Blue Horde

The Blue Horde ( _kk. Көк Орда/Kök Orda, _tt. "Күк Урда/Kük Urda", Turkish:"Gök Ordu/Orda") was one of the uluses within the Mongol Empire formed around 1227, [ [http://www.history.kessler-web.co.uk/KingListsFarEast/AsiaMongols.htm#White%20Horde Far East Kingdoms] ] after the death of Genghis Khan and subsequent division of his empire. It was the eastern constituent part of the Golden Horde (the western part was the White Horde). [Edward L. Keenan, Encyclopedia Americana article] [B.D. Grekov and A.Y. Yakubovski "The Golden Horde and its Downfall"]

Foundation

Batu Khan effectively founded the Blue Horde upon the withdrawal from Europe in 1242 and by 1245, Sarai, the capital of the Blue Horde had been founded on the lower Volga. At the same time, the eastern lands of the Golden Horde were administered by Batu's older brother Orda, and these came to be known as the White Horde. Batu asserted his control over the Russian principalities after sacking the cities of Vladimir in 1238 and Kiev in 1240, forcing them to pay annual tribute and accept his nominations as princes.

Golden Age

The Blue Horde stretched from the Ural River to the mouths of the Danube and the Carpathian. 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 Egypt against their common rival, the Il-Khans.

From the 1280s until 1299, the Blue Horde was effectively under the control of two khans, the legitimate khans and Nogai Khan, a warlord and kingmaker, who made an alliance with the Byzantine Empire and invaded countries bordering the Blue Horde, particularly in the Balkans. Nogai's pre-eminence was ended by the assertion of the legitimate Khan Toqta, and the Blue Horde reached the apex of its power and prosperity during the reigns of Uzbeg Khan (Öz Beg) and his son Jani Beg in the middle of the 14th century, when it intervened in the affairs of the disintegrating Ilkhanate.

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 Kiev, losing those lands to Lithuania after being defeated by its army in the Battle of Blue Waters in 1362, and Poland. The Death of Jani Beg 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 Mamai turned kingmaker in the Blue Horde. In this time, Muscovy seceded from Mongol overlordship (at least until the early 1400's).

It was not until the coming of Tokhtamysh that the concurrent khans were removed. He united the Blue Horde with his own White Horde and created the Golden Horde in 1380. The Blue Horde merged into both the other hordes, yet never really went away until finally the Golden Horde was defeated.

Notes and references

Additional reading

*Boris Grekov and Alexander Yakubovski, "The Golden Horde and its Downfall".
*George Vernadsky, "The Mongols and Russia".

ee also

* Mongol invasion of Europe