In 1336 in the village. Khoja-Ilgar, near Keshe (the territory of present-day Uzbekistan), a son, Timur ibn Taragai Barlas (history is known as Timur Tamerlane), was born into the family of a bek from the Barlas tribe. In Mongolian, the name Timur means "iron".

Timur Tamerlane is an emir who is associated with the last conquests of the Mongols in Asia. He led the Mongols and was only an emir, since not being a descendant of the house of Genghisids, he could not be a khan and bear this title. Although in 1370 he intermarried with this house and became their relative, taking the name Timur Gurgan.

For the first time, historical sources remember him starting in 1361 - this is the year of the beginning of his political career. This year he began to serve under Khan Togluku - a direct descendant of Genghis Khan.

He quickly increased his influence: first he was appointed to the post of adviser to the son of Khan Ilyas - Khoja - the ruler of Transoxiana, then he received the post of governor of the Kashkadarya vilayet (the possession of the khan). He always had his own cavalry detachment of 60 people with him.

After a couple of years, Timur became disliked by the khan and therefore was forced to flee. Having concluded a military alliance with Emir Hussein, he began to fight against the Mongols.

As a result of these wars, in 1370 he captured Transoxiana and became an emirate, taking the oath. The capital became Samarkand, an important center in Asia at that time.

Beginning in 1371, Tamerlane's army began to conquer new territories - until 1380, many of the neighboring territories and most of the territory of Afghanistan were captured. Over the next 10 years, Tamerlane conquered Georgia, Armenia, Khorezm, and in 1388 Tamerlane came into possession of the lands from the Pamirs to the Aral Sea.

Since 1389, the emir was at war with the Golden Horde. His main opponent was Tokhtamysh (descendant of Genghis Khan), whom he helped become khan of the Golden Horde in 1376.

In 1391, after the defeat of Tokhtamysh’s troops, Tamerlane ravaged the capital of the Horde, Sarai-Berke.

In 1394 Tamerlane conquered Persia, in 1398 he plundered Delhi, the capital of India, in 1401 he captured Damascus and conquered Syria, and in 1402 he plundered Ankara, the capital of the Ottoman Empire.

All his campaigns are divided into three large ones:

• three-year (campaign in Persia);
• five-year (war with the Golden Horde);
• seven years (campaign in Iran and war with the Ottoman Empire).

Tamerlane died in 1405 during a campaign in China. After him, his grandson Khalil Sultan seized control.

Tamerlane had 18 wives and four sons.

Timur didn't even have school education, but knew the Persian language and loved history (they say that with his knowledge in this area he amazed Ibn Khaldun, the most famous Muslim historian).

Islam-today

Commander, emir since 1370. Creator of the state with its capital in Samarkand. Defeated the Golden Horde. He made campaigns of conquest in Iran, Transcaucasia, India, Asia, etc., which were accompanied by the destruction of many cities, destruction and captivity of the population.

The founder of the Timurid dynasty, which ruled in Wed. Asia in 1370-1507.

Timur was born in the city of Kesh (in the Bukhara Khanate) or its environs; came from the Turkified Mongol tribe Barulas. During Timur's childhood, the Jagatai state in Central Asia collapsed. In Maverannehr, since 1346, power belonged to the Turkic emirs, and the khans enthroned by the emperor ruled only nominally. In 1348, the Mongol emirs elevated Tukluk-Timur to the throne, who began to rule in Eastern Turkestan, the Kulja region and Semirechye. The first head of the Turkic emirs was Kazagan (1346 - 58).

Timur was originally the head of a gang of robbers that formed in troubled times. With her, he entered the service of the ruler of Kesha Haji, the head of the Barulas tribe. In 1360, Transoxiana was conquered by Tukluk-Timur; Haji fled to Khorasan, where he was killed; Timur was confirmed as the ruler of Kesh and one of the assistants of the Mongol prince Ilyas Khoja (son of the khan), appointed ruler of Transoxiana. Timur soon separated from the Mongols and went over to the side of their enemy Hussein (grandson of Kazagan); For some time they, with a small detachment, led the life of adventurers; during one skirmish in Seistan, 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-Timur in Turkic, Timur-long in Persian, hence Tamerlane).

In 1364 the Mongols were forced to cleanse the country; Huseyn became the ruler of Transoxiana; Timur returned to Kesh. In 1366, Timur rebelled against Hussein, in 1368 he made peace with him and again received Kesh; in 1369, he again rebelled. In March 1370, Huseyn was captured and killed in the presence of Timur, although without his direct order. On April 10, 1370, 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 to be the descendant of Genghis Khan Suyurgatmysh (1370 - 88) and his son Mahmud (1388 - 1402).

Timur chose Samarkand as his residence and decorated it with magnificent construction projects. Timur devoted the first years of his autocracy to establishing order in the country and security on its borders (the fight against rebel emirs, campaigns against Semirechye and East Turkestan). In 1379, Khorezm (now the Khanate of Khiva) was conquered; from 1380, campaigns against Persia began, apparently caused only by aggressive aspirations (Timur’s saying: “the entire space of the populated part of the world is not worth having two kings”); subsequently Timur also acted as a representative of the idea public order, necessary for the good of the population and impossible given the existence of a number of small rulers hostile to each other. In 1381 Herat was taken; in 1382, Timur's son, Miranshah, was appointed ruler of Khorasan; in 1383 Timur devastated Seistan.

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). For the first time, Timur had to return back as a result of the invasion of Transoxiana by the Golden Horde Khan Tokhtamysh in alliance with the Semirechensk Mongols (1387). Timur in 1388 drove out the 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 Yulduz to the east, in 1391 - a campaign against the Golden Horde possessions to the Volga. These campaigns achieved their goal, since after them we no longer see the invasions of the steppe people on Maverannehr. 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 Aderbeijan and Transcaucasia.

Tokhtamysh's invasion of Transcaucasia caused Timur's campaign to southern Russia(1395); Timur defeated Tokhtamysh on the Terek, pursued him to the Russian borders (where he destroyed Yelets), plundered the trading cities of Azov and Kafa, burned Sarai and Astrakhan; but a lasting conquest of the country was not in mind, and the Caucasus ridge 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.

In 1398, a campaign was launched against India; in December, Timur defeated the army of the Indian Sultan (Toglukid dynasty) under the walls of Delhi and occupied the city without resistance, which a few days later was plundered by the army, and Timur pretended that this happened without his consent. 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.

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 death 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 Angora (1402). Timur plundered all the cities of Asia Minor, even Smyrna (which belonged to the Johannite knights). The western part of Asia Minor in 1403 was returned to the sons of Bayazet, in the eastern part the small dynasties deposed by Bayazet were restored; in Baghdad (where Timur restored his power in 1401, and up to 90,000 inhabitants died), the son of Miranshah, Abu Bakr, was appointed ruler, in Aderbeijan (from 1404) - his other son, Omar.

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. Timur gathered an army and in January 1405 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).

Timur's career is in many ways reminiscent of the career 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. Timur did not receive a school education and was illiterate, but in addition to his native (Turkic) language, he spoke Persian and loved to talk with scientists, especially listening 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 Maverannehr and about enhancing the splendor of his capital - Samarkand, where representatives of all branches of art and science were gathered from different countries; 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.).

In Timur's attitude to religion, only political calculations are visible. Timur showed outward honor to theologians and hermits, did not interfere in the management of the property of the clergy, did not allow the spread of heresies (the prohibition of engaging in philosophy and logic), and took care of his subjects’ compliance with the rules of religion (closing entertainment establishments in large trading cities, despite the large income they generated treasury), but he personally did not deny himself the pleasures forbidden by religion, and only during his dying illness did he order the utensils of his feasts to be broken. To justify his cruelty on religious grounds, Timur in Shiite Khorasan and the Caspian regions acted as a champion of orthodoxy and a destroyer of heretics, and in Syria as an avenger for insults inflicted on the family of the prophet. The structure of military and civil administration was determined almost exclusively by the laws of Genghis Khan; Subsequently, theological authorities refused to recognize Timur as a devout Muslim, since he placed the laws of Genghis Khan above the dictates of religion. In Timur’s cruelties, in addition to cold calculation (like Genghis Khan), a painful, refined brutality is manifested, which, perhaps, should be explained by the physical suffering that he endured all his life (after the wound received in Seistan). The sons (except Shahrukh) and grandsons of Timur suffered from the same mental abnormality, as a result of which Timur, in contrast to Genghis Khan, did not find in his descendants either reliable assistants or continuers of his work. It turned out, therefore, to be even less durable than the result of the efforts of the Mongol conqueror.

The official history of Timur was written during his lifetime, first by Ali-ben Jemal-al-Islam (the only copy is in the Tashkent public library), then by Nizam-ad-din Shami (the only copy is in the British Museum). These works were supplanted by the famous work of Sheref ad-din Iezdi (under Shahrukh), translated into French) “Histoire de Timur-Bec.”, P., 1722). The work of another contemporary of Timur and Shahrukh, Hafizi-Abru, has reached us only in part; it was used by the author of the second half of the 15th century, Abd-ar-Rezzak of Samarkandi (the work was not published; there are many manuscripts). Of the authors (Persian, Arab, Georgian, Armenian, Ottoman and Byzantine) who wrote independently of Timur and the Timurids, only one, the Syrian Arab Ibn Arabshah, compiled a complete history of Timur ("Ahmedis Arabsiadae vitae et rerum gestarum Timuri, qui vulgo Tamerlanes dicitur , historia", 1767 - 1772).

Tamerlane (Timur; April 8, 1336, p. Khoja-Ilgar, modern Uzbekistan - February 18, 1405, Otrar, modern. Kazakhstan; Chagatai تیمور (Temür‎, Tēmōr) — "iron") - Central Asian conqueror who played a significant role in the history of Central, 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.

Name and identity

Tamerlane's name

Timur's full name was Timur ibn Taragai Barlas (Tīmūr ibn Taraġay Barlas — Timur son of Taragay from Barlasy) in accordance with the Arabic tradition (alam-nasab-nisba). Vchagatai and Mongolian languages(both Altai) Temür or Temir Means " iron».

Not being a Genghisid, Timur formally could not bear the title of Great Khan, always calling himself only an emir (leader, leader). However, having intermarried with the house of Chingizids in 1370, he took the name Timur Gurgan (Timur Gurkānī, (تيموﺭ گوركان ), Gurkān is an Iranianized version of Mongolian kurugen or Khurgen, "son-in-law". This meant that Tamerlane, having become related to the Genghisid khans, could freely live and act in their homes.

The Iranianized nickname is often found in various Persian sources Timur-e Liang(Tīmūr-e Lang, تیمور لنگ) “Timur the Lame”, this name was probably considered at that time as contemptuously derogatory. 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”.

Monument to Tamerlane in Tashkent

Monument to Tamerlane in Samarkand

Personality of Tamerlane

Start political activity Tamerlane is similar to the biography of Genghis Khan: they were the leaders of the 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). Tamerlane loved to talk with scientists, especially to listen to the reading of historical works; with his knowledge of history he surprised the medieval historian, philosopher and thinker Ibn Khaldun; Timur used stories about the valor of historical and legendary heroes to inspire his soldiers.

Timur left behind dozens of monumental architectural structures, some of which have entered the treasury of world culture. Timur's buildings, in the creation of which he took an active part, reveal his artistic taste.

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, architects from all the conquered lands in order to equip the cities of his empire: the capital Samarkand, his father’s homeland - Kesh (Shakhrisyabz), Bukhara, the border city of Yassy (Turkestan). He managed to express all his care that he put into the capital Samarkand through words about it: “There will always be a blue sky and golden stars above Samarkand.” Only in recent years has he taken 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

Timur was born on April 8, 1336 in the village of Khoja-Ilgar near the city of Kesh (now Shakhrisabz, Uzbekistan) in Central Asia.

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. From the age of ten, mentors - atabeks who served under Taragai, taught Timur the art of war and sports games. Timur was a very brave and reserved man. Possessing sobriety of judgment, he knew how to make the right decision in difficult situations. These character traits attracted people to him. The first information about Timur appeared in sources starting in 1361, when he began his political activity.

Timur's appearance

Timur at a feast in Samarkand

As shown by the opening of the tomb of Gur Emir (Samarkand) by M. M. Gerasimov and the subsequent study of the skeleton from the burial, which is believed to belong to Tamerlane, 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, but Timur pulled it to the ear.” His hair is lighter than most of his people. anthropologist show Mongoloid or mixed Mongoloid. A detailed study of the remains of Timur showed that, anthropologically, he was characterized by the Mongoloid South Siberian type

Despite Timur's old age (69 years), his skull, as well as his skeleton, did not have pronounced, actually senile features. The presence of most of the teeth, the clear relief of the bones, the almost absence of osteophytes - all this most likely indicates that the skull of the skeleton belonged to a person full of strength and health, whose biological age did not exceed 50 years. The massiveness of healthy bones, the highly developed relief and their density, the width of the shoulders, the volume of the chest and the relatively high height - all this gives the right to think that Timur had an extremely strong build. His strong athletic muscles, most likely, were distinguished by a certain dryness of form, and this is natural: life on military campaigns, with their difficulties and hardships, almost constant stay in the saddle could hardly contribute to obesity.

Restoration of Tamerlane's face from the skull performed by anthropologist M. M. Gerasimov in 1941 after opening the grave

Special external difference Tamerlane and his warriors kept their braids from other Muslims, according to Mongolian custom, which is confirmed by some Central Asian illustrated manuscripts of that time. Meanwhile, studying ancient Turkic sculptures and images of Turks in the paintings of Afrasiab, researchers came to the conclusion that the Turks wore braids back in the 5th-8th centuries. The opening of Timur's grave and analysis by anthropologists showed that Timur did not have braids. “Timur’s hair is thick, straight, gray-red in color, with a predominance of dark chestnut or red.” “Contrary to the accepted custom of shaving his head, at the time of his death Timur had relatively long hair" Some historians believe that the light color of his hair is due to the fact that Tamerlane dyed his hair with henna. But, M. M. Gerasimov notes in his work: “Even a preliminary study of beard hair under a binocular convinces that this reddish color is natural, and not dyed with henna, as historians described.” Timur wore a long mustache, not a trim one above the lip. As we managed to find out, there was a rule that allowed the highest military class to wear a mustache without cutting it above the lip, and Timur, according to this rule, did not cut his mustache, and it hung freely above the lip. “Timur’s small thick beard was wedge-shaped. Her hair is coarse, almost straight, thick, bright brown (red) in color, with significant gray streaks.” Huge scars were visible on the bones of the left leg in the area of ​​​​the kneecap, which is fully consistent with the nickname "lame"

Timur's parents, brothers and sisters

Mausoleums of Timur's sisters in the Shahi Zinda complex in Samarkand

His father's name was Taragai or Turgai, he was a military man and a small landowner. He came from the Mongolian Barlas tribe, which by that time had already been Turkified and spoke the Chagatai language.

According to some assumptions, Timur's father Taragai was the leader of the Barlas tribe and a descendant of a certain Karachar noyon (a large feudal landowner in the Middle Ages), a powerful assistant to Chagatai, the son of Genghis Khan and a distant relative of the latter.

Timur's father was a pious Muslim, his spiritual mentor was Sheikh Shams ad-din Kulal.

In Encyclopedia Britannica, Timur is considered a Turkic conqueror.

In Indian historiography, Timur is considered the head of the Chagatai Turks.

Timur's father had one brother, whose name in Turkic was Balta.

Timur's father was married twice: the first wife was Timur's mother Tekina Khatun. Conflicting information has been preserved about her origin. And the second wife of Taragay/Turgay was Kadak-khatun, the mother of Timur’s sister Shirin-bek aga.

