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. Conversion to Islam Berke Khan converted to 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 impressed with their faith and decided to convert to Islam. Berke then persuaded his brother Tukh-timur to become a Muslim 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 Ogedeyd families several times. That is why Berke conducted the kurultai in 1251 and had Möngke enthroned. Berke organized everything under strict conditions. Assuming the Golden Horde When Batu died in 1255, he was briefly succeeded by his sons Sartaq Khan and Ulaghchi, before Berke assumed leadership in 1257. He was an able ruler and succeeded in maintaining and stabilizing the Golden Horde, the western khanate of the Mongol Empire. During his government, the Mongols 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-Hulagu War Berke became a devout Muslim. His conversion resulted in the Blue Horde becoming predominantly Muslim, although there were still animists and Buddhists among them. Berke 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 had secured a pact of neutrality with them, passing through their territory, and destroying the Ilkhanate army at the Battle of Ain Jalut.