Batu Khan: Encyclopedia - Batu Khan

Batu Khan

Batu Khan (Russian: Batyi, Батый) (c. 1205 - 1255) was a Mongol ruler, founder of the Kipchak Khanate. The term "Kipchak" came from the Kipchak Turks in the Mongol forces. Batu was a son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan.

Although Genghis Khan recognized Jochi as his son, his parentage was always a question, as his mother Börte, Genghis Khan's wife, had been captured and raped, so that Jochi was born exactly nine months after her recovery by Genghis Khan. During the lifetime of Genghis, this issue was public knowledge but it was taboo to publicly discuss it. Still, it drove a wedge between Jochi and his father, and just before Jochi's death, he and Genghis almost fought a civil war because of Jochi's sullen refusal to join in military campaigns. Jochi also was given only 4,000 Mongol soldiers to carve out his own Khanate. Jochi's sons Batu got most of his soldiers by recruiting Turkic people (mostly Kipchak Turks) who he had defeated. Batu was the senior member of the Mongol family after Jochi and Genghis passed away, and Batu was later instrumental in setting aside the house of his uncle Ogotai aside in favor of the house of Toloui, his other uncle. When Batu and his son, Sartak, passed on, Batu's brother named Berke inherited the so-called "Golden Horde" actually the Kipchak Khanate, and Berke was not inclined to unity with his cousins in the Mongol family, making war on Hulagu Khan, though Berke officially recognized the Khanate of China as his overloard---in theory only. In fact, Berke was an independent king by then.

Batu Khan - Invasion of Rus

In 1235 Batu, who earlier had directed the conquest of the Crimea, was assigned an army of possibly 130,000 (actually commanded by Subutai) to oversee an invasion of Europe. The army crossed the Volga and invaded Volga Bulgaria in 1236. It took them a year to extinguish resistance to the Volga Bulgarians, Kypchaks, and Alani.

In November 1237 Batu Khan sent his envoys to the court of Yuri II of Vladimir and demanded his allegiance. A month later, the hordes besieged Ryazan. After six days of the bloodiest battle, this capital was totally annihillated, never to be restored. Alarmed by the news, Yury II sent his sons to detain the horde, but these were soundly defeated. Having burnt down Kolomna and Moscow, the horde laid siege to Vladimir on February 4, 1238. Three days later the capital of Vladimir-Suzdal was taken and burnt to the ground. The royal family perished in the fire, while the grand prince hastily retreated northward. Crossing the Volga, he mustered a new army, which was totally exterminated by the Mongols on the Sit' River on March 4.

Thereupon Batu Khan divided his army into smaller units, which ransacked 14 Russian cities: Rostov, Uglich, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Kashin, Ksnyatin, Gorodets, Galich, Pereslavl-Zalessky, Yuriev-Polsky, Dmitrov, Volokolamsk, Tver, and Torzhok. The most difficult to take was the small town of Kozelsk, whose boy-prince Titus and inhabitants resisted the Mongols for 7 weeks. As the story goes, at the news of Mongol approach, a city of Kitezh was submerged into a lake with all its inhabitants, where it may be seen to this day. The only major cities to escape destruction were Novgorod and Pskov.

In the summer of 1238, Batu Khan devastated the Crimea and pacified Mordovia. In the winter of 1239, he sacked Chernigov and Pereyaslav. After many years of siege, the horde stormed Kiev in December 1239. Despite fierce resistance of Danylo of Halych, Batu Khan managed to take two principal capitals of his land, Halych and Volodymyr-Volyns'kyi. The Russian states were left as vassals rather than integrated into the central Asian empire.

Batu Khan - Invasion of Central Europe

Batu Khan then decided to "reach the ultimate sea", where they could proceed no further. Some modern historians speculate that Batu Khan intended primarily to assure his flanks were safe for the future from possible interference from the Europeans, and partially as a precursor to further conquest.

The Mongols invaded central Europe in three groups. One group conquered Poland, defeating a combined force under Henry the Pious, Duke of Silesia and the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order at Legnica. A second crossed the Carpathians and a third followed the Danube. The armies re-grouped and crushed Hungary in 1241, defeating the army led by Béla IV of Hungary at the Battle of Muhi on April 11. The armies swept the plains of Hungary over the summer and in the spring of 1242 regained impetus and extended their control into Austria and Dalmatia as well as invading Bohemia.

This attack on Europe was planned and carried out by Subutai, under the nominal command of Batu, who was intelligent enough to get out of the way and let one of history's great generals do his best. Subutai achieved perhaps his most lasting fame with his victories there. Having devastated the various Russian Principalities, he sent spies into Poland, Hungary, and as far as Austria, in preparation for an attack into the heartland of Europe. Having gotten a clear picture of the European Kingdoms, he brilliantly prepared an attack nominally commanded by Batu Khan and 2 other princes of the blood. Batu Khan, son of Jochi, was the overall leader, but Subutai was the actual commander in the field, and as such was present in both the northern and southern campaigns against Russia. He commanded the central column that moved against Hungary. While Kaidu's northern force won the battle of Leignitz and Kadan's army triumphed in Transylvania, Subutai was waiting for them on the Hungarian plain. The newly reunited army then withdrew to the Sajo river where they inflicted the tremendous defeat on King Béla IV at the Battle of Mohi. Subutai masterminded the operation, and it was to prove one of his greatest victories.

By late 1241, Batu and Subutai were discussing plans to invade Austria, Italy and Germany, when the news came of the death of Ögedei Khan (died in December, 1241), and the Mongols withdrew in the late spring of 1242, as the Princes of the blood, and Subutai, were recalled to Karakorum where the kuriltai was held. To many historians, the death of the Great Khan prevented the utter destruction of the remainder of Europe.

Batu was a potential Great Khan and when he failed to win this he turned to consolidate his conquests in Asia and the Urals. He established the capital of his khanate at Sarai on the lower Volga in 1242. He was planning new campaigns but he died in 1255 and the khanate passed to Sartaq. The Kipchak Khanate ruled Russia directly, or in the case of Novograd by vassal status, for the next 130 years.

The Kipchak Khanate was known in Russia and Europe as the Golden Horde (Zolotaya Orda) because of the Golden colour of the Khan's tent. "Horde" refers to this, not to the Mongol hordes. "Golden" is thought to have had a similar meaning to "royal." Of all the Khanates, the Golden Horde ruled longest. Long after the Yuan Dynasty had been driven out of China, and Il Khanate of the Middle East had fallen, the descendants of Batu Khan continued to rule the Russian steppes. Russia was not to be free of them until the Great standing on the Ugra river, two centuries later.

Categories: 1205 births | 1255 deaths | Mongol Khans

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Batu Khan", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki