Mongol conquest of the Song dynasty

The Mongol campaigns that destroyed the Southern Song dynasty and brought China under Mongol rule, culminating in the Song defeat at Yamen in 1279.

Battle of Xiangyang: A six-year Mongol siege that ended in 1273 with the surrender of the key Song cities Xiangyang and Fancheng. Its fall opened the route south along the Han River and broke a major barrier to invasion.
Mongol Empire: A vast empire founded by Genghis Khan that expanded across Eurasia during the thirteenth century. The Song campaigns were one phase of this broader imperial expansion.
Bayan of the Baarin: A Mongol general who led the principal Yuan campaign against the Southern Song from 1274. His advance down the Yangtze brought the Song capital, Lin’an, to surrender.
Yuan dynasty in China: The period of Mongol rule over China under the Yuan dynasty, conventionally dated from 1271 to 1368. The conquest made possible the first rule over all China by a dynasty founded by non-Han conquerors.
Kublai Khan: The Mongol ruler who founded the Yuan dynasty and completed the conquest of the Southern Song. He directed the final campaigns and established Mongol rule over China.
Mongol conquest of the Jin dynasty: The Mongol destruction of the Jurchen Jin dynasty in northern China, completed in 1234. The Jin’s fall left the Song exposed to Mongol power on its northern frontier.
Jia Sidao: A powerful Southern Song official who served as chief councillor during the dynasty’s final decades. His political leadership and military decisions became focal points of criticism after Xiangyang fell.
Pax Mongolica: A period of relative stability across parts of the Mongol Empire that facilitated travel and exchange in Eurasia. The conquest incorporated southern China into the imperial networks associated with Mongol rule.
Yamen Naval Battle: A 1279 naval battle in which Yuan forces defeated the last major Southern Song fleet near the coast of Guangdong. The defeat ended organized Song resistance and is conventionally treated as the conquest’s conclusion.
Jin-Song Wars: A series of conflicts between the Jurchen Jin and Chinese Song dynasties from the twelfth to early thirteenth centuries. Song efforts to cooperate with the Mongols against the Jin contributed to the strategic circumstances of the later invasion.

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