Ukhaatu Khan (Classical Mongolian: Uqaɤatu qaɤan; Khalkha Mongolian: Ухаант хаан Uhaant haan), born Toghun Tem�r, was the fifteenth grand-khan of the Mongol Empire (Dai-�n Ulus/Yuan Dynasty). During his reign, the empire lost China to the Ming Dynasty.

Before succession

Toghun Tem�r was born to Kuśala when he stayed Central Asia in evacuation. Toghun Tem�r's mother was a daugher of the chief of the Turkic Qarluq tribe, whose rank was not high in the court.

Following the civil war broke out after Yes�n Tem�r Khan's death in 1328, he attended his father Kuśala and entered Shangdu via Mongolia. But after Kuśala died and Kuśala's younger brother Tugh Tem�r was restored to the throne, he was kept from the court. He was banished to Goryeo and then to Guangxi.

In 1332 when Tugh Tem�r died, his widow Budashiri Khatun respected his will to make Kuśala's son succeed the throne instead of his son El Teg�s. But it was not Toghun Tem�r but his yonger brother Rinchinbal who became the grand-khan. Rinchinbal died in two month, and the de facto ruler El Tem�r attempted to install El Teg�s again, but it was rejected by Budashiri. As a result, Toghun Tem�r was summoned back from Guangxi.

El Tem�r feared that Toghun Tem�r, who was too mature to be a puppet, would take against him since he was suspected of the assassination on Toghun Tem�r's father Kuśala. The enthronement of Toghun Tem�r was postponed for six months by El Tem�r. He managed to succeed to the throne in 1333 when El Tem�r died.

Struggles during the early reign

Toghun Tem�r appointed his nephew El Teg�s as Crown Prince, and was in ward to El Teg�s's mother Budashiri. But he was controlled by warlords even after El Tem�r's death. Among them, Bayan became as powerful as El Tem�r had been. He served as minister of the Secretariat and crushed a rebellion by El Tem�r's son.

As he was grew, he came to disfavor Bayan's autocratic rule. In 1340 he allied Bayan's nephew Toghtogha, who was in discord with Bayan, and banished Bayan by coup. He also kicked El Teg�s and Budashiri out of the court. He managed to purge officials that had dominated the administration, but it only resulted in another dictatorship, that of Toghtogha and his father Majartai. In 1347 he drove them into Gangsu with assistance from former officers of Kuśala and Yes�n Tem�r. But he called Toghtogha back in 1349. All he could do was to back up one side of warlords over power.

While the central government waged endless power struggles, people in the countryside suffered from frequent natural disasters; droughts, floods and the ensuing famines. The government's lack of policy led to a loss of the support from people. Illicit salt dealers who were disaffected with the government's salt monopoly raised a rebellion in 1348. It triggered many revolts around the empire. Among them, the Red Turban Rebellion, which started in 1351, grew into a nationwide turmoil.

Disorder during the late reign

In 1354, when Toghtogha led a large army to crush the Red Turban rebels, Toghun Tem�r suddenly dismissed him for fear of betrayal. It resulted in Toghun Tem�r's restoration of power on the one hand and a rapid weakening of the central government on the other. He had no choice but to rely on local warlords' military.

He gradually lost his interest in politics and ceased to intervene political struggles. His son Ayushiridar, who became Crown Prince in 1353, attempted to seize power and came to conflict with Toghun Tem�r's aides who dominated politics instead of the khan. Toghun Tem�r was unable to conciliate the dispute. In 1364 the Shangxi-based warlord Bolad Tem�r occupied Dadu and expelled the Crown Prince from the winter base. In alliance with the Henan-based warlord K�ke Tem�r, Ayushiridar defeated Bolad Tem�r in the next year. This internal struggle resulted in further weakening of political and military power of the central government.

Retreat to the north

Unifying rebel groups in Southern China and establishing the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhuang conducted military expeditions to Northern China and defeated the Yuan army in 1368. When K�ke Tem�r lost battles against Ming General Xu Da and the Ming troops approached Hebei, Toghun Tem�r gave up Dadu and fled to the summer base Shangdu.

In 1369 when Shangdu also fell under the Ming's occupation, Toghun Tem�r fled northward to Yingchang-fu, which was located in southern Mongolia. He died there in 1370 and his son Ayushiridara succeeded to the throne.

At the time of his death, the Mongolia-based empire maintained its influence, stretching the domination from the Sea of Japan to Altai Mountains. There were also pro-Mongol, anti-Ming forces in Gangsu and Yunnan. Even though its control over China had not been stable yet, the Ming considered that the Yuan lost the Mandate of Heaven when it abandoned Dadu, and that the Yuan was overthrown in 1368. The Chinese did not treat Toghun Tem�r after 1368 and his successor Ayushiridar as emperors.

The Ming gave Toghun Tem�r the posthumous name Shundi, which implied that he followed the Mandate of Heaven ceded emperorship to the Ming. But the Yuan gave their own temple name Huizong to him. Actually, even after Toghun Tem�r, Chinggisid khans ruled Mongolia and claimed succession to the Mongol Empire. Historians called the Yuan Dynasty after Toghun Tem�r the Northern Yuan.

Legacy

Mongolian chronicles such as the Erdeni-yin tobchi include a poem known as the Lament of Toghun Tem�r. It deals with his grieving after the loss of Dadu.