Tamerlane (1336-1405) was a Turko-Mongol conqueror whose victories, characterized by acts of inhuman cruelty, made him master of much of Western Asia.
Tamerlane or Timur (Timur-Lang, "Timur the Lame") belonged to the Turkified Mongol clan Barlas, whose representatives, as the Mongol armies advanced westward, settled in the Kashka Valley, near Samarkand. Tamerlane was born near Shakhrisabz on April 9, 1336. This place is located on the territory of modern Uzbekistan between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, and at the time of his birth these lands belonged to Chagatai Khan, named after the founder of his clan, the second son of Genghis Khan.
The European version of the name Timur - “Tamerlane” or “Tamberlane” goes back to the Turkic nickname Timur-i-Lenga, which means “Timur the Lame”. Evidence of Timur's lameness was found in 1941 when his grave was opened by a team of Soviet archaeologists led by Mikhail Gerasimov. Traces of two wounds were found on the femur of Timur’s left leg. The reasons for Timur's lameness are interpreted differently in different sources. According to some sources, he began to limp as a child, when he once fell from a horse, and the nickname Timur the Lame Stuck to him thanks to his peers. Other authors claim that Tamerlane's lameness was the result of a battle wound he received in 1362. Historians also disagree on which leg Timur was limping on. However, most historians claim that the conqueror’s sore leg was the left one, which, however, was quite convincingly confirmed by Soviet archaeologists.
In 1346 – 1347 Kazan Khan Chagatai was defeated by the Emir of Kazgan and was killed, as a result of which Central Asia ceased to be part of his khanate. After the death of Kazgan (1358), a period of anarchy followed, and the troops of Tughlaq Timur, ruler of the territories beyond the Syr Darya known as Moghulistan, invaded Transoxiana, first in 1360 and then in 1361 in an attempt to seize power.
Timur declared himself a vassal of Tughlaq Timur and became the ruler of the territory from Shakhrisabz to Karshi. He soon, however, rebelled against the rulers of Moghulistan and formed an alliance with Hussein, the grandson of Kazgan. Together in 1363 they defeated the army of Ilyas-Khoja, the son of Tughlak-Timur. However, around 1370, the allies fell out and Timur, having captured his comrade-in-arms, announced his intention to revive the Mongol Empire. Tamerlane became the sole master of Central Asia, settling in Samarkand and making this city the capital of the new state and his main residence.
Map of Chagatai Khanate
Expansion of the empire
Tamerlane's first campaigns were directed against Khiva and Mogulistan. And after 1381 he turned his attention to the west, launching expeditions to Iran, Iraq, Asia Minor and Syria.
The rulers of the conquered principalities were unable to effectively resist Timur's well-organized army. Eastern Persia and Khorasan were completely conquered in 1382 - 1385; Fars, Iraq, Armenia and Azerbaijan fell between 1386 and 1394; Georgia and Mesopotamia came under the control of Tamerlane in 1394.
While engaged in the conquest of Asia, Timur did not forget about the fight against the Golden Horde and personally against Khan Tokhtamysh. In 1391, pursuing Tokhtamysh, Timur reached southern Rus', where he defeated the Horde khan. Tokhtamysh's attempt to rectify the situation in 1395 and his invasion of the Caucasus were unsuccessful, and he was finally defeated on the Kura River.
Timur, who had already ravaged Astrakhan and Sarai, was distracted from planning a campaign against Moscow by the powerful Persian uprising, which was subsequently suppressed with the cruelty characteristic of Tamerlane. Throughout Persia, entire cities were destroyed, residents were killed, and their skulls were walled up in the walls of city towers.
Timur defeats the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt Sultan Nasir Adin Faraj
Tamerlane's seven-year campaign
In 1399, Tamerlane invaded India. As a result of the brutal sack of Delhi, 90 elephants were loaded, carrying a variety of cargo - from stones for the construction of a mosque in Samarkand to jewelry. Tamerlane's famous Seven Years' Campaign (1399-1403) began with his campaign in India, during which the conqueror got involved in a confrontation with the two most powerful rulers of Western Asia - the Sultan of Turkey and the Sultan of Egypt.
Syria, then part of Egypt, was completely captured by the spring of 1401. Tamerlane's further path lay to Baghdad, defended by the troops of Sultan Ahmad, who offered stubborn resistance to the conquerors. Baghdad was captured in a successful assault in June 1401. The massacre carried out by Tamerlane in the captured city was terrible. The heads of the murdered townspeople were stacked in 120 towers. Baghdad was completely sacked.
Tamerlane spent the winter of 1401–1402 in Georgia. And already in the spring of 1402 he began an offensive in Anatolia. In the battle of Ankara on July 20, 1402, Tamerlane defeated the army of his main enemy Turkish Sultan Bayazid (Bayazet), capturing him himself.
The story of Bayazet’s inhuman imprisonment in an iron cage intended for wild animals has gone down in history forever. However, some researchers argue that the story of the cell is nothing more than the result of a misinterpretation of the historian Arabshah’s record, which, however, does not in any way detract from Tamerlane’s obvious inhuman cruelty towards his defeated opponents.
Timur ended his Seven Years' Campaign by reaching Samarkand in August 1404. However, by the end of the same year, he started an even more ambitious undertaking - a campaign in China, which had gained independence from the Mongols only 30 years earlier. However, his plans to conquer China were not destined to come true - while in Otrar, on the eastern bank of the Syr Darya River (modern South Kazakhstan), Tamerlane became seriously ill and died on February 18, 1405.
Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin. Doors of Timur (Tamerlane). 1872
Tamerlane's legacy
Thanks to his truly remarkable military skill and incredible force of personality, bordering on demonism, Tamerlane was able to create an empire stretching from Russia to India and from the Mediterranean to Mongolia.
Unlike the conquests of Genghis Khan, the conquests of Tamerlane were not aimed at opening new markets or revitalizing trade routes. The goal of all the campaigns of the Iron Lame was the total plunder of the vanquished.
Despite the colossal size of the Timurid empire, it was not destined to last long, because Tamerlane did not bother to create a clear structure of government in the conquered territories; he only destroyed the previously existing order, offering nothing in return.
Although Tamerlane strived to be a good Muslim, he clearly felt no remorse for destroying Muslim cities by massacring their inhabitants. Damascus, Khiva, Baghdad - these ancient centers of Islam forever remembered the cruelty of Timur. The conqueror's ruthless attitude towards the ancient Muslim centers was probably due to his desire to make his own capital, Samarkand, the main city of Islam.
According to a number of modern sources, about 19 million people died at the hands of Tamerlane’s soldiers. Although the number of victims of the conquests of Lame Timur is probably exaggerated, they clearly number in the millions.
In post-Soviet Uzbekistan, Tamerlane was made a national hero. However, residents of such Uzbek cities as Khiva have a very ambivalent attitude towards this undoubtedly great personality - their genetic memory stores memories of his atrocities.
TamerlaneBiography of the commander
Tamerlane (Timur; April 9, 1336, village of Khoja-Ilgar, modern Uzbekistan - February 18, 1405, Otrar, modern Kazakhstan; Chagatai (Temur, Temor) - “iron”) - Central Asian conqueror who played a significant role in the history of Central Asia, South and Western Asia, as well as the Caucasus, Volga region and Rus'. Outstanding commander, emir (since 1370). Founder of the Timurid empire and dynasty, with its capital in Samarkand. Ancestor of Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire in India.
Thanks to the efforts of this particular person, as a result of the almost complete extermination of the troops of the Golden Horde under the leadership of Khan Tokhtamysh on the Dnieper and the destruction by Tamerlane of the capital of the Golden Horde, liberation from the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus' became possible.
Tamerlane's name
monument to Tamerlane in Samarkand
Timur's full name was Timur ibn Taragay Barlas (Timur bin Taragay Barlas - Timur son of Taragay from Barlas) in accordance with the Arabic tradition (alam-nasab-nisba). In Chagatai and Mongolian languages(both Altai) Temur or Temir means “iron”. The word (Temur) probably goes back to the Sanskrit *cimara (“iron”).
After Timur became related to the clan of Genghis Khan, he took the name Timur Gurkani (Gurkan - an Iranianized version of the Mongolian krgen or hrgen, “son-in-law.”
In various Persian sources, the Iranianized nickname Timur-e Lang, “Timur the Lame,” is often found; this name was probably considered at that time as a contemptuous and derogatory name. It turned into Western languages(Tamerlan, Tamerlane, Tamburlaine, Timur Lenk) and into Russian, where it does not have any negative connotation and is used along with the original “Timur”.
