Tamerlane came from the Barlas family. The ethnonym “Barlas” has been known since the time of Genghis Khan.
In most sources, the Barlas are mentioned as one of the most powerful Turkic tribes. The Arab historian Rashid ad-Din writes that the four thousand army that Genghis Khan allocated to his son Chagatai consisted, in particular, of the Barlas and they were originally a Mongol tribe called Barulos, which translated from Mongolian means “fat, strong.” It also meant “commander, leader, brave warrior” and was associated with the military courage of the tribe.
Tamerlane always boasted that his ancestors were from the tree of Genghis Khan and attached great importance to kinship with this dynasty. Most of Tamerlane's military leaders were Barlas.
Interestingly, when the Shah of Persia Mansoor Muzaffari in his message he called Tamerlan an “Uzbek,” iron chrome“was greatly offended. This became the reason for a campaign against Persian Shiraz, as a result of which the city was destroyed and plundered.
Tamerlane, one of the greatest conquerors in world history, was born on April 8, 1336 in the village of Khoja-Ilgar, now known as the Uzbek city of Shakhrisabz.
Here are 12 facts about the conqueror Timur, known as Tamerlane or the Great Lame.
1. The real name of one of the greatest commanders in world history is Timur ibn Taragay Barlas, which means “Timur son of Taragai from the Barlas family.” Various Persian sources mention a derogatory nickname Timur-eLiang, that is "Timur the Lame", given to the commander by his enemies. “Timur-e Liang” migrated to Western sources as "Tamerlane". Having lost its derogatory meaning, it became the second historical name of Timur.
2. Since childhood, he loved hunting and war games, Timur was strong, healthy, physically developed person. Anthropologists who studied the commander’s tomb in the 20th century noted that the biological age of the conqueror who died at 68, judging by the condition of the bones, did not exceed 50 years.
Reconstruction of Tamerlane's appearance based on his skull. Mikhail Mikhailovich Gerasimov, 1941 Photo: Public Domain
3. From the time of Genghis Khan Only the Chingizids could bear the title of Great Khan. That is why Timur formally bore the title of emir (leader). At the same time, in 1370 he managed to become related to the Chingizids by marrying his daughter Kazan KhanBarn-mulkHanim. After this, Timur received the prefix Gurgan to his name, which means “son-in-law,” which allowed him to live and act freely in the houses of the “natural” Chingizids.
4. In 1362, Timur, who was waging a guerrilla war against the Mongols, was seriously injured during the battle in Seistan, losing two fingers on right hand and received a serious injury to his right leg. The wound, the pain from which haunted Timur for the rest of his life, led to lameness and the appearance of the nickname “Timur the Lame.”
5. Over several decades of virtually continuous wars, Timur managed to create a huge state, which included Transoxiana (the historical region Central Asia), Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan. The conqueror Timur himself gave the created state the name Turan.
Conquests of Tamerlane. Source: Public Domain
6. At the peak of his power, Timur had at his disposal an army of about 200 thousand soldiers. It was organized according to a system created by Genghis Khan - tens, hundreds, thousands, as well as tumens (units of 10 thousand people). A special management body, whose functions were similar to the modern Ministry of Defense, was responsible for order in the army and its provision with everything necessary.
7. In 1395, Timur's army was the first and last time ended up in Russian lands. The conqueror did not consider Russian territories as an object for annexation to his power. The cause of the invasion was Timur’s struggle with the Golden Horde Khan Tokhtamysh. And although Timur’s army devastated part of the Russian lands, capturing Yelets, in general the conqueror, with his victory over Tokhtamysh, contributed to the fall of the influence of the Golden Horde on the Russian principalities.
8. The conqueror Timur was illiterate and in his youth did not receive any education other than military education, but at the same time he was a very talented and capable person. According to the chronicles, he spoke several languages, loved to talk with scientists and demanded that works on history be read aloud to him. Possessing a brilliant memory, he then cited historical examples in conversations with scientists, which greatly surprised them.
9. Waging bloody wars, Timur brought from his campaigns not only material booty, but also scientists, artisans, artists, and architects. Under him, there was an active restoration of cities, the founding of new ones, the construction of bridges, roads, irrigation systems, as well as active development science, painting, secular and religious education.
Monument to Tamerlane in Uzbekistan. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
10. Timur had 18 wives, among whom are often distinguished Uljay-Turkanayeah And Barn-mulkHanim. These women, who are called “Timur’s beloved wives,” were relatives of each other: if Uljay-Turkan aga was the sister of Timur’s comrade-in-arms Emir Hussein, then Sarai-mulk khanum is his widow.
11. Back in 1398, Timur began preparing for his conquest in China, which began in 1404. As often happens in history, the Chinese were saved by chance - the campaign that had begun was interrupted due to an early and extremely cold winter, and in February 1405 Timur died.
12. One of the most famous legends associated with the name of the great commander tells about the “curse of Tamerlane’s grave.” Allegedly, immediately after the opening of Timur’s grave, a great and terrible war. Indeed, Soviet archaeologists opened the tomb of Timur in Samarkand on June 20, 1941, that is, two days before the start of the Great Patriotic War. Skeptics, however, recall that the plan to attack the USSR was approved in Hitler's Germany long before the opening of Timur's grave. As for the inscriptions promising trouble to those who open the grave, they were no different from similar ones made on other burials of Timur’s era, and were intended to scare away tomb robbers. It is worth noting one more point - the famous Soviet anthropologist and archaeologist Mikhail Gerasimov, who not only participated in the opening of the tomb, but also restored Timur’s appearance from his skull, lived safely until 1970.
TIMUR, TAMERLANE, TIMURLENG (TIMUR-KHROMETS) 1336 - 1405
Central Asian conquering commander. Emir.
Timur, the son of a bek from the Turkified Mongolian Barlas tribe, was born in Kesh (modern Shakhrisabz, Uzbekistan), southwest of Bukhara. His father had a small ulus. The name of the Central Asian conqueror comes from the nickname Timur Leng (Lame Timur), which was associated with his lameness in his left leg. Since childhood, he persistently engaged in military exercises and at the age of 12 began going on hikes with his father. He was a zealous Mohammedan, which played a significant role in his fight against the Uzbeks.
Timur early showed his military abilities and ability not only to command people, but also to subjugate them to his will. In 1361, he entered the service of Khan Togluk, a direct descendant of Genghis Khan. He owned large areas in Central Asia. Quite soon, Timur became an adviser to the khan’s son Ilyas Khoja and the ruler (viceroy) of the Kashkadarya vilayet in the domain of Khan Togluk. By that time, the son of the bek from the Barlas tribe already had his own detachment of mounted warriors.
But after some time, having fallen into disgrace, Timur with his military detachment of 60 people fled across the Amu Darya River to the Badakhshan Mountains. There his squad was replenished. Khan Togluk sent a detachment of a thousand in pursuit of Timur, but he, having fallen into a well-arranged ambush, was almost completely exterminated in battle by Timur’s warriors.
Gathering his forces, Timur concluded a military alliance with the ruler of Balkh and Samarkand, Emir Hussein, and began a war with Khan Togluk and his son-heir Ilyas Khoja, whose army consisted mainly of Uzbek warriors. The Turkmen tribes sided with Timur, giving him numerous cavalry. Soon he declared war on his ally Samarkand Emir Hussein and defeated him.
Timur captured Samarkand, one of the largest cities in Central Asia, and intensified military operations against the son of Khan Togluk, whose army, according to exaggerated data, numbered about 100 thousand people, but 80 thousand of them formed garrisons of fortresses and almost did not participate in field battles. Timur's cavalry squad numbered only about 2 thousand people, but they were experienced warriors. In a series of battles, Timur defeated the Khan's troops, and by 1370 their remnants retreated across the Syr River.
After these successes, Timur resorted to military stratagem, which was a brilliant success. On behalf of the khan's son, who commanded Togluk's troops, he sent out an order to the commandants of the fortresses to leave the fortresses entrusted to them and to retreat beyond the Syr River with the garrison troops. So, with the help of military cunning, Timur cleared all the enemy fortresses of the khan’s troops.
In 1370, a kurultai was convened, at which the rich and noble Mongol owners elected a direct descendant of Genghis Khan, Kobul Shah Aglan, as khan. However, Timur soon removed him from his path. By that time, he had significantly replenished his military forces, primarily at the expense of the Mongols, and could now lay claim to independent khan power.
In the same 1370, Timur became emir in Transoxiana, a region between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, and ruled on behalf of the descendants of Genghis Khan, relying on the army, nomadic nobility and Muslim clergy. He made the city of Samarkand his capital.
Timur began preparing for large campaigns of conquest by organizing a strong army. At the same time, he was guided by the combat experience of the Mongols and the rules of the great conqueror Genghis Khan, which his descendants had completely forgotten by that time.
Timur began his struggle for power with a detachment of 313 soldiers loyal to him. They formed the backbone of the command staff of the army he created: 100 people began to command dozens of soldiers, 100 hundreds and the last 100 thousand. Timur's closest and most trusted associates received senior military positions.
He paid special attention to the selection of military leaders. In his army, the foremen were chosen by the dozen soldiers themselves, but Timur personally appointed the centurions, thousand and higher-ranking commanders. A boss whose power is weaker than a whip and stick is unworthy of the title, said the Central Asian conqueror.
His army, unlike the troops of Genghis Khan and Batu Khan, received a salary. An ordinary warrior received from two to four times the price of horses. The size of such a salary was determined by the service performance of the soldier. The foreman received the salary of his ten and therefore was personally interested in the proper performance of service by his subordinates. The centurion received the salary of six foremen and so on.
There was also a system of awards for military distinctions. This could be the praise of the emir himself, an increase in salary, valuable gifts, rewarding with expensive weapons, new ranks and honorary titles such as, for example, Brave or Bogatyr. The most common punishment was the withholding of a tenth of the salary for a specific disciplinary offense.
Timur's cavalry, which formed the basis of his army, was divided into light and heavy. Simple light-horse warriors were required to be armed with a bow, 18-20 arrows, 10 arrowheads, an axe, a saw, an awl, a needle, a lasso, a tursuk (water bag) and a horse. For 19 such warriors on a campaign, one wagon was relied upon. Selected Mongol warriors served in the heavy cavalry. Each of her warriors had a helmet, iron protective armor, a sword, a bow and two horses. For five such horsemen there was one wagon. In addition to the mandatory weapons, there were pikes, maces, sabers and other weapons. The Mongols carried everything they needed for camping on spare horses.
Light infantry appeared in the Mongol army under Timur. These were horse archers (carrying 30 arrows) who dismounted before the battle. Thanks to this, shooting accuracy increased. Such mounted riflemen were very effective in ambushes, during military operations in the mountains and during the siege of fortresses.
Timur's army was distinguished by a well-thought-out organization and strictly in a certain order construction. Each warrior knew his place in the ten, ten in the hundred, hundred in the thousand. Individual units of the army differed in the color of their horses, the color of their clothes and banners, and their combat equipment. According to the laws of Genghis Khan, before the campaign, the soldiers were given a strict review.
During campaigns, Timur took care of reliable military guards in order to avoid a surprise attack by the enemy. On the way or at a stop, security detachments were separated from the main forces at a distance of up to five kilometers. From them, patrol posts were sent out even further, which, in turn, sent mounted sentries ahead.
Being an experienced commander, Timur chose flat terrain, with sources of water and vegetation, for the battles of his predominantly cavalry army. He lined up the troops for battle so that the sun did not shine in the eyes and thus did not blind the archers. He always had strong reserves and flanks to encircle the enemy drawn into battle.
Timur began the battle with light cavalry, which bombarded the enemy with a cloud of arrows. After this, horse attacks began, which followed one after another. When the opposing side began to weaken, a strong reserve consisting of heavy armored cavalry was brought into battle. Timur said: “..The ninth attack gives victory..” This was one of his main rules in war.
Timur began his campaigns of conquest beyond his original possessions in 1371. By 1380, he had made 9 military campaigns, and soon all neighboring regions inhabited by Uzbeks and most of the territory of modern Afghanistan came under his rule. Any resistance to the Mongol army was severely punished. Commander Timur left behind enormous destruction and erected pyramids from the heads of defeated enemy warriors.
In 1376, Emir Timur provided military assistance to the descendant of Genghis Khan, Tokhtamysh, as a result of which the latter became one of the khans of the Golden Horde. However, Tokhtamysh soon repaid his patron with black ingratitude.
The Emir's Palace in Samarkand was constantly replenished with treasures. It is believed that Timur brought to his capital up to 150 thousand of the best craftsmen from the conquered countries, who built numerous palaces for the emir, decorating them with paintings depicting the aggressive campaigns of the Mongol army.
In 1386, Emir Timur launched a campaign of conquest in the Caucasus. Near Tiflis, the Mongol army fought with the Georgian army and won a complete victory. The capital of Georgia was destroyed. The defenders of the Vardzia fortress, the entrance to which led through the dungeon, put up brave resistance to the conquerors. Georgian soldiers repulsed all enemy attempts to break into the fortress through an underground passage. The Mongols managed to take Vardzia with the help of wooden platforms, which they lowered on ropes from the neighboring mountains. At the same time as Georgia, neighboring Armenia was conquered.
In 1388, after long resistance, Khorezm fell and its capital Urgench was destroyed. Now all the lands along the Jeyhun (Amu Darya) river from the Pamir Mountains to the Aral Sea became the possessions of Emir Timur.
In 1389, the cavalry army of the Samarkand emir made a campaign in the steppes to Lake Balkhash, in the territory of Semirechye? south of modern Kazakhstan.
When Timur fought in Persia, Tokhtamysh, who became the khan of the Golden Horde, attacked the emir's possessions and plundered their northern part. Timur hastily returned to Samarkand and began to carefully prepare for a great war with the Golden Horde. Timur's cavalry had to travel 2,500 kilometers across the arid steppes. Timur made three major campaigns in 1389, 1391 and 1394-1395. In the last campaign, the Samarkand emir went to the Golden Horde along the western coast of the Caspian Sea through Azerbaijan and the Derbent fortress.
