This is a timeline of Mongolian history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in Mongolia and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of Mongolia. See also the list of presidents of Mongolia.
Qin armies evict Xiongnu nomadic tribes from their pastures on the Yellow River in the Ordos Loop. Xiongnu leader Touman forced to flee far into the Mongolian Plateau
Modu Chanyu leads a Xiongnu invasion of the Gansu region and soundly defeats last remnants of the Yuezhi, killing the Yuezhi king in the process and asserting their presence in the Western Regions.
The Battle of Mayi, an abortive ambush operation by Emperor Wu of Han (Han Wudi) against the invading Xiongnu forces, begins a decades-long Han dynasty offensive against the nomads
Various tribes invade the Xiongnu territory from all fronts; Wusun from the west, Dingling from the north, Wuhuan from the east, and Han forces from the south.
60
Xiongnu civil war as factions fight for power following the death of Xulüquanqu, the 12th Chanyu
53
The southern Xiongnu surrender and become tributaries to the Han after splitting into northern and southern dynasties.
36
At the Battle of Zhizhi General Chen Tang and Protector General Gan Yanshou, acting without explicit permission from the Han court, kill Northern Xiongnu leader Zhizhi Chanyu at his capital city (present-day Taraz, Kazakhstan)
1st century AD
Year
Date
Event
49
Tsi Yung, allied with the Wuhuan and Xianbei, attacked the northern Xiongnu kingdom. Xianbei move into Xiongnu territory.
93
The northern Xiongnu are dispersed by the Xianbei and the Chinese during the Battle of Ikh Bayan. The last Northern Chanyu is defeated and flees over to the north west with his subjects.
2nd century AD
Year
Date
Event
147
The Xianbei, who gain strength beginning from the 1st century CE, are consolidated into a state under Tanshihuai.
167
The Xianbei successfully repel an invasion of the Han dynasty.
A reunited China—under the Tang dynasty (618–906) destroys the Eastern Türk north of the Gobi and establishes the Anbei Protectorate in the Mongolian Steppes. Uyghurs khagan are installed as Anbei protector.
682
Ilterish Qaghan (682–91) founds the Second Turkic Khaganate by uniting the tribes and subjugating the nine Turkic tribes of the Toquz Oghuz (which included the Uyghurs) and joining with the Sir tribes, Basmyls and Karluks to the west. He would later defeat Chinese armies and raid China.
Uyghurs destroy several northern Yenisei Kyrgyz trading outposts before slaughtering a Kyrgyz army and executing their Khan
9th century AD
Year
Date
Event
840
The Tang dynasty surreptitiously encouraged the Yenisei Kirghiz and the Karluks to attack the Uyghurs and the Uyghur Khaganate fell under an invasion of the Yenisei Kirghiz
10th century AD
Year
Date
Event
907
Ambagyan founds the Khitan Liao dynasty which covered a significant portion of what is now Mongolia including the basins of the three rivers Kherlen, Tuul and Orkhon.
925
The Khitan ruled eastern Mongolia, most of Manchuria, and much of China north of the Yellow River.
944
Emperor Taizong launches an invasion of the Jin.
947
Khitan chieftains had established themselves as emperors of northern China. The Khitan state is renamed the Liao dynasty
Emperor Tianzuo of Liao flees the Southern Capital and his uncle Yelü Chun is declared emperor of Northern Liao, however he dies three months later and the title is passed down to Yelü Ding, the son in hiding with his father the emperor also in hiding; real power goes to Empress Dowager Xiao Puxiannu[16]
The Kaidu–Kublai war breaks out, which lasts until 1301 and deepens the fragmentation of the Mongol Empire. All later Khagans of the Mongol Empire were nominal due to the empire's division.
Kublai Khan officially proclaims the founding of the Yuan dynasty with himself as first emperor. Khanbaliq (modern Beijing) named the dynasty's capital.
Death of Kublai Khan (aged 78). By this time the Mongol Empire had already fractured into four khanates: the Yuan dynasty based in China, the Golden Horde based in Russia, the Chagatai Khanate based in Central Asia, and the Ilkhanate based in Iran, although the Yuan emperors held the nominal title of Khagan.
1294
10 May
Temür Khan, son of Crown Prince Zhenjin and grandson of Kublai Khan, becomes sixth Khagan of the Mongol Empire and second emperor of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty.
A peace among the Mongol khanates establishes the nominal supremacy of the Yuan dynasty over the three western khanates (the Golden Horde, the Chagatai Khanate and the Ilkhanate). However, the peace itself was short-lived and the war soon resumed.
1307
21 June
With the death of Temür Khan (aged 41), Külüg Khan, first son of Darmabala and Dagi of the Khunggirad clan, and a great-grandson of Kublai Khan, becomes seventh Khagan of the Mongol Empire and third Emperor of the Yuan dynasty.
1311
7 April
Külüg Khan dies (aged 29). Ayurbarwada Buyantu Khan, second son of Darmabala and Dagi of the Khunggirat, and a great-grandson of Kublai Khan, becomes eighth Khagan of the Mongol Empire and fourth Emperor of the Yuan dynasty.
Death of Gegeen Khan (aged 20). Yesün Temür, son of Gammala, grandson of Zhenjin and great-grandson of Kublai Khan, becomes tenth Khagan of the Mongol Empire and sixth Emperor of the Yuan dynasty.
1328
October
With the death of Yesün Temür (aged 34), Ragibagh Khan, eldest son of Yesün Temür, becomes 11th Khagan of the Mongol Empire at the age of 7-8 and designated seventh Emperor of the Yuan dynasty before being deposed in a coup before his succession.
1328
16 October
Jayaatu Khan Tugh Temür, second son of Khayishan, becomes 12th Khagan of the Mongol Empire and eighth Emperor of the Yuan dynasty. The War of the Two Capitals begins. His forces defeated, Ragibagh Khan disappears or dies at the age of 7–8, possibly murdered.
1329
27 February
Jayaatu Khan Tugh Temür abdicates and his elder brother Khutughtu Khan Kusala becomes 13th Khagan of the Mongol Empire and ninth Emperor of the Yuan dynasty. However, he dies on August 30 at age 28, four days after a banquet with brother Jayaatu Khan Tugh Temür, presumed to have been poisoned. Jayaatu Khan Tugh Temür regaines the throne on September 8.
1332
23 October
With the death of Jayaatu Khan Tugh Temür (aged 28), Rinchinbal Khan, second son of Khutughtu Khan Kusala, becomes 14th Khagan of the Mongol Empire and tenth Emperor of the Yuan dynasty at the age of six.
1333
19 July
Rinchinbal Khan dies nine months later (aged 6), Toghon Temür, (1320–1370) eldest son of Khutughtu Khan Kusala and older brother of Rinchinbal, becomes 15th Khagan of the Mongol Empire and eleventh Emperor of the Yuan dynasty.
Uskhal Khan Tögüs Temür is murdered by an ally of the Oirats, thus launching the Oirat-Mongol wars in Northern Yuan dynasty. Jorightu Khan Yesüder (1358–1391) becomes Khan of a fractured and diminished Mongol Khanate.
1394
Elbeg Nigülesügchi Khan (1361–1399) overthrew Engke Khan from the House of Ariq Böke succeeds as Khan of the Mongols.
Adai Khan (1390–1438) assumes throne of Northern Yuan dynasty, unifies both the central and eastern Mongol territories but then suffers major defeats by Oirats in 1430 and 1434.
1433
Oirats crown Toghtoa Bukha (Taisun Khan) as Khagan of the Northern Yuan. He later proclaims himself of Khagan of the Great Yuan enraging the Ming dynasty.
Dayan Khan defeats the Ordos and Tümed Mongols at the Battle of Dalan Terigün (Inner Mongolia), reunifying the Six Tümens of the Mongols.
1513
Dayan Khan launches successive invasions of China that continue through 1526 and include an unsuccessful assault on Beijing in 1517
1542
Following his brother's death in 1542, Altan Khan (grandson of Dayan Khan) becomes the de facto leader of the whole of the "Right Wing" (western Inner Mongolia and Ordos) and is given the title, "Tüsheet Sechen Khan."
1550
Altan Khan launches large scale incursions into Ming territory, surrounds Beijing.
1551
Altan Khan and the Ming strike accords on peace and border trade.
Altan Khan meets Sodnam Gyatso in northeast Tibet and bestows on him the Mongolian title "Dalai Lama". The Mongols’ “Second Conversion” to Buddhism begins
1585
Abtai Sain Khan of the Tüsheet Khanate and nephew of Altan Khan founds Erdene Zuu Monastery, the first Buddhist monastery in Mongolia, adjacent to the ancient Mongol capital of Karakorum
Stalinist purges in Mongolia: A Stalinist terror began which would lead to the deaths of more than thirty thousand people in the Mongolian People's Republic.
The Mongolian People's Republic declared war on Japan, one day after the Soviet Union, and began to liberate Southern Mongolia from the China and the Japan.
October
A plebiscite yielded a 100% pro-independence vote.
1946
January
The Chinese government recognized the independence of Mongolian People's Republic.
1949
6 October
The newly established People's Republic of China recognized Mongolia and agreed to establish diplomatic relations.
Biran, Michal (2005). The Empire of the Qara Khitai in Eurasian History: Between China and the Islamic World. Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN0521842263.
Twitchett, Denis (1994). The Cambridge History of China, Volume 6, Alien Regime and Border States, 907-1368. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN0521243319.
Xiong, Victor Cunrui (2009). Historical Dictionary of Medieval China. United States of America: Scarecrow Press, Inc. ISBN978-0810860537.