Personality of Tamerlane
monument to Tamerlane in Tashkent
The biography of Timur is in many ways reminiscent of the biography of Genghis Khan: both conquerors began their activities as leaders of detachments of followers they personally recruited, who then remained the main support of their power. Like Genghis Khan, Timur personally entered into all the details of the organization of military forces, had detailed information about the forces of his enemies and the state of their lands, enjoyed unconditional authority among his army and could fully rely on his associates. Less successful was the choice of persons placed at the head of the civil administration (numerous cases of punishment for extortion of high dignitaries in Samarkand, Herat, Shiraz, Tabriz).
The difference between Genghis Khan and Timur is determined by the latter's greater education. Genghis Khan was deprived of any education. Timur, in addition to his native (Turkic) language, spoke Persian and loved to talk with scientists, especially listen to the reading of historical works; with his knowledge of history he amazed the greatest of Muslim historians, Ibn Khaldun; Timur used stories about the valor of historical and legendary heroes to inspire his soldiers.
Timur's buildings, in the creation of which he took an active part, reveal a rare artistic taste in him.
Timur cared primarily about the prosperity of his native Maverannahr and about enhancing the splendor of his capital, Samarkand. Timur brought craftsmen, architects, jewelers, builders, and architects from all the conquered lands in order to equip Samarkand. He managed to express all his care that he put into this city through his words about it: “There will always be a blue sky and golden stars above Samarkand.” Only in last years he took measures to improve the well-being of other regions of the state, mainly border ones (in 1398 a new irrigation canal was built in Afghanistan, in 1401 - in Transcaucasia, etc.)
Biography
Childhood and youth
Chagatai Khanate
Timur was born on April 8 (9), 1336 in the village of Khoja-Ilgar near the city of Kesh (now Shakhrisabz, Uzbekistan) in Central Asia.
As the opening of the tomb by M. M. Gerasimov and the subsequent study of Tamerlane’s skeleton from his burial showed, his height was 172 cm. Timur was strong and physically developed, his contemporaries wrote about him: “If most warriors could pull the bow string to the level of the collarbone, then Timur pulled it up to his ear.” The hair was lighter than most of his fellow tribesmen.
His father's name was Taragai, he was a military man, a petty feudal lord. He came from the Mongolian Barlas tribe, which by that time already spoke the Turkic Chagatai language. didn't have school education and was illiterate, but knew the Koran by heart. He had 18 wives, of which his favorite wife was Emir Hussein’s sister, Uljay Turkan Agha. People called him “the not very noble bey.”
During Timur's childhood, the Chagatai state collapsed in Central Asia (Chagatai ulus). In Transoxiana, since 1346, power belonged to the Turkic emirs, and the khans enthroned by the emperor ruled only nominally. In 1348, the Mogul emirs enthroned Tugluk-Timur, who began to rule in East Turkestan, the Kuldzha region and Semirechye.
Rise of Timur
Fight against Mogolistan
Mongol possessions throughout the continent in the 13th - 14th centuriesand territories conquered from the Horde by Tamerlane
The first head of the Turkic emirs was Kazagan (1346-1358). Timur entered the service of the ruler of Kesh - Hadji Barlas (his uncle), the head of the Barlas tribe. In 1360, Transoxiana was conquered by Tughluk-Timur. Haji Barlas fled to Khorasan, and Timur entered into negotiations with the khan and was confirmed as the ruler of the Kesh region, but was forced to leave after the departure of the Mongols and the return of Haji Barlas.
In 1361, Khan Tughluk-Timur again occupied the country, and Haji Barlas again fled to Khorasan, where he was subsequently killed. In 1362, Tughluk-Timur hastily left Transoxiana as a result of the rebellion of a group of emirs in Mogolistan, transferring power to his son Ilyas-Khoja. Timur was confirmed as the ruler of the Kesh region and one of the assistants of the Mogul prince. Before the khan had time to cross the Syr Darya River, Ilyashodja-oglan, together with Emir Bekchik and other close emirs, conspired to remove Timurbek from state affairs, and, if possible, to destroy him physically. The intrigues intensified and became dangerous. Timur had to separate from the Moguls and go over to the side of their enemy - Emir Hussein (grandson of Kazagan). For some time, with a small detachment, they led the life of adventurers and went towards Khorezm, where in the battle of Khiva they were defeated by the ruler of those lands, Tavakkala-Kongurot, and with the remnants of their warriors and servants were forced to retreat deep into the desert. Subsequently, going to the village of Mahmudi in the region subject to Mahan, they were captured by the people of Alibek Dzhanikurban, in whose dungeons they spent 62 days in captivity. According to historian Sharafiddin Ali Yazdi, Alibek intended to sell Timur and Hussein to Iranian merchants, but in those days not a single caravan passed through Mahan. The prisoners were rescued by Alibek's elder brother, Emir Muhammad Beg.
In 1361-1364, Timurbek and Emir Hussein lived on the southern bank of the Amu Darya in the regions of Kakhmard, Daragez, Arsif and Balkh and fought against the Mongols guerrilla warfare. During a skirmish in Seistan, which took place in the fall of 1362 against the enemies of the ruler Malik Qutbiddin, Timur lost two fingers on right hand and was seriously wounded in the right leg, which is why he became lame (the nickname “lame Timur” is Aksak-Temir in Turkic, Timur-e lang in Persian, hence Tamerlane).
In 1364, the Moguls were forced to leave the country. Returning back to Transoxiana, Timur and Hussein placed Kabul Shah from the Chagatand clan on the throne of the ulus.
The next year, at dawn on May 22, 1365, a bloody battle took place near Chinaz between the army of Timur and Hussein with the army of Mogolistan led by Khan Ilyas-Khoja, which went down in history as the “battle in the mud.” Timur and Hussein had little chance to defend native land, since Ilyas-Khoja’s army had superior forces. During the battle, there was a torrential downpour, during which it was difficult for the soldiers to even look forward, and the horses got stuck in the mud, so the opponents had to retreat - the warriors of Timur and Hussein retreat to the other side of the Syr Darya River.
Meanwhile, the army of Ilyas-Khoja was expelled from Samarkand by a popular uprising of the Serbedars, which was led by his madrasah teacher Mavlanazada, the artisan Abubakr Ka-lavi and the sharpshooter Khurdaki Bukhari. Popular government was established in the city. Having learned about this, Timur and Hussein agreed to forgive the Serbedars - they lured them with kind speeches to negotiations, where in the spring of 1366 the troops of Hussein and Timur suppressed the uprising, executing the Serbedar leaders, but by order of Tamerlane they left alive the leader of the Serbedars - Mualan-zade, who the people's predilections were converted.
Election as "Great Emir"
,
siege of the Balkh fortress in 1370
Hussein wanted to rule on the throne of the Chagatai ulus among the Turkic-Mongol people, like his uncle Kazagan, but according to established tradition, power from time immemorial belonged to the descendants of Genghis Khan. Hussein did not belong to the Genghisids, then Timur opposed the change in customs, and the title of the supreme emir (emir ul-umaro), from the time of Genghis Khan, passed from generation to generation to the leaders of the Barlas tribe, who were the ancestors of Timurbek. This is confirmed by a written agreement between Genghis Khan’s great-grandfather Tuminakhan and Kachuvli-bahadur, Timur’s first great-grandfather. During the reign of Kazankhan, the position of supreme emir was forcibly appropriated by Emir Husayn's grandfather, Emir Kazagan, which served as a reason for breaking the already not very good relations between beks Timur and Husayn. Each of them began to prepare for the decisive battle.
Having moved from Sali-sarai to Balkh, Hussein began to strengthen the fortress and prepare for the decisive battle. Hussein decided to act with deception and cunning. He sent Timur an invitation to a meeting in the Chakchak gorge to sign a peace treaty, and as proof of his friendly intentions he promised to swear on the Koran. Having gone to the meeting, Timur took two hundred horsemen with him just in case, but Hussein brought a thousand of his soldiers and for this reason the meeting did not take place. Timur recalls this incident: “I sent Emir Hussein a letter with a Turkic beit with the following content:
Whoever intends to deceive me will lie in the ground himself, I am sure. Having shown his deceit, He himself will die from it.
When my letter reached Emir Hussein, he was extremely embarrassed and asked for forgiveness, but the second time I did not believe him.”
Gathering all his strength, Timur began to redirect to the other side of the Amu Darya River. The advanced units of his troops were commanded by Suyurgatmish-oglan, Ali Muayyad and Husapn Barlas. On the approach to the village of Biya, Barak, the leader of the Andhud Sayinds, advanced to meet the army and presented him with kettledrums and the banner of supreme power. On the way to Balkh, Timur was joined by Jaku Barlas, who arrived from Karkara with his army, and Emir Kaykhusrav from Khuttalan, and on the other side of the river, Emir Zinda Chashm from Shiberghan, Khazarians from Khulm and Badakhshan Muhammadshah also joined. Having learned about this, many of Emir Hussein’s soldiers left him.
Before the battle, Timur gathers a kurultai, at which a man from the Genghisid family, Suyurgatmysh, is elected khan.
Shortly before Timur was confirmed as the “great emir,” a certain good messenger, a certain sheikh from Mecca, came to him and said that he had a vision that he, Timur, would be a great ruler. On this occasion, he presented him with a banner, a drum, a symbol of supreme power. But he does not take this supreme power personally, but remains close to it.
On April 10, 1370, Balkh was conquered, and Hussein was captured and killed. At the kurultai, Timur took the oath of all the military leaders of Transoxiana. Like his predecessors, he did not accept the title of khan and was content with the title of “great emir” - the khans under him were considered the descendant of Genghis Khan Suyurgatmysh (1370-1388), his son Mahmud (1388-1398) and Satuk Khan (1398-1405). Samarkand was chosen as the capital, and the feudal fragmentation was put to an end.
Strengthening Timur's state
Battle with Mogolistan and the Golden Horde
State of Tamerlane
Despite the laid foundation of statehood, Khorezm and Shibergan, which belonged to the Chagatai ulus, did not recognize the new government in the person of Suyurgatmish Khan and Emir Timur. It was restless on the southern and northern borders of the border, where Mogolistan and the White Horde caused trouble, often violating borders and plundering villages. After Uruskhan captured Sygnyak and moved the capital of the White Horde, Yassy (Turkestan), Sairam and Transoxiana to it were in even greater danger. It was necessary to take measures to strengthen statehood.
In the same year, the cities of Balkh and Tashkent recognized the power of Amir Timur, but the Khorezm rulers continued to resist the Chagatai ulus, relying on the support of the Dashti Kipchak rulers. Emir Timur demanded the return of the captured lands of Khorezm first peacefully, sending first a tawachi (quartermaster), then a shaykhulislama (head of the Muslim community) to Gurganj, but Husayn Sufi both times refused to fulfill this demand, taking the ambassador prisoner. Since then, Emir Timur has made five campaigns against Khorezm. It was finally taken in 1388.
The next goals of Amir Timur were to curb the Jochi ulus (known in history as the White Horde) and establish political influence in its eastern part and unite Mogolistan and Maverannahr, previously divided, into a single state, at one time called the Chagatai ulus. The ruler of Moghulistan, Emir Kamariddin, had the same goals as Timur. Mogolistan feudal lords often carried out predatory raids on Sairam, Tashkent, Fergana and Turkestan. The raids of Emir Kamariddin in the 70-71s and the raids in the winter of 1376 on the cities of Tashkent and Andijan brought especially great troubles to the people. In the same year, Emir Kamariddin captured half of Fergana, from where its governor Umar Shah Mirza fled to the mountains. Therefore, solving the problem of Mogolistan was important for calm on the borders of the country. From 1371 to 1390, Emir Timur made seven campaigns against Mogolistan, finally defeating the army of Kamariddin and Anka-tyur in 1390 during the last campaign. However, Timur only reached the Irtysh in the north, Alakul in the east, Emil and the headquarters of the Mongol khans Balig-Yulduz, but he was unable to conquer the lands east of the Tangri-Tag and Kashgar mountains. Kamariddin fled and subsequently died of dropsy. The independence of Mogolistan was preserved.
"Door to the chambers of Khan Tamerlane" painting by Vasily Vereshchagin 1875
Realizing the danger to the independence of Transoxiana from the unification of the Jochi ulus, from the very first days of his reign, Timur tried in every possible way to prevent its unification into a single state, which was once split into two - the White and Golden Hordes. The Golden Horde had its capital in the city of Sarai-Batu (Sarai-Berke) and extended across the North Caucasus, the northwestern part of Khorezm, Crimea, Western Siberia and the Volga-Kama principality of Bulgar. The White Horde had its capital in the city of Sygnak and extended from Yangikent to Sabran, along the lower reaches of the Syr Darya, as well as on the banks of the Syr Darya steppe from Ulu-tau to Sengir-yagach and the land from Karatal to Siberia. Khan of the White Horde, Urus Khan, tried to unite the once powerful state, whose plans were thwarted by the intensified struggle between the Jochids and the feudal lords of the Dashti Kipchak. Timur strongly supported Tokhtamysh-oglan, whose father died at the hands of Uruskhan, who eventually took the throne of the White Horde. However, after ascending to power, Khan Tokhtamysh seized power in the Golden Horde and began to pursue a hostile policy towards the lands of Transoxiana. Amir Timur made three campaigns against Khan Tokhtamysh, finally defeating him on February 28, 1395.
After the defeat of the Golden Horde and Khan Tokhtamysh, the latter fled to the Bulgar. In response to the plunder of the lands of Maverannahr, Emir Timur burned the capital of the Golden Horde - Sarai-Batu, and gave the reins of its government into the hands of Koyrichak-oglan, who was the son of Uruskhan. In search of Tokhtamysh, Timur began a campaign against Rus'.
In 1395, Tamerlane, who was marching against Rus', passed Ryazan region and took the city of Yelets, in the same year Yelets was devastated by Tamerlane’s troops, and the prince was captured, after which Tamerlane moved towards Moscow, but unexpectedly turned around and went back on August 26. According to church tradition, it was at that time that Muscovites met the revered Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, transferred to Moscow to protect it from the conqueror. On the day of the meeting of the image, according to the chronicle, the Mother of God appeared to Tamerlane in a dream and ordered him to immediately leave the borders of Rus'. At the meeting place Vladimir icon The Sretensky Monastery was founded by the Mother of God. Tamerlane did not reach Moscow, his army marched along the Don and took it completely.
Tamerlane
There is another point of view. According to “Zafar-name” (“Book of Victories”) by Sheref ad-din Yezdi, Timur ended up on the Don after his victory over Tokhtamysh at the Terek River and before the total defeat of the cities of the Golden Horde in the same 1395. Tamerlane personally pursued the retreating commanders of Tokhtamysh after the defeat until they were completely defeated. On the Dnieper the enemy was finally defeated. Most likely, according to this source, Timur did not set the goal of a campaign specifically on Russian lands. Some of his troops, not he himself, approached the borders of Rus'. Here, on the comfortable summer Horde pastures that stretched in the floodplain of the Upper Don to modern Tula, a small part of his army stopped for two weeks. Although the local population did not offer serious resistance, the region suffered severe devastation. As Russian chronicles tell us about Timur’s invasion, his army stood on both sides of the Don for two weeks, “captured” (occupied) the land of Yelets and “seized” (captured) the prince of Yelets. Some coin hoards in the vicinity of Voronezh date back to 1395. However, in the vicinity of Yelets, which, according to the above-mentioned Russian written sources, was subjected to a pogrom, no treasures with such a dating have been found to date. Sheref ad-din Yezdi describes large booty taken in Russian lands and does not describe a single combat episode with the local population, although the main purpose of the “Book of Victories” was to describe the exploits of Timur himself and the valor of his warriors. According to the legends of Yelets local historians of the 19th and 20th centuries, the Yelets residents showed stubborn resistance to the enemy. However, in the “Book of Victories” there is no mention of this; the names of the fighters and commanders who took Yelets, who were the first to ascend the rampart, and who personally captured the Yelets prince, are not named. Meanwhile, Russian women made a great impression on Timur’s warriors, about whom Sheref ad-din Yezdi writes in a poetic line: “Oh, beautiful feathers like roses stuffed into snow-white Russian canvas!” Then in “Zafar-name” there follows a detailed list of Russian cities conquered by Timur, including Moscow. Perhaps this is just a list of Russian lands that did not want armed conflict and sent their ambassadors with gifts. After the defeat of Bek Yaryk Oglan, Tamerlane himself began to methodically ravage the lands of his main enemy Tokhtamysh. The Horde cities of the Volga region never recovered from Tamerlane’s devastation until the final collapse of this state. Many colonies of Italian merchants in the Crimea and in the lower reaches of the Don were also destroyed. The city of Tana (modern Azov) rose from ruins for several decades. Yelets, according to Russian chronicles, existed for another twenty years and was completely destroyed by certain “Tatars” only in 1414 or 1415.
He defeated Khan Tokhtamysh, who at that time headed the state of the Golden Horde. Fearing the transition of Transcaucasia and Western Iran to enemy rule, Tokhtamysh launched an invasion of this region in 1385. Having captured Tabriz and plundered it, the khan retreated with rich booty; Among the 90,000 captives was the Tajik poet Kamal Khojendi. In the 1390s, Tamerlane inflicted two severe defeats on the Horde khan - at Kondurch in 1391 and Terek in 1395, after which Tokhtamysh was deprived of the throne and forced to wage a constant struggle with the khans appointed by Tamerlane. With this defeat of the army of Khan Tokhtamysh, Tamerlane brought indirect benefit in the struggle of the Russian lands against the Tatar-Mongol yoke.
Trips to the Caucasus, India, Syria, Persia and China
In 1380, Timur went on a campaign against Malik Ghiyasiddin Pir Ali II, who ruled in the city of Herat. At first, he sent an ambassador to him with an invitation to the kurultai in order to solve the problem peacefully, but Malik rejected the offer, detaining the ambassador. In response to this, in April 1380, Timur, under the leadership of emirzade Pirmuhammad Ja hangir, sent ten regiments to the left bank of the Amu Darya River. He captured the regions of Balkh, Shiberghan and Badkhiz. In February 1381, Emir Timur himself marched with troops and took the cities of Khorasan, Seraks, Jami, Kausiya, Tuye and Kelat, and Herat was taken after a five-day siege. also, in addition to Kelat, Sebzevar was taken, as a result of which the state of the Serbedars ceased to exist; in 1382, Timur's son, Miranshah, was appointed ruler of Khorasan; in 1383, Timur devastated Seistan and brutally suppressed the uprising of the Serbedars in Sebzevar.
In 1383, he took Seistan, in which the fortresses of Zireh, Zave, Farah and Bust were defeated. In 1384 he captured the cities of Astrabad, Amul, Sari, Sultaniya and Tabriz, effectively capturing all of Persia. After which he went on a campaign to Armenia, after which he made several more campaigns of conquest in Persia and Syria. These campaigns are known in world history as three-year, five-year and seven-year campaigns, during which he fought wars in Syria, India, Armenia, Georgia, Turkey and Persia.
In 1402, Timur won a major victory over the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I the Lightning, defeating him at the Battle of Ankara on July 28. The Sultan himself was captured. As a result of the battle, all Asia Minor, and the defeat of Bayezid led to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, accompanied by a peasant war and civil strife between his sons. The official reason for the war was the alleged presentation of gifts to Timur by Turkish ambassadors. Outraged by the fact that Bayezid was acting as a benefactor, Timur declared military action
Three great campaigns of Timur
Timur made three large campaigns in the western part of Persia and the adjacent regions - the so-called “three-year” (from 1386), “five-year” (from 1392) and “seven-year” (from 1399).
Three-year trek
For the first time, Timur was forced to return back as a result of the invasion of Transoxiana by the Golden Horde Khan Tokhtamysh in alliance with the Semirechensk Mongols (1387).
In 1388, Timur drove out his enemies and punished the Khorezmians for their alliance with Tokhtamysh, in 1389 he made a devastating campaign deep into the Mongolian possessions as far as the Irtysh to the north and to the Greater Zhyldyz to the east, in 1391 - a campaign against the Golden Horde possessions to the Volga. These campaigns achieved their goal.
In 1398, a campaign was launched against India; along the way, the highlanders of Kafiristan were defeated. In December, Timur defeated the army of the Indian Sultan (Toglukid dynasty) under the walls of Delhi and occupied the city without resistance, which was plundered by the army a few days later. In 1399, Timur reached the banks of the Ganges, on the way back he took several more cities and fortresses and returned to Samarkand with huge booty, but without expanding his possessions.
Five Year Campaign
During the “five-year” campaign, Timur conquered the Caspian regions in 1392, and western Persia and Baghdad in 1393; Timur's son, Omar Sheikh, was appointed ruler of Fars, Miran Shah - ruler of Transcaucasia. Tokhtamysh's invasion of Transcaucasia caused Timur's campaign to Southern Russia(1395); Timur defeated Tokhtamysh on the Terek and pursued him to the borders of the Moscow kingdom. There he invaded the Ryazan lands, ravaged Yelets, posing a threat to Moscow. Having launched an attack on Moscow, he unexpectedly turned back and left Muscovy on the very day when Muscovites greeted the image of the Vladimir Icon Holy Mother of God, brought from Vladimir (from this day on, the icon is revered as the patroness of Moscow). Then Timur plundered the trading cities of Azov and Kafa, burned Sarai-Batu and Astrakhan, but the lasting conquest of the Golden Horde was not Tamerlane’s goal, and therefore the Caucasus range remained the northern border of Timur’s possessions. In 1396 he returned to Samarkand and in 1397 appointed his youngest son Shahrukh as the ruler of Khorasan, Seistan and Mazanderan.
Seven Years' Campaign
The “seven-year” campaign was initially caused by the madness of Miranshah and the unrest in the region entrusted to him. Timur deposed his son and defeated the enemies who invaded his domain. In 1400, a war began with the Ottoman Sultan Bayazet, who captured the city of Arzinjan, where Timur's vassal ruled, and with the Egyptian Sultan Faraj, whose predecessor, Barkuk, ordered the murder of Timur's ambassador back in 1393. In 1400, Timur took Sivas in Asia Minor and Aleppo (Aleppo) in Syria (which belonged to the Egyptian Sultan), and in 1401 Damascus. Bayazet was defeated and captured in the famous Battle of Ankara (1402). Timur plundered all the cities of Asia Minor, even Smyrna (which belonged to the Johannite knights). The western part of Asia Minor was returned to the sons of Bayazet in 1403, and in the eastern part the small dynasties overthrown by Bayazet were restored. In Baghdad (where Timur restored his power (1401), and up to 90,000 inhabitants died), Miranshah's son, Abu Bekr, was appointed ruler. In 1404, Timur returned to Samarkand and then launched a campaign against China, for which he began preparing back in 1398. That year he built a fortress on the border of the current Syr-Darya region and Semirechye; Now another fortification was built, 10 days' journey further to the east, probably near Issyk-Kul.
Death
Mausoleum of Tamerlane in Samarkand
He died during the campaign against China. After the end of the seven-year war, during which Bayezid I was defeated, Timur began preparations for the Chinese campaign, which he had long planned due to Chinese claims to the lands of Transoxiana and Turkestan. He gathered a large army of two hundred thousand, with which he set out on a campaign on November 27, 1404. In January 1405, he arrived in the city of Otrar (its ruins are not far from the confluence of the Arys and the Syr Darya), where he fell ill and died (according to historians - on February 18, according to Timur's tombstone - on the 15th). The body was embalmed, placed in an ebony coffin, lined with silver brocade, and taken to Samarkand. Tamerlane was buried in the Gur Emir mausoleum, which was still unfinished at that time.
Timur (Timur-Leng - Iron Lame), the famous conqueror of the eastern lands, whose name sounded on the lips of Europeans as Tamerlane (1336 - 1405), was born in Kesh (modern Shakhrisabz, "Green City"), fifty miles south of Samarkand in Transoxiana (the region of modern Uzbekistan between the Amu Darya and Syrdarya). According to some assumptions, Timur's father Taragai was the leader of the Mongol-Turkic tribe of Barlas (a large clan in the Chagatai Mongol tribe) and a descendant of a certain Karachar Noyon (a large feudal landowner in Mongolia in the Middle Ages), a powerful assistant of Chagatai, the son of Genghis Khan and a distant relative of the latter . Timur's reliable Memoirs say that he led many expeditions during the unrest that followed the death of Emir Kazgan, the ruler of Mesopotamia. In 1357, after the invasion of Tughlak Timur, Khan of Kashgar (1361), and the appointment of his son Ilyas-Khoja as governor of Mesopotamia, Timur became his assistant and ruler of Kesh. But very soon he fled and joined Emir Hussein, the grandson of Kazgan, becoming his son-in-law. After many raids and adventures, they defeated the forces of Ilyas-Khoja (1364) and set off to conquer Mesopotamia. Around 1370, Timur rebelled against his ally Hussein, captured him in Balkh and announced that he was the heir of Chagatai and was going to revive the Mongol empire.
Tamerlane devoted the next ten years to the fight against the khans of Jent (East Turkestan) and Khorezm and in 1380 captured Kashgar. He then intervened in the conflict between the khans of the Golden Horde in Rus' and helped Tokhtamysh take the throne. He, with the help of Timur, defeated the ruling khan Mamai, took his place and, in order to take revenge on the Moscow prince for the defeat he inflicted on Mamai in 1380, captured Moscow in 1382.
Timur's conquest of Persia in 1381 began with the capture of Herat. The unstable political and economic situation in Persia at that time contributed to the conqueror. The revival of the country, which began during the reign of the Ilkhans, slowed down again with the death of the last representative of the Abu Said family (1335). In the absence of an heir, rival dynasties took turns taking the throne. The situation was aggravated by the clash between the Mongol Jalair dynasties ruling in Baghdad and Tabriz; the Perso-Arab family of the Muzafarids, ruling in Fars and Isfahan; Kharid-Kurtov in Herat; local religious and tribal alliances, such as the Serbedars (rebels against Mongol oppression) in Khorasan and the Afghans in Kerman, and petty princes in the border areas. All these warring principalities could not jointly and effectively resist Timur. Khorasan and all of Eastern Persia fell under his onslaught in 1382 - 1385; Fars, Iraq, Azerbaijan and Armenia were conquered in 1386-1387 and 1393-1394; Mesopotamia and Georgia came under his rule in 1394. Between conquests, Timur fought Tokhtamysh, now khan of the Golden Horde, whose troops invaded Azerbaijan in 1385 and Mesopotamia in 1388, defeating Timur's forces. In 1391, Timur, pursuing Tokhtamysh, reached the southern steppes of Rus', defeated the enemy and overthrew him from the throne. In 1395, the Horde Khan again invaded the Caucasus, but was finally defeated on the Kura River. To top it off, Timur ravaged Astrakhan and Sarai, but did not reach Moscow. The uprisings that broke out throughout Persia during this campaign demanded his immediate return. Timur suppressed them with extraordinary cruelty. Entire cities were destroyed, the inhabitants were exterminated, and their heads were walled up in the walls of the towers.
In 1399, when Timur was already in his sixties, he invaded India, angry that the Delhi Sultans were showing too much tolerance towards their subjects. On September 24, Tamerlane's troops crossed the Indus and, leaving a bloody trail behind them, entered Delhi.
Having laid the stone foundation of the mosque, at the end of the same year, Timur undertook his last great expedition, the purpose of which was to punish the Egyptian Sultan Mameluke for supporting Ahmad Jalair and the Turkish Sultan Bayazet II, who had captured Eastern Anatolia. After restoring his power in Azerbaijan, Tamerlane moved to Syria. Aleppo was stormed and sacked, the Mameluke army was defeated, and Damascus was captured (1400). A crushing blow to the well-being of Egypt was that Timur sent all the craftsmen to Samarkand to build mosques and palaces. In 1401, Baghdad was stormed, twenty thousand of its inhabitants were killed, and all monuments were destroyed. Tamerlane spent the winter in Georgia, and in the spring he crossed the border of Anatolia, defeated Bayazet near Ankara (July 20, 1402) and captured Smyrna, which was owned by the Rhodian knights. Bayazet died in captivity, and the story of his imprisonment in an iron cage forever became a legend. As soon as the Egyptian Sultan and John VII (later co-ruler of Manuel II Palaiologos) stopped resisting. Timur returned to Samarkand and immediately began to prepare for an expedition to China. He set out at the end of December, but in Otrar on the Syr Darya River he fell ill and died on January 19, 1405. Tamerlane's body was embalmed and sent in an ebonite coffin to Samarkand, where he was buried in a magnificent mausoleum called Gur-Emir. Before his death, Timur divided his territories between his two surviving sons and grandsons. After many years of war and hostility over the will he left, Tamerlane’s descendants were united by the khan’s youngest son, Shahruk.
During Timur's life, contemporaries kept a careful chronicle of what was happening. It was supposed to serve for writing official biography khan. In 1937, the works of Nizam ad-Din Shami were published in Prague. A revised version of the chronicle was prepared by Sharaf ad-Din Yazdi even earlier and published in 1723 in Petit de la Croix's translation. The opposite point of view was reflected by another contemporary of Timur, Ibn Arabshah, who was extremely hostile towards the khan. His book was published in 1936 in Sanders' translation under the title "Tamerlane, or Timur, the Great Emir." The so-called "Memoirs" of Timur, published in 1830 in Stewart's translation, are considered a forgery, and the circumstances of their discovery and presentation to Shah Jahan in 1637 are still questioned.
Portraits of Timur made by Persian masters have survived to this day. However, they reflected an idealized idea of him. They in no way correspond to the description of the khan by one of his contemporaries as a very tall man with a large head, rosy cheeks and naturally blond hair.
TIMUR, TAMERLANE, TIMURLENG (TIMUR-KHROMETS) 1336 - 1405
Central Asian conquering commander. Emir.
Timur, the son of a bek from the Turkified Mongolian Barlas tribe, was born in Kesh (modern Shakhrisabz, Uzbekistan), southwest of Bukhara. His father had a small ulus. The name of the Central Asian conqueror comes from the nickname Timur Leng (Lame Timur), which was associated with his lameness in his left leg. Since childhood, he persistently engaged in military exercises and at the age of 12 began going on hikes with his father. He was a zealous Mohammedan, which played a significant role in his fight against the Uzbeks.
Timur early showed his military abilities and ability not only to command people, but also to subjugate them to his will. In 1361, he entered the service of Khan Togluk, a direct descendant of Genghis Khan. He owned large areas in Central Asia. Quite soon, Timur became an adviser to the khan’s son Ilyas Khoja and the ruler (viceroy) of the Kashkadarya vilayet in the domain of Khan Togluk. By that time, the son of the bek from the Barlas tribe already had his own detachment of mounted warriors.
But after some time, having fallen into disgrace, Timur with his military detachment of 60 people fled across the Amu Darya River to the Badakhshan Mountains. There his squad was replenished. Khan Togluk sent a detachment of a thousand in pursuit of Timur, but he, having fallen into a well-arranged ambush, was almost completely exterminated in battle by Timur’s warriors.
Gathering his forces, Timur concluded a military alliance with the ruler of Balkh and Samarkand, Emir Hussein, and began a war with Khan Togluk and his son-heir Ilyas Khoja, whose army consisted mainly of Uzbek warriors. The Turkmen tribes sided with Timur, giving him numerous cavalry. Soon he declared war on his ally Samarkand Emir Hussein and defeated him.
Timur captured Samarkand, one of the largest cities in Central Asia, and intensified military operations against the son of Khan Togluk, whose army, according to exaggerated data, numbered about 100 thousand people, but 80 thousand of them formed garrisons of fortresses and almost did not participate in field battles. Timur's cavalry squad numbered only about 2 thousand people, but they were experienced warriors. In a series of battles, Timur defeated the Khan's troops, and by 1370 their remnants retreated across the Syr River.
After these successes, Timur resorted to military stratagem, which was a brilliant success. On behalf of the khan's son, who commanded Togluk's troops, he sent out an order to the commandants of the fortresses to leave the fortresses entrusted to them and to retreat beyond the Syr River with the garrison troops. So, with the help of military cunning, Timur cleared all the enemy fortresses of the khan’s troops.
In 1370, a kurultai was convened, at which the rich and noble Mongol owners elected a direct descendant of Genghis Khan, Kobul Shah Aglan, as khan. However, Timur soon removed him from his path. By that time, he had significantly replenished his military forces, primarily at the expense of the Mongols, and could now lay claim to independent khan power.
In the same 1370, Timur became emir in Transoxiana, a region between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, and ruled on behalf of the descendants of Genghis Khan, relying on the army, nomadic nobility and Muslim clergy. He made the city of Samarkand his capital.
Timur began preparing for large campaigns of conquest by organizing a strong army. At the same time, he was guided by the combat experience of the Mongols and the rules of the great conqueror Genghis Khan, which his descendants had completely forgotten by that time.
Timur began his struggle for power with a detachment of 313 soldiers loyal to him. They formed the backbone of the command staff of the army he created: 100 people began to command dozens of soldiers, 100 hundreds and the last 100 thousand. Timur's closest and most trusted associates received senior military positions.
He paid attention to the selection of military leaders Special attention. In his army, the foremen were chosen by the dozen soldiers themselves, but Timur personally appointed the centurions, thousand and higher-ranking commanders. A boss whose power is weaker than a whip and stick is unworthy of the title, said the Central Asian conqueror.
His army, unlike the troops of Genghis Khan and Batu Khan, received a salary. An ordinary warrior received from two to four times the price of horses. The size of such a salary was determined by the service performance of the soldier. The foreman received the salary of his ten and therefore was personally interested in the proper performance of service by his subordinates. The centurion received the salary of six foremen and so on.
There was also a system of awards for military distinctions. This could be the praise of the emir himself, an increase in salary, valuable gifts, rewarding with expensive weapons, new ranks and honorary titles such as, for example, Brave or Bogatyr. The most common punishment was the withholding of a tenth of the salary for a specific disciplinary offense.
Timur's cavalry, which formed the basis of his army, was divided into light and heavy. Simple light-horse warriors were required to be armed with a bow, 18-20 arrows, 10 arrowheads, an axe, a saw, an awl, a needle, a lasso, a tursuk (water bag) and a horse. For 19 such warriors on a campaign, one wagon was relied upon. Selected Mongol warriors served in the heavy cavalry. Each of her warriors had a helmet, iron protective armor, a sword, a bow and two horses. For five such horsemen there was one wagon. In addition to the mandatory weapons, there were pikes, maces, sabers and other weapons. The Mongols carried everything they needed for camping on spare horses.
Light infantry appeared in the Mongol army under Timur. These were horse archers (carrying 30 arrows) who dismounted before the battle. Thanks to this, shooting accuracy increased. Such mounted riflemen were very effective in ambushes, during military operations in the mountains and during the siege of fortresses.
Timur's army was distinguished by a well-thought-out organization and a strictly defined order of formation. Each warrior knew his place in the ten, ten in the hundred, hundred in the thousand. Individual units of the army differed in the color of their horses, the color of their clothes and banners, and their combat equipment. According to the laws of Genghis Khan, before the campaign, the soldiers were given a strict review.
During campaigns, Timur took care of reliable military guards in order to avoid a surprise attack by the enemy. On the way or at a stop, security detachments were separated from the main forces at a distance of up to five kilometers. From them, patrol posts were sent out even further, which, in turn, sent mounted sentries ahead.
Being an experienced commander, Timur chose flat terrain, with sources of water and vegetation, for the battles of his predominantly cavalry army. He lined up the troops for battle so that the sun did not shine in the eyes and thus did not blind the archers. He always had strong reserves and flanks to encircle the enemy drawn into battle.
Timur began the battle with light cavalry, which bombarded the enemy with a cloud of arrows. After this, horse attacks began, which followed one after another. When the opposing side began to weaken, a strong reserve consisting of heavy armored cavalry was brought into battle. Timur said: “..The ninth attack gives victory..” This was one of his main rules in war.
Timur began his campaigns of conquest beyond his original possessions in 1371. By 1380, he had made 9 military campaigns, and soon all neighboring regions inhabited by Uzbeks and most of the territory of modern Afghanistan came under his rule. Any resistance to the Mongol army was severely punished. Commander Timur left behind enormous destruction and erected pyramids from the heads of defeated enemy warriors.
In 1376, Emir Timur provided military assistance to the descendant of Genghis Khan, Tokhtamysh, as a result of which the latter became one of the khans of the Golden Horde. However, Tokhtamysh soon repaid his patron with black ingratitude.
The Emir's Palace in Samarkand was constantly replenished with treasures. It is believed that Timur took up to 150 thousand to his capital the best masters-artisans from conquered countries who built numerous palaces for the emir, decorating them with paintings depicting the conquests of the Mongol army.
In 1386, Emir Timur launched a campaign of conquest in the Caucasus. Near Tiflis, the Mongol army fought with the Georgian army and won a complete victory. The capital of Georgia was destroyed. The defenders of the Vardzia fortress, the entrance to which led through the dungeon, put up brave resistance to the conquerors. Georgian soldiers repulsed all enemy attempts to break into the fortress through an underground passage. The Mongols managed to take Vardzia with the help of wooden platforms, which they lowered on ropes from the neighboring mountains. At the same time as Georgia, neighboring Armenia was conquered.
In 1388, after long resistance, Khorezm fell and its capital Urgench was destroyed. Now all the lands along the Jeyhun (Amu Darya) river from the Pamir Mountains to the Aral Sea became the possessions of Emir Timur.
In 1389, the cavalry army of the Samarkand emir made a campaign in the steppes to Lake Balkhash, in the territory of Semirechye? south of modern Kazakhstan.
When Timur fought in Persia, Tokhtamysh, who became the khan of the Golden Horde, attacked the emir's possessions and plundered their northern part. Timur hastily returned to Samarkand and began to carefully prepare for big war with the Golden Horde. Timur's cavalry had to travel 2,500 kilometers across the arid steppes. Timur made three major campaigns in 1389, 1391 and 1394-1395. In the last campaign, the Samarkand emir went to Golden Horde along the western coast of the Caspian Sea through Azerbaijan and the Derbent fortress.
In July 1391, near Lake Kergel the most major battle between the armies of Emir Timur and Khan Tokhtamysh. The forces of the parties were approximately equal to 300 thousand mounted warriors, but these figures in the sources are clearly overestimated. The battle began at dawn with mutual archery fire, followed by mounted charges against each other. By noon, the army of the Golden Horde was defeated and put to flight. The winners received the Khan's camp and numerous herds.
Timur successfully waged war against Tokhtamysh, but did not annex his possessions to himself. The Emir's Mongol troops plundered the Golden Horde capital of Sarai-Berke. Tokhtamysh with his troops and nomads more than once fled to the most remote corners of his possessions.
In the campaign of 1395, Timur’s army, after another pogrom of the Volga territories of the Golden Horde, reached the southern borders of the Russian land and besieged the border fortress town of Yelets. Its few defenders could not resist the enemy, and Yelets was burned. After this, Timur unexpectedly turned back.
The Mongol conquests of Persia and neighboring Transcaucasia lasted from 1392 to 1398. The decisive battle between the army of Emir Timur and the Persian army of Shah Mansur took place near Patila in 1394. The Persians energetically attacked the enemy center and almost broke its resistance. Having assessed the situation, Timur reinforced his reserve of heavy armored cavalry with troops that had not yet joined the battle, and he himself led a counterattack, which was victorious. The Persian army was completely defeated at the Battle of Patil. This victory allowed Timur to completely subjugate Persia.
When an anti-Mongol uprising broke out in a number of cities and regions of Persia, Timur again set out on a campaign there at the head of his army. All the cities that rebelled against him were destroyed, and their inhabitants were mercilessly exterminated. In the same way, the Samarkand ruler suppressed protests against Mongol rule in other countries he conquered.
In 1398, the great conqueror invades India. In the same year, Timur's army besieged the fortified city of Merath, which the Indians themselves considered impregnable. Having examined the city fortifications, the emir ordered digging. However, underground work progressed very slowly, and then the besiegers took the city by storm with the help of ladders. Having burst into Merath, the Mongols killed all its inhabitants. After this, Timur ordered the destruction of the Merath fortress walls.
One of the battles took place on the Ganges River. Here the Mongol cavalry fought with the Indian military flotilla, which consisted of 48 large river ships. The Mongol warriors rushed with their horses into the Ganges and swam to attack enemy ships, hitting their crews with well-aimed archery.
At the end of 1398, Timur's army approached the city of Delhi. Under its walls, on December 17, a battle took place between the Mongol army and the army of Delhi Muslims under the command of Mahmud Tughlaq. The battle began when Timur with a detachment of 700 horsemen, having crossed the Jamma River to reconnoiter the city fortifications, was attacked by the 5,000-strong cavalry of Mahmud Tughlaq. Timur repelled the first attack, and soon the main forces of the Mongol army entered the battle, and the Delhi Muslims were driven behind the city walls.
Timur captured Delhi in battle, subjecting this numerous and rich Indian city to plunder and its inhabitants to massacre. The conquerors left Delhi, burdened with enormous booty. Everything that could not be taken to Samarkand, Timur ordered to be destroyed or completely destroyed. It took a century for Delhi to recover from the Mongol pogrom.
The cruelty of Timur on Indian soil is best evidenced by the following fact. After the battle of Panipat in 1398, he ordered the killing of 100 thousand Indian soldiers who surrendered to him.
In 1400, Timur began a campaign of conquest in Syria, moving there through Mesopotamia, which he had previously conquered. Near the city of Aleppo (modern Aleppo) on November 11, a battle took place between the Mongol army and Turkish troops, commanded by the Syrian emirs. They did not want to sit under siege behind the fortress walls and went out to battle in the open field. The Mongols inflicted a crushing defeat on their opponents, and they retreated to Aleppo, losing several thousand people killed. After this, Timur took and plundered the city, taking its citadel by storm.
The Mongol conquerors behaved in Syria in the same way as in other conquered countries. All the most valuable things were to be sent to Samarkand. In the Syrian capital of Damascus, which was captured on January 25, 1401, the Mongols killed 20 thousand inhabitants.
After the conquest of Syria, a war began against the Turkish Sultan Bayazid I. The Mongols captured the border fortress of Kemak and the city of Sivas. When the Sultan's ambassadors arrived there, Timur, to intimidate them, reviewed his huge, according to some information, 800 thousand army. After this, he ordered the capture of crossings across the Kizil-Irmak River and besieged the Ottoman capital Ankara. This forced the Turkish army to accept a general battle with the Mongols near the camps of Ankara, which took place on June 20, 1402.
According to eastern sources, the Mongol army numbered from 250 to 350 thousand soldiers and 32 war elephants brought to Anatolia from India. The army of the Sultan, consisting of Ottoman Turks, mercenaries Crimean Tatars, Serbs and other peoples of the Ottoman Empire, numbered 120-200 thousand people.
Timur won victory largely thanks to the successful actions of his cavalry on the flanks and the bribery of 18 thousand mounted Crimean Tatars to his side. In the Turkish army, the Serbs who were on the left flank held out most steadfastly. Sultan Bayazid I was captured, and the encircled infantrymen - the Janissaries - were completely killed. Those who fled were pursued by the emir's 30 thousand light cavalry.
After a convincing victory at Ankara, Timur besieged the large coastal city of Smyrna and, after a two-week siege, captured and plundered it. The Mongol army then turned back to Central Asia, once again sacking Georgia along the way.
After these events, even those neighboring countries that managed to avoid the aggressive campaigns of Timur the Lame recognized his power and began to pay him tribute, just to avoid the invasion of his troops. In 1404 he received a large tribute from the Egyptian Sultan and the Byzantine Emperor John.
By the end of Timur's reign, his vast state included Transoxiana, Khorezm, Transcaucasia, Persia (Iran), Punjab and other lands. All of them were united together artificially, through the strong military power of the conquering ruler.
Timur as a conqueror and great commander reached the heights of power thanks to the skillful organization of his numerous army, built according to decimal system and continued the traditions of the military organization of Genghis Khan.
According to the will of Timur, who died in 1405 and was preparing a great campaign of conquest in China, his power was divided between his sons and grandsons. They immediately began a bloody internecine war and in 1420 Sharuk, the only one remaining among Timur’s heirs, received power over his father’s domains and the emir’s throne in Samarkand.
5 565
680 years ago, on April 8, 1336, Tamerlane was born. One of the most powerful world rulers, famous conquerors, brilliant commanders and cunning politicians. Tamerlane-Timur created one of the largest empires in human history. His empire stretched from the Volga River and the Caucasus Mountains in the west to India in the southwest. The center of the empire was in Central Asia, in Samarkand. His name is shrouded in legends, mystical events and still inspires interest.
The “Iron Lame” (his right leg was affected in the area of the kneecap) was an interesting person in whom cruelty was combined with great intelligence and a love of art, literature and history. Timur was a very brave and reserved man. He was a real warrior - strong and physically developed (a real athlete). A sober mind, the ability to make the right decisions in difficult situations, foresight and talent as an organizer allowed him to become one of the greatest rulers of the Middle Ages.
Timur's full name was Timur ibn Taragai Barlas - Timur son of Taragai from Barlas. In Mongolian tradition, Temir means “iron”. In medieval Russian chronicles he was called Temir Aksak (Temir - “iron”, Aksak - “lame”), that is, the Iron Lame. In various Persian sources, the Iranianized nickname Timur-e Liang - “Timur the Lame” - is often found. It passed into Western languages as Tamerlane.
Tamerlane was born on April 8 (according to other sources - April 9 or March 11) 1336 in the city of Kesh (later called Shakhrisabz - “ Green City"). This entire region was called Maverannahr (translated as “that which is beyond the river”) and was located between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers. It has been part of the Mongol (Mughal) empire for a century. The word "Mongols", in the original version "Moguls" comes from the root word "mog, mozh" - "husband, mighty, mighty, mighty." From this root comes the word “Moguls” - “great, powerful.” The family of Timur was also a representative of the Turkified Mughal Mongols.
It is worth noting that the Mughal Mongols of that time were not Mongoloids, like the modern inhabitants of Mongolia. Tamerlane himself belonged to the so-called South Siberian (Turanian) race, that is, a mixture of Caucasians and Mongoloids. The mixing process then took place in southern Siberia, Kazakhstan, Central Asia and Mongolia. The Caucasoids (Aryan-Indo-Europeans), who inhabited these areas for many millennia and gave passionate impetus to the development of India, China and other regions, mixed with the Mongoloids. They completely dissolve in the Mongoloid and Turkic ethnomass (Mongoloid genes are dominant), passing on to them some of their characteristics (including belligerence). However, in the 14th century the process was not yet completed. Therefore, Timur had blond (red) hair, a thick red beard, and anthropologically belonged to the South Siberian race.
Timur's father, the petty feudal lord Taragai (Turgai), came from the Barlas tribe, which at one time was among the first united by Temujin-Genghis Khan. However, he did not belong to the direct descendants of Temujin, so Tamerlane could not subsequently lay claim to the khan’s throne. The founder of the Barlas family was considered to be the large feudal lord Karachar, who at one time was an assistant to Genghis Khan's son Chagatai. According to other sources, Tamerlane’s ancestor was Irdamcha-Barlas, allegedly the nephew of Khabul Khan, the great-grandfather of Genghis Khan.
Little is known about the childhood of the future great conqueror. Timur spent his childhood and youth in the Kesh mountains. In his youth, he loved hunting and equestrian competitions, javelin throwing and archery, and had a penchant for war games. There is a legend about how one day ten-year-old Timur drove sheep home, and with them he managed to drive a hare, preventing him from straying from the herd. At night, Taragai, who was afraid of his too quick son, cut the tendons on his right leg. Allegedly, it was then that Timur became lame. However, this is only a legend. In fact, Timur was wounded in one of the skirmishes during his turbulent youth. In the same fight he lost two fingers on his hand, and all his life Tamerlane suffered from severe pain in a crippled leg. Perhaps outbursts of rage could be associated with this. Thus, it is known for sure that the boy and youth were distinguished by great dexterity and physical strength, and from the age of 12 he took part in military skirmishes.
Beginning of political activity
The Mongol Empire was no longer a single state, it broke up into uluses, there were constant internecine wars, which did not bypass Maverannahr, which was part of the Chagatai ulus. In 1224, Genghis Khan divided his state into four uluses, according to the number of sons. The second son Chagatai inherited Central Asia and nearby territories. The Chagatai ulus covered primarily the former power of the Karakitai and the land of the Naiman, Transoxiana with the south of Khorezm, most of Semirechye and Eastern Turkestan. Here, since 1346, power actually belonged not to the Mongol khans, but to the Turkic emirs. The first head of the Turkic emirs, i.e., the ruler of the area between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, was Kazgan (1346–1358). After his death, serious unrest began in Transoxiana. The region was invaded by the Mongolian (Mogul) Khan Toglug-Timur, who captured the region in 1360. Soon after the invasion, his son Ilyas-Khoja was appointed governor of Mesopotamia. Some of the Central Asian nobles took refuge in Afghanistan, while others voluntarily submitted to Toglug.
Among the latter was the leader of one of the detachments, Timur. He began his activities as the chieftain of a small detachment (gang, gang), with whom he supported one side or the other in civil strife, committed robbery, and attacked small villages. The detachment gradually grew to about 300 horsemen, with whom he entered the service of the ruler of Kesh, the head of the Barlas tribe, Haji. Personal courage, generosity, ability to understand people and choose assistants, and pronounced leadership qualities brought Timur wide popularity, especially among warriors. Later he received support from Muslim merchants, who began to see former bandit a protector from other gangs and a true Muslim (Timur was religious).
Timur was confirmed as the commander of the Kashkadarya tumen, the ruler of the Kesh region and one of the assistants of the Mogul prince. However, he soon quarreled with the prince, fled beyond the Amu Darya to the Badakhshan mountains and joined with his forces the ruler of Balkh and Samarkand, Emir Hussein, the grandson of Kazgan. He strengthened his alliance by marrying the emir's daughter. Timur and his warriors began to raid the lands of Khoja. In one of the battles, Timur was crippled, becoming the “Iron Lame” (Aksak-Timur or Timur-leng). The fight with Ilyas-Khoja ended in 1364 with the defeat of the latter’s troops. The uprising of the inhabitants of Transoxiana, who were dissatisfied with the brutal eradication of Islam by pagan warriors, helped. The Mughals were forced to retreat.
In 1365, the army of Ilyas-Khoja defeated the troops of Timur and Hussein. However, the people revolted again and drove out the Mughals. The uprising was led by the Serbedars (Persian: “gallows”, “desperate”), supporters of the dervishes who preached equality. People's rule was established in Samarkand, the property of the rich sections of the population was confiscated. Then the rich turned to Hussein and Timur for help. In the spring of 1366, Timur and Hussein suppressed the uprising by executing the Serbedar leaders.
"Great Emir"
Then there was discord in the relationship between the two leaders. Hussein had plans to take the position of supreme emir of the Chagatai ulus, like his grandfather Kazagan, who forcibly seized this position during the time of Kazan Khan. Timur stood on the path to sole power. In turn, the local clergy took Timur’s side.
In 1366, Tamerlane rebelled against Hussein, in 1368 he made peace with him and again received Kesh. But in 1369 the struggle continued, and thanks to successful military operations, Timur strengthened himself in Samarkand. In March 1370, Hussein was captured in Balkh and killed in the presence of Timur, although without his direct orders. Hussein was ordered to be killed by one of the commanders (due to blood feud).
On April 10, Timur took the oath of all the military leaders of Transoxiana. Tamerlane declared that he was going to revive the power of the Mongol Empire, declared himself a descendant of the mythical ancestor of the Mongols, Alan-Koa, although, being a non-Chinggisid, he was content with only the title of “great emir.” With him was “Zits Khan” - the real Genghisid Suyurgatmysh (1370–1388), and then the latter’s son Mahmud (1388–1402). Both khans played no political role.