In July 1391, near Lake Kergel the most major battle between the armies of Emir Timur and Khan Tokhtamysh. The forces of the parties were approximately equal to 300 thousand mounted warriors, but these figures in the sources are clearly overestimated. The battle began at dawn with mutual archery fire, followed by mounted charges against each other. By noon, the army of the Golden Horde was defeated and put to flight. The winners received the Khan's camp and numerous herds.
Timur successfully waged war against Tokhtamysh, but did not annex his possessions to himself. The Emir's Mongol troops plundered the Golden Horde capital of Sarai-Berke. Tokhtamysh with his troops and nomads more than once fled to the most remote corners of his possessions.
In the campaign of 1395, Timur’s army, after another pogrom of the Volga territories of the Golden Horde, reached the southern borders of the Russian land and besieged the border fortress town of Yelets. Its few defenders could not resist the enemy, and Yelets was burned. After this, Timur unexpectedly turned back.
The Mongol conquests of Persia and neighboring Transcaucasia lasted from 1392 to 1398. The decisive battle between the army of Emir Timur and the Persian army of Shah Mansur took place near Patila in 1394. The Persians energetically attacked the enemy center and almost broke its resistance. Having assessed the situation, Timur reinforced his reserve of heavy armored cavalry with troops that had not yet joined the battle, and he himself led a counterattack, which was victorious. The Persian army was completely defeated at the Battle of Patil. This victory allowed Timur to completely subjugate Persia.
When an anti-Mongol uprising broke out in a number of cities and regions of Persia, Timur again set out on a campaign there at the head of his army. All the cities that rebelled against him were destroyed, and their inhabitants were mercilessly exterminated. In the same way, the Samarkand ruler suppressed protests against Mongol rule in other countries he conquered.
In 1398, the great conqueror invades India. In the same year, Timur's army besieged the fortified city of Merath, which the Indians themselves considered impregnable. Having examined the city fortifications, the emir ordered digging. However underground work They advanced very slowly, and then the besiegers took the city by storm with the help of ladders. Having burst into Merath, the Mongols killed all its inhabitants. After this, Timur ordered the destruction of the Merath fortress walls.
One of the battles took place on the Ganges River. Here the Mongol cavalry fought with the Indian military flotilla, which consisted of 48 large river ships. The Mongol warriors rushed with their horses into the Ganges and swam to attack enemy ships, hitting their crews with well-aimed archery.
At the end of 1398, Timur's army approached the city of Delhi. Under its walls, on December 17, a battle took place between the Mongol army and the army of Delhi Muslims under the command of Mahmud Tughlaq. The battle began when Timur with a detachment of 700 horsemen, having crossed the Jamma River to reconnoiter the city fortifications, was attacked by the 5,000-strong cavalry of Mahmud Tughlaq. Timur repelled the first attack, and soon the main forces of the Mongol army entered the battle, and the Delhi Muslims were driven behind the city walls.
Timur captured Delhi in battle, subjecting this numerous and rich Indian city to plunder and its inhabitants to massacre. The conquerors left Delhi, burdened with enormous booty. Everything that could not be taken to Samarkand, Timur ordered to be destroyed or completely destroyed. It took a century for Delhi to recover from the Mongol pogrom.
The cruelty of Timur on Indian soil is best evidenced by the following fact. After the battle of Panipat in 1398, he ordered the killing of 100 thousand Indian soldiers who surrendered to him.
In 1400, Timur began a campaign of conquest in Syria, moving there through Mesopotamia, which he had previously conquered. Near the city of Aleppo (modern Aleppo) on November 11, a battle took place between the Mongol army and Turkish troops, commanded by the Syrian emirs. They did not want to sit under siege behind the fortress walls and went out to battle in the open field. The Mongols inflicted a crushing defeat on their opponents, and they retreated to Aleppo, losing several thousand people killed. After this, Timur took and plundered the city, taking its citadel by storm.
The Mongol conquerors behaved in Syria in the same way as in other conquered countries. All the most valuable things were to be sent to Samarkand. In the Syrian capital of Damascus, which was captured on January 25, 1401, the Mongols killed 20 thousand inhabitants.
After the conquest of Syria, a war began against Turkish Sultan Bayezid I. The Mongols captured the border fortress of Kemak and the city of Sivas. When the Sultan's ambassadors arrived there, Timur, to intimidate them, reviewed his huge, according to some information, 800 thousand army. After this, he ordered the capture of crossings across the Kizil-Irmak River and besieged the Ottoman capital Ankara. This forced the Turkish army to accept a general battle with the Mongols near the camps of Ankara, which took place on June 20, 1402.
According to eastern sources, the Mongol army numbered from 250 to 350 thousand soldiers and 32 war elephants brought to Anatolia from India. The army of the Sultan, consisting of Ottoman Turks, mercenaries Crimean Tatars, Serbs and other peoples of the Ottoman Empire, numbered 120-200 thousand people.
Timur won victory largely thanks to the successful actions of his cavalry on the flanks and the bribery of 18 thousand mounted Crimean Tatars to his side. IN Turkish army The Serbs on the left flank held out most steadfastly. Sultan Bayazid I was captured, and the encircled infantrymen - the Janissaries - were completely killed. Those who fled were pursued by the emir's 30 thousand light cavalry.
After a convincing victory at Ankara, Timur besieged the large coastal city of Smyrna and, after a two-week siege, captured and plundered it. The Mongol army then turned back to Central Asia, once again sacking Georgia along the way.
After these events, even those neighboring countries that managed to avoid the aggressive campaigns of Timur the Lame recognized his power and began to pay him tribute, just to avoid the invasion of his troops. In 1404 he received a large tribute from the Egyptian Sultan and the Byzantine Emperor John.
By the end of Timur's reign, his vast state included Transoxiana, Khorezm, Transcaucasia, Persia (Iran), Punjab and other lands. All of them were united together artificially, through the strong military power of the conquering ruler.
Timur as a conqueror and great commander reached the heights of power thanks to the skillful organization of his numerous army, built according to decimal system and continued the traditions of the military organization of Genghis Khan.
According to the will of Timur, who died in 1405 and was preparing a great campaign of conquest in China, his power was divided between his sons and grandsons. They immediately began a bloody internecine war and in 1420 Sharuk, the only one remaining among Timur’s heirs, received power over his father’s domains and the emir’s throne in Samarkand.
Timur (Tamerlane)
Emir, who personified the last conquests of the Mongols in Asia and proved his loyalty to the traditions of Genghis Khan
Emir of the Timurid Empire Timur
Timur, the son of a bek from the Turkified Mongolian Barlas tribe, was born in 1336 in Kesh (modern Shakhrisab, Uzbekistan). His father had a small ulus. The name of the Central Asian conqueror comes from the nickname Timurleng (Timur Khromets), which was associated with his lameness in his left leg.
In 1361, he entered the service of Khan Togluk, a direct descendant of Genghis Khan. Soon Timur became an adviser to the khan's son Ilyas Khoja and the ruler (viceroy) of the Kashkadarya vilayet in the domain of Khan Togluk. By that time, the son of the bek from the Barlas tribe already had his own detachment of mounted warriors.
Having fallen into disgrace, Timur and his detachment of 60 people fled across the Amu Darya River to the Badakhshan Mountains. There it intensified. Khan Togluk sent a detachment of a thousand in pursuit of Timur, but he, having fallen into a well-arranged ambush, was almost completely exterminated in battle by the warriors of Timur, the lame man.
Having gathered his strength, Timur concluded a military alliance with the ruler of Balkh and Samarkand, Emir Hussein, and began a war with Khan Togluk and his son, heir Ilyas Khoja. The enemy troops consisted mainly of Uzbek warriors. The Turkmen tribes sided with Timur, giving him numerous cavalry.
Soon he declared war on his ally, the Samarkand emir Hussein, and defeated him. Timurleng captured Samarkand - one of the largest cities in Central Asia - and intensified military operations against the son of Khan Togluk. Its troops numbered (according to exaggerated data) about 100 thousand people, but 80 thousand of them formed garrisons of fortresses and almost did not participate in field battles.
Timur's cavalry detachment numbered only about two thousand people, but they were proven warriors, welded together by iron discipline. In a number of battles, Timur the Lame inflicted defeats on the Khan's troops, and by 1370 their demoralized remnants retreated across the Syr River.
After these successes, Timur resorted to military stratagem, which was a brilliant success. On behalf of the khan's son, who commanded Togluk's troops, he sent out the strictest order to the commandants of the fortresses to leave the fortresses entrusted to them and with the garrisons to retreat beyond the Syr River. They fulfilled the command.
In 1370, Timur became emir in Transoxiana, the region between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers. He ruled on behalf of the descendants of Genghis Khan, relying on the army, nomadic nobility and Muslim clergy. He made the city of Samarkand his capital.
Timur began his campaigns of conquest beyond his original possessions in 1371. By 1380, he had already made 9 such campaigns, and soon all the neighboring regions inhabited by the Uzbeks, and most of modern Afghanistan, came under his rule. Any resistance to the Mongol army was severely punished - commander Tamerlane left behind enormous destruction and erected (according to some sources) pyramids from the heads of defeated enemy warriors.
In 1376, Emir Timur provided military assistance to the descendant of Genghis Khan, Tokhtamysh, as a result of which the latter became one of the khans of the Golden Horde. However, Tokhtamysh soon repaid his patron with black ingratitude.
In 1386, Tamerlane made a campaign of conquest in the Caucasus. Near Tiflis, his army fought with the Georgian and won a complete victory. The capital of Georgia was destroyed. The defenders of the Vardzia fortress, the entrance to which was underground, offered brave resistance to the conquerors. The defenders of Vardzia repulsed all enemy attempts to break into the fortress through underground entrance. The Mongols managed to take it with the help of wooden platforms, which they lowered on ropes from the neighboring mountains.
Simultaneously with Georgia, the Mongols Timur Khromets conquered neighboring Armenia.
In 1388, after long resistance, Khorezm fell, and its capital, the city of Urgench, was destroyed. Now all the lands along the Jeyhun (Amu Darya) river from the Pamir Mountains to the Aral Sea became the possessions of Emir Timur. In 1389, the equestrian army of the Samarkand ruler made a trip to the steppes to Lake Balkhash, to the territory of Semirechye - the south of modern Kazakhstan.
When Timur fought in Persia, Tokhtamysh, who became the khan of the Golden Horde, attacked the emir's possessions and plundered their northern part. Timur hastily returned to Samarkand and began to carefully prepare for a great war with the Golden Horde. His cavalry had to travel 2,500 kilometers across the arid steppes.
Khromets made three large campaigns against Khan Tokhtamysh - in 1389, 1391 and 1394–1395. In the last campaign, the Samarkand emir went to the Golden Horde along the western coast of the Caspian Sea through modern Azerbaijan and the Derbent fortress.
In July 1391, the largest battle took place near Lake Kergel between the cavalry armies of Emir Timur and Khan Tokhtamysh. The forces of the parties were approximately equal - 300 thousand mounted warriors each, but these figures in the sources are clearly overestimated. The battle began at dawn with mutual archery fire, followed by mounted charges against each other. By noon, the army of the Golden Horde was defeated and put to flight.
Timur successfully waged war against Tokhtamysh, but did not annex his possessions to himself. The Emir's Mongol troops destroyed the Golden Horde capital of Sarai-Berke. Tokhtamysh with his troops and nomads more than once fled to the most remote corners of his possessions.
In the campaign of 1395, Timur's army, after another pogrom of the Volga territories of the Golden Horde, reached the southern borders of the Russian land and besieged the border city - the Yelets fortress. Its few defenders could not resist the enemy, and Yelets was burned. After this, Tamerlane unexpectedly turned back.
The Mongol conquests of Persia and neighboring Transcaucasia lasted from 1392 to 1398. The decisive battle between the emir's army and the Persian army of Shah Mansur took place near Patila in 1394. The Persians energetically attacked the enemy center and almost broke its resistance. Timur himself led a counterattack of heavy armored cavalry, which was victorious. The Persians were completely defeated. This victory allowed Timurleng to completely subjugate Persia.
In 1398, Timur the Lame invaded India. In the same year, his army besieged the city of Merath. The besiegers stormed the fortress using ladders. Having burst into Merath, the Mongols exterminated all its inhabitants. After this, Timur ordered the destruction of the Merath walls.
One of the battles took place on the Ganges River. Here the Mongol cavalry fought with the Indian military flotilla, which consisted of 48 large river ships. The emir's warriors rushed with their horses into the Ganges and swam to attack enemy ships, hitting their crews with well-aimed arrows fired from their bows.
At the end of 1398, Timur's army approached the city of Delhi. Under its walls, on December 17, a battle took place between the Mongol army and the army of Delhi Muslims under the command of Mahmud Tughlaq. The battle began when Timur with a detachment of 700 horsemen, having crossed the Jamma River to reconnoiter the city fortifications, was attacked by the 5,000-strong cavalry of Mahmud Tughlaq. Timur repelled the first attack, and when the main forces of the Mongol cavalry entered the battle, the Delhi Muslims were driven behind the fortress walls.
Tamerlane captured Delhi in battle, subjecting this numerous and rich Indian city to plunder and its inhabitants to massacre. The conquerors left Delhi, burdened with enormous booty. Everything that could not be taken to Samarkand, the emir ordered to be destroyed or completely destroyed. It took a century for Delhi to recover from the Mongol pogrom.
The cruelty of Timur on Indian soil is best evidenced by the following fact. After the battle of Panipat in 1398, he ordered the killing of 100 thousand Indian soldiers who surrendered to him.
In 1400, Timur began a campaign of conquest in Syria, moving there through Mesopotamia, which he had previously captured. Near the city of Aleppo (modern Aleppo) on November 11, a battle took place between the Mongol army and Turkish troops commanded by Syrian emirs. They did not want to sit under siege and went out to battle in the open field. The Mongols defeated them, and the emirs of Syria, having lost several thousand soldiers, retreated to Aleppo. After this, Timur took and plundered the city, taking its citadel by storm.
The Mongol conquerors behaved on Syrian soil in the same way as in other conquered countries. All the most valuable things were to be sent to Samarkand. In the capital of Syria, Damascus, which was captured on January 25, 1401, the Mongols destroyed 20 thousand inhabitants.
