Ahmed Khan bin Küchük

Ahmed Khan bin Küchük (احمد خان بن کوچک) was the Khan of the Great Horde from 1465 to 1481.

For other people named Ahmed Khan, see Ahmed Khan (disambiguation).
Ahmed Khan bin Küchük
Khan of the Great Horde
Reign1465– 6 January 1481
PredecessorMahmud bin Küchük
SuccessorSheikh Ahmed
Died6 January 1481[1]
Sarai
SpouseBadi' al-Jamal
IssueSheikh Ahmed
DynastyBorjigin
FatherKüchük Muhammad
ReligionSunni Islam
Ivan III tears up the Khan's missive letter demanding the tribute in front of Khan's mission, painting by Aleksey Kivshenko

Life

In 1465, Ahmed Khan seized power in the Horde by rising against his brother Mahmud bin Küchük, who had been its ruler since 1459. In 1472, Ahmed Khan entered into alliance with the Polish king Casimir IV against Ivan III of Russia. In 1476, Ahmed Khan suggested to Ivan III that he should recognize him as his overlord. However the balance of forces was not in the Horde's favour.

In 1480, Ahmed Khan organized another military campaign against Muscovy, which would result in the great stand on the Ugra river, 150 miles from Moscow. They stood off shouting at one another on opposite banks for weeks before a conflict became inevitable. Panic set in, as both sides suddenly turned deciding to flee, rather than fight in the tradition of Genghis Khan. The Horde's retreat meant that the last of the conflict between Eurasians was over. The Mongols' last possessions were in Kazan, Astrakhan, and Crimea. Ivan III, Russia's ruler, finally freed it from Tatar-Mongol overlords.

On 6 January 1481, Ahmed Khan and his men were killed by Siberian Khan, Ibak Khan of Tyumen and Nogays at the mouth of the Donets River.

Personal life

Ahmed Khan's wife was the Timurid princess Badi' al-Jamal, a sister of Sultan Husayn Bayqara of Khorasan. Through this marriage he had two sons, Mahmud Khan and Bahadur Khan, as well as a daughter, Khanzada Khanum. However, Badi' al-Jamal eventually left the Golden Horde and returned with her children to her brother's court in Herat.[2][3]

Genealogy

References
  1. Kołodziejczyk 2011, p. 24.
  2. Vasilii Vladimirovitch Barthold, Four Studies on the History of Central Asia, Vol. 3 (1962), p. 33.
  3. Zahir ud-din Muhammad Babur, Annette Susannah Beveridge, The Babur-Nama in English (Memoirs of Babur) (1921), p. 258.

Bibliography
  • Kołodziejczyk, Dariusz (2011). The Crimean Khanate and Poland-Lithuania: International Diplomacy on the European Periphery (15th-18th Century): A Study of Peace Treaties Followed by Annotated Documents. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 9789004191907. Archived from the original on 2017-06-30. Retrieved 2016-02-13.



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