave the Khanate to his brother ?godei, fulfilling his father's wishes. The Mongol nobles' moves were partly influenced by the tradition that the youngest son inherits his father's properties, and because Tolui had the most powerful and numerous army at that time.

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Perhaps more important is the role his family, the Toluids, had in shaping the destinies of the Mongol Empire. Through his wife Sorghaghtani Beki, Tolui fathered M?ngke, Kubilai, Ariq Boke, and Hulagu, and thus was the progenitor of the last of the great Khans, the Yuan Dynasty of China, and of the Il Khans.

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Rivalry between the Toluids and the sons of ?gedei and Jochi caused the stagnation and infighting during the regency periods after the deaths of ?gedei and his son G?y?k.

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However, it was a rivalry from among Tolui's own sons—that of Kubilai and Ariq Boke—that fragmented the power of the empire and set the western khanates against each other in the early 1260s.

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Genghis Khan: (c. 1162–August 18, 1227) (Cyrillic: Чингис Хаан), (also spelled as Chingis Khan, Jenghis Khan, etc.), (pronounced ), born as Tem?jin (Тэмүүжин), was a Great Khan and hugely successful m...

Ulus: An ulus (; Sakha: улуус) is a subdivision type of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic of Russia....

Mongolia: :For the region of the same name, see Mongolia (region)...