Berke

Berke Khan ruled the Golden Horde from 1257 to 1266, succeeding his brother Batu and consolidating the Blue and White Hordes under his command. He was the first to officially establish Islam in a Mongol khanate, a break from tradition that would reshape the western steppe. When his cousin Hulagu Khan sacked Baghdad and built the Ilkhanate in Persia, Berke allied with the Egyptian Mamluks against him, turning Mongol against Mongol. He backed Ariq Böke in the Toluid Civil War against Kublai but stayed out militarily, consumed by his own fight with Hulagu. He died in 1266 or 1267, having spent hi…