Muhammad Taragay died in 1361 and was buried in Timur’s homeland - in the city of Kesh (Shakhrisabz). His tomb has survived to this day.

Timur had an older sister, Kutlug-Turkan aga and younger sister Shirin-bek yeah. They died before the death of Timur himself and were buried in mausoleums in the Shahi Zinda complex in Samarkand. According to the source “Mu'izz al-ansab”, Timur had three more brothers: Juki, Alim Sheikh and Suyurgatmysh.

Spiritual mentors of Timur

Mausoleum Rukhabad in Samarkand

Timur's first spiritual mentor was his father's mentor, the Sufi sheikh Shams ad-din Kulal. Also known are Zainud-din Abu Bakr Taybadi, a major Khorosan sheikh, and Shamsuddin Fakhuri, a potter and prominent figure in the Naqshbandi tariqa. Timur's main spiritual mentor was a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, Sheikh Mir Seyid Bereke. It was he who presented Timur with the symbols of power: the drum and the banner, when he came to power in 1370. Handing these symbols, Mir Seyid Bereke predicted a great future for the emir. He accompanied Timur on his great campaigns. In 1391, he blessed him before the battle with Tokhtamysh. In 1403, they together mourned the unexpected death of the heir to the throne, Muhammad Sultan. Mir Seyid Bereke was buried in the Gur Emir mausoleum, where Timur himself was buried at his feet. Another mentor of Timur was the son of the Sufi sheikh Burkhan ad-din Sagardzhi Abu Said. Timur ordered the construction of the Rukhabad mausoleum over their graves.

Timur's knowledge of languages

During the campaign against the Golden Horde against Tokhtamysh in 1391, Timur ordered an inscription in the Chagatai language to be embossed in Uyghur letters - 8 lines and three lines in Arabic, containing the Koranic text at Mount Altyn-Chuku. In history, this inscription is known as the Karsakpai inscription of Timur. Currently, the stone with Timur's inscription is kept and exhibited in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.

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.” Princeton University researcher Svat Soucek writes about Timur in his monograph that “He was a Turk from the Barlas tribe, Mongolian in name and origin, but in all practical senses Turkic by that time. Timur's native language was Turkic (Chagatai), although he may have also spoken Persian to some extent due to the cultural environment in which he lived. He almost certainly did not know Mongolian, although Mongolian terms had not yet completely disappeared from documents and were found on coins.”

Legal documents of Timur's state were compiled in two languages: Persian and Turkic. For example, a document from 1378 giving privileges to the descendants of Abu Muslim who lived in Khorezm was compiled in the Chagatai Turkic language.

The Spanish diplomat and traveler Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo, who visited the court of Tamerlane in Transoxiana, reports that "Beyond this river(Amu Darya - approx.) the kingdom of Samarkand extends, and its land is called Mogalia (Mogolistan), and the language is Mughal, and this language is not understood in this(southern - approx.) side of the river, since everyone speaks Persian", then he reports “the letter that the people of Samarkant use,[living-approx.] on the other side of the river, those who live on this side do not understand and do not know how to read, but they call this letter mogali. A senor(Tamerlane - approx.) keeps with him several scribes who can read and write in this[language - note] » Orientalist professor Robert McChesney notes that by the Mugali language, Clavijo meant the Turkic language.

According to the Timurid source “Muiz al-ansab”, at Timur’s court there was a staff of only Turkic and Tajik clerks.

Ibn Arabshah, describing the tribes of Transoxiana, provides the following information: “The mentioned Sultan (Timur) had four viziers who were completely engaged in useful and harmful matters. They were considered noble people, and everyone followed their opinions. As many tribes and tribes as the Arabs had, the Turks had the same number. Each of the above-mentioned viziers, being representatives of one tribe, were a luminary of opinions and illuminated the arch of minds of their tribe. One tribe was called Arlat, the second - Zhalair, the third - Kavchin, the fourth - Barlas. Temur was the son of the fourth tribe."

According to Alisher Navoi, although Timur did not write poetry, he knew both poetry and prose very well, and, by the way, knew how to bring the proper beit to the right place.

Timur's wives

He had 18 wives, of which his favorite wife was Emir Hussein’s sister, Uljay Turkan aga. According to another version, his beloved wife was the daughter of Kazan Khan, Sarai Mulk Khanum. She did not have her own children, but she was entrusted with the upbringing of some of Timur's sons and grandchildren. She was a famous patron of science and the arts. By her order, a huge madrasah and mausoleum for her mother were built in Samarkand.

In 1355, Timur married the daughter of Emir Jaku-barlas Turmush-aga. Khan Maverannahra Kazagan, convinced of Timur’s merits, in 1355 gave him his granddaughter Uljay Turkan-aga as his wife. Thanks to this marriage, Timur’s alliance with Emir Hussein, the grandson of Kazagan, arose.

In addition, Timur had other wives: Tugdi bi, daughter of Ak Sufi kungrat, Ulus aga from the Sulduz tribe, Nauruz aga, Bakht Sultan aga, Burkhan aga, Tavakkul-hanim, Turmish aga, Jani-bik aga, Chulpan aga, etc.

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

Map of Chagatai Khanate

Beginning of political activity

Timur's conquests

In 1347, Emir Kazagan killed Genghisid Kazan Khan, after whose death the Chagatai ulus split into two separate states: Transoxiana and Mogolistan. After the collapse of the Chagatai ulus, the head of the Turkic emirs was Kazagan (1346-1358), who was not a Chingizid, but a native of the Karaunas. Formally, Genghisid Danishmadcha-oglan was elevated to the throne, and after his assassination Bayankuli Khan. After the death of Kazagan, his son Abdullah really ruled the country, but he was killed and the region was gripped by political anarchy.

Timur entered the service of the ruler of Kesh, Hadji Barlas, who was supposedly 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, Ilyas-Khoja-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 took dangerous character. Timur had to separate from the Mughals 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 Kahmard, 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 his right hand and was seriously wounded in his right leg, causing him to become lame (nicknamed “lame Timur” - 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 Chagataid 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 their native land, since the army of Ilyas-Khoja had superior forces. During the battle, a torrential downpour began, it was difficult for the soldiers to even look forward, and the horses got stuck in the mud. Despite this, Timur’s troops began to gain victory on his flank; at the decisive moment, he asked Hussein for help in order to finish off the enemy, but Hussein not only did not help, but also retreated. This predetermined the outcome of the battle. The warriors of Timur and Hussein were forced to retreat to the other side of the Syrdarya River.

Meanwhile, the army of Ilyas-Khoja was expelled from Samarkand by a popular uprising of the Serbedars, which was led by the madrasah teacher Mavlanazada, the artisan Abubakr Kalavi and the sharp shooter Mirzo Khurdaki Bukhari. Popular government was established in the city. The property of the rich sections of the population was confiscated, so they turned to Hussein and Timur for help. Timur and Hussein agreed to oppose 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 - Mavlana-zade, to whom the people's preferences were addressed .

Election as "Great Emir"

Timur during the siege of the Balkh fortress in 1370

Timur's throne stone

Hussein wanted to rule on the throne of the Chagatai ulus among the Turkic-Mongolian people, like his grandfather Kazagan; according to established tradition, power from time immemorial belonged to the descendants of Genghis Khan. During the reign of Genghisid Kazankhan, the position of supreme emir was forcibly appropriated by the grandfather of Emir Hussein, Emir Kazagan, which served as a reason for the rupture of the already not very good relations between beks Timur and Hussein. Each of them began to prepare for the decisive battle.

Timur received great support from the clergy in the person of the Termez seids, the Samarkand sheikh-ul-Islam and Mir Seyid Bereke, who became Timur’s spiritual mentor.

