Editing Golden Horde (section)

=== Berke–Hulagu war (1262–1266) ===

[[File:Bataille du Terek (1262).jpeg|thumb|The Golden Horde army defeats the [[Ilkhanate]] at the [[Berke–Hulagu war|battle of Terek]] in 1262. Many of Hulagu's men drowned in the Terek River while withdrawing.]]
{{main|Berke–Hulagu war}}
Möngke ordered the Jochid and [[Chagatai Khans|Chagatayid]] families to join Hulagu's expedition to Iran. [[Berke]]'s persuasion might have forced his brother Batu to postpone Hulagu's operation, little suspecting that it would result in eliminating the Jochid predominance there for several years. During the reign of Batu or his first two successors, the Golden Horde dispatched a large Jochid delegation to participate in [[Hulagu]]'s expedition in the Middle East in 1256–1257.

One of the Jochid princes who joined Hulagu's army was accused of witchcraft and sorcery against Hulagu. After receiving permission from Berke, Hulagu executed him. After that two more Jochid princes died suspiciously. According to some Muslim sources, Hulagu refused to share his war booty with Berke in accordance with Genghis Khan's wish. Berke was a devoted Muslim who had had a close relationship with the [[Abbasid]] [[Caliph]] [[Al-Musta'sim]], who had been killed by Hulagu in 1258. The Jochids believed that Hulagu's state eliminated their presence in the [[Transcaucasus]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Jackson|first=Peter|editor=Abulafia, David|title=The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 5, c. 1198–c. 1300|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bclfdU_2lesC&pg=PA709|year=1995|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-36289-4|page=709|chapter=The Mongols and Europe}}</ref> Those events increased the anger of Berke and the war between the Golden Horde and the [[Ilkhanate]] soon broke out in 1262.

The increasing tension between Berke and Hulagu was a warning to the Golden Horde contingents in Hulagu's army to flee. One contingent reached the Kipchak Steppe, [[Negudar|another traversed Khorasan]], and a third body took refuge in [[Mamluk]] ruled [[Syria]] where they were well received by Sultan [[Baybars]] (1260–1277). Hulagu harshly punished the rest of the Golden Horde army in Iran. Berke sought a joint attack with Baybars and forged an alliance with the Mamluks against Hulagu. The Golden Horde dispatched the young prince [[Nogai Khan|Nogai]] to invade the Ilkhanate but Hulagu forced him back in 1262. The Ilkhanid army then crossed the [[Terek (river)|Terek River]], capturing an empty Jochid encampment, only to be routed in a surprise attack by Nogai's forces. Many of them were drowned as the ice broke on the frozen Terek River. The outbreak of conflict was made more annoying to Berke by the rebellion of [[Suzdal]] at the same time, killing Mongol [[darughachi]]s and tax-collectors. Berke planned a severe punitive expedition. But after [[Alexander Nevsky]] begged Berke not to punish his people, and the cities of [[Vladimir-Suzdal]] agreed to pay a large indemnity, Berke relented. Alexander died on his trip back in [[Gorodets, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast|Gorodets]] on the Volga. He was well loved by the people and called the "sun of Suzdal".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Plokhy |first=Serhii |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/845782300 |title=The origins of the Slavic nations: premodern identities in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-511-24564-0 |pages=74 |language=en |oclc=845782300 |quote=As the transformation of St. Aleksandr Nevsky from 'son of Suzdal' to 'son of Rus&apos;' in early modern Muscovite literature well attests...}}</ref>
[[File:Golden Horde. Möngke (Mengu) Timur. AH 665-679 AD 1267-1280 Bulghar mint. Dated AH 672 or 3 (AD 1273-1275).jpg|thumb|Coinage of [[Mengu-Timur]]. Bulghar mint. Dated AH 672 or 3 (AD 1273–1275).]]
When the former [[Sultanate of Rum|Seljuk Sultan]] [[Kaykaus II]] was arrested in the [[Byzantine Empire]], his younger brother [[Kayqubad II]] appealed to Berke. An [[Egypt]]ian envoy was also detained there. With the assistance of the [[Second Bulgarian Empire|Kingdom of Bulgaria]] (Berke's vassal), Nogai invaded the Empire in 1265. By the next year, the Mongol-Bulgarian army was within reach of [[Constantinople]]. Nogai forced [[Michael VIII Palaiologos]] to release Kaykaus and pay tribute to the Horde. Berke gave Kaykaus [[Khanate of Crimea|Crimea]] as an [[appanage]] and had him marry a Mongol woman. Hulagu died in February 1265 and Berke followed the next year while on campaign in [[Tiflis]], causing his troops to retreat.{{sfn|Vernadsky|1953|p=163}}

Ariq Böke had earlier placed Chagatai's grandson [[Alghu]] as [[Chagatayid Khan]], ruling Central Asia. He took control of [[Samarkand]] and [[Bukhara]]. When the Muslim elites and the Jochid retainers in Bukhara declared their loyalty to Berke, Alghu smashed the Golden Horde appanages in Khorazm. Alghu insisted Hulagu attack the Golden Horde; he accused Berke of purging his family in 1252. In Bukhara, he and Hulagu slaughtered all the retainers of the Golden Horde and reduced their families into slavery, sparing only the Great Khan Kublai's men.<ref>{{cite book|last=Barthold|first=W.|author-link=Vasily Bartold|title=Turkestan Down to the Mongol Invasion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zE2QPwAACAAJ&pg=PA446|year=2008|publisher=ACLS Humanities E-Book|isbn=978-1-59740-450-1|page=446|orig-year=1958}}</ref> After Berke gave his allegiance to Kublai, Alghu declared war on Berke, seizing [[Otrar]] and [[Khorazm]]. While the left bank of Khorazm would eventually be retaken, Berke had lost control over Transoxiana. In 1264 Berke marched past [[Tiflis]] to fight against Hulagu's successor [[Abaqa]], but he died en route.