Batu Khan, ?–1255. Mongol khan (from 1227) and general, son of Juji Khan, and grandson of Genghis Khan. Batu led the Mongol-Tatar armies that ravaged Eastern Europe in 1236–43. In 1237 he invaded Rus’. In 1239 he sacked Pereiaslav and Chernihiv; in 1240, Kyiv. In the following year his army penetrated into Galicia, Poland, and Hungary and reached Dalmatia. In 1242 Batu returned to the Volga River, where he established the domain of the Golden Horde.


Encyclopedia of Ukraine