Interactive map · 1162–1281
Mongol Empire, step by step
Use Earlier and Later, or tap the bar, to move through 12 moments. Borders and labels change with each one.
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This is the same 3D map, built from real terrain, that the Steel & Sovereigns app uses in every lesson.
Timeline
Mongol Empire timeline
A hunted boy on the steppe builds the largest land empire the world has ever seen.
c. 1162
Temüjin is born
Abandoned, hunted, alive.
His father was poisoned, his clan left him, his captors chained him. Temüjin survived it all. Now he needs allies.
In the app: lesson “No Friends But Our Shadows”
1196
The Tatars are beaten
Two brothers, one steppe.
A gift made Toghrul his patron. Jamukha helped him win back Börte, then became his rival. Temüjin is a khan now, and the steppe is choosing sides.
In the app: lesson “Blood Brothers”
1206
Temüjin becomes Chinggis Khan
The outcast is Khan.
How did a hunted boy become khan? He rewarded loyalty over blood: herdsmen, enemy archers and strangers rose by merit, and traitors died. Next: the army he builds from them.
In the app: lesson “Khan of the Felt Tents”
1206
The army of tens and thousands
The machine is built.
Units of ten that broke the old tribes. A string of horses for every rider. Messages across a continent. And its first test is waiting behind the walls of Xi Xia.
In the app: lesson “Tens, Hundreds, Thousands”
1210
Xi Xia submits
The flood that failed.
The Mongols tried to drown a city and flooded themselves, yet Xi Xia still knelt. Genghis learned that walls were the enemy. Next: the Jin, and the greatest walls he had ever seen.
In the app: lesson “The River Trap”
1215
Zhongdu falls
Walls fall too.
How did herders break walled kingdoms? Speed and discipline won the battles; the skills of the conquered took the cities. Next: an empire in the west that makes a fatal mistake.
In the app: lesson “The Golden Emperor”
1218
The Otrar caravan
Trade refused.
A caravan seized, an envoy killed, beards shaved. Genghis had offered trade. The Shah chose war, and then hid his army in his cities.
In the app: lesson “The Caravan”
1220
Bukhara and Samarkand fall
Out of the sand.
One desert crossing put Genghis behind the Shah's lines. Bukhara and Samarkand fell in weeks, and the Shah died a fugitive. His son fights on.
In the app: lesson “Out of the Desert”
1227
Genghis Khan dies
The price of an insult.
Why did Genghis turn west? The Shah killed his merchants and his envoys. The price: an empire destroyed and great cities emptied. Genghis died in 1227, but his generals were still riding west.
In the app: lesson “The Price”
1223
Battle of the Kalka River
The longest scouting trip.
A manhunt became a ride around the Caspian Sea. Georgia, the Kipchaks and the Rus' were beaten, and Subutai now knew the way west. Jebe died soon after; Subutai would return.
In the app: lesson “The Great Raid”
1241
Legnica and Mohi
Saved by a funeral?
Frozen rivers led to Kyiv. Two armies fell in three days at Legnica and Mohi. Then the Mongols rode back to the Volga, where Batu built his capital at Sarai. Europe never fully knew why.
In the app: lesson “Winter Roads”
1281
The divine wind
The edge of the world.
How far could the Mongols ride? From the Pacific to the gates of Western Europe. What stopped them there was not an army: a Great Khan's death far away, and the sea and the wind off Japan.
In the app: lesson “The Divine Wind”
Learn it in the app
The Mongols: Outcast to Khan of Khans
Twelve five-minute lessons in four units, each with the map, hand-painted scenes, British narration and a few quick questions. Steel & Sovereigns is a history learning app for iPhone, built like Duolingo.
Unit 1
The Outcast
- No Friends But Our Shadows
- Blood Brothers
- Khan of the Felt Tents
Unit 2
The War Machine
- Tens, Hundreds, Thousands
- The River Trap
- The Golden Emperor
Unit 3
The Shah Who Said No
- The Caravan
- Out of the Desert
- The Price
Unit 4
The Edge of the World
- The Great Raid
- Winter Roads
- The Divine Wind
