The
Blue Horde ' onMouseout='HidePop("71261")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Turkish_language">Turkish
Turkish is spoken as a first language by over 63 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Cyprus, with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and other...
:
Gök Ordu) was one of the uluses within the
Mongol EmpireThe Mongol Empire was an empire from the 13th and 14th century spanning from Eastern Europe across Asia. It is the largest contiguous empire in the history of the world...
formed around 1227, after the death of
Genghis KhanGenghis Khan , ; 1162–1227), born , was the founder, Khan and Khagan of the Mongol Empire, the largest contiguous empire in history....
and subsequent division of his empire.
The
Blue Horde ' onMouseout='HidePop("71261")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Turkish_language">Turkish
Turkish is spoken as a first language by over 63 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Cyprus, with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and other...
:
Gök Ordu) was one of the uluses within the
Mongol EmpireThe Mongol Empire was an empire from the 13th and 14th century spanning from Eastern Europe across Asia. It is the largest contiguous empire in the history of the world...
formed around 1227, after the death of
Genghis KhanGenghis Khan , ; 1162–1227), born , was the founder, Khan and Khagan of the Mongol Empire, the largest contiguous empire in history....
and subsequent division of his empire. It was the western constituent part of the
Golden HordeThe Ulus of Jochi or the Golden Horde is an East Slavic designation for the Mongol—later Turkicized—Muslim khanate established in the western part of the Mongol Empire after the Mongol invasion of Rus' in the 1240s: present-day Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Kazakhstan, and the Caucasus...
(the eastern part was the
White HordeThe White Horde or the Left wing princes was one of the uluses within the Mongol Empire formed around 1226, after the death of Genghis Khan and subsequent division of his empire...
).
Foundation
Batu KhanBatu Khan Batu Khan Batu Khan was a Mongol ruler of the Ulus of Jochi (or Golden Horde), the sub-khanate of the Mongol Empire, and the founder of the Blue Horde. Batu was a son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan...
effectively founded the Blue Horde upon the withdrawal from Europe in 1242 and by 1245,
Sarai-Places:*Sarai , the capital city of the Golden Horde*Sarai Alamgir, a town in northern Pakistan*Sarai , an urban-type settlement in Ryazan Oblast, Russia*Saraj municipality, a municipality in Greater Skopje, Republic of Macedonia...
, the capital of the Blue Horde had been founded on the lower Volga. At the same time, the eastern lands of the
Golden HordeThe Ulus of Jochi or the Golden Horde is an East Slavic designation for the Mongol—later Turkicized—Muslim khanate established in the western part of the Mongol Empire after the Mongol invasion of Rus' in the 1240s: present-day Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Kazakhstan, and the Caucasus...
were administered by Batu's older brother Orda, and these came to be known as the
White HordeThe White Horde or the Left wing princes was one of the uluses within the Mongol Empire formed around 1226, after the death of Genghis Khan and subsequent division of his empire...
. Batu asserted his control over the
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n principalities after sacking the cities of
VladimirVladimir is a city in Russia, located on the Klyazma River, to the east of Moscow along the M7 motorway. It is the administrative center of Vladimir Oblast. Population: Vladimir was one of the medieval capitals of Russia, and two of its cathedrals are a World Heritage Site...
in 1238 and
KievKiev or Kyiv , is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300...
in 1240, forcing them to pay annual tribute and accept his nominations as princes.
Golden Age
The Blue Horde stretched from the
Ural RiverThe Ural , known as Yaik before 1775, is a river flowing through Russia and Kazakhstan. It arises in the southern Ural Mountains and ends at the Caspian Sea. Its total length is 1,511 mi...
to the mouths of the
DanubeThe Danube is the longest river in the European Union and Europe's second longest river after the Volga.The river originates in the Black Forest in Germany as the much smaller Brigach and Breg rivers which join at the German town Donaueschingen, after which it is known as the Danube and flows...
and the
CarpathianCarpathian may refer to:*Carpathian Mountains of Central and Eastern Europe*Carpathian Convention on sustainable development in that region*Carpathian Shepherd Dog, a Romanian sheep dog*Subcarpathian Voivodeship, an administrative division of Poland...
. It exacted tribute from most of the Russian principalities and carried raids as far west as Poland and as far south as Iran and Bulgaria.
Starting with the conversion of Berke to Islam, the Blue Horde made a traditional alliance with the Mamluks of
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
against their common rival, the
Il-KhansThe Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate or Il Khanate , was a Mongol khanate established in Persia in the 13th century, considered a part of the Mongol Empire...
