Kaidu
Leader of the House of Ögedei
Biography
Kaidu was a grandson of Ögedei, the second Great Khan. The title had been meant to stay in Ögedei's line, but in 1251 Möngke of the house of Tolui took it and many princes of Kaidu's family were purged. He never forgot it, and spent his life fighting to reclaim what he saw as his family's share.
He built his power on the pastures and oasis cities of Central Asia. In 1269 he met other princes at Talas to fix the borders of their territories, with no representative of the Great Khan present. Dividing imperial land without the Great Khan's consent is often taken as the moment the empire had visibly become several states.
Though a prince of the steppe, Kaidu is known for stopping his followers from plundering the oasis cities at will, because he understood that a ruined city pays no taxes. He fed his army from what merchants paid, and in 1271 he installed Baraq's son Duwa as khan of the Chagatai Khanate, gaining a firm ally. Together the two blocked the Yuan from pushing west for thirty years.
As long as Kaidu lived, the Yuan could not extend its power westward. In 1301 he marched with Duwa on the old capital of Karakorum, clashed heavily with the Yuan army, was wounded and died soon after. Once he was gone, Duwa came to terms with the Yuan and turned on his heirs, and the state of the Ögedei line disappeared within a few years. His daughter Khutulun, the stories say, swore to marry only a man who could beat her at wrestling, and no one ever did.