Note: He is also known as: Kubilai, Kublai, Kubla.
The largest empire of all time was the Yuan Dynasty and its leader was the ingenious Khubilai Khan. Khubilai believed it was his duty to unify the entire world under Mongol rule. He surpassed his grandfather Genghis Khan, because he was an expert conqueror as well as gifted ruler. Khubilai prepared the groundwork for the glorious Yuan Dynasty. How did this Mongolian nomad become so legendary? Khubilai Khan was extraordinarily successful during his reign, because of his political choices, and the unification and administration of his conquered territories. .
Khubilai Khan excelled at making intelligent political choices. He even made political decisions when he was young, which would aid him later in life. Khubilai spent his childhood around the Chinese, which allowed him to learn about their culture. This also allowed him to be open-minded about non-Mongols. As a result of being open-minded, Khubilai was able to include excellent officials into his court even though they were not Mongols. Another intelligent political decision was to challenge his brother, Arigh Boke's claim to the throne by proclaiming himself Emperor. This was a clever decision, because Khubilai had the support of the Chinese, who far outnumbered his brother's Mongol supporters. This decision paid off when Boke was defeated in 1264. The next decision that Khubilai Khan made was to move the capital from Mongolia to China, which was politically and militarily significant. It was politically important because the move showed his support for the Chinese. This relocation was militarily significant, because the new capital offered a better location to conduct military campaigns against Japan, Indonesia and most importantly, the Song Dynasty. An additional excellent decision was to secure the territory of the Silk Road in mid-east, because the control of the trade route would help the economy.
