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Batu Khan
Khan of the Golden Horde
"The lands of the sunset shall know the Mongol bridle."
Biography
Batu Khan, a grandson of Genghis, was the nominal supreme commander of the great Mongol invasion of the West and the founder of the khanate known as the Golden Horde. From 1237 his armies, with Subutai providing the strategic genius, overran the Rus principalities one by one — burning Ryazan, Vladimir, and finally Kyiv, the mother-city of the Rus, in 1240 — and then drove into Poland and Hungary. After the victories at Legnica and Mohi in 1241 left central Europe prostrate, the death of the Great Khan Ögedei recalled Batu and the princes eastward to take part in the election of a successor, and the invasion of the West was never resumed. Batu settled on the lower Volga, where he established the Golden Horde, which would dominate Russia and the western steppe for some 240 years. His realm's long overlordship — the 'Tatar Yoke' — profoundly shaped the development of Russia.
Did you know?
His capital, Sarai, on the Volga, grew into one of the largest cities in the medieval world.
Key Battles
Battle of Mohi
Mongol Empire victoryApril 11, 1241 · 65,000 total casualties
Mohi laid the kingdom of Hungary open to devastation and brought the Mongols to the edge of Western Europe, which had no force capable of stopping them. Only the death of the Great Khan Ögedei in distant Mongolia, which recalled the princes to elect a successor, spared the West from invasion — a deliverance Europeans never realized they owed to a death thousands of miles away.
Life Journey
Timeline
c. 1207
🌅 Birth
Born a grandson of Genghis Khan
1240
⚔️ Battle
Sacks Kyiv, mother-city of the Rus
1241
⚔️ Battle
Commands at the victory of Mohi in Hungary
c. 1255
✝️ Death
Dies on the Volga, founder of the Golden Horde