Having moved from Sali-sarai to Balkh, Hussein began to strengthen the fortress. He decided to act with deception and cunning. Hussein 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 crossed to the other side of the Amu Darya River. The advanced units of his troops were commanded by Suyurgatmish-oglan, Ali Muayyad and Hussein 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 sheikh from Mecca, came to him and said that he had a vision that he, Timur, would become 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 by the ruler of Khutalyan, Kaykhusrav, as a matter of blood feud, since Hussein had previously killed his brother. A kurultai was also held here, in which Chagatai beks and emirs, high-ranking dignitaries of regions and tumans, and Termezshahs took part. Among them were former rivals and childhood friends of Timur: Bayan-suldus, emirs Uljaytu, Kaikhosrov, Zinda Chashm, Jaku-barlas and many others. The Kurultai elected Timur as the supreme emir of Turan, entrusting him with responsibility for establishing the long-awaited peace, stability and order in the country. And the marriage with the daughter of Genghisid Kazan Khan, the captive widow of Emir Hussein Sarai Mulk Khanum, allowed the Supreme Emir of Maverannahr Timur to add the honorary title “guragan”, that is, “son-in-law” to his name.

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 descendant of Genghis Khan Suyurgatmysh (1370-1388) and his son Mahmud (1388-1402) were considered khans under him. Samarkand was chosen as the capital, Timur began the struggle to create a centralized state.

Strengthening Timur's state

Official name of Timur's state

In the Karsakpai inscription of 1391, written in the Chagatai Turkic language, Timur ordered the name of his state to be engraved: Turan.

Composition of Timur's troops

Representatives of various tribes fought in Timur’s army: Barlas, Durbats, Nukuzes, Naimans, Kipchaks, Bulguts, Dulats, Kiyats, Jalairs, Sulduzs, Merkits, Yasavuris, Kauchins, etc.

The military organization of troops was built like the Mongols, according to decimal system: tens, hundreds, thousands, tumens (10 thousand). Among the sectoral management bodies was the wazirat (ministry) for the affairs of military personnel (sepoys).

Hikes to Mogolistan

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 Sygnak 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.

The ruler of Moghulistan, Emir Kamar ad-din, tried to prevent the strengthening of Timur’s state. Mogolistan feudal lords often carried out predatory raids on Sairam, Tashkent, Fergana and Turkestan. The raids of Emir Kamar ad-din 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 Kamar ad-din captured half of Fergana, from where its governor, Timur’s son Umar Sheikh 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 Kamar ad-din 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. Qamar ad-din fled and subsequently died of dropsy. The independence of Mogolistan was preserved.

Timur undertook his first two campaigns against the militant khan Kamar ad-din in the spring and autumn of 1371. The first campaign ended in a truce; during the second, Timur, leaving Tashkent through Sairam, located north of the city, moved towards the village of Yangi in Taraz. There he put the nomads to flight and captured large booty.

In 1375, Timur carried out his third successful campaign. He left Sairam and passed through the regions of Talas and Tokmak along the upper reaches of the Chu River. Timur returned to Samarkand via Uzgen and Khojent.

But Kamar ad-din was not defeated. When Timur's army returned to Transoxiana, he invaded Fergana, a province that belonged to Timur, and besieged the city of Andijan. Enraged Timur hurried to Fergana and for a long time pursued the enemy beyond Uzgen and the Yassy mountains to the At-Bashi valley, the southern tributary of the upper Naryn.

In 1376-1377 Timur made his fifth campaign against Kamar ad-din. He defeated his army in the gorges west of Issyk-Kul and pursued him to Kochkar.

The Zafarnama mentions Timur's sixth campaign in the Issyk-Kul region against Kamar ad-din in 1383, but the khan again managed to escape.

In 1389-1390 Timur intensified his actions to thoroughly defeat Kamar ad-din. In 1389 he crossed the Ili and crossed the Imil region in all directions, south and east of Lake Balkhash and around Ata-Kul. His vanguard, meanwhile, pursued the Mughals to the Black Irtysh, south of Altai. His forward detachments They reached Kara Khoja in the east, that is, almost to Turfan.

In 1390, Kamar ad-din was finally defeated, and Mogolistan finally ceased to threaten Timur’s power.

Fight against the Golden Horde

In 1360, northern Khorezm, which was part of the Golden Horde, became independent. The Kungrat-Sufi dynasty, which declared its independence and strengthened its position in 1371, attempted to capture southern Khorezm, which was part of the Chagatai ulus. Emir Timur demanded the return of the captured lands of southern Khorezm first peacefully, sending first a tawachi (quartermaster), then a sheikhulislama (head of the Muslim community) to Gurganj, but Khorezmshah Hussein Sufi refused to fulfill this demand both times, taking the ambassador prisoner. Since then, Emir Timur has made five campaigns against Khorezm. At the last stage of the struggle, the Khorezmshahs tried to enlist the support of the Golden Horde Khan Tokhtamysh. In 1387, the Sufi Kungrats, together with Tokhtamysh, carried out a predatory raid on Bukhara, which led to Timur’s last campaign against Khorezm and further military actions against Tokhtamysh.

Tamerlane's next goals were to curb the ulus of Jochi (known in history as the White Horde) and establish political influence in its eastern part and unite Mogolistan and Transoxiana, which had previously been divided into single state, which at one time was called the Chagatai ulus.

State of Tamerlane

Realizing the danger to the independence of Transoxiana from the Jochi ulus, from the very first days of his reign, Timur tried in every possible way to bring his protege to power in the Jochi ulus. 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.

Tamerlane made three campaigns against Khan Tokhtamysh, finally defeating him on February 28, 1395.

Timur's campaign against the Golden Horde in 1391

Timur's campaign against the Golden Horde in 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. Timur's defeat of the Golden Horde also had widespread economic consequences. As a result of Timur's campaign, the northern branch of the Great Silk Road, which passed through the lands of the Golden Horde, fell into decay. Trade caravans began to pass through the lands of Timur's state.

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.

In 1395, Tamerlane, who was marching against Tokhtamysh, passed Ryazan region and took the city of Yelets, 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 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 of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, the Sretensky Monastery was founded. Tamerlane did not reach Moscow, his army marched along the Don and took it completely.

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 put up serious resistance, the region was severely devastated. 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 recorded by Yelets local historians in the 19th and 20th centuries, the Yelets residents stubbornly resisted 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.

Trips to Iran and the Caucasus

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 Jahangir, 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, Qausia, Isferain, 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 Zirekh, 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 the territory of modern Syria, India, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Iran.

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.

[edit]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 retaliatory campaign in Eastern Europe(1395); Timur defeated Tokhtamysh on the Terek and pursued him to the borders of the Moscow principality. 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 the Moscow lands on the very day when Muscovites greeted the image of the Vladimir Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary, brought from Vladimir (from this day on, the icon is revered as the patroness of Moscow). Timur then plundered the trading cities of Azov and Kafa, burned Sarai-Batu and Astrakhan, but the lasting conquest of the Golden Horde was 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 ruler of Khorasan, Seistan and Mazanderan.

March on India

Timur's campaign in India

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.

Seven Years' Campaign

Timur defeats the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt, Sultan Nasir Adin Faraj.

Timur's campaign against the Ottoman Empire

The "seven-year" campaign was initially caused by unrest in the area ruled by Miranshah. 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 (belonging to the Egyptian Sultan), and in 1401 Damascus.

In 1399, in response to the actions of Sultan Bayazid I the Lightning, who patronized Timur's enemy Kara Yusuf and wrote an insulting letter, Timur began his seven-year campaign against the Ottoman Empire.

Angora Battle

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

The fortress of Smyrna (belonging to the Johannite knights), which the Ottoman sultans, besieging, could not take for 20 years, he captured by storm in two weeks. 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.

Upon returning to Samarkand, Timur planned to declare his eldest grandson Muhammad Sultan (1375-1403), who was similar to his grandfather in actions and mind, as his successor. However, in March 1403 he fell ill and died suddenly.

The beginning of the campaign against China

In August 1404, Timur returned to Samarkand and a few months later embarked on 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. The campaign was stopped due to the outbreak cold winter, and in February 1405 Timur died.

Diplomatic ties

Letter from Timur to King Charles VI of France, 1402

Timur, who created a huge empire, established diplomatic ties with a number of states, including China, Egypt, Byzantium, France, England, Spain, etc. In 1404, the ambassador of the Castilian king, Gonzalez de Clavijo, Ruy, visited the capital of his state - Samarkand. The originals of Timur's letters to the French king Charles VI have been preserved.

Children

Mausoleum of the sons of Timur Jahangir and Umar Sheikh in Shakhrisyabz

Timur had four sons: Jahangir (1356-1376), Umar Sheikh (1356-1394), Miran Shah (1366-1408), Shahrukh (1377-1447) and several daughters: Uka Begim (1359-1382), Sultan Bakht aga (1362-1430), Bigi jan, Saadat Sultan, Musalla.

Death

Mausoleum of Emir Timur 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 located near 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. Official mourning events were held on March 18, 1405 by Timur's grandson Khalil-Sultan (1405-1409), who seized the Samarkand throne against the will of his grandfather, who bequeathed the kingdom to his eldest grandson Pirmukhammed.

A look at Tamerlane in the light of history and culture

Code of laws

During the reign of Emir Timur, there was a set of laws called the “Timur Code,” which set out the rules of conduct for members of society and the responsibilities of rulers and officials, and also contained rules for managing the army and the state.

When appointed to a position, the “great emir” demanded devotion and fidelity from everyone. He appointed 315 people to high positions who had been with him from the very beginning of his career and fought side by side with him. The first hundred were appointed as tens, the second hundred as centurions, and the third as thousands. Of the remaining fifteen people, four were appointed beks, one was appointed supreme emir, and others were appointed to other high posts.

The judicial system was divided into three stages: 1. Sharia judge - who was guided in his activities by the established norms of Sharia; 2. Judge ahdos - who was guided in his activities by well-established morals and customs in society. 3. Kazi askar - who conducted proceedings in military cases.

The law was recognized as equal for everyone, both emirs and subjects.

Viziers under the leadership of Divan-Beghi were responsible for the general situation of their subjects and troops, for the financial condition of the country and the activities of government institutions. If information was received that the vizier of finance had appropriated part of the treasury, then this was checked and, upon confirmation, one of the decisions was made: if the embezzled amount was equal to his salary (uluf), then this amount was given to him as a gift. If the amount appropriated is twice the salary, then the excess must be withheld. If the embezzled amount was three times higher than the established salary, then everything was taken away in favor of the treasury.

Emirs, just like viziers, must be from a noble family, possess such qualities as insight, courage, enterprise, caution and frugality, conduct business, thoroughly thinking through the consequences of each step. They must “know the secrets of warfare, methods of dispersing the enemy army, not lose their presence of mind in the midst of a battle and be able to lead troops without trembling or hesitation, and if the battle order is disrupted, be able to restore it without delay.”

The protection of soldiers and ordinary people was secured. The Code obliged village and neighborhood elders, tax collectors and khokim (local rulers) to pay a fine to a commoner to the extent of the damage caused to him. If the harm was caused by a warrior, then it should have been handed over to the victim, and he himself would determine the punishment for him.

To the extent possible, the code enshrined the protection of the people in the conquered lands from humiliation and plunder.

A separate article is devoted in the code to attention to the beggars, who should have been collected in a certain place, given food and work, and also branded. If after this they continued to beg, then they should have been expelled from the country.

Emir Timur paid attention to the purity and morality of his people, he introduced the concept of the inviolability of the law and ordered not to rush to punish criminals, but to carefully check all the circumstances of the case and only after that render a verdict. The fundamentals of religion for the establishment of Sharia and Islam were explained to devout Muslims, they were taught tafsir (interpretation of the Koran), hadith (a collection of legends about the Prophet Muhammad) and fiqh (Muslim jurisprudence). Also, ulemas (scholars) and mudarris (madressah teachers) were appointed to each city.

Decrees and laws in Timur's state were compiled in two languages: Persian-Tajik and Chagatai. At Timur's court there was a staff of Turkic and Tajik clerks.

Army of Tamerlane

Drawing on the rich experience of his predecessors, Tamerlane managed to create a powerful and combat-ready army, which allowed him to win brilliant victories on the battlefields over his opponents. This army was a multinational and multi-religious association, the core of which were Turkic-Mongol nomadic warriors. Tamerlane's army was divided into cavalry and infantry, the role of which greatly increased at the turn of the 14th-15th centuries. However, the bulk of the army was made up of mounted detachments of nomads, the core of which consisted of elite units of heavily armed cavalry, as well as detachments of Tamerlane’s bodyguards. Infantry often played a supporting role, but was necessary during sieges of fortresses. The infantry was mostly lightly armed and consisted mainly of archers, but the army also included heavily armed infantry shock troops.

In addition to the main branches of the military (heavy and light cavalry, as well as infantry), Tamerlane’s army included detachments of pontooners, workers, engineers and other specialists, as well as special infantry units that specialized in combat operations in mountainous conditions (they were recruited from residents of mountain villages). The organization of Tamerlane’s army generally corresponded to the decimal organization of Genghis Khan, but a number of changes appeared (for example, units of 50 to 300 people, called “koshuns,” appeared; the number of larger units, “kuls,” was also variable).

The main weapon of light cavalry, like infantry, was the bow. Light cavalrymen also used sabers or swords and axes. Heavily armed horsemen were clad in armor (the most popular armor was chainmail, often reinforced with metal plates), protected by helmets, and fought with sabers or swords (in addition to bows and arrows, which were common). Simple infantrymen were armed with bows, heavy infantry warriors fought with sabers, axes and maces and were protected by armor, helmets and shields.

Banners

During his campaigns, Timur used banners with image of three rings According to some historians, the three rings symbolized earth, water and sky. According to Svyatoslav Roerich, Timur could have borrowed the symbol from the Tibetans, whose three rings meant the past, present and future. Some miniatures depict the red banners of Timur's army. During the Indian campaign, a black banner with a silver dragon was used. Before his campaign against China, Tamerlane ordered a golden dragon to be depicted on the banners.

There is a legend that before the Battle of Ankara, Timur and Bayezid the Lightning met on the battlefield. Bayazid, looking at Timur’s banner, said: “What impudence to think that the whole world belongs to you!” In response, Timur, pointing to the Turk’s banner, said: “It’s even greater impudence to think that the moon belongs to you.”

Urban planning and architecture

National Museum of Timurid History in Tashkent and its image on the 1000 sum banknote

During the years of his conquests, Timur brought not only material loot to the country, but also brought with him prominent scientists, artisans, artists, and architects. He believed that the more cultured people there were in cities, the faster its development would go and the more comfortable the cities of Transoxiana and Turkestan would be. During his conquests, he put an end to political fragmentation in Persia and the Middle East, trying to leave a memory of himself in every city he visited, he built several beautiful buildings in it. For example, he restored the cities of Baghdad, Derbend, Baylakan, fortresses, parking lots, bridges, and irrigation systems destroyed on the roads.

In 1371, he began the restoration of the destroyed fortress of Samarkand, the defensive walls of Shahristan with six gates Sheikhzade, Akhanin, Feruza, Suzangaran, Karizgakh and Chorsu, and two four-story buildings Kuksarai were built in the arch, which housed the state treasury, workshops and a prison, as well as Buston barn, which housed the emir's residence.

Timur made Samarkand one of the centers of trade in Central Asia. As the traveler Clavijo writes: “In Samarkand, goods brought from China, India, Tatarstan (Dasht-i Kipchak - B.A.) and other places, as well as from the richest kingdom of Samarkand, are sold annually. Since there were no special rows in the city where it would be convenient to trade, Timurbek ordered a street to be laid through the city, on both sides of which there would be shops and tents for selling goods.”

Timur paid great attention to the development of Islamic culture and the improvement of sacred places for Muslims. In the mausoleums of Shahi Zinda, he erected tombs over the graves of his relatives, at the direction of one of his wives, whose name was Tuman, aka a mosque, a dervish abode, a tomb and Chartag were erected there. He also built Rukhabad (the tomb of Burkhaniddin Sogardji), Qutbi Chahardahum (the tomb of Sheikh Khoja Nuriddin Basir) and Gur-Emir (the family tomb of the Timurid family). Also in Samarkand he built many baths, mosques, madrassas, dervish abodes, and caravanserais.

During 1378-1404, 14 gardens were cultivated in Samarkand and nearby lands: Bag-i bihisht, Bag-i dilkusha, Bag-i shamal, Bag-i buldi, Bag-i nav, Bag-i jahannuma, Bag-i takhti karach and Bag-i davlatabad, Bag-zogcha (garden of rooks), etc. Each of these gardens had a palace and fountains. In his works about Samarkand, the historian Hafizi Abru mentions, in which he writes that “Samarkand, which had previously been built from clay, was rebuilt by erecting buildings from stone.” None of these palaces have survived to this day.

In 1399-1404, a cathedral mosque and a madrasah opposite it were built in Samarkand. The mosque later received the name Bibi Khanum (Lady Grandmother in Turkic).

Shakhrisabz was equipped (in Tajik “ green City"), in which the destroyed city walls were erected, defensive structures, tombs of saints, majestic palaces, mosques, madrassas, tombs. Timur also devoted time to building bazaars and baths. From 1380 to 1404 the Aksaray Palace was built. In 1380, the family tomb Dar us-saadat was erected.

The cities of Yassy and Bukhara were also developed. In 1388, the city of Shahrukhiya, which was destroyed during the invasion of Genghis Khan, was restored.

In 1398, after the victory over the Khan of the Golden Horde Tokhtamysh, a mausoleum was built in Turkestan over the grave of the poet and Sufi philosopher Khoja Ahmad Yassawi, on the orders of Timur, by Iranian and Khorezm craftsmen. Here the Tabriz master cast a two-ton copper cauldron in which food was to be prepared for those in need.

Development of science and painting

In Maverannahr it became widespread applied arts, in which artists could demonstrate all their mastery of their skills. It became widespread in Bukhara, Yassy and Samarkand. Drawings have been preserved in the tombs of the tombs of Shirinbek-aga and Tuman-aga, made in 1385 and 1405, respectively. The art of miniatures, which adorned such books by writers and poets of Maverannahr as “Shahname” by Abulkasim Ferdowsi and “Anthology of Iranian Poets,” received particular development. The artists Abdulhay, Pir Ahmad Bagishamali and Khoja Bangir Tabrizi achieved great success in art at that time.

Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi in Turkestan, built by Timur

In the tomb of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, located in Turkestan, there was a large cast-iron cauldron and candlesticks with the name of Emir Timur written on them. A similar candlestick was also found in the tomb of Gur-Emir in Samarkand. All this indicates that Central Asian craftsmen, especially wood and stone craftsmen and jewelers and weavers, have also achieved great success.

In the field of science and education, law, medicine, theology, mathematics, astronomy, history, philosophy, musicology, literature and the science of versification have become widespread. A prominent theologian at that time was Jalaliddin Ahmed al Khwarizmi. Maulana Ahmad achieved great success in astrology, and in jurisprudence Abdumalik, Isamiddin and Sheikh Shamsiddin Muhammad Jazairi. In musicology, Abdulgadir Maraghi, father and son of Safiaddin and Ardasher Changi. In painting by Abdulhay Baghdadi and Pir Ahmad Bagishamoli. In philosophy Sadiddin Taftazzani and Mirsaid Sharif Jurjani. In the history of Nizamiddin Shami and Hafizi Abru.

The Legend of Tamerlane's Tomb

According to the legend, the source and time of which it is not possible to establish, there was a prediction that if Tamerlane’s ashes were disturbed, a great and terrible war would begin.

In the tomb of Timur Gur Emir in Samarkand on a large dark green jade tombstone Arabic script inscribed in Arabic and Persian:
“This is the tomb of the great Sultan, the gracious Khakan of Emir Timur Gurgan; son Emir Taragay, son Emir Bergul, son Emir Ailangir, son Emir Angil, son Kara Charnuyan, son Emir Sigunchinchin, son Emir Irdanchi-Barlas, son Emir Kachulay, son Tumnai Khan. This is the 9th generation.

Genghis Khan comes from the same family from which descend the grandfathers of the venerable Sultan buried in this sacred and beautiful tomb: Khakan Genghis the Son. Emir Maisukai-Bahadur, son of Emir Barnan-Bahadur, son of Kabul-Khan, son of the mentioned Tumnai-Khan, son of Emir Baysungary, son of Kaidu-Khan, son of Emir Tutumtin, son of Emir-Buk, son of Emir-Buzanjar.

Whoever wants to know further, let it be known: the latter’s mother’s name was Alankuva, who was distinguished by her honesty and impeccable morality. She once became pregnant by a wolf, who came to her in the opening of the room and, taking the form of a man, announced that he was a descendant of the Commander of the Faithful, Aliy, the son of Abu Talib. This testimony given by her is accepted as truth. Her praiseworthy descendants will rule the world forever.

Died on the night of 14 Shagban 807 (1405).”

At the bottom of the stone there is an inscription: “This stone was placed by Ulugbek Gurgan after the campaign in Jitta”.

Several less reliable sources also report that the tombstone contains the following inscription: "When I rise (from the dead), the world will tremble". Some undocumented sources claim that when the grave was opened in 1941, an inscription was found inside the coffin: “Whoever disturbs my peace in this life or the next will suffer and die.”.

Another legend says: In 1747, Nadir Shah of Iran took this jade tombstone, and on that day Iran was destroyed by an earthquake, and the Shah himself became seriously ill. The earthquake struck again when the Shah returned to Iran, and the stone was returned.

From the memoirs of Malik Kayumov, who was a cameraman during the opening of the grave:

I entered the nearest teahouse and saw three ancient old men sitting there. I also noted to myself: they look alike, like siblings. Well, I sat down nearby, and they brought me a teapot and a bowl. Suddenly one of these old men turns to me: “Son, you’re one of those who decided to open Tamerlane’s grave?” And I’ll take it and say: “Yes, I’m the most important one in this expedition, without me all these scientists are nowhere!” I decided to drive away my fear with a joke. Only, I see, the old people frowned even more in response to my smile. And the one who spoke to me beckons me to him. I come closer and see that he has a book in his hands - an old one, handwritten, the pages are filled with Arabic script. And the old man traces the lines with his finger: “Look, son, what is written in this book. “Whoever opens Tamerlane’s grave will release the spirit of war. And there will be such a bloody and terrible carnage, such as the world has not seen forever."

He decided to tell the others, and they laughed at him. It was June 20th. The scientists did not listen and opened the grave on June 22, and on the same day the Great Great Patriotic War began. Patriotic War. No one could find those elders: the owner of the teahouse said that on that day, June 20, he saw the old people for the first and last time.

The opening of Tamerlane's tomb was carried out on June 22, 1941 by the Soviet anthropologist M. M. Gerasimov. As a result of the study of the commander's skull, Tamerlane's appearance was recreated.

However, the plan for war with the USSR was developed at Hitler's headquarters back in 1940, the date of the invasion was limitedly known in the spring of 1941 and was finally determined on June 10, 1941. that is, long before the opening of the grave. The signal to the troops that the offensive should begin as planned was transmitted on June 20.

According to Kayumov, while at the front, he secured a meeting with Army General Zhukov in October 1942, explained the situation and offered to return Tamerlane’s ashes back to the grave. This was carried out on November 19-20, 1942; These days there was a turning point in the Battle of Stalingrad.

Kayumov’s criticism of Aini provoked retaliatory criticism from Tajik society. Another version of events, belonging to Kamal Sadreddinovich Aini (son of the writer who participated in the excavations) was published in 2004. According to it, the book was dated to the end of the 19th century, and Kayumov did not know Farsi, so he did not understand the content of the conversation and believed that Aini had shouted at the elders. The words written in Arabic in the margins are “ these are traditional sayings, which similarly exist in relation to the burials of Ismail Somoni, and Khoja Ahrar, and Hazrati Bogoutdin and others, in order to protect burials from seekers of easy money looking for value in the graves of historical figures“, which is what he told the old people.