After the conquest of Syria, a war began against the Turkish Sultan Bayazid I. The Mongols captured the border fortress of Kemak and the city of Sivas. When the Sultan's ambassadors arrived there, Timur, to intimidate them, reviewed his huge, according to some information, 800,000 (!) army.
After this, he ordered the capture of the crossings across the Kizil River - Irmak and the siege of the Ottoman capital Ankara. This forced the Turks to accept a general battle with the Mongols under the walls of Ankara, which took place on June 20, 1402.
According to eastern sources, the Mongol army numbered from 250 to 350 thousand soldiers and 32 war elephants brought to Anatolia from India. The Sultan's army, consisting of Ottoman Turks, mercenary Crimean Tatars, Serbs and other forced peoples of the Ottoman Empire, numbered 120–200 thousand people.
Timur won victory largely thanks to the successful actions of his cavalry on the flanks and the bribery of 18 thousand Crimean Tatars going over to his side. In the Turkish army, the Serbs who were on the left flank held out most steadfastly. Sultan Bayazid I was captured, and the encircled infantrymen - the Janissaries - were completely killed. The fleeing Ottomans were pursued by the emir's 30,000-strong light cavalry.
After a convincing victory at Ankara, Tamerlane laid siege to the large coastal city of Smyrna. He took it after a two-week siege and plundered it. The Mongol army then turned back to Central Asia, once again devastating Georgia along the way. In 1405, the great conqueror passed away.
From the book The Great Troubles. End of the Empire authorChapter 5 The Great Conqueror Timur-Tamerlane 1. Introduction The personality of the great Asian conqueror Timur (Tamerlane) is of great interest. It is closely connected with Russian history. Therefore, we cannot ignore the discussion of his conquests. After
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TamerlaneBiography of the commander
Tamerlane (Timur; April 9, 1336, village of Khoja-Ilgar, modern Uzbekistan - February 18, 1405, Otrar, modern Kazakhstan; Chagatai (Temur, Temor) - “iron”) - Central Asian conqueror who played a significant role in the history of Central Asia, South and Western Asia, as well as the Caucasus, Volga region and Rus'. Outstanding commander, emir (since 1370). Founder of the Timurid empire and dynasty, with its capital in Samarkand. Ancestor of Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire in India.
Thanks to the efforts of this particular person, as a result of the almost complete extermination of the troops of the Golden Horde under the leadership of Khan Tokhtamysh on the Dnieper and the destruction by Tamerlane of the capital of the Golden Horde, liberation from the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus' became possible.
Tamerlane's name
monument to Tamerlane in Samarkand
Timur's full name was Timur ibn Taragay Barlas (Timur bin Taragay Barlas - Timur son of Taragay from Barlas) in accordance with the Arabic tradition (alam-nasab-nisba). In Chagatai and Mongolian languages(both Altai) Temur or Temir means “iron”. The word (Temur) probably goes back to the Sanskrit *cimara (“iron”).
After Timur became related to the clan of Genghis Khan, he took the name Timur Gurkani (Gurkan - an Iranianized version of the Mongolian krgen or hrgen, “son-in-law.”
In various Persian sources, the Iranianized nickname Timur-e Lang, “Timur the Lame,” is often found; this name was probably considered at that time as a contemptuous and derogatory name. It turned into Western languages(Tamerlan, Tamerlane, Tamburlaine, Timur Lenk) and into Russian, where it does not have any negative connotation and is used along with the original “Timur”.
Personality of Tamerlane
monument to Tamerlane in Tashkent
The biography of Timur is in many ways reminiscent of the biography of Genghis Khan: both conquerors began their activities as leaders of detachments of followers they personally recruited, who then remained the main support of their power. Like Genghis Khan, Timur personally entered into all the details of the organization of military forces, had detailed information about the forces of his enemies and the state of their lands, enjoyed unconditional authority among his army and could fully rely on his associates. Less successful was the choice of persons placed at the head of the civil administration (numerous cases of punishment for extortion of high dignitaries in Samarkand, Herat, Shiraz, Tabriz).
The difference between Genghis Khan and Timur is determined by the latter's greater education. Genghis Khan was deprived of any education. Timur, in addition to his native (Turkic) language, spoke Persian and loved to talk with scientists, especially listen to the reading of historical works; with his knowledge of history he amazed the greatest of Muslim historians, Ibn Khaldun; Timur used stories about the valor of historical and legendary heroes to inspire his soldiers.
Timur's buildings, in the creation of which he took an active part, reveal a rare artistic taste in him.
Timur cared primarily about the prosperity of his native Maverannahr and about enhancing the splendor of his capital, Samarkand. Timur brought craftsmen, architects, jewelers, builders, and architects from all the conquered lands in order to equip Samarkand. He managed to express all his care that he put into this city through his words about it: “There will always be a blue sky and golden stars above Samarkand.” Only in recent years did he take measures to improve the well-being of other regions of the state, mainly border ones (in 1398 a new irrigation canal was built in Afghanistan, in 1401 - in Transcaucasia, etc.)
Biography
Childhood and youth
Chagatai Khanate
Timur was born on April 8 (9), 1336 in the village of Khoja-Ilgar near the city of Kesh (now Shakhrisabz, Uzbekistan) in Central Asia.
As the opening of the tomb by M. M. Gerasimov and the subsequent study of Tamerlane’s skeleton from his burial showed, his height was 172 cm. Timur was strong and physically developed, his contemporaries wrote about him: “If most warriors could pull the bow string to the level of the collarbone, then Timur pulled it up to his ear.” The hair was lighter than most of his fellow tribesmen.
His father's name was Taragai, he was a military man, a petty feudal lord. He came from the Mongolian Barlas tribe, which by that time already spoke the Turkic Chagatai language. didn't have school education and was illiterate, but knew the Koran by heart. He had 18 wives, of which his favorite wife was Emir Hussein’s sister, Uljay Turkan Agha. People called him “the not very noble bey.”
During Timur's childhood, the Chagatai state collapsed in Central Asia (Chagatai ulus). In Transoxiana, since 1346, power belonged to the Turkic emirs, and the khans enthroned by the emperor ruled only nominally. In 1348, the Mogul emirs enthroned Tugluk-Timur, who began to rule in East Turkestan, the Kuldzha region and Semirechye.
Rise of Timur
Fight against Mogolistan
Mongol possessions throughout the continent in the 13th - 14th centuriesand territories conquered from the Horde by Tamerlane
The first head of the Turkic emirs was Kazagan (1346-1358). Timur entered the service of the ruler of Kesh - Hadji Barlas (his uncle), the head of the Barlas tribe. In 1360, Transoxiana was conquered by Tughluk-Timur. Haji Barlas fled to Khorasan, and Timur entered into negotiations with the khan and was confirmed as the ruler of the Kesh region, but was forced to leave after the departure of the Mongols and the return of Haji Barlas.
In 1361, Khan Tughluk-Timur again occupied the country, and Haji Barlas again fled to Khorasan, where he was subsequently killed. In 1362, Tughluk-Timur hastily left Transoxiana as a result of the rebellion of a group of emirs in Mogolistan, transferring power to his son Ilyas-Khoja. Timur was confirmed as the ruler of the Kesh region and one of the assistants of the Mogul prince. Before the khan had time to cross the Syr Darya River, Ilyashodja-oglan, together with Emir Bekchik and other close emirs, conspired to remove Timurbek from state affairs, and, if possible, to destroy him physically. The intrigues intensified and became dangerous. Timur had to separate from the Moguls and go over to the side of their enemy - Emir Hussein (grandson of Kazagan). For some time, with a small detachment, they led the life of adventurers and went towards Khorezm, where in the battle of Khiva they were defeated by the ruler of those lands, Tavakkala-Kongurot, and with the remnants of their warriors and servants were forced to retreat deep into the desert. Subsequently, going to the village of Mahmudi in the region subject to Mahan, they were captured by the people of Alibek Dzhanikurban, in whose dungeons they spent 62 days in captivity. According to historian Sharafiddin Ali Yazdi, Alibek intended to sell Timur and Hussein to Iranian merchants, but in those days not a single caravan passed through Mahan. The prisoners were rescued by Alibek's elder brother, Emir Muhammad Beg.
In 1361-1364, Timurbek and Emir Hussein lived on the southern bank of the Amu Darya in the regions of Kakhmard, Daragez, Arsif and Balkh and waged a guerrilla war against the Mongols. 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 (the nickname “lame Timur” is Aksak-Temir in Turkic, Timur- e lang in Persian, hence Tamerlane).
In 1364, the Moguls were forced to leave the country. Returning back to Transoxiana, Timur and Hussein placed Kabul Shah from the Chagatand clan on the throne of the ulus.
The next year, at dawn on May 22, 1365, a bloody battle took place near Chinaz between the army of Timur and Hussein with the army of Mogolistan led by Khan Ilyas-Khoja, which went down in history as the “battle in the mud.” Timur and Hussein had little chance to defend native land, since Ilyas-Khoja’s army had superior forces. During the battle, there was a torrential downpour, during which it was difficult for the soldiers to even look forward, and the horses got stuck in the mud, so the opponents had to retreat - the warriors of Timur and Hussein retreat to the other side of the Syr Darya River.
Meanwhile, the army of Ilyas-Khoja was expelled from Samarkand by a popular uprising of the Serbedars, which was led by his madrasah teacher Mavlanazada, the artisan Abubakr Ka-lavi and the sharpshooter Khurdaki Bukhari. Popular government was established in the city. Having learned about this, Timur and Hussein agreed to forgive the Serbedars - they lured them with kind speeches to negotiations, where in the spring of 1366 the troops of Hussein and Timur suppressed the uprising, executing the Serbedar leaders, but by order of Tamerlane they left alive the leader of the Serbedars - Mualan-zade, who the people's predilections were converted.
Election as "Great Emir"
,
siege of the Balkh fortress in 1370
Hussein wanted to rule on the throne of the Chagatai ulus among the Turkic-Mongol people, like his uncle Kazagan, but according to established tradition, power from time immemorial belonged to the descendants of Genghis Khan. Hussein did not belong to the Genghisids, then Timur opposed the change in customs, and the title of the supreme emir (emir ul-umaro), from the time of Genghis Khan, passed from generation to generation to the leaders of the Barlas tribe, who were the ancestors of Timurbek. This is confirmed by a written agreement between Genghis Khan’s great-grandfather Tuminakhan and Kachuvli-bahadur, Timur’s first great-grandfather. During the reign of Kazankhan, the position of supreme emir was forcibly appropriated by Emir Husayn's grandfather, Emir Kazagan, which served as a reason for breaking the already not very good relations between beks Timur and Husayn. Each of them began to prepare for the decisive battle.
Having moved from Sali-sarai to Balkh, Hussein began to strengthen the fortress and prepare for the decisive battle. Hussein decided to act with deception and cunning. He sent Timur an invitation to a meeting in the Chakchak gorge to sign a peace treaty, and as proof of his friendly intentions he promised to swear on the Koran. Having gone to the meeting, Timur took two hundred horsemen with him just in case, but Hussein brought a thousand of his soldiers and for this reason the meeting did not take place. Timur recalls this incident: “I sent Emir Hussein a letter with a Turkic beit with the following content:
Whoever intends to deceive me will lie in the ground himself, I am sure. Having shown his deceit, He himself will die from it.
When my letter reached Emir Hussein, he was extremely embarrassed and asked for forgiveness, but the second time I did not believe him.”
Gathering all his strength, Timur began to redirect to the other side of the Amu Darya River. The advanced units of his troops were commanded by Suyurgatmish-oglan, Ali Muayyad and Husapn Barlas. On the approach to the village of Biya, Barak, the leader of the Andhud Sayinds, advanced to meet the army and presented him with kettledrums and the banner of supreme power. On the way to Balkh, Timur was joined by Jaku Barlas, who arrived from Karkara with his army, and Emir Kaykhusrav from Khuttalan, and on the other side of the river, Emir Zinda Chashm from Shiberghan, Khazarians from Khulm and Badakhshan Muhammadshah also joined. Having learned about this, many of Emir Hussein’s soldiers left him.
Before the battle, Timur gathers a kurultai, at which a man from the Genghisid family, Suyurgatmysh, is elected khan.
Shortly before Timur was confirmed as the “great emir,” a certain good messenger, a certain sheikh from Mecca, came to him and said that he had a vision that he, Timur, would be a great ruler. On this occasion, he presented him with a banner, a drum, a symbol of supreme power. But he does not take this supreme power personally, but remains close to it.
On April 10, 1370, Balkh was conquered, and Hussein was captured and killed. At the kurultai, Timur took the oath of all the military leaders of Transoxiana. Like his predecessors, he did not accept the title of khan and was content with the title of “great emir” - the khans under him were considered the descendant of Genghis Khan Suyurgatmysh (1370-1388), his son Mahmud (1388-1398) and Satuk Khan (1398-1405). Samarkand was chosen as the capital, and the feudal fragmentation was put to an end.
Strengthening Timur's state
Battle with Mogolistan and the Golden Horde
State of Tamerlane
Despite the laid foundation of statehood, Khorezm and Shibergan, which belonged to the Chagatai ulus, did not recognize the new government in the person of Suyurgatmish Khan and Emir Timur. It was restless on the southern and northern borders of the border, where Mogolistan and the White Horde caused trouble, often violating borders and plundering villages. After Uruskhan captured Sygnyak and moved the capital of the White Horde, Yassy (Turkestan), Sairam and Transoxiana to it were in even greater danger. It was necessary to take measures to strengthen statehood.
In the same year, the cities of Balkh and Tashkent recognized the power of Amir Timur, but the Khorezm rulers continued to resist the Chagatai ulus, relying on the support of the Dashti Kipchak rulers. Emir Timur demanded the return of the captured lands of Khorezm first peacefully, sending first a tawachi (quartermaster), then a shaykhulislama (head of the Muslim community) to Gurganj, but Husayn Sufi both times refused to fulfill this demand, taking the ambassador prisoner. Since then, Emir Timur has made five campaigns against Khorezm. It was finally taken in 1388.
The next goals of Amir Timur were to curb the Juchi ulus (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. The ruler of Moghulistan, Emir Kamariddin, had the same goals as Timur. Mogolistan feudal lords often carried out predatory raids on Sairam, Tashkent, Fergana and Turkestan. The raids of Emir Kamariddin in the 70-71s and the raids in the winter of 1376 on the cities of Tashkent and Andijan brought especially great troubles to the people. In the same year, Emir Kamariddin captured half of Fergana, from where its governor Umar Shah Mirza fled to the mountains. Therefore, solving the problem of Mogolistan was important for calm on the borders of the country. From 1371 to 1390, Emir Timur made seven campaigns against Mogolistan, finally defeating the army of Kamariddin and Anka-tyur in 1390 during the last campaign. However, Timur only reached the Irtysh in the north, Alakul in the east, Emil and the headquarters of the Mongol khans Balig-Yulduz, but he was unable to conquer the lands east of the Tangri-Tag and Kashgar mountains. Kamariddin fled and subsequently died of dropsy. The independence of Mogolistan was preserved.
"Door to the chambers of Khan Tamerlane" painting by Vasily Vereshchagin 1875
Realizing the danger to the independence of Transoxiana from the unification of the Jochi ulus, from the very first days of his reign, Timur tried in every possible way to prevent its unification into a single state, which was once split into two - the White and Golden Hordes. The Golden Horde had its capital in the city of Sarai-Batu (Sarai-Berke) and extended across the North Caucasus, the northwestern part of Khorezm, Crimea, Western Siberia and the Volga-Kama principality of Bulgar. The White Horde had its capital in the city of Sygnak and extended from Yangikent to Sabran, along the lower reaches of the Syr Darya, as well as on the banks of the Syr Darya steppe from Ulu-tau to Sengir-yagach and the land from Karatal to Siberia. Khan of the White Horde, Urus Khan, tried to unite the once powerful state, whose plans were thwarted by the intensified struggle between the Jochids and the feudal lords of the Dashti Kipchak. Timur strongly supported Tokhtamysh-oglan, whose father died at the hands of Uruskhan, who eventually took the throne of the White Horde. However, after ascending to power, Khan Tokhtamysh seized power in the Golden Horde and began to pursue a hostile policy towards the lands of Transoxiana. Amir Timur made three campaigns against Khan Tokhtamysh, finally defeating him on February 28, 1395.
After the defeat of the Golden Horde and Khan Tokhtamysh, the latter fled to the Bulgar. In response to the plunder of the lands of Maverannahr, Emir Timur burned the capital of the Golden Horde - Sarai-Batu, and gave the reins of its government into the hands of Koyrichak-oglan, who was the son of Uruskhan. In search of Tokhtamysh, Timur began a campaign against Rus'.
In 1395, Tamerlane, who was marching against Rus', passed Ryazan region and took the city of Yelets, in the same year Yelets was devastated by Tamerlane’s troops, and the prince was captured, after which Tamerlane moved towards Moscow, but unexpectedly turned around and went back on August 26. According to church tradition, it was at that time that Muscovites met the revered Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, transferred to Moscow to protect it from the conqueror. On the day of the meeting of the image, according to the chronicle, the Mother of God appeared to Tamerlane in a dream and ordered him to immediately leave the borders of Rus'. At the meeting place Vladimir icon The Sretensky Monastery was founded by the Mother of God. Tamerlane did not reach Moscow, his army marched along the Don and took it completely.
Tamerlane
There is another point of view. According to “Zafar-name” (“Book of Victories”) by Sheref ad-din Yezdi, Timur ended up on the Don after his victory over Tokhtamysh at the Terek River and before the total defeat of the cities of the Golden Horde in the same 1395. Tamerlane personally pursued the retreating commanders of Tokhtamysh after the defeat until they were completely defeated. On the Dnieper the enemy was finally defeated. Most likely, according to this source, Timur did not set the goal of a campaign specifically on Russian lands. Some of his troops, not he himself, approached the borders of Rus'. Here, on the comfortable summer Horde pastures that stretched in the floodplain of the Upper Don to modern Tula, a small part of his army stopped for two weeks. Although the local population did not offer serious resistance, the region suffered severe devastation. As Russian chronicles tell us about Timur’s invasion, his army stood on both sides of the Don for two weeks, “captured” (occupied) the land of Yelets and “seized” (captured) the prince of Yelets. Some coin hoards in the vicinity of Voronezh date back to 1395. However, in the vicinity of Yelets, which, according to the above-mentioned Russian written sources, was subjected to a pogrom, no treasures with such a dating have been found to date. Sheref ad-din Yezdi describes large booty taken in Russian lands and does not describe a single combat episode with the local population, although the main purpose of the “Book of Victories” was to describe the exploits of Timur himself and the valor of his warriors. According to the legends of Yelets local historians of the 19th and 20th centuries, the Yelets residents showed stubborn resistance to the enemy. However, in the “Book of Victories” there is no mention of this; the names of the fighters and commanders who took Yelets, who were the first to ascend the rampart, and who personally captured the Yelets prince, are not named. Meanwhile, Russian women made a great impression on Timur’s warriors, about whom Sheref ad-din Yezdi writes in a poetic line: “Oh, beautiful feathers like roses stuffed into snow-white Russian canvas!” Then in “Zafar-name” there follows a detailed list of Russian cities conquered by Timur, including Moscow. Perhaps this is just a list of Russian lands that did not want armed conflict and sent their ambassadors with gifts. After the defeat of Bek Yaryk Oglan, Tamerlane himself began to methodically ravage the lands of his main enemy Tokhtamysh. The Horde cities of the Volga region never recovered from Tamerlane’s devastation until the final collapse of this state. Many colonies of Italian merchants in the Crimea and in the lower reaches of the Don were also destroyed. The city of Tana (modern Azov) rose from ruins for several decades. Yelets, according to Russian chronicles, existed for another twenty years and was completely destroyed by certain “Tatars” only in 1414 or 1415.
He defeated Khan Tokhtamysh, who at that time headed the state of the Golden Horde. Fearing the transition of Transcaucasia and Western Iran to enemy rule, Tokhtamysh launched an invasion of this region in 1385. Having captured Tabriz and plundered it, the khan retreated with rich booty; Among the 90,000 captives was the Tajik poet Kamal Khojendi. In the 1390s, Tamerlane inflicted two severe defeats on the Horde khan - at Kondurch in 1391 and Terek in 1395, after which Tokhtamysh was deprived of the throne and forced to wage a constant struggle with the khans appointed by Tamerlane. With this defeat of the army of Khan Tokhtamysh, Tamerlane brought indirect benefit in the struggle of the Russian lands against the Tatar-Mongol yoke.
Trips to the Caucasus, India, Syria, Persia and China
In 1380, Timur went on a campaign against Malik Ghiyasiddin Pir Ali II, who ruled in the city of Herat. At first, he sent an ambassador to him with an invitation to the kurultai in order to solve the problem peacefully, but Malik rejected the offer, detaining the ambassador. In response to this, in April 1380, Timur, under the leadership of emirzade Pirmuhammad Ja hangir, sent ten regiments to the left bank of the Amu Darya River. He captured the regions of Balkh, Shiberghan and Badkhiz. In February 1381, Emir Timur himself marched with troops and took the cities of Khorasan, Seraks, Jami, Kausiya, Tuye and Kelat, and Herat was taken after a five-day siege. also, in addition to Kelat, Sebzevar was taken, as a result of which the state of the Serbedars ceased to exist; in 1382, Timur's son, Miranshah, was appointed ruler of Khorasan; in 1383, Timur devastated Seistan and brutally suppressed the uprising of the Serbedars in Sebzevar.
