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Berke Khan (died 1266/1267; also Birkai; Turki/Cuman language: برکه خان, , ) was a grandson of Genghis Khan from his son Jochi and a Mongol military commander and ruler of the Golden Horde, a division of the Mongol Empire, who effectively consolidated the power of the Blue Horde and White Horde from 1257 to 1266. He succeeded his brother Batu Khan of the Blue Horde (West), and was responsible for the first official establishment of Islam in a khanate of the Mongol Empire. Following the Sack of Baghdad by Hulagu Khan, his cousin and head of the Mongol Ilkhanate based in Iran, he allied with the Egyptian against Hulagu. Berke also supported Ariq Böke against Kublai Khan in the Toluid Civil War, but did not intervene militarily in the war because he was occupied in his own war against Hulagu and the Ilkhanate.
The latter claim was used to support the argument of historian Jean Richard that Berke's mother was Khan-Sultan (or Sultan Khatun), the captured daughter of Muhammad II of Khwarazm. The marriage between Jochi and Khan-Sultan took place in 1220, allowing Berke's birth to be no earlier than 1221.
In 1236, Berke joined his brothers Orda Khan, Sinkur, and Shiban and an assortment of cousins under the leadership of Batu Khan in a vast army, comprising some 150,000 soldiers, which marched from Siberia and into the territory of the Muslim Volga Bulgaria and Kipchaks, whom they subdued. Batu and Subutai sent Berke to the country north of the Caucasus to conquer the Kipchaks there. Next, they devastated the principalities of Ryazan and Suzdal in 1237, and marched further into Russia. During the winter of 1238–39, Berke defeated the Kipchaks and imprisoned the chief of the . He afterwards subdued the steppe watered by the Kuma and the Terek River west of the Caspian Sea.
Berke further served under his brother during the invasion of Europe, fighting at the Battle of the Mohi, where the Hungarian army was decimated. When Ögedei Khan died, and all the princes of the blood were summoned to return to Mongolia to select a Great Khan, Berke and his brothers joined Batu in the kurultai to elect a new Great Khan.
In 1248, Batu Khan sent Berke, along with his brother Tukh-timur, to Mongolia in order to install Möngke Khan on the throne of Great Khan. When he arrived, he invited the Chagatai khans and Ogedeyd families several times. That is why Berke conducted the kurultai in 1251 and had Möngke enthroned. Berke organized everything under strict conditions.
In the meantime, the Ilkhanids led by Kitbuqa had fallen out with the crusaders holding the coast of Palestine, and the Mamluks had secured a pact of neutrality with them, passing through their territory, and defeating the Ilkhanate army at the Battle of Ain Jalut. Kitbuqa was killed. Palestine and Syria were regained, the border remaining the Tigris for the duration of Hulagu's dynasty. Berke's vow of vengeance against Hulagu had to wait until the latter's return to his lands after the death of Möngke Khan.
Hulagu returned to his lands by 1262, but instead of being able to avenge his defeats, was drawn into civil war with Berke and the Blue Horde. Berke Khan had promised such a defeat in his rage after Hulagu's sack of Baghdad.
Muslim historian Rashid-al-Din Hamadani quoted Berke Khan as telling his Mongols and Muslim subjects, in protest at the attack on Baghdad:
Before his succession, he also complained to Batu "We helped Möngke to enthrone. But he forgot who the enemy is or friend is. Now, he is starving the lands of our friend Caliph. It is abject". It is notable that Berke Khan kept his promise, allying himself with the Mamluks, (Berke sought an alliance with the Mamluk sultan Baibars against Hulagu) and when Hulagu returned to his lands in 1262, after the succession was finally settled with Kublai as the last Great Khan, and massed his armies to avenge Ain Jalut and attack the Mamluks, Berke Khan initiated a series of raids in force which drew Hulagu north to meet him. This was the first open conflict between Mongols, and signalled the end of the unified empire. In retaliation for these attacks, Berke and Hulagu slaughtered each other's ortogh merchants.
But the reasons for the conflict between Berke and Hulagu were both religious and territorial. Möngke Khan gave lands in current day Azerbaijan, which had been given to Jochi by Genghis Khan, to his brother Hulagu. Although Berke did not like the situation, he was patient until Möngke's death.
Berke at first desisted from fighting Hulagu out of Mongol brotherhood, he said Mongols are killed by Mongol swords. If we were united, then we would have conquered all of the world. but the economic situation of the Golden Horde due to the actions of the Ilkhanate led him to declare jihad because of the Ilkhanids domination of the wealth of North Iran, and the Ilkhanate's demands for the Golden Horde to not sell slaves to the Mamluks.
In 1262, the conflict turned into open war. Hulagu Khan suffered a severe defeat in an attempted invasion north of the Caucasus in 1263. Hulagu's forces were crushed at the Terek River by Berke's nephew Nogai, forcing Hulagu into retreat; he died in 1265. Also Chagatai Khan Alghu invaded Khwarizm and annexed Golden Horde lands. The Jochid army unsuccessfully tried to halt his advance. Berke and massacred each other's ortoq merchants in the Golden Horde and Iran.: Enerelt Enkhbold (2019) The role of the ortoq in the Mongol Empire in forming business partnerships, Central Asian Survey, 38:4, 531-547, DOI: 10.1080/02634937.2019.1652799
Berke also supported Great Khan claimant Ariq Böke in the Toluid Civil War, and he minted coins in the name of Ariq Böke. However Kublai defeated Ariq Böke by 1264. Kublai called both Hulagu and Berke to discuss Ariq Böke. However, both of them noted that they could not attend the Kurultai at the time, and a new Kurultai was never held.
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