Berke Khan (died 1266) was a Mongolian military commander and warlord of the Golden Horde (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. He allied with the Egyptian Mamluks to fight another Mongol Khanate based in Persia, The Ilkhanate.

Berke was one of the sons of Jochi, the eldest son of Genghis Khan. Berke was present, with several of his brothers, at the inauguration of his uncle Ögedei as Great Khan in 1229.

In 1236, Berke joined his brothers Orda, 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 already muslim Volga Bulgars 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 Merkits. He afterwards subdued the steppe watered by the Kuma and the Terek 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.

Berke Khan adopted Islam in the city of Bukhara in 1252. When he was at Saray-Jük, Berke met a caravan from Bukhara and questioned them about their faith. Berke was convinced to convert by the caravan travellers and became a Muslim. Berke then persuaded his brother Tukh-timur to convert to Islam as well.

In 1248 Batu 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 and Ogedey families several times. That is why Berke conducted the Kurultai in 1251 and had Möngke enthroned.

Finally defeated the rebellion of Danylo of Halych and made a second attack against Poland and Lithuania, led by general Burundai (Lublin, Zawichost, Sandomierz, Kraków and Bytom were plundered) in 1259. Also in 1265 there was a raid against Bulgaria and Byzantine Thrace. Michael of the Byzantine Empire also sent much valuable fabric to the Golden Horde as a tribute thereafter.

Berke soon became a devout Muslim. His conversion resulted in the Blue Horde becoming primarily Muslim, although there were still animists and Buddhists among them.

Berke as a muslim was angered by Hulagu's destruction of Baghdad and was determined to deal with Hulagu Khan, who had murdered the Caliph Al-Musta'sim, and whose territorial ambitions in Syria and Egypt threatened Berke's fellow muslims.
In the meantime, the Ilkhanates led by Kitbuqa had fallen out with the Crusaders holding the coast of Palestine, and the Mamluks secured a pact of neutrality with them, pass through their territory, and destroy the Ilkhanate army at the Battle of Ain Jalut. Kitbuqa was killed. Palestine and Syria were permanently lost to Mongols, only the border remained along 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:

"He has sacked all the cities of the Muslims, and has brought about the death of the Caliph. With the help of God I will call him to account for so much innocent blood."

Before his succession, he also complained to Batu
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