Ögedei KhanÖgedei Khagan (also Ogodei; 1186 – 11 December 1241) was second khagan of the Mongol Empire. The third son of Genghis Khan, he continued the expansion of the empire that his father had begun. Born in 1186 AD, Ögedei fought in numerous battles during his father's rise to power. After being granted a large appanage and taking a number of wives, including Töregene, he played a prominent role in the Mongol invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire.
Secret History of the MongolsThe Secret History of the Mongols (Middle Mongol: Mongɣol‐un niɣuca tobciyan; Traditional Mongolian: Mongɣol‐un niɣuca tobcii'a, Khalkha Mongolian: Монголын нууц товчоо, ; ) is the oldest surviving literary work in the Mongolian language. It was written for the Mongol royal family some time after the 1227 death of Genghis Khan (born Temujin). The author is anonymous and probably originally wrote in the Mongolian script, but the surviving texts all derive from transcriptions or translations into Chinese characters that date from the end of the 14th century and were compiled by the Ming dynasty under the title The Secret History of the Yuan Dynasty ().
Liao dynastyThe Liao dynasty (ljaʊ; Khitan: Mos Jælud; ), also known as the Khitan Empire (Khitan: Mos diau-d kitai huldʒi gur), officially the Great Liao (), was an imperial dynasty of China that existed between 916 and 1125, ruled by the Yelü clan of the Khitan people. Founded around the time of the collapse of the Tang dynasty, at its greatest extent it ruled over Northeast China, the Mongolian Plateau, the northern part of the Korean Peninsula, southern portions of the Russian Far East, and the northern tip of the North China Plain.
BalhaeBalhae (Korean: 발해; pa̠ɽɦɛ̝, , Бохай, ), also rendered as Bohai, was a multi-ethnic kingdom established in 698 by Dae Joyeong (Da Zuorong) and originally known as the Kingdom of Jin (震, Zhen) until 713 when its name was changed to Balhae. At its greatest extent it corresponded to what is today Northeast China, the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and the southeastern Russian Far East. Balhae's early history involved a rocky relationship with the Tang dynasty that saw military and political conflict, but by the end of the 8th century the relationship had become cordial and friendly.
CumaniaThe name Cumania originated as the Latin exonym for the Cuman–Kipchak confederation, which was a tribal confederation in the western part of the Eurasian Steppe, between the 10th and 13th centuries. The confederation was dominated by two Turkic nomadic tribes: the Cumans (also known as the Polovtsians or Folban) and the Kipchaks. Cumania was known in Islamic sources as Desht-i Qipchaq, which means "Steppe of the Kipchaks"; or "foreign land sheltering the Kipchaks", in Persian and al-Qumāniyīn in Arabic.
ToluiTolui (1191 – 1232) was the youngest son of Temüjin, the founder of the Mongol Empire under the title Genghis Khan, and his first wife Börte. A prominent general during the early Mongol conquests, Tolui was a leading candidate to succeed his father after his death in 1227 and ultimately served as regent until the accession of his brother Ögedei two years later. Tolui was also the husband of Sorghaghtani Beki; their sons included Möngke and Kublai, the fourth and fifth khagans of the empire, and Hulagu, the founder of the Ilkhanate.
