The Secret History of the Mongol Queens of Genghis Khan came to control the Silk Route and assisted his campaigns in China and Persia. The Mongol women proved adept at administrating their territory and fighting alongside men on foreign conquests. After the death of Genghis Khan in 1227, his successors quickly neglected Khan's legacy. His son, Ögedei, purged his female relatives in order to consolidate his power over the Borjigin clan; including allegedly arranging the assassination of Genghis Khan's daughter, Altalun, who was ruler of the Uyghur territory. Following Ögedei's death, khatuns (queens) briefly ruled the Mongol Empire. Most of these women were not Genghis Khan's daughters,
Mongol invasions of the Levant Syria a vassal state of the Mongol Empire. In 1255 Hulagu sought to further expand the Empire into the Middle East under orders from his older brother, the Great Khan Möngke. Hulagu's forces subjugated multiple peoples along the way, most notably the center of the Islamic Empire, Baghdad, which was completely sacked in 1258, destroying the Abbasid Caliphate. From there, the Mongol forces proceeded into Syria. In 1260, Egypt was under the control of the Bahri Mamluks, while most of the Levant (aside from the Crusader states) was still under the control of Ayyubid princes. The Mongols, for their part,