BATU KHAN, ( Y -e.1255). The leader of the Mongols in their invasion of Eu rope in the Thirteenth Century, grandson of Genghis Khan and nephew of Ogotai Khan. Given command in 1235 of the :Mongol Army destined against Europe, he marched westward, crossed the Volga River. and dividing his forces sent one southward to bring the Bulgarians to submission, while with the main army he ad vanced into the heart of Russia. On December 21, 1237, he assaulted and took the city of Biazan. After this he captured Moscow, Vla dimir, and, in 1240, Kiev, his followers every where perpetrating horrible atrocities. "The vil lages disappeared, and the heads of the Russians feat like grass before the sickle." The Russian princes were forced to bow to the yoke. In 1241 Batu Khan advanced into Hungary and overwhelmed the army of Bela IV. • At the same time another Mongol army advanced against the Poles. On the memorable field of the Wahlstatt, near Liegnitz, the forces of the Silesian duke and the Teutonic knights succumbed to the Mongols, who, however, were unable to pursue their progress owing to their heavy losses. From the German frontier to the Volga, hardly a town survived the passage of this tornado of war. In 1242 Batt: Khan was recalled to Asia by the news of the death of Ogotai. He died about 1255. In his campaigns, Bath's main army was preceded by a body of 40,00o moo, who cut roads and acted as pioneers through the ter ribly difficult country. The secret of the military success of the Mongols was the incredible speed with which they marched, often covering. it was
said, a distance of nearly 300 miles in three days. The khanate which Batu governed was Kipehak, a region extending from the Jaxartes in Turkestan to the limits of Russia of the Thir teenth Century, and comprising the region north of the Caucasus. Ba tu's army was named the Golden Horde (q.v.), because of his tent, which was richly covered with embroidery and gilded leather. The sira ordu, or silken palace, made the great encampment by the Volga known as Serai. the capital of the Golden llorde. The cause of the Mongol success lay in the fact that the whole Tartar nation was a standing army, which struck Europe in a time of feudalism, when patriotism was parochial. Russia without national unity, only the nobles and free men armed, and the number of monks, hired servants, and slaves in overwhelming majority. On the other hand, the Tartar cavalry was superbly disciplined, with admirable tactics, while their weapons were far superior to anything then known in Europe. Their arrows were longer and heavier, and their engineering skill far in ad vance of that of their foes. Their horses were of the Tartar breed, which could find food for them selves by brushing the snow away with their noses, where Western horses would starve. Con sult : Howorth, History of the Ho»pols (London, 1880). and Ilammer-Purptall, (lesehiehte der Goldcnen Horde in Kiptschaek (Pesti', 1840).