Tokhtamysh

Born around 1342 into the House of Borjigin with Genghis Khan's blood, Tokhtamysh spent his early years fighting his father's cousin Urus Khan and his sons for survival. He turned to the Turco-Mongol warlord Timur for backing and with that help defeated his enemies, rising from fugitive to khan in 1380 during the Golden Horde's long collapse. He moved quickly, consolidating the Blue and White Hordes into a single polity, then led an expedition north and besieged Moscow in 1382, reasserting Tatar–Mongol control and restarting the flow of tribute. The military confrontations with Timur became th…