1250s: Encyclopedia II - 1250s - War and politics

1250s - War and politics

1250s - Mongol Empire

• 1251 - Möngke Khan is elected as the fourth khan of the Mongol Empire.
• 1253 - Galicia becomes a vassal state to the expanding Mongol Empire.
• 1253 - The Mongol Empire launches attacks on the Muslim cities of Baghdad and Cairo.
• 1253 - The Mongol Empire destroys the Kingdom of Dali (Yunnan) in Laos and incorporates the region into their empire.
• 1253 - Kublai Khan introduces the baisha xiyue song and dance suite to the music of Yunnan.
• 1255 - Hulagu Khan is dispatched by his brother Möngke Khan to destroy the remaining Muslim states in southwestern Asia.
• 1256 - October - Mongol commander Baiju (operating under Hulagu Khan's command) leads his forces in a victory over Kay Ka'us II of the Sultanate of Rüm, thereby capturing Anatolia.
• 1256 - December 15 - Hulagu Khan captures and destroys the Hashshashin stronghold at Alamut in present-day Iran.
• 1256 - Hulagu Khan establishes the Ilkhanate dynasty of Persia, which will become one of four main divisions of the Mongol Empire.
• 1258 - February 10 - The Hulagu Khan's Mongol forces overrun Baghdad, then the leading center of Islamic culture and learning, burning it to the ground and killing as many as 800,000 citizens.
• 1259 - The Goryeo kingdom in Korea surrenders to invading Mongol forces.

1250s - Europe

• 1250 - December 13 - Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, dies, beginning a 23-year-long interregnum known as the great interregnum. Frederick II is the last Holy Roman Emperor of the Hohenstaufen dynasty; after the interregnum, the empire passes to the Habsburgs. The Lombard League dissolves upon the death of Frederick II, its member states' nemesis.
• 1250 - King Afonso III of Portugal captures the Algarve from the Moors, thus completing the expulsion of the Moors from Portugal.
• 1251 - Andrew of Longumeau, dispatched two years earlier by King Louis IX of France as an ambassador to the Mongols, returns to his king with reports from the Mongols and Tartary; his mission is considered a failure.
• 1253 - King Henry III of England meets with English nobles and church leaders to reaffirm the validity of the Magna Carta.
• 1254 - King Louis IX of France, having exhausted his funds and being needed at home, abandons the Seventh Crusade (which he had conducted first in Egypt and then Syria) and returns to France.
• 1254 - King Louis IX of France expels all Jews from France.
• 1254 - King Afonso III of Portugal holds the first session of the Cortes (Portugal's general assembly composed of nobles, members of the middle class, and representatives from all municipalities) in Leiria.
• 1254 - In England, an important step in the evolution of the Parliament and Peerage occurs, as lesser barons are replaced on the King's Council by elected representatives from shires and cities.
• 1255 - May - William of Rubruck from Constantinople returns to Cyprus from his missionary journey to convert the Tatars of central and eastern Asia, his efforts having been unsuccessful.
• 1258 - King Henry III of England is forced by seven powerful barons to accept the Provisions of Oxford, effectively ending the absolute monarchy in England by requiring the calling of a parliament.
• 1259 - September - The Empire of Nicaea defeats the Principality of Achaea at the Battle of Pelagonia, ensuring the eventual reconquest of Constantinople in 1261.
• 1259 - December 4 - Kings Louis IX of France and Henry III of England agree to the Treaty of Paris, in which Henry renounces his claims to French-controlled territory on continental Europe (including Normandy) in exchange for Louis withdrawing his support for English rebels.
• 1259 - The German cities of Lübeck, Wismar, and Rostock enter into a pact to defend against pirates of the Baltic Sea, laying the groundwork for the Hanseatic League.

1250s - Asia and Africa

• 1250 - The Bahri dynasty of Mamluks seize power in Egypt.
• 1259 - Lannathai, a kingdom in the north of Thailand, is founded by King Mengrai.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "War and politics", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki