The Mongol Empire: The Golden Horde

On his deathbed in 1227, the great conqueror of Asia and the Middle East, Genghis Khan, divided his kingdom into Khanates amongst his four sons. The eldest son, Batu, inherited the westernmost part of the empire, covering Russia and Kazakhstan. The term Golden Horde refers to the Mongol rulers who dominated these lands for the two and a half centuries following the death of Genghis Khan. The boundaries of the territory inherited by Batu included the upper Volga, the territory of the former Volga Bolgar state, Siberia to the Urals, the northern Caucasus, Bulgaria, Crimea, and Khwarizm in central Asia. Batu spent several years consolidating the massive territory that he now had possession over. Then in 1235, he set out to expand the empire. His secret weapon in his push to the west was the brilliant and accomplished general Subatai, who had served as his father’s primary military strategist. Subatai swept into the Urals with his Mongol Army, overpowering the Bashkir ethnic community and then moving into Volga Bulgaria. Over the next three years, Batu greatly increased his Khanate by conquering the principalities of Kievan Rus in modern-day northern Ukraine and Western Russia. Batu next headed his feared Mongol army west to invade Poland and Hungary. Five separate armies swept into Eastern Europe. Two of them attacked through Poland, with a southern army moving through Transylvania. The main army was led by Batu himself, with Subatai by his side. It attacked Hungary while the fifth army, led by Batu’s brother Shiban, invaded to the north of the main army in a wide-sweeping arc. On April 9th, 1241, the Mongol army led by Baidar, the son of Batu Khan’s brother, met a combined force of Poles and Moravians under the command of Duke Henry II the Pious of Silesia. The defending army was supported by feudal knights who had been sent by Pope Gregory IX to stop the forward march of the Mongols. Through a series of feigned retreats and vicious counterattacks, the Mongols won a spectacular victory. Duke Henry was left dead on the field of battle along with thousands of his men. The Mongols cut the right ear off the enemy dead and ended with nine bulging sackfuls. Two days later, on April 11th, Batu led his army against the forces of the Kingdom of Hungary at the Battle of Mohi. A Mongolian vanguard had attempted to cross the Sajo River and surround the Hungarian army the night before but had been discovered and slaughtered to the last man. Early the next morning the main Mongolian army attacked. After sustaining heavy losses, they managed to push the Hungarians back upon their camp. They then used siege equipment to hammer away at the camp’s fortifications. Tents were also set on fire. The panicked Hungarians tried to flee but the vast majority were cut down in mid-flight. It was another stunning victory for the Mongols. Some historians believe that Batu’s army had the advantage of gunpowder in this battle, which would have been the first time it was used in a European battle. A victorious Batu now set his sights on Vienna. Before he set his army in motion, however, he received the news that his older brother, Ogedai, who had succeeded his father as the Khagan emperor, died. Rather than returning to Mongolia, he remained in the vicinity of the Volga River. His brother Güyük became the next emperor and the change at the top brought an end to Mongolian expansion to the west. Batu established his capital at Sarai, east of the Akhtuba River, which was a tributary of the Lower Volga River. Batu and Güyük were not friendly toward each other, with Batu refusing to attend the grand ceremony that marked the succession. His own power as ruler of the Golden Horde was cemented with nearly all of the Rus princes in his territory, including Yaroslav II of Vladimir, Daniel of Galicia, and Sviatoslav of Vladimir, doing obeisance to him. When Güyük demanded that Batu make the pilgrimage back to Mongolia to pay homage to him, Batu sent two of these princes, one of whom was poisoned to death in Mongolia. Credits: Illustration - Jonathan Benbow bongwedesign.com Script - Steve Theunissen Voice Actor - James Fowler Video Editor - Julia Nazario