The Black Death's Grim Reckoning for the Golden Horde

In 1346, the Black Death arrived at the gates of the Golden Horde's Crimean trading city of Caffa, where a Mongol army under Khan Janibeg was besieging Genoese merchants. The plague spread through the Horde's steppe camps and its capital Sarai, killing Khan Janibeg and two of his sons in quick succession. This episode traces how the pandemic devastated the Jochid ulus, crippling its military, trade, and administrative networks. We explore the controversial account of plague corpses being catapulted into Caffa—one of the earliest known instances of biological warfare. We also examine the subsequent Great Troubles, as the Horde's population collapsed, its tax revenues dried up, and rival khans and emirs fought for control. Figures like Mamai emerge from the chaos. The conversation draws on accounts from Ibn al-Wardi and the Novgorod First Chronicle, and weighs the long-term demographic and political effects that left the Horde vulnerable to internal strife and ultimately to Timur's devastating campaigns. This is the story of how a pandemic, not just a conqueror, reshaped the steppe empire. #BlackDeath #GoldenHorde #Caffa #KhanJanibeg #Mamai #Plague #BiologicalWarfare #Sarai #Crimea #GreatTroubles #JochidUlus #IbnAlWardi #NovgorodChronicle #PandemicHistory #SteppeEmpire #Medieval #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo