16. The Mongol Who Founded the Golden Horde
Genghis Khan’s grandson, Batu Khan (1207 – 1255), accompanied Subutai on the campaign that conquered Russia and penetrated Europe to the Adriatic Sea and the walls of Vienna. As a member of the Mongol royal family, Batu was in nominal command, although everybody knew that Subutai was the hands-on executive general in charge. Batu went on to found the Golden Horde – an independent Mongol state on the western Steppe that dominated Russia and the Caucasus for two and a half centuries. At its peak, the Golden Horde included most of Eastern Europe, with a territory extending from the Danube to Siberia.
Batu’s father, Jochi, had been entrusted by Genghis Khan to administer the Mongolian Empire’s west, comprised at the time of Central Asia and Siberia. After Jochi’s death in 1227, the task fell to Batu. In 1237, with Subutai as his military commander, Batu initiated the Mongol conquest of medieval Russia, which was completed by 1241. He then launched a multipronged invasion of Eastern Europe. One Mongol army in Poland defeated a coalition of Germans and Poles, while another Mongol army defeated a larger Hungarian force hundreds of miles to the south.