When everyone left the crypt, I saw three elders talking in Tajik with their father, A. A. Semenov and T. N. Kary-Niyazov. One of the elders was holding some old book in his hand. He opened it and said in Tajik: “This book is anciently written. It says that whoever touches Timurlane’s grave will be overtaken by misfortune and war.” All those present exclaimed: “Oh, Allah, save us from troubles!” S. Aini took this book, put on his glasses, looked through it carefully and turned to the elder in Tajik: “Dear, do you believe in this book?”

Answer: “Why, it begins with the name of Allah!”
S. Aini: “What kind of book is this, do you know?”
Answer: “An important Muslim book that begins with the name of Allah and protects the people from disasters.”
S. Aini: “This book, written in Farsi, is just “Jangnoma” - a book about battles and duels, a collection of fantastic stories about certain heroes. And this book was compiled only recently, in late XIX V. And those words that you say about Timurlane’s grave are written in the margins of the book in a different hand. By the way, you probably know that according to Muslim traditions, it is generally considered a sin to open graves and sacred places - mazars. And those words about the grave of Timurlane are traditional sayings that similarly exist in relation to the burials of Ismail Somoni, and Khoja Ahrar, and Hazrati Bogoutdin Balogardon and others, in order to protect the burials from seekers of easy money, looking for value in the graves of historical figures. But for scientific purposes in different countries, like ours, they opened ancient burial grounds and the graves of historical figures. Here is your book, study it and think with your head.”

T.N. Kary-Niyazov picked up the book, looked through it carefully and nodded his head in agreement with S. Aini. Then Malik Kayumov, whom everyone there called “suratgir” (photographer), took the book into his hands. And I saw that he was turning the pages not from the beginning of the book, as it should be from right to left, but, on the contrary, in the European style, from left to right.

— From the diary of S. Aini

According to sources, Timur was fond of playing chess (more precisely, shatranj).

In Bashkir mythology there is an ancient legend about Tamerlane. According to him, it was by order of Tamerlane in 1395-96 that the mausoleum of Hussein Bek, the first disseminator of Islam among the Bashkir tribes, was built, since the commander, having accidentally found the grave, decided to show great honor to him as a person who spread Muslim culture. The legend is confirmed by six graves of prince-military leaders at the mausoleum, who, for unknown reasons, died along with part of the army during the winter stop. However, who specifically ordered the construction, Tamerlane or one of his generals, is not known for certain. Now the mausoleum of Hussein Beg is located on the territory of the village of Chishmy, Chishminsky district of the Republic of Bashkortostan.

Personal belongings that belonged to Timur, by the will of history, ended up scattered among various museums and private collections. For example, the so-called Ruby of Timur, which adorned his crown, is currently kept in London.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Timur's personal sword was kept in the Tehran Museum.

Timur (Tamerlane, Timurleng) (1336-1405), commander, Central Asian emir (since 1370).

Born in the village of Khadzha-Ilgar. The son of Bek Taragai from the Mongolian Barlas tribe grew up in poverty, dreaming of the glorious exploits of Genghis Khan. Those times seemed to be gone forever. The young man’s share was only in clashes between the “princes” of small villages.

When the Mogolistan army arrived in Transoxiana, Timur happily went to serve the founder and khan of Mogolistan Togluk-Timur and was appointed governor of the Kashkadarya district. From the wound he received, he acquired the nickname Timurleng (Timur Khromets).

When the old khan died, Khromets felt like an independent ruler, entered into an alliance with the emir of Balkh and Samarkand Hussein and married his sister. Together they opposed the new Khan of Mogolistan, Ilyas Khoja, in 1365, but were defeated. Kicked out the conquerors
a rebellious people, whom Timur and Hussein then brutally dealt with.

After this, Timur killed Hussein and began to rule Transoxiana alone on behalf of the descendants of Genghis Khan. Imitating his idol in organizing the army, Timur convinced the nomadic and sedentary nobility that a place in the disciplined army of the conquerors would give them more than vegetating in their semi-independent possessions. He moved to the possessions of the Khan of the Golden Horde Mamai and took away Southern Khorezm from him (1373-1374), and then helped his ally, Khan Tokhtamysh, to take the throne.

Tokhtamysh started a war against Timur (1389-1395), in which the Horde was defeated and its capital, Sarai, was burned.

Only on the border of Rus', which seemed to Timur an ally, did he turn back.

In 1398 Timur invaded India and took Delhi. The only opponent of his huge state, which included Central Asia, Transcaucasia, Iran and Punjab, was Ottoman Empire. Having led her troops after the death of his brother right on the Kosovo field and completely defeated the crusaders, Sultan Bayezid I the Lightning entered into a decisive battle with Timur near Ankara (1402). Timur carried Sultan with him for a long time in a golden cage, showing it to the people. The emir sent the looted treasures to his capital Samarkand, where he carried out major construction.

Timur Tamerlan ( Iron Lame) - an outstanding Central Asian commander who lived in 1336-1405. He died at the age of 68, having founded the Timurid Empire (1370-1507). This man played an important political role in the history of Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Rus'. He came from the Mongolian family of Barlas, but did not belong to the Genghisids (descendants of Genghis Khan). He was a zealous Muslim and knew Persian and Turkic languages ​​well.

While an accomplished warrior, he was also a writer and a prominent representative of his era. It was characterized by a shift in the traditions and customs of the Mongol ulus at the end of the 14th and beginning of the 15th centuries. Iron Lame developed the traditions of Islamic culture, not the Yasa of Genghis Khan. In his activities he relied on the Muslim population of the oases of Central Asia.

Genghis Khan's army consisted of nomads, each of whom was excellent at riding and shooting with a bow. But Timur’s army was formed on a different basis. It made no sense for him to mobilize farmers into his army, who could not even hold a saber in their hands. Therefore, military forces were recruited from professional warriors - ghulams (daring men). They risked their lives not in vain: they were paid a very good salary.

But in order to receive such a salary, the ghoul had to prove his skills to everyone. At full gallop, he had to remove the ring with the tip of the spear, which the inspector was holding with two fingers. It is not difficult to guess how much effort was spent on such preparation. At the same time, iron discipline and unquestioning submission to their commanders, the emirs, were demanded from the ghulams.

Childhood and youth of Timur Tamerlane

The father of the great commander was the small landowner Muhammad Taragay (died in 1361). He professed Islam, and faith in Allah became the faith of his son. A boy was born from his first wife, Tekina Khatun. Then this woman apparently died, and the father remarried. In total, Timur had 2 sisters and 3 brothers. The family lived in the village of Khoja-Ilgar (modern Uzbekistan). It was there that the future famous conqueror was born on April 8, 1336.

Boy in early age learned to ride a horse, practiced archery and javelin throwing. Being a very young man, he became an experienced warrior. At that time, the lands where Timur lived were part of the Chagatai ulus, one of the Mongol states. The young man was taken into his service by Khan Tughluk-Timur and made his young son Ilyas-Khoja an assistant. However, the prince’s entourage began to plot intrigues against the new assistant. They became so dangerous that Timur was forced to flee in 1362.

At that time, Central Asia was one continuous theater of military operations. The Mongol khans fought with their emirs, and the latter, in turn, fought with jete - bandits. Such gangs lived by robbery and did not recognize any bosses. They created their state of Mogulistan in Semirechye, where the Turkic rather than Mongolian population lived mainly.

During this period of the final collapse of the Mongol states and the war of all against all, Timur gathered the ghouls around him and turned out to be the most successful military leader. He entered into confrontation with the city militias of the Sarbadars and completely defeated them. The fortresses of the Sarbadars were taken, and all those who resisted were walled up alive in the walls.

