Chapter Eight: The Battle of Stalingrad

To decisively quell the forces of Batu-Mis, Timur once again mobilized his army northward. Batu-Mis, unwilling to yield, gathered an even larger force. However, before the battle, the Mongols and Turks under Batu-Mis noticed something unusual: Timur’s army was unlike theirs.

Although Timur’s khanate was nominally a Mongol-Turkic regime, and its main strength should have been the native nomadic cavalry, this army surprisingly included a large number of Persians.

Persians were traditionally known for their weak combat abilities, so their presence on the frontline suggested that Timur’s power had greatly diminished, merely serving as a facade to boost morale. Consequently, Batu-Mis’s nobles fell into a complacent underestimation of the enemy, some even defying the Great Khan’s orders and insisting on a decisive battle with Timur.

Yet, the Persian troops under Timur proved far more formidable than expected, and Batu-Mis’s Golden Horde forces were defeated. At this moment, General Guo Xian of the Blue Horde had already breached Berke-Sarai. Dispossessed, Batu-Mis fled with a handful of battered troops to seek refuge in Lithuania. The Golden Horde’s former lands changed hands once again.

Timur had originally planned to utterly destroy Berke-Sarai to prevent any future threats from arising there. However, the Blue Horde believed that the enemy had already lost its capacity for resurgence and saw no need to abandon the city.

At that time, the Blue Horde was particularly attentive to the north, eager to reopen the Grassland Silk Road. Berke-Sarai’s strategic location made it a crucial hub for reopening trade routes, so they were reluctant to forsake or demolish it.

Having invested immense effort, Timur was shown respect by the Blue Horde’s suggestion to rename Berke-Sarai as “Timur-Sarai,” commemorating his great military achievements. Henceforth, the city would be jointly administered by both sides, collecting trade taxes and tributes from the surrounding nomadic tribes.

Although the eastern segment of the Grassland Silk Road was already largely severed by then, Sarai remained a lucrative regional trade center. Timur was pleased with the proposal and agreed to their terms.

Thereafter, the Blue Horde began to invest efforts into the city as well.

“Sarai” means “city” in Persian. The Golden Horde’s first capital was “Batu-Sarai,” established by Batu himself. Later, his successor Berke moved the capital to the Volga River, founding the new capital “Berke-Sarai.”

Despite being destroyed multiple times throughout history, these places were repeatedly rebuilt due to their strategic importance. By the time Russia rose to prominence, the city of Tsaritsyn was founded near Berke-Sarai, while Batu-Sarai evolved into Astrakhan, underscoring the enduring geographical significance.

The Blue Horde’s main forces were limited in number and could not remain there permanently, so the khanate hired nearby Slavs to serve as guards. The greatest threat was the remnants of Batu-Mis’s forces, and the Slavs, having centuries of enmity with the surrounding nomadic tribes, fiercely resisted any incursions.

“Timur” means “iron,” and “Sarai” means “city.” For this reason, local Slavs also called it “Stalingrad,” meaning “City of Iron.”

After the army withdrew, Batu-Mis’s remnants launched several attacks, all repelled by the hired garrison. The city gradually stabilized and became a core bastion securing the surrounding region.

With Batu-Mis dealt with, the Ottoman Sultanate, entrenched from Anatolia to the Caucasus, became the next target.

Though small in territory, the Ottomans were not to be underestimated. The strength of such a state could not be gauged merely by land area.

Situated at the crossroads of two civilizations, the Ottomans could be considered a frontier of the Dar al-Islam. Their culture and customs significantly differed from the heartlands.

The backbone of Ottoman power was the “Gazi,” a militant order of holy warriors. Constant influxes of nomadic tribes, exiles, and fervent believers from the east provided a steady stream of manpower, enabling the sultan to wield forces far exceeding the state’s territorial limits.

This tradition had deep roots in Anatolia. In 1071, the Seljuk Turks defeated the Eastern Roman army at Manzikert, a battle often seen as the gateway for Turkic tribes’ westward expansion.

However, this interpretation is somewhat inaccurate since “Turkic” was their own self-designation. The highly cultured Persians, more familiar with the true Turkic khanates, referred to these people as “Turkmen,” meaning “those who resemble Turks but are not true Turks”—for they would not be mistaken by such mere imposters.

Moreover, the Turkmen tribes were not all Central Asian Turkmens. In fact, the first wave to invade Anatolia, plunder, and occupy Roman lands were predominantly local Armenians.

The Armenian nation's history was ancient, and their Christian church predates many European denominations. Their territories shifted over time, often a somewhat ambiguous collective, with complex internal factions.

From the Caucasus, these Armenian tribes quickly took up the banner of holy war, occupying lands in Anatolia and founding the Danishmend dynasty. Thus, the earliest “Turks” invading Roman lands may not have even been Turkmens but Armenians.

After a few years of jihad and plunder, these Armenians apparently realized their religion was ill-suited to the new context. They then declared their conversion to Islam.