So, I'm working on my Louisiana TL, and I have three papers due at the end of this month, and exams next month. So what do I do? Post another TL, of course! Its going to be something of a Muslimwank (but a plausible one, or at least I hope

), which starts with the Golden Horde (which becomes known as the Qipchaq Empire in this TL) developing a more stable political system and maintaining control over northern Russia. From there, of course, the effects reverberate through European history. Anyway, here goes! (Much thanks to user
Lysandros Aikiedas for some ideas).
Updates to this and Louisiana (which I recommend you check out, its in my sig) will be sporadic for November and early December for the above-mentioned reasons)
One of the most notable Islamic nations in history is the great empire of the Qipchaqs, also known as the Tatars or (archaically) the Golden Horde. Founded by Batu, son of Genghis Khan, in the early 13th century, the empire was converted to Islam by the great Oz Beg Khan in the early 14th century. Though its founders were Mongol, the Empire soon adopted the language, and the name, of its majority ethnic group, the Qipchaq Turks. The empire would come into its own in the 15th century, when Murat Khan began the great pushes, westward into Europe and eastward across the great Steppes of Eurasia, that would ultimately make the Qipchaq Empire the largest nation on earth...
-From
An Encyclopedia of the Islamic Nations, entry "Qipchaq Empire"
Of all the cities of the East, surely none can compare to Qazan, master of an Empire greater than that of Rome. The golden domes of her great palaces gleam in the sunlight, and the finest carpets, silks, and spices of the world are avaliable in the Bazaars. The taverns are full of beautiful Circassian dancing girls, whose every step makes a man's blood boil. And I have not even begun to describe the debaucheries and wonders I saw there. Describing the wealth and decadence of this metropolis would take a hundred volumes...
-Jean-Michel LeClerc,
Travels in the Orient, 1764. (Many have doubted whether LeClerc ever actually reached Qazan, as some of his descriptions of the city seem rather fantastic)
The year was 1342. Tini Beg, Khan of the Qipchaq Empire, had not held his throne for a year when he was told some disturbing, but not unexpected, information by a spy close to his brother Jani Beg. Angry that he had not been made Khan, Jani Beg was planning on assassinating Tini Beg to rectify the situation. Tini Beg decided to strike first, and successfully arranged to have Jani Beg killed.*
With his troublesome brother dead, Tini Beg launched an offensive against the Chagatai Khanate. The next year, Qipchaq archers killed Qazim, the Chagatai Khan, in battle, and his Khante disintegrated. In the resulting chaos, the Qipchaqs took almost all of the old Chagatai lands, including the great cities of Samarkand and Bukhara and the great Qazaq steppes to their north, with their large population of Turkic nomands. While the Qipchaq's attention was turned elsewhere, the Chupanids in Azerbaijan attacked them through the Caucasus, forcing Tini Beg take his army around the Caspian Sea to confront them. The Qipchaqs succeeded in pushing their enemies back across the Caucasus, and after some hard fighting had taken Azerbaijan by 1348. Tini Beg imported many Persian officials from the conquered lands, whose knowledge of administration greatly increased the effectiveness of the Qipchaq governance.
The long campaigning in Persia meant that Tini Beg had kept his eye off the vassal Russian prinicpalities to the north. Several Russian princes, including Simeon of Muscovy, had taken advantage of this to embezzle some of the tribute they would normally owe to the Qipchaqs. When Tini Beg learned of this in 1350, he summoned Simeon and the prince of Tver (another offender) to the Qipchaq capital of Sarai. Realizing they had been found out and were going to be executed, the two princes led a massive revolt against the Qipchaq Khan. It was brutally crushed in 1351, and many residents of Muscovy and Tver were killed, enslaved, or deported. They were replaced with Persian, Azeri, Turkmen, Qazaq, and Persian colonists. In addition, the Khan sent residents to live in the capitals of all of the Russian princes to keep an eye on them, and commanded that all princes provide their sons as diplomatic hostages, to be educated in Sarai. There would be a few more princely revolts, most notably Ryazan in 1363 (which received the same treatment).
During the Muscovy revolt, the cavalry the Qipchaqs depended on had on a few occasions become bogged down trying to negociate the dense forests surrounding the city. This flaw became even more pronounced when mainly cavalry Qipchaq garrisons were confronted with the problem of keeping large amounts of horses through the winter, and of patroling and (occasionally) fighting in the ever-present woods. Lacking a good infantry force, the Khan decided to create one by buying children from slave markets and having them raised in army baracks, where they were given the best military training the Qipchaq Empire could provide. When they became adults, the new soldiers were declared slaves to the Khan himself, and became the Qipchaq Empire's utterly loyal shock troops. The first of these new military units would enter service in the 1370's. In the meantime, the Khan created military units out of captured POW's and slaves to serve the same function.
The last decade of Tini Beg's reign would be less impressive. In the latter part of the 1350's, tribal revolts took Samarkand and Bukhara away from the Qipchaqs. In 1364. while Tini Beg was celebrating his victory over Ryazan, the Jalayirids, a dynasty based in southwestern Persia, successfully tood Azerbaijan. Tini Beg held on until 1371, when a revolt, led officially by his cousin Orda but in reality controlled by a scheming general named Mamai, succeeded in taking Sarai and killing him. His son Akmet, away campaigning near Samarkand with most of the army, rushed back and defeated Orda and Mamai in a pitched battle. Both were executed, though their supporters took longer to hunt down. In the chaos, Lithuania was able to take the city of Kiev from the Golden Horde. By 1373, the last remnants of the rebellion had been put down, though Kiev remained in the hands of Lithuania.
So, what do you guys think?
*The POD. Jani Beg killed Tini Beg and usurped the throne in OTL. He was assassinated after 15 years of rule, and the Golden Horde [or Qipchaq empire in this TL] plunged into anarchy.