.
From the 1280s until 1299, the Blue Horde was effectively under the control of two khans, the legitimate khans and
Nogai KhanNogai , also called Isa Nogai, was a general and de facto ruler of the Golden Horde and a great-great-grandson of Genghis Khan. His grandfather was Baul/Teval Khan, the 7th son of Jochi...
, a warlord and kingmaker, who made an alliance with the
Byzantine EmpireThe Byzantine Empire or Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on the capital of Constantinople, and ruled by Emperors in direct and de jure succession to the ancient Roman Emperors...
and invaded countries bordering the Blue Horde, particularly in the
BalkansThe Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
. Nogai's pre-eminence was ended by the assertion of the legitimate Khan
ToqtaTokhta was a khan of the Golden Horde, son of Mengu-Timur and great grandson of Batu Khan.His name "Tokhtokh" means "hold/holding" in the Mongolian language....
, and the Blue Horde reached the apex of its power and prosperity during the reigns of
Uzbeg KhanSultan Mohammed Öz-Beg, better known as Uzbeg or Ozbeg , was the longest-reigning khan of the Golden Horde, under whose rule the state reached its zenith...
(Öz Beg) and his son
Jani BegJani Beg was a khan of the Golden Horde from 1342-1357, succeeding his father Uzbeg Khan.After putting two of his brothers to death, Jani Beg crowned himself in Saray-Jük. He is known to have actively interfered in the affairs of Russian principalities and of Lithuania...
in the middle of the 14th century, when it intervened in the affairs of the disintegrating
IlkhanateThe Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate or Il Khanate , was a Mongol khanate established in Persia in the 13th century, considered a part of the Mongol Empire...
.
Fall
The Blue Horde remained strong from its foundation (around 1240) until the 1350s. Problems in the west of the horde led to the eventual losses of Wallachia, Dobruja, Moldavia and the western Ukraine and the vassal principalities west of
KievKiev or Kyiv , is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300...
, losing those lands to
LithuaniaThe Grand Duchy of Lithuania was an Eastern and Central European state from the 12th /13th century until 1795. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the pagan Baltic tribes from Aukštaitija...
after being defeated by its army in the
Battle of Blue WatersThe Battle of Blue Waters was a medieval battle fought at some time between 24 September and 25 December 1362 near the Syni Vody of the Southern Bug between the armies of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Golden Horde....
in 1362, and
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. The Death of
Jani BegJani Beg was a khan of the Golden Horde from 1342-1357, succeeding his father Uzbeg Khan.After putting two of his brothers to death, Jani Beg crowned himself in Saray-Jük. He is known to have actively interfered in the affairs of Russian principalities and of Lithuania...
led to the Blue Horde entering into a prolonged civil war, with concurrent khans fighting each other and holding no real power. At the same time
MamaiMamai was a powerful military commander of the Blue Horde in the 1370s, who resided in the western part of this nomadic state, which is now the Southern Ukrainian Steppes and the Crimean Peninsula...
turned kingmaker in the Blue Horde. In this time, Muscovy seceded from Mongol overlordship (at least until the early 1400s).
It was not until the coming of
TokhtamyshTokhtamysh , was the last khan of the White Horde, who unified the White Horde and Blue Horde subdivisions of the Golden Horde into a single state. He was a descendant of Genghis Khan's eldest grandson, Orda Khan. - Early campaigns :...
that the concurrent khans were removed. He united the Blue Horde with his own
White HordeThe White Horde or the Left wing princes was one of the uluses within the Mongol Empire formed around 1226, after the death of Genghis Khan and subsequent division of his empire...
and created the
Golden HordeThe Ulus of Jochi or the Golden Horde is an East Slavic designation for the Mongol—later Turkicized—Muslim khanate established in the western part of the Mongol Empire after the Mongol invasion of Rus' in the 1240s: present-day Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Kazakhstan, and the Caucasus...
in 1380. The Blue Horde merged into both the other hordes, yet never really went away until finally the Golden Horde was defeated.
Additional reading
- Boris Grekov
Boris Dmitrievich Grekov was a Soviet historian noted for his comprehensive studies of Kievan Rus and the Golden Horde...
and Alexander Yakubovski, "The Golden Horde and its Downfall".
- George Vernadsky
George Vernadsky , Russian: Гео́ргий Влади́мирович Верна́дский) was a Russian-American historian and an author of numerous books on Russian history.- European years :...
, "The Mongols and Russia".