Editing Golden Horde (section)

=== Decline ===
{{Cleanup rewrite|The second part of this chapter is a carbon copy of other paragraphs. It should explain how the Golden Horde lost its administrative influence, not historical events already described|date=October 2020}}
[[File:1444 Map.jpg|thumb|270px|Map of Europe circa 1444, showing the Golden Horde and successor khanates]]
Mongol rule in Galicia ended with its conquest by the [[Kingdom of Poland (1025–1385)|Kingdom of Poland]] in 1349. The Golden Horde entered severe decline after the death of [[Berdi Beg]] in 1359, which started a protracted political crisis lasting two decades. In 1363, the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]] won the [[Battle of Blue Waters]] against the Golden Horde and conquered both Kiev and Podolia. After 1360, payment of tribute and taxes from Russian subjects to the declining Golden Horde decreased significantly. In 1374, [[Nizhny Novgorod]] rebelled and slaughtered an embassy sent by [[Mamai]]. For a brief period after the victorious [[Battle of Kulikovo]] in 1380 by [[Dmitry Donskoy]] against Mamai, Moscow was free of Mongol control until [[Tokhtamysh]] restored Mongol suzerainty over Moscow two years later following [[Siege of Moscow (1382)|a siege]].{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|pp=233–244}} Tokhtamysh also crushed the Lithuanian army at [[Poltava]] in the next year.{{sfn|Grousset|1970|p=407}} [[Władysław II Jagiełło]], the grand duke of Lithuania and king of Poland, accepted his supremacy and agreed to pay tribute in turn for a grant of territory.<ref name="Johann Voigt p. 47"/> In 1395, [[Timur]] annihilated Tokhtamysh's army again at the [[Battle of the Terek River]], destroyed his capital, looted the Crimean trade centers, and deported the most skillful craftsmen to his own capital in [[Samarkand]]. Timur's forces reached as far north as [[Ryazan]] before turning back. Tokhtamysh fled to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and asked [[Vytautas]] for assistance in retaking the Golden Horde in exchange for suzerainty over the lands that were taken. In 1399, Vytautas and Tokhtamysh attacked Temür Qutlugh and Edigu at the [[Battle of the Vorskla River]] but were defeated. The Golden Horde victory secured for it Kiev, Podolia, and some land in the lower [[Bug River]] basin. Tokhtamysh died in obscurity in [[Tyumen]] around 1405. His son [[Jalal al-Din Khan ibn Tokhtamysh|Jalal al-Din]] fled to Lithuania and participated in the [[Battle of Grunwald]] against the [[Teutonic Order]].{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|pp=277–287}}

From 1400 to 1408, Edigu gradually regained control of tributaries in Russia, with the exception of Moscow, which he failed to take in a siege but ravaged the surrounding countryside. [[Smolensk]] was lost to Lithuania.{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|pp=277–287}} After Edigu died in 1419, the Golden Horde rapidly disintegrated but it still retained some vestige of influence in Eastern Europe. In 1426, [[Ulugh Muhammad]] contributed troops to Vytautas' war against [[Pskov]] and despite the horde's reduced size, both [[Yury of Zvenigorod]] and [[Vasily Kosoy]] still visited Ulugh Muhammad's court in 1432 to request a grand ducal patent. A year later, Ulugh Muhammad was ousted and fled to the town of [[Belev]] on the upper [[Oka River]], where he came into conflict with [[Vasily II of Moscow]], whom he defeated twice in battle. In 1445, Vasily II was taken prisoner by Ulugh Muhammad and ransomed for 25,000 rubles. Ulugh Muhammad was murdered in the same year by his son, [[Mäxmüd of Kazan]], who fled to the middle Volga region and founded the [[Khanate of Kazan]].{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|pp=296–319}}

In 1447, Mäxmüd sent an army against Muscovy but was repelled. Another of Ulugh Muhammad's sons, [[Qasim Khan]], fled to Moscow, where Vasily II granted him land that became the [[Qasim Khanate]]{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=329}} Both the khans Küchük Muhammad and Sayid Ahmad attempted to reassert authority over Moscow. Küchük Muhammad attacked Ryazan and suffered a major defeat against the forces of Vasily II. Sayid Ahmad continued to raid Muscovy and in 1449, made a direct attack on Moscow. However he was defeated by Muscovy's ally Qasim Khan. In 1450, Küchük Muhammad attacked [[Ryazan]] but was turned back by a combined Russo-Tatar army. In 1451, Sayid Ahmad tried to take Moscow again and failed.{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=330}}

In the summer of 1470, [[Ahmed Khan bin Küchük]], ruler of the [[Great Horde]], organized an attack against [[Moldavia]], the [[Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569)|Kingdom of Poland]], and [[Lithuania]]. By August 20, the Moldavian forces under [[Stephen the Great]] defeated the Tatars at the [[battle of Lipnic]]. In 1474 and 1476, Ahmed insisted that [[Ivan III of Russia]] recognize the khan as his overlord. In 1480, Ahmed organized a military campaign against Moscow, resulting in a face off between two opposing armies known as the [[Great Stand on the Ugra River]]. Ahmed judged the conditions unfavorable and retreated. This incident formally ended the "Tatar yoke" over the Russian lands.{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=332}}<ref name="Millar"/>

In 1502, the Horde was absorbed by the [[Crimean Khanate]].<ref>Clifford Edmund Bosworth, ''The New Islamic Dynasties – A chronological and genealogical manual'', Edinburgh University Press, 2012.</ref>