During one of the skirmishes in 1362, Timur Tamerlane lost 2 fingers on his right hand and was wounded in his right leg. The wound turned out to be so serious that the future great conqueror remained lame for life. This is where the historical name of this extraordinary personality came from: Timur is iron, and Tamerlane is lame. It turns out the Iron Lame, about which the whole East spoke with fear and respect in the last third of the 14th century.

Army of Timur Tamerlane

After the victory over the Sarbadars, the successful and talented military leader conquered the entire Fergana (historical region) and subjugated Samarkand. He made the city of Ket (now Shakhrisabz, Uzbekistan) his capital. In 1370 he captured Balkh. His Emir Hussein surrendered on condition of saving his life. However, he could not stand the nervous tension and fled. The emir was caught and executed on the orders of Timur, since he believed that the emir had violated the treaty by escaping.

In the south, the Iron Lame was opposed by the Muzaffarids (the last Persian dynasty). They ruled in Fars and Isfahan. The conqueror captured Isfahan and destroyed this city. A pyramid was made from the heads of the slain to intimidate the Muzaffarids. However, they continued to resist, and then it was Shiraz’s turn. This city was taken and plundered.

An interesting case is connected with Shiraz. The poet Hafez, famous in the Muslim East, lived in the city. Among his poems he wrote the following quatrain:

If this beautiful Turkish woman
He will carry my heart in his hands,
For her only birthmark
I will give up both Samarkand and Bukhara.

Timur Tamerlane knew these verses. And so, having captured Shiraz, he sat on a carpet in the middle of the square amid a sea of ​​violence and cruelty. The Ghulams robbed houses, drove away prisoners, killed children, raped women, and slaughtered the last resisting men. Not paying any attention to this, the formidable commander ordered Hafiz to be brought to him. Very soon he was brought in, dressed in an old, shabby robe.

And the conqueror said to the poet, hinting at the quatrain: “Unfortunate, I spent my whole life to decorate and exalt my two favorite cities - Samarkand and Bukhara, and you want to give them for the birthmark of some stupid woman!” To this Hafiz replied: “O Commander of the Faithful, it is because of my generosity that I am in such poverty.” Iron Lame appreciated the poet’s intelligence and resourcefulness. He laughed, ordered Hafiz to be given a luxurious robe and sent him away in peace.

All the conquests of the formidable commander were accompanied by incredible cruelty. They can be condemned, but it is unlikely that he could have acted differently. Having started military company, Timur had to continue it in order to pay the ghulams. It was the war that fed the army. But if Tamerlane had stopped, he would have been left first without an army, and then without his head.

War with the Golden Horde

In the Golden Horde or Dzhuchiev ulus, the steppe Eurasian culture dominated. It had nothing in common with Islamic culture, of which Timur was a representative. And he restored the former power of the Muslim armies and became a serious threat to the Golden Horde. We must also not forget that according to the will of Genghis Khan, the entire Khorezm oasis belonged to the descendants of Jochi, but was captured by Tamerlane.

In 1383, Khan of Dzhuchiev ulus Tokhtamysh made the first attempt to take away Khorezm. He succeeded for a while, and with this daring act a war began between the two cultures. In 1385, Tokhtamysh carried out a second campaign into the possessions of Timur Tamerlane. The army of the Golden Horde passed through the Daryal Gorge and captured Tabriz in Azerbaijan, which, according to the division of Genghis Khan, should have belonged to the Jochi ulus. But Timur’s army drove away the Tatar army and captured many.

After 2 years, Tokhtamysh with a large army passed through the Kazakh steppe, crossed the Betpak-Dala desert and reached Termez. Along the way, the Tatars plundered all the villages, but did not take a single fortress, since they were reliably fortified. The formidable conqueror was at that time with his army in Persia. Having learned about the Tatar invasion, he returned to Central Asia, and Tokhtamysh began to retreat, but was overtaken and defeated. With the remnants of the army, he fled to Western Siberia.

Empire of Timur Tamerlane on the map

The Golden Horde was protected from the encroachments of Timur by the huge steppe. To overcome it, you had to have a large number of horses, fodder and pasture. The steppes separating the Volga from Central Asia are not covered with grass. all year round. And yet, the formidable commander decided to launch a campaign against the Dzhuchiev ulus. He took into account the fact that in the spring grass first begins to grow in the south, then in the central regions, and only then in the north. And the army of Timur Tamerlane set out on a campaign against the main enemy “following the spring.”

Tokhtamysh did not expect the rapid rush of the Muslims across the steppe. He began to quickly gather the forces he had, not bypassing Rus'. In 1389, the Grand Duke of Moscow Dmitry Ivanovich died. He bequeathed the reign to his son Vasily. And only the khan of Dzhuchiev ulus could approve such a decision.

Tokhtamysh confirmed Vasily's rights to the throne, but demanded help from him. Prince Vasily brought an army, but after the destruction of Moscow in 1382, the Russian people had no desire to fight for the Tatars. And the Iron Lame, having made a rapid transition, pressed Tokhtamysh’s army to the Volga. The Tatars suffered a crushing defeat in the battle near the Kondurche River (one of the tributaries of the Volga). The khan himself escaped by crossing the river, but his cause was lost.

The Russian squads, seeing this course of events, went to the lower reaches of the Kama. Timur did not cross the river and pursue the Moscow prince. And he, thus, successfully avoided a collision. The formidable commander himself turned back and left the same way he came in the spring. He managed to safely bring most of his army to the fertile lands of Central Asia.

The campaign against the Golden Horde was victorious, but the main task - protecting their own lands - was not solved. Samarkand and Bukhara remained defenseless from Tatar raids. And indeed, soon Tokhtamysh again opposed Timur. He moved from the Volga steppes south along the western shore of the Caspian Sea. Iron Khromets came out to meet, and both troops met on the Terek on April 15, 1395. In this battle, the Tatar army suffered a crushing defeat.

The Golden Horde Khan fled, and the army of the Iron Lame passed through the Caspian steppes and invaded the Volga-Don interfluve. The formidable commander decided to go to Rus' and capture Ryazan and Moscow. However, in the rear of his army, Circassians, Ossetians and Tatars rebelled. Timur was forced to turn back on August 26, 1395. Thus, only the Russian city of Yelets was affected.

The great conqueror crossed Perekop, collected tribute on the Crimean peninsula and fed his army. Then he passed through the steppe, which the Circassians had burned out, and inflicted a crushing defeat on them. They took refuge in the mountains, and Timur’s army entered Azerbaijan through the Derbent Passage. Here it liquidated the fortresses of the rebels and returned to Samarkand - a city like paradise.

The last years of the life of Timur Tamerlane

In 1402, Timur Tamerlane defeated the troops of the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid, manned by the invincible Janissaries. Then the formidable commander found himself near the walls of Smyrna, occupied by a garrison of Johannite knights. The Turks could not break this garrison for 20 years, and the Iron Lame took the fortress by storm in a few days. Soon, however, Genoese and Venetian ships arrived at Smyrna with help and supplies for the besieged. But Timur’s warriors threw them with the heads of the knights of the Order of John from catapults. After this, the ruler of the East returned to Samarkand again for another rest.

Already an old man, the formidable conqueror began to prepare a military campaign against China. He set himself the goal of seizing the Great Silk Road in order to receive the maximum tax from merchants and thereby ensure the prosperity of his lands. He declared that there could not be two rulers in the world, meaning himself and the Chinese emperor.

In the fall of 1404, the campaign against China began. But it turned out to be the last for the great conqueror. Severe frosts struck, which stopped the army, and in February 1405 the Iron Lame died. He died in the same way as Genghis Khan, on a campaign, but his death was not kept secret. Tamerlane's grave did not become a great secret either. The Lord of the East was buried in the Gur Emir mausoleum in Samarkand. A spell was placed at the burial site so that no one would dare open the sarcophagus containing the body of the conqueror. However, in June 1941, desperate heads were found who dared to open the mogul. But this is not relevant to this story.

Alexander Semashko