History of the Golden Horde.
Education of the Golden Horde.
Golden Horde It began as a separate state in 1224, when Batu Khan came to power, and in 1266 it finally left the Mongol Empire.
It is worth noting that the term “Golden Horde” was coined by the Russians, many years after the Khanate collapsed - in the middle of the 16th century. Three centuries earlier, these territories were called differently, and there was no single name for them.
Lands of the Golden Horde.
Genghis Khan, Batu’s grandfather, divided his empire equally between his sons - and in general its lands occupied almost the entire continent. Suffice it to say that in 1279 the Mongol Empire stretched from the Danube to the coast of the Sea of Japan, from the Baltic to the borders of present-day India. And these conquests took only about 50 years - and a considerable part of them belonged to Batu.
Dependence of Rus' on the Golden Horde.
In the 13th century, Rus' surrendered under the pressure of the Golden Horde.. True, it was not easy to cope with the conquered country; the princes sought independence, so from time to time the khans made new campaigns, ravaging cities and punishing the disobedient. This went on for almost 300 years - until in 1480 the Tatars Mongol yoke was not completely reset.
Capital of the Golden Horde.
The internal structure of the Horde was not very different from the feudal system of other countries. The empire was divided into many principalities, or uluses, ruled by minor khans, who were subordinate to one great khan.
Capital of the Golden Horde during the time of Batu it was in the city Saray-Batu, and in the 14th century it was moved to Saray-Berke.
Khans of the Golden Horde.
The most famous Khans of the Golden Horde- these are those from whom Rus' suffered the most damage and ruin, among them:
- Batu, from which the Tatar-Mongol name began
- Mamai, defeated on the Kulikovo Field
- Tokhtamysh, who went on a campaign to Rus' after Mamai to punish the rebels.
- Edigei, who made a devastating raid in 1408, shortly before the yoke was finally thrown off.
Golden Horde and Rus': the fall of the Golden Horde.
Like many feudal states, the Golden Horde eventually collapsed and ceased to exist due to internal turmoil.
The process began in the middle of the 14th century, when Astrakhan and Khorezm separated from the Horde. In 1380, Rus' began to rise, having defeated Mamai on the Kulikovo Field. But most big mistake The horde began a campaign against the empire of Tamerlane, who dealt a mortal blow to the Mongols.
In the 15th century, the Golden Horde, once strong, split into the Siberian, Crimean and Kazan khanates. Over time, these territories were subject to the Horde less and less, in 1480 Rus' finally emerged from under oppression.
Thus, years of existence of the Golden Horde: 1224-1481. In 1481, Khan Akhmat was killed. This year is considered to be the end of the existence of the Golden Horde. However, it completely collapsed during the reign of his children, at the beginning of the 16th century.
Historians consider the year 1243 to be the beginning of the creation of the Golden Horde. At this time, Batu returned from his campaign of conquest in Europe. At the same time, the Russian prince Yaroslav first arrived at the court of the Mongol khan to obtain a label for reign, that is, the right to rule the Russian lands. The Golden Horde is rightfully considered one of the largest powers.
The size and military power of the Horde in those years were unparalleled. Even the rulers of distant states sought friendship with the Mongolian state.
The Golden Horde stretched for thousands of kilometers, ethnically representing a mixture of the most diverse. The state included Mongols, Volga Bulgars, Mordovians, Circassians, Georgians, and Polovtsians. The Golden Horde inherited its multinational character after the Mongols conquered many territories.
How the Golden Horde was formed
In the vast steppes of central Asia, tribes united under the general name “Mongols” roamed the vast steppes of central Asia for a long time. They had property inequality; they had their own aristocracy, which gained wealth during the seizure of pastures and lands of ordinary nomads.
There was a fierce and bloody struggle between individual tribes, which ended in the creation of a feudal state with a powerful military organization.
In the early 30s of the 13th century, a detachment of thousands of Mongol conquerors entered the Caspian steppes, where the Polovtsians roamed at that time. Having previously conquered the Bashkirs and Volga Bulgars, the Mongols began to seize Polovtsian lands. These vast territories were taken over by the eldest son of Genghis Khan, Khan Jochi. His son Batu (Batu, as he was called in Rus') finally strengthened his power over this ulus. Batu made the headquarters of his state in the Lower Volga in 1243.
Headed by Batu political education in the historical tradition it later received the name “Golden Horde”. It should be noted that this state was not called by the Mongols themselves. They called it "Ulus Jochi". The term “Golden Horde” or simply “Horde” appeared in historiography much later, around the 16th century, when nothing remained of the once powerful Mongol state.
The choice of location for the Horde control center was made by Batu consciously. The Mongol Khan appreciated the dignity of the local steppes and meadows, which were perfectly suitable for the pastures that horses and livestock needed. The Lower Volga is a place where the paths of caravans crossed, which the Mongols could easily control.
Reasons for the collapse of the Golden Horde
Note 1
The beginning of the collapse of the Golden Horde is associated with "Great Remembrance" which began in $1357 with the death of Khan Janibeka. This state entity finally collapsed in the $40s of the $15th century.
Let us highlight the main reasons for the collapse:
- Absence of a strong ruler (the exception was Tokhtamysh for a short time)
- Creation of independent uluses (districts)
- Growing resistance in controlled territories
- Deep economic crisis
The Horde's destruction begins
As noted above, the beginning of the decline of the Horde coincided with the death of Khan Janibek. His numerous descendants entered into a bloody feud for power. As a result, for a little over $2$, decades of “zamyatni” were replaced by $25$ of khans.
In Rus', of course, they took advantage of the weakening of the Horde and stopped paying tribute. Military clashes soon followed, the grandiose result of which was Battle of Kulikovo$1380$ year ended for the Horde under the leadership of Temnik Mom, I terrible defeat. And, although two years later a strong khan came to power Tokhtamysh returned the collection of tribute from Rus' and burned Moscow; the Horde no longer had the previous power.
Collapse of the Golden Horde
Central Asian ruler Tamerlane in $1395$ he completely defeated Tokhtamysh and installed his governor in the Horde Edigeya. In $1408, Edigei made a campaign against Rus', as a result of which many cities were plundered, and the payment of tribute, which had stopped in $1395, resumed again.
But there was no stability in the Horde itself; new unrest began. Several times with the help of the Lithuanian prince Vytautas The sons of Tokhtamysh seized power. Then Timur Khan expelled Edigei, although he put him at the head of the Horde. As a result, in $1419, Edigei was killed.
In general, the Horde ceased to exist as a single state association after the defeat by Tamerlane. Since the $1420s, the collapse has accelerated sharply, as another turmoil led to the ruin of economic centers. Under the current conditions, it is quite natural that the khans sought to isolate themselves. Independent khanates began to appear:
- The Siberian Khanate emerged in $1420-1421
- The Uzbek Khanate appeared in $1428
- The Kazan Khanate arose in $1438
- The Crimean Khanate appeared in $1441
- The Nogai Horde took shape in the $1440s.
- The Kazakh Khanate appeared in $1465
Based on the Golden Horde, the so-called Great Horde, which formally remained dominant. The Great Horde ceased to exist at the beginning of the 16th century.
Liberation of Rus' from the yoke
In $1462, Ivan III became Sovereign Grand Duke of All Rus'. His priority foreign policy there was complete liberation from the remnants of the Horde yoke. After $10$ years he became the Khan of the Great Horde Akhmat. He set out on a campaign against Rus', but Russian troops repulsed Akhmat’s attacks, and the campaign ended in nothing. Ivan III stopped paying tribute to the Great Horde. Akhmat could not immediately withdraw a new army against Rus', since he was fighting the Crimean Khanate.
Akhmat's new campaign began in the summer of $1480. For Ivan III, the situation was quite difficult, since Akhmat enlisted the support of the Lithuanian prince Casimir IV. In addition, Ivan's brothers Andrey Bolshoy And Boris at the same time they rebelled and left for Lithuania. Through negotiations, the conflict with the brothers was resolved.
Ivan III went with his army to the Oka River to meet Akhmat. Khan did not cross for two months, but in September $1480 he nevertheless crossed the Oka and headed to Ugra River, located on the border with Lithuania. But Casimir IV did not come to Akhmat’s aid. Russian troops stopped Akhmat's attempts to cross the river. In November, despite the fact that the Ugra was frozen, Akhmat retreated.
Soon the khan went to Lithuania, where he plundered many settlements, avenging the betrayal of Casimir IV. But Akhmat himself was killed during the division of the loot.
Note 2
Traditionally, the events of Akhmat’s campaign against Rus' are called "standing on the Ugra River". This is not entirely true, because clashes took place, and quite violent ones, during Akhmat’s attempts to cross the river.
Be that as it may, after the “standstill,” Rus' finally got rid of the $240-year-old yoke.
Ulus Jochi, self-name Great State in the Russian tradition - Golden Horde
— medieval state in Eurasia.
In the period from 1224 to 1266 it was part of the Mongol Empire. In 1266, under Khan Mengu-Timur, it gained complete independence, retaining only formal dependence on the imperial center. Since 1312, Islam became the state religion. By the middle of the 15th century, the Golden Horde split into several independent khanates. Its central part, which nominally continued to be considered supreme - the Great Horde, ceased to exist at the beginning of the 16th century.
Story
The division of the Mongol Empire by Genghis Khan between his sons, carried out by 1224, can be considered the emergence of the Ulus of Jochi. After Western campaign Led by Jochi's son Batu (Batu in Russian chronicles), the ulus expanded to the west and the Lower Volga region became its center. In 1251, a kurultai was held in the capital of the Mongol Empire, Karakorum, where Mongke, the son of Tolui, was proclaimed great khan. Batu, “the eldest of the family,” supported Mongke, probably hoping to get full autonomy for your ulus. Opponents of the Jochids and Toluids from the descendants of Chagatai and Ogedei were executed, and the possessions confiscated from them were divided between Mongke, Batu and other Chingizids who recognized their power.
Rise of the Golden Horde. After Batu's death, his son Sartak, who was in Mongolia at that time, was to become the legal heir. But on the way home, the new khan unexpectedly died. Soon the young son of Batu Ulagchi, proclaimed khan, also died.
Berke, Batu's brother, became the ruler of the ulus. Berke converted to Islam in his youth, but this was, apparently, a political step that did not entail the Islamization of large sections of the nomadic population. This step allowed the ruler to gain the support of influential trading circles in the urban centers of Volga Bulgaria and Central Asia and to attract educated Muslims to the service. During his reign, urban planning reached significant proportions; Horde cities were built up with mosques, minarets, madrassas, and caravanserais. This primarily applies to Saray-Batu, the capital of the state, which at this time became known as Saray-Berke. Berke invited scientists, theologians, poets from Iran and Egypt, and artisans and merchants from Khorezm. Trade and diplomatic ties with the countries of the East have noticeably revived. Highly educated immigrants from Iran and Arab countries began to be appointed to responsible government posts, which caused discontent among the Mongolian and Kipchak nomadic nobility. However, this dissatisfaction has not yet been openly expressed. During the reign of Mengu-Timur, the Ulus of Jochi became completely independent of the central government. In 1269, at a kurultai in the valley of the Talas River, Munke-Timur and his relatives Borak and Khaidu, rulers of the Chagatai ulus, recognized each other as independent sovereigns and entered into an alliance against the Great Khan Kublai Khan in case he tried to challenge their independence.
After the death of Mengu-Timur, a political crisis began in the country associated with the name of Nogai. Nogai, one of the descendants of Genghis Khan, held the post of beklarbek, the second most important in the state, under Batu and Berke. His personal ulus was located in the west of the Golden Horde. Nogai set as his goal the formation of his own state, and during the reign of Tuda-Mengu and Tula-Buga, he managed to subjugate a vast territory along the Danube, Dniester, and Uzeu (Dnieper) to his power.
Tokhta was placed on the Sarai throne. At first, the new ruler obeyed his patron in everything, but soon, relying on the steppe aristocracy, he opposed him. The long struggle ended in 1299 with the defeat of Nogai, and the unity of the Golden Horde was again restored. During the reign of Khan Uzbek and his son Janibek, the Golden Horde reached its peak. The Uzbek proclaimed Islam the state religion, threatening the “infidels” with physical violence. The revolts of the emirs who did not want to convert to Islam were brutally suppressed. The time of his khanate was characterized by strict reprisals. Russian princes, going to the capital of the Golden Horde, wrote spiritual wills and paternal instructions to their children in case of their death there. Several of them were actually killed. Uzbek built the city of Saray al-Jedid and paid a lot of attention to the development of caravan trade. Trade routes became not only safe, but also well-maintained. The Horde traded with countries Western Europe, Asia Minor, Egypt, India, China. After Uzbek, his son Janibek, whom Russian chronicles call “kind,” ascended the throne of the khanate. From 1359 to 1380, more than 25 khans changed on the Golden Horde throne, and many uluses tried to become independent. This time in Russian sources was called the “Great Jam.” 
The rights to the Horde throne of the impostor Kulpa were immediately questioned by the son-in-law and at the same time the beklyaribek of the murdered khan, Temnik Mamai. As a result, Mamai, who was the grandson of Isatai, an influential emir of the times of Uzbek Khan, created an independent ulus in the western part of the Horde, right up to the right bank of the Volga. Not being Genghisid, Mamai had no rights to the title of khan, so he limited himself to the position of beklyaribek under the puppet khans from the Batuid clan. Khans from Ulus Shiban, descendants of Ming-Timur, tried to gain a foothold in Sarai. They really failed to do this; the khans changed with kaleidoscopic speed. The fate of the khans largely depended on the favor of the merchant elite of the cities of the Volga region, which was not interested in the strong power of the khan.
Troubles in the Golden Horde ended after Genghisid Tokhtamysh, with the support of Emir Tamerlane from Transoxiana in 1377-1380, first captured the uluses on the Syr Darya, defeating the sons of Urus Khan, and then the throne in Sarai, when Mamai came into direct conflict with the Moscow principality. In 1380, Tokhtamysh defeated the remnants of troops gathered by Mamai after the defeat in the Battle of Kulikovo on the Kalka River.
Collapse of the Golden Horde. In the sixties of the 13th century, important political changes took place in the life of the former empire of Genghis Khan, which could not but affect the nature of Horde-Russian relations. The accelerated collapse of the empire began. The rulers of Karakorum moved to Beijing, the uluses of the empire acquired actual independence, independence from the great khans, and now rivalry intensified between them, acute territorial disputes arose, and a struggle for spheres of influence began. In the 60s, the Jochi ulus became involved in a protracted conflict with the Hulagu ulus, which owned the territory of Iran. It would seem that the Golden Horde had reached the apogee of its power. But here and within it, the process of disintegration, inevitable for early feudalism, began. “Splitting” began in the Horde 
government structure, and now a conflict arose within the ruling elite. In the early 1420s, the Siberian Khanate was formed, the Uzbek Khanate in 1428, the Nogai Horde in the 1440s, then the Kazan, Crimean Khanates and the Kazakh Khanate arose in 1465. After the death of Khan Kichi-Muhammad, the Golden Horde ceased to exist as single state. The Great Horde continued to be formally considered the main one among the Jochid states. In 1480, Akhmat, Khan of the Great Horde, tried to achieve obedience from Ivan III, but this attempt ended unsuccessfully, and Rus' was finally freed from the Tatar-Mongol yoke. At the beginning of 1481, Akhmat was killed during an attack on his headquarters by Siberian and Nogai cavalry. Under his children, at the beginning of the 16th century, the Great Horde ceased to exist.
Golden Horde: myths and reality
At the beginning of the 13th century, the Mongol tribes, united under the rule of Genghis Khan, began campaigns of conquest, the goal of which was to create a huge superpower. Already in the 2nd half of the 13th century, the space from Pacific Ocean to the Danube came under the control of the Genghisids. Immediately after its appearance, the gigantic empire was divided into separate parts, the largest of which was the ulus of the descendants of Jochi (the eldest son of Genghis Khan), which included Western Siberia, part of Central Asia, the Urals, the Middle and Lower Volga region, the North Caucasus, Crimea, the lands of the Cumans and other Turkic nomadic peoples. West Side Dzhuchiev ulus became the yurt of Dzhuchi’s son Batu and received the name “Golden Horde” or simply “Horde” in Russian chronicles.
Start political history The Golden Horde dates back to 1243, when Batu returned from a campaign in Europe. This year Grand Duke Yaroslav was the first of the Russian rulers to arrive at the headquarters of the Mongol Khan for a label to reign. The Golden Horde was one of the largest states of the Middle Ages. Its military power had no equal for a long time. The rulers of even distant countries sought friendship with the Horde. The most important trade routes connecting the East and West passed through the territories of the Horde. 
Stretching from the Irtysh to the Danube, the Golden Horde from an ethnic point of view represented a motley mixture of various peoples - Mongols, Volga Bulgars, Russians, Burtases, Bashkirs, Mordovians, Yasses, Circassians, Georgians, etc. But the bulk of the Horde’s population were Polovtsy, among whom, already in the 14th century, the conquerors began to dissolve, forgetting their culture, language, and writing. The multinational character of the Horde was inherited by it along with the conquered territories that previously belonged to the states of the Sarmatians, Goths, Khazaria, and Volga Bulgaria.
One of the stereotypical ideas about the Golden Horde is that this state was purely nomadic and had almost no cities. This stereotype transfers the situation from the time of Genghis Khan to the entire history of the Golden Horde. Already the successors of Genghis Khan clearly understood that “you cannot rule the Celestial Empire while sitting on a horse.” More than a hundred cities were created in the Golden Horde, serving as administrative, tax, trade and craft centers. The capital of the state - the city of Saray - had 75 thousand inhabitants. By medieval standards it was a huge city. The vast majority of the Golden Horde cities were destroyed by Timur at the end of the 14th century, but some have survived to this day - Azov, Kazan, Old Crimea, Tyumen, etc. Cities and villages were built on the Golden Horde territory. predominance of the Russian population - Yelets, Tula, Kaluga. These were the residences and stronghold garrisons of the Baskas. Thanks to the union of cities with the steppe, crafts and caravan trade developed, and economic potential was created, which for a long time contributed to the preservation of the power of the Horde. 
Cultural life of the Horde characterized by multi-ethnicity, as well as the interaction of nomadic and sedentary lifestyles. IN initial period The culture of the Golden Horde developed largely due to the consumption of the achievements of the conquered peoples. This does not mean, however, that the Mongolian substrate of the Golden Horde culture did not have independent significance and influence on the conquered tribes. The Mongols had a complex and very unique ritual system. Unlike the situation in neighboring Muslim countries, the role of women in the public life of the Horde was quite high. Very characteristic of the Mongols was an extremely calm attitude towards any religions. Religious tolerance led to the fact that very often, even in the same family, adherents of different confessions coexisted peacefully. Traditional folk culture developed - especially rich and vibrant folklore of a heroic-epic and song nature, as well as ornamental and applied art. The most important cultural feature of the nomadic Mongols was the presence of their own written language.
City building accompanied by the development of architecture and house-building technology. After the adoption of Islam as the state religion in the 14th century, the construction of mosques, minarets, madrassas, mausoleums, and monumental palaces began intensively. In different regions of the Golden Horde, zones of specific influence of various urban planning traditions - Bulgar, Khorezm, Crimean - were quite clearly identified. Gradually various elements multi-ethnic culture united into one whole, developed into a synthesis, into an organic combination of various features of the spiritual and material culture of the different peoples inhabiting the Golden Horde. Unlike Iran and China, where Mongolian culture quickly and easily dissolved without noticeable traces, in the Golden Horde the cultural achievements of different peoples merged into one stream.
One of the most polemical in Russian historiography is the question of relations between Russia and the Horde. In 1237-1240, the Russian lands, divided in military and political terms, were defeated and devastated by Batu’s troops. The Mongol attacks on Ryazan, Vladimir, Rostov, Suzdal, Galich, Tver, and Kyiv left the Russian people with an impression of shock. After Batu's invasion in the Vladimir-Suzdal, Ryazan, Chernigov, and Kiev lands, more than two-thirds of all settlements were destroyed. Both urban and rural residents were massacred. It is difficult to doubt that the Mongol aggression brought cruel misfortunes to the Russian people. But in historiography there were other assessments. Mongol invasion inflicted a severe wound on the Russian people. During the first ten years after the invasion, the conquerors did not take tribute, engaging only in looting and destruction. But such a practice meant a voluntary renunciation of long-term benefits. When the Mongols realized this, the collection of systematic tribute began, which became a constant source of replenishment of the Mongol treasury. Relations between Rus' and the Horde took predictable and stable forms - a phenomenon called the “Mongol yoke” was born. At the same time, however, the practice of periodic punitive campaigns did not stop until the 14th century. According to V.V. Kargalov’s calculations, in the last quarter of the 13th century. The Horde conducted at least 15 major campaigns. Many Russian princes were subjected to terror and intimidation in order to prevent anti-Horde protests on their part.
Russian-Horde
Chinese relations were not easy, but to reduce them only to total pressure on Rus' would be a delusion. Even S. M. Solovyov clearly and unequivocally “separated” the period of devastation of Russian lands by the Mongols and the subsequent period when they, living far away, cared only about collecting tribute. With a general negative assessment of the “yoke,” the Soviet historian A.K. Leontyev emphasized that Rus' retained its statehood and was not directly included in the Golden Horde. A. L. Yurganov assesses the influence of the Mongols on Russian history negatively, but he also admits that although “the disobedient were humiliatingly punished... those princes who willingly obeyed the Mongols, as a rule, found a common language with them and even moreover, became related, stayed in the Horde for a long time.” The originality of Russian-Horde relations becomes understandable only in the context of that historical era. In the middle of the 13th century, decentralized Rus' was subjected to double aggression - from the East and from the West. At the same time, Western aggression brought no less misfortunes: it was prepared and financed by the Vatican, which injected into it a charge of Catholic fanaticism. In 1204, the crusaders sacked Constantinople, then turned their attention to the Baltic states and Rus'. Their pressure was no less cruel than that of the Mongols: the German knights completely destroyed the Sorbs, Prussians, and Livs. In 1224. they massacred the Russian population of the city of Yuryev, making it clear what would await the Russians if the Germans successfully advanced to the east. The goal of the crusaders - the defeat of Orthodoxy - affected the vital interests of the Slavs and many Finns. The Mongols were religiously tolerant; they could not seriously threaten the spiritual culture of the Russians. And in terms of territorial conquests, the Mongol campaigns differed markedly from the Western expansion: after the initial attack on Rus', the Mongols retreated back to the steppe, and they did not reach Novgorod, Pskov, and Smolensk at all. The Catholic offensive went along the entire front: Poland and Hungary rushed to Galicia and Volyn, the Germans to Pskov and Novgorod, the Swedes landed on the banks of the Neva.
State structure in the Golden Horde
During the first century of its existence Golden Horde was one of the uluses Great Mongol Empire. The descendants of Genghis Khan ruled the Golden Horde even after the fall of the empire, and when the Horde collapsed, they owned the states that replaced it. The Mongol aristocracy was the highest stratum of society in the Golden Horde. Therefore, government in the Golden Horde was based mainly on the principles that guided the government of the empire as a whole. The Mongols constituted a national minority in Golden Horde society. The majority of the population in the Horde were Turks. 
From a religious point of view, the spread of Islam among both the Mongols and the Turks in the Horde became a factor of great importance. Gradually, Muslim institutions established themselves along with the Mongol ones. Most of the Mongols of the Golden Horde came from the four thousand army that was transferred to Jochi by Genghis Khan; they belonged to the Khushin, Kyiyat, Kynkyt and Saijut tribes. In addition, there were also Mangkyts, but they, as we know, kept aloof from the rest and, since the time of Nogai, formed a separate horde. As already mentioned, the Turks were recognized as full members of the steppe society. In the western part of the Golden Horde, the Turkic element was represented mainly by the Kipchaks (Cumans), as well as a remnant of the Khazars and Pechenegs. To the east of the middle Volga, in the Kama River basin, lived the remaining Bulgars and semi-Turkified Ugrians. To the east of the lower Volga, the Mangkyt and other Mongol clans ruled over a number of Turkic tribes, such as the Kipchaks and Oghuzs, most of whom mixed with the Iranian aborigines. The numerical superiority of the Turks made it natural that the Mongols should gradually become Turkicized, and the Mongolian language, even within the ruling classes, should give way to the Turkic. Diplomatic correspondence with foreign countries was conducted in Mongolian, but most of the documents from the late 14th and 15th centuries concerning internal administration that we know are in the Turkic language. 
From an economic point of view, the Golden Horde was a symbiosis of nomadic and sedentary populations. The South Russian and North Caucasian steppes provided the Mongols and Turks with vast pastures for herds and livestock. On the other hand, some parts of this territory on the periphery of the steppes were also used for growing cereals. The country of the Bulgars in the region of the middle Volga and Kama was also agricultural with highly developed agriculture; and, of course, Western Rus' and the southern principalities of Central and Eastern Rus', especially Ryazan, produced grain in abundance. Sarai and other large cities of the Golden Horde, with their highly developed crafts, served as points of intersection between nomadism and sedentary civilization. Both the khan and the princes lived part of the year in cities, and during the other part of the year they followed their herds. Most of them also owned land. A significant part of the urban population lived there permanently, so that an urban class was created, consisting of a variety of ethnic, social and religious elements. Both Muslims and Christians had their own temples in every major city. Cities played a role of primary importance in the development of Golden Horde trade. The complex economic organism of the Horde was focused on international trade, and it was from this that the khans and nobles received a large share of their income.
Organization of the army in the Golden Horde was built mainly according to the Mongolian type established by Genghis Khan, with decimal division. Army units were grouped into two main battle formations: the right wing, or western group, and the left wing, or eastern group. The center, in all likelihood, was the khan's guard under his personal command. Each large army unit was assigned a bukaul. As in other parts of the Mongol Empire, the army formed the basis of the khan's administration; each army unit was subordinate to a separate region in the Horde. From this point of view, we can say that for administrative purposes the Golden Horde was divided into myriads, thousands, hundreds and tens. The commander of each unit was responsible for order and discipline in his area. All together, they represented local government in the Golden Horde. 
The label on the immunity of Khan Timur-Kutlug from 800 AH, issued to the Crimean Tarkhan Mehmet, was addressed to “the oglans of the right and left wings; venerable commanders of myriads; and commanders of thousands, hundreds and tens.” For the collection of taxes and other purposes, the military administration was assisted by a number of civilian officials. Timur-Kutlug's label mentions tax collectors, messengers, people serving horse-mail stations, boatmen, officials in charge of bridges, and market police. An important official was the state customs inspector, who was called a daruga. The basic meaning of the root of this Mongolian word is "to press" in the sense of "to stamp" or "to stamp". The duties of the daruga included overseeing the collection of taxes and recording the amount collected. The entire system of administration and taxation was controlled by central boards. In each of them, the business was, in fact, conducted by a secretary. Chief Bitikchi was in charge of the Khan's archive. Sometimes the khan entrusted general supervision of the internal administration to a special official, whom Arab and Persian sources, speaking of the Golden Horde, call the “vizier.” It is unknown whether this was actually his title. Officials at the khan's court, such as stewards, butlers, falconers, keepers of wild animals, and huntsmen, also played important roles.
The proceedings consisted of Supreme Court and local courts. The competence of the first included the most important matters affecting state interests. It should be remembered that a number of Russian princes appeared before this court. Judges of local courts were called yarguchi. According to Ibn Batuta, each court consisted of eight such judges chaired by the chief. He was appointed by a special yarlyk of the khan. In the 14th century, a Muslim judge, along with lawyers and clerks, also attended sessions of the local court. All matters falling under Islamic law were related to it. In view of the fact that trade played an important role in the economy of the Golden Horde, it was quite natural that merchants, especially those who had access to foreign markets, enjoyed great respect from the khan and nobles. Although not officially associated with the government, eminent merchants could quite often influence the direction of internal affairs and foreign relations. In fact, Muslim merchants were an international corporation that controlled the markets Central Asia, Iran and Southern Rus'. Individually, they swore an oath of allegiance to one or another ruler, depending on the circumstances. Collectively, they preferred peace and stability in all countries with which they had to deal. Many of the khans were financially dependent on the merchants, since they controlled large amounts of capital and were able to lend money to any khan whose treasury was depleted. Merchants were also willing to collect taxes when required of them, and were useful to the khan in many other ways.
The bulk of the urban population were craftsmen and a wide variety of workers. In the early period of the formation of the Golden Horde, gifted artisans captured in conquered countries became slaves of the khan. Some of them were sent to the Great Khan in Karakorum. The majority, obliged to serve the Khan of the Golden Horde, settled in Sarai and other cities. Mostly they were natives of Khorezm and Rus'. Later, free workers also, apparently, began to flock to the craft centers of the Golden Horde, mainly to Sarai. The label of Tokhtamysh dated 1382, issued to Khoja-Bek, mentions “elder artisans.” From this we can conclude that artisans were organized into guilds; most likely, each craft formed a separate guild. One craft was given a special part of the city for workshops. According to evidence from archaeological research, in Sarai there were forges, knife and weapon workshops, factories for the production of agricultural implements, as well as bronze and copper vessels.
People are legends. Middle Ages
Timur (Timur-Leng - Iron Lame), the famous conqueror of the eastern lands, whose name sounded on the lips of Europeans as Tamerlane (1336 - 1405), was born in Kesh (modern Shakhrisabz, "Green City"), fifty miles south of Samarkand in Transoxiana (the region of modern Uzbekistan between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya).
According to some assumptions, Timur's father Taragai was the leader of the Mongol-Turkic tribe of Barlas (a large clan in the Chagatai Mongol tribe) and a descendant of a certain Karachar Noyon (a large feudal landowner in Mongolia in the Middle Ages), a powerful assistant of Chagatai, the son of Genghis Khan and a distant relative of the latter . Timur's reliable Memoirs say that he led many expeditions during the unrest that followed the death of Emir Kazgan, the ruler of Mesopotamia. In 1357, after the invasion of Tughlak Timur, Khan of Kashgar (1361), and the appointment of his son Ilyas-Khoja as governor of Mesopotamia, Timur became his assistant and ruler of Kesh. But very soon he fled and joined Emir Hussein, the grandson of Kazgan, becoming his son-in-law. After many raids and adventures, they defeated the forces of Ilyas-Khoja (1364) and set off to conquer Mesopotamia. Around 1370, Timur rebelled against his ally Hussein, captured him in Balkh and announced that he was the heir of Chagatai and was going to revive the Mongol empire.
Tamerlane devoted the next ten years to the fight against the khans of Jent (East Turkestan) and Khorezm and in 1380 captured Kashgar. He then intervened in the conflict between the khans of the Golden Horde in Rus' and helped Tokhtamysh take the throne. He, with the help of Timur, defeated the ruling khan Mamai, took his place and, in order to take revenge on the Moscow prince for the defeat he inflicted on Mamai in 1380, captured Moscow in 1382.
Timur's conquest of Persia in 1381 began with the capture of Herat. The unstable political and economic situation in Persia at that time contributed to the conqueror. The revival of the country, which began during the reign of the Ilkhans, slowed down again with the death of the last representative of the Abu Said family (1335). In the absence of an heir, rival dynasties took turns taking the throne. The situation was aggravated by the clash between the Mongol Jalair dynasties ruling in Baghdad and Tabriz; the Perso-Arab family of the Muzafarids, ruling in Fars and Isfahan; Kharid-Kurtov in Herat; local religious and tribal alliances, such as the Serbedars (rebels against Mongol oppression) in Khorasan and the Afghans in Kerman, and petty princes in the border areas. All these warring principalities could not jointly and effectively resist Timur. Khorasan and all of Eastern Persia fell under his onslaught in 1382 - 1385; Fars, Iraq, Azerbaijan and Armenia were conquered in 1386-1387 and 1393-1394; Mesopotamia and Georgia came under his rule in 1394. Between conquests, Timur fought Tokhtamysh, now khan of the Golden Horde, whose troops invaded Azerbaijan in 1385 and Mesopotamia in 1388, defeating Timur's forces. In 1391, Timur, pursuing Tokhtamysh, reached the southern steppes of Rus', defeated the enemy and overthrew him from the throne. In 1395, the Horde Khan again invaded the Caucasus, but was finally defeated on the Kura River. To top it off, Timur ravaged Astrakhan and Sarai, but did not reach Moscow. The uprisings that broke out throughout Persia during this campaign demanded his immediate return. Timur suppressed them with extraordinary cruelty. Entire cities were destroyed, the inhabitants were exterminated, and their heads were walled up in the walls of the towers.
In 1399, when Timur was already in his sixties, he invaded India, angry that the Delhi Sultans were showing too much tolerance towards their subjects. On September 24, Tamerlane's troops crossed the Indus and, leaving a bloody trail behind them, entered Delhi.
Tamerlane (Indian drawing)
The army of Mahmud Tughlaq was defeated at Panipat (December 17), leaving Delhi in ruins, from which the city was reborn for more than a century. By April 1399, Timur returned to the capital, burdened with enormous booty. One of his contemporaries, Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo, wrote that ninety captured elephants carried stones from quarries for the construction of a mosque in Samarkand.
Having laid the stone foundation of the mosque, at the end of the same year Timur undertook his last great expedition, the purpose of which was to punish the Egyptian Sultan Mameluke for supporting Ahmad Jalair and the Turkish Sultan Bayazet II, who captured Eastern Anatolia. After restoring his power in Azerbaijan, Tamerlane moved to Syria. Aleppo was stormed and sacked, the Mameluke army was defeated, and Damascus was captured (1400). A crushing blow to the well-being of Egypt was that Timur sent all the craftsmen to Samarkand to build mosques and palaces. In 1401, Baghdad was stormed, twenty thousand of its inhabitants were killed, and all monuments were destroyed. Tamerlane spent the winter in Georgia, and in the spring he crossed the border of Anatolia, defeated Bayazet near Ankara (July 20, 1402) and captured Smyrna, which was owned by the Rhodian knights. Bayazet died in captivity, and the story of his imprisonment in an iron cage forever became a legend.
As soon as the Egyptian Sultan and John VII (later co-ruler of Manuel II Palaiologos) stopped resisting, Timur returned to Samarkand and immediately began preparing for an expedition to China. He set out at the end of December, but in Otrar on the Syr Darya River he fell ill and died on January 19, 1405. Tamerlane's body was embalmed and sent in an ebonite coffin to Samarkand, where he was buried in a magnificent mausoleum called Gur-Emir. Before his death, Timur divided his territories between his two surviving sons and grandsons. After many years of war and hostility over the will he left, Tamerlane’s descendants were united by the khan’s youngest son, Shahruk.
During Timur's life, contemporaries kept a careful chronicle of what was happening. It was supposed to serve as a basis for writing the official biography of the khan. In 1937, the works of Nizam ad-Din Shami were published in Prague. A revised version of the chronicle was prepared by Sharaf ad-Din Yazdi even earlier and in 1723 published in Petit de la Croix's translation.
Reconstruction of Tamerlane's head
The opposite point of view was reflected by another contemporary of Timur, Ibn Arabshah, who was extremely hostile towards the khan. His book was published in 1936 in Sanders' translation under the title "Tamerlane, or Timur, the Great Emir." The so-called "Memoirs" of Timur, published in 1830 in Stewart's translation, are considered a forgery, and the circumstances of their discovery and presentation to Shah Jahan in 1637 are still questioned.
Portraits of Timur made by Persian masters have survived to this day. However, they reflected an idealized idea of him. They in no way correspond to the description of the khan by one of his contemporaries as very tall man with a large head, rosy cheeks and naturally blonde hair.