The capital of the new ruler was the city of Samarkand; for political reasons, Timur moved the center of his state here, although initially he was inclined to the Shakhrisabz option. According to legend, when choosing a city that was to become the new capital, the great emir ordered the slaughter of three sheep: one in Samarkand, another in Bukhara and a third in Tashkent. Three days later, the meat in Tashkent and Bukhara went rotten. Samarkand became “the home of saints, the homeland of the purest Sufis and a gathering of scientists.” The city has truly turned into the largest cultural center of a huge region, the “Shining Star of the East”, the “Pearl of Great Price”. The best architects, builders, scientists, writers from all the countries and regions conquered by the emir were brought here, as well as to Shakhrisabz. On the portal of the beautiful Ak-Saray palace in Shakhrisabz there was an inscription: “If you doubt my power, look what I built!” Ak-Saray was built for 24 years, almost until the death of the conqueror. The arch of the entrance portal of Ak-Saray was the largest in Central Asia.
Indeed, architecture was the passion of the great statesman and commander. Among outstanding works arts that were supposed to emphasize the power of the empire have survived to this day and the Bibi Khanum Mosque (aka Bibi Khanum; built in honor of Tamerlane’s wife) amazes the imagination. The mosque was erected by order of Tamerlane after his victorious campaign in India. It was the largest mosque in Central Asia, 10 thousand people could pray at the same time in the courtyard of the mosque. Also worth noting is the Gur-Emir mausoleum - the family tomb of Timur and the heirs of the empire; the architectural ensemble of Shakhi-Zinda - an ensemble of mausoleums of the Samarkand nobility (all this in Samarkand); The Dorus-Siadat mausoleum in Shakhrisabz is a memorial complex, first for Prince Jahongir (Timur loved him very much and prepared him to be the heir to the throne), later it began to act as a family crypt for part of the Timurid dynasty.
Bibi-Khanim Mosque
Mausoleum Gur-Emir
The great commander did not receive a school education, but had a good memory and knew several languages. A contemporary and captive of Tamerlane, Ibn Arabshah, who knew Tamerlane personally since 1401, reports: “As for Persian, Turkic and Mongolian, he knew them better than anyone else.” Timur loved to talk with scientists, especially listen to the reading of historical works; at court there was even a position of “reader of books”; stories about valiant heroes. The great emir showed honor to Muslim theologians and dervish hermits, did not interfere in the management of the property of the clergy, and mercilessly fought against numerous heresies - among them he included philosophy and logic, which he forbade to practice. The Christians of the captured cities should have rejoiced if they remained alive.
During the reign of Timur, a special cult of the Sufi teacher Ahmed Yasawi was introduced in the territories subordinate to him (primarily Transoxiana). The commander claimed that he introduced special worship to this outstanding Sufi, who lived in the 12th century, after a vision at his grave in Tashkent, in which the Teacher appeared to Timur. Yasawi allegedly appeared to him and ordered him to memorize a poem from his collection, adding: “In difficult times, remember this poem:
You who are free at will dark night pay per day.
You, who can turn the whole earth into a fragrant flower garden.
Help me in the difficult task that lies ahead of me and make it easy.
You who make everything difficult easy.”
Many years later, when during a fierce battle with the army Ottoman Sultan Bayazid, Tamerlane's cavalry rushed to the attack, he repeated these lines seventy times, and the decisive battle was won.
Timur took care of his subjects' observance of religious regulations. In particular, this led to the appearance of a decree on the closure of entertainment venues in large trading cities, although they brought large income to the treasury. True, the great emir himself did not deny himself pleasures and only before his death he ordered the destruction of the feast supplies. Timur found religious reasons for his campaigns. So, it was urgently necessary to teach the heretics a lesson in Shiite Khorasan, then to take revenge on the Syrians for the insults inflicted on the family of the prophet at one time, or to punish the population of the Caucasus for drinking wine there. In the occupied lands, vineyards and fruit trees were destroyed. Interestingly, subsequently (after the death of the great warrior) the mullahs refused to recognize him as a devout Muslim, since he “honored the laws of Genghis Khan above religious ones.”
Tamerlane devoted the entire 1370s to the fight against the khans of Dzhent and Khorezm, who did not recognize the power of Suyurgatmysh Khan and the great emir Timur. It was restless on the southern and northern borders of the border, where Mogolistan and the White Horde were causing concern. Mogulistan (Ulus of the Mughals) is a state formed in the middle of the 14th century on the territory of South-Eastern Kazakhstan (south of Lake Balkhash) and Kyrgyzstan (the coast of Lake Issyk-Kul) as a result of the collapse of the Chagatai ulus. After Urus Khan captured Sygnak and moved the capital of the White Horde to it, the lands subject to Timur found themselves in even greater danger.
Soon, the power of Emir Timur was recognized by Balkh and Tashkent, but the Khorezm rulers continued to resist the Chagatai ulus, relying on the support of the rulers of the Golden Horde. In 1371, the ruler of Khorezm attempted to capture southern Khorezm, which was part of the Chagatai ulus. Timur made five campaigns against Khorezm. The capital of Khorezm, rich and glorious Urgench, fell in 1379. Timur waged a stubborn struggle with the rulers of Mogolistan. From 1371 to 1390, Emir Timur made seven campaigns against Mogolistan. In 1390, the Moghulist ruler Kamar ad-din was finally defeated, and Mogholistan ceased to threaten Timur's power.
Further conquests
Having established himself in Transoxiana, the Iron Lame began large-scale conquests in other parts of Asia. Timur's conquest of Persia in 1381 began with the capture of Herat. The unstable political and economic situation in Persia at that time favored the invader. The revival of the country, which began during the reign of the Ilkhans, slowed down again with the death of the last representative of the Abu Said family (1335). In the absence of an heir, rival dynasties took turns taking the throne. The situation was aggravated by the clash between the Mongol Jalayrid dynasties that ruled in Baghdad and Tabriz; the Perso-Arab family of the Muzafarids, who were in power in Fars and Isfahan; Kharid-Kurtami in Herat. In addition, local religious and tribal alliances, such as the Serbedars (rebels against Mongol oppression) in Khorasan and the Afghans in Kerman, and petty princes in the border areas took part in the internecine war. All these warring dynasties and principalities could not jointly and effectively resist Timur’s army.
Khorasan and all of Eastern Persia fell under his onslaught in 1381–1385. The conqueror made three large campaigns in the western part of Persia and the adjacent regions - a three-year campaign (from 1386), a five-year campaign (from 1392) and a seven-year campaign (from 1399). Fars, Iraq, Azerbaijan and Armenia were conquered in 1386–1387 and 1393–1394; Mesopotamia and Georgia came under Tamerlane's rule in 1394, although Tiflis (Tbilisi) submitted as early as 1386. Sometimes local feudal lords took vassal oaths; often close military leaders or relatives of the conqueror became the leaders of the conquered regions. So, in the 80s, Timur’s son Miranshah was appointed ruler of Khorasan (later Transcaucasia was transferred to him, and then the west of his father’s empire), Fars was ruled for a long time by another son, Omar, and finally, in 1397, Timur was the ruler of Khorasan, Seistan and Mazanderan appointed his youngest son, Shahrukh.
It is unknown what prompted Timur to conquer. Many researchers are inclined to the psychological factor. They say that the emir was driven by irrepressible ambition, as well as mental problems, including those caused by a wound in his leg. Timur suffered from severe pain and it caused outbursts of rage. Timur himself said: “The entire space of the populated part of the world is not worth having two kings.” In fact, this is a call for globalization, which is also relevant in modern world. Alexander the Great and the rulers of the Roman Empire, Genghis Khan, also acted.
It is worth noting such an objective factor as the need to feed and maintain a large army (its maximum number reached 200 thousand soldiers). IN Peaceful time It was impossible to maintain a large army, tens of thousands of professional warriors. The war fed itself. The troops ravaged more and more regions and were satisfied with their ruler. A successful war made it possible to channel the energy of the nobility and warriors and keep them in obedience. As Lev Gumilyov wrote: “Having started the war, Timur had to continue it - the war fed the army. Having stopped, Timur would have been left without an army, and then without a head.” The war allowed Timur to gain great wealth, export the best craftsmen from various countries and equip the heart of his empire. The emir brought not only material loot to the country, but also brought with him prominent scientists, artisans, artists, and architects. Timur cared primarily about the prosperity of his native Maverannahr and about enhancing the splendor of his capital, Samarkand.
Tamerlane, unlike many other conquerors, did not always strive to create a strong administrative system in the conquered lands. Timur's empire rested solely on military power. He chose, apparently, much worse civil officials than military leaders. This can be evidenced by at least numerous cases of punishment for extortion of high dignitaries in Samarkand, Herat, Shiraz, and Tabriz. As well as uprisings of the local population caused by the arbitrariness of the administration. In general, the inhabitants of the new conquered regions of Tamerlane were of extremely little interest. His armies smashed, destroyed, robbed, killed, leaving a bloody trail of tens of thousands of killed people. He sold the population of entire cities into slavery. And then he returned to Samarkand, where he brought treasures from all over the world, the best masters and played chess.