Kublai Khan is known and revered for his civilian and
administrative, not his military achievements. Grandson of Genghis Khan,
Kublai sought to govern rather than to exploit and devastate the vast
domains bequeathed to him by two generations of Mongol conquests. He
made the transition from a nomadic conqueror from the steppes to
effective ruler of a sedentary society. Ironically, however, his reign
witnessed the Mongols’ most remarkable military success, the subjugation
of the Southern Sung dynasty of China, and simultaneously their
greatest military fiascos, the failed naval expeditions against Japan
and Java.