In 1383, he took Seistan, in which the fortresses of Zireh, Zave, Farah and Bust were defeated. In 1384 he captured the cities of Astrabad, Amul, Sari, Sultaniya and Tabriz, effectively capturing all of Persia. After which he went on a campaign to Armenia, after which he made several more campaigns of conquest in Persia and Syria. These campaigns are known in world history as three-year, five-year and seven-year campaigns, during which he fought wars in Syria, India, Armenia, Georgia, Turkey and Persia.
In 1402, Timur won a major victory over the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I the Lightning, defeating him at the Battle of Ankara on July 28. The Sultan himself was captured. As a result of the battle, all Asia Minor, and the defeat of Bayezid led to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, accompanied by a peasant war and civil strife between his sons. The official reason for the war was the alleged presentation of gifts to Timur by Turkish ambassadors. Outraged by the fact that Bayezid was acting as a benefactor, Timur declared military action
Three great campaigns of Timur
Timur made three large campaigns in the western part of Persia and the adjacent regions - the so-called “three-year” (from 1386), “five-year” (from 1392) and “seven-year” (from 1399).
Three-year trek
For the first time, Timur was forced to return back as a result of the invasion of Transoxiana by the Golden Horde Khan Tokhtamysh in alliance with the Semirechensk Mongols (1387).
In 1388, Timur drove out his enemies and punished the Khorezmians for their alliance with Tokhtamysh, in 1389 he made a devastating campaign deep into the Mongolian possessions as far as the Irtysh to the north and to the Greater Zhyldyz to the east, in 1391 - a campaign against the Golden Horde possessions to the Volga. These campaigns achieved their goal.
In 1398, a campaign was launched against India; along the way, the highlanders of Kafiristan were defeated. In December, Timur defeated the army of the Indian Sultan (Toglukid dynasty) under the walls of Delhi and occupied the city without resistance, which was plundered by the army a few days later. In 1399, Timur reached the banks of the Ganges, on the way back he took several more cities and fortresses and returned to Samarkand with huge booty, but without expanding his possessions.
Five Year Campaign
During the “five-year” campaign, Timur conquered the Caspian regions in 1392, and western Persia and Baghdad in 1393; Timur's son, Omar Sheikh, was appointed ruler of Fars, Miran Shah - ruler of Transcaucasia. Tokhtamysh's invasion of Transcaucasia caused Timur's campaign to Southern Russia(1395); Timur defeated Tokhtamysh on the Terek and pursued him to the borders of the Moscow kingdom. There he invaded the Ryazan lands, ravaged Yelets, posing a threat to Moscow. Having launched an attack on Moscow, he unexpectedly turned back and left Muscovy on the very day when Muscovites greeted the image of the Vladimir Icon Holy Mother of God, brought from Vladimir (from this day on, the icon is revered as the patroness of Moscow). Then Timur plundered the trading cities of Azov and Kafa, burned Sarai-Batu and Astrakhan, but the lasting conquest of the Golden Horde was not Tamerlane’s goal, and therefore the Caucasus range remained the northern border of Timur’s possessions. In 1396 he returned to Samarkand and in 1397 appointed his youngest son Shahrukh as the ruler of Khorasan, Seistan and Mazanderan.
Seven Years' Campaign
The “seven-year” campaign was initially caused by the madness of Miranshah and the unrest in the region entrusted to him. Timur deposed his son and defeated the enemies who invaded his domain. In 1400, a war began with the Ottoman Sultan Bayazet, who captured the city of Arzinjan, where Timur's vassal ruled, and with the Egyptian Sultan Faraj, whose predecessor, Barkuk, ordered the murder of Timur's ambassador back in 1393. In 1400, Timur took Sivas in Asia Minor and Aleppo (Aleppo) in Syria (which belonged to the Egyptian Sultan), and in 1401 Damascus. Bayazet was defeated and captured in the famous Battle of Ankara (1402). Timur plundered all the cities of Asia Minor, even Smyrna (which belonged to the Johannite knights). The western part of Asia Minor was returned to the sons of Bayazet in 1403, and in the eastern part the small dynasties overthrown by Bayazet were restored. In Baghdad (where Timur restored his power (1401), and up to 90,000 inhabitants died), Miranshah's son, Abu Bekr, was appointed ruler. In 1404, Timur returned to Samarkand and then launched a campaign against China, for which he began preparing back in 1398. That year he built a fortress on the border of the current Syr-Darya region and Semirechye; Now another fortification was built, 10 days' journey further to the east, probably near Issyk-Kul.
Death
Mausoleum of Tamerlane in Samarkand
He died during the campaign against China. After the end of the seven-year war, during which Bayezid I was defeated, Timur began preparations for the Chinese campaign, which he had long planned due to Chinese claims to the lands of Transoxiana and Turkestan. He gathered a large army of two hundred thousand, with which he set out on a campaign on November 27, 1404. In January 1405, he arrived in the city of Otrar (its ruins are not far from the confluence of the Arys and the Syr Darya), where he fell ill and died (according to historians - on February 18, according to Timur's tombstone - on the 15th). The body was embalmed, placed in an ebony coffin, lined with silver brocade, and taken to Samarkand. Tamerlane was buried in the Gur Emir mausoleum, which was still unfinished at that time.
Participation in wars: War for power. Hiking to Mogolistan. War with the Golden Horde. Hikes to Iran and the Caucasus. A three-year campaign into the Mongolian possessions. March on India. War with Ottoman Empire. War with the Egyptian Sultans. Trip to China.
Participation in battles: Battle in the gorges west of Issyk-Kul. Battle of the Kondurche River. Battle of Terek. Angora battle. Conquest of Balkh, Shibergan, Badkhiz, Seistan. Capture of Khorasan, Serax, Jami, Qausia, Isferain, Tue, Kelat, Astrabad, Amuli, Sari, Sultaniya, Tabriz. The devastation of Azov, Kafu, Sarai-Batu, Astrakhan. Capture of Sivas, Aleppo, Damascus, Smyrna
(Tamerlan) Great commander of the Middle Ages, founder of the largest power of the era, winner of the Golden Horde
The Great Timur, who almost repeated his success Genghis Khan in creating a worldwide empire, born 1336
In Europe, he became known as Tamerlane (this comes from the Persian “Timurleng” - “lame Timur”) and as the “iron lame.” He called himself a “gurgan” - that is, a “son-in-law” of the house of the descendants of Genghis Khan, although no relative Chingizids was not. The conquered peoples fearfully called it Sahibkiran, which means victorious - the owner of a lucky combination of stars. Truly he was a lucky man and a darling of fate. And truly - a horror for his enemies: one only has to remember Vereshchagin’s painting “The Apotheosis of War” with a mound of skulls. This is exactly how Timur preferred to communicate with rebellious captives who did not want to recognize his will over their fate.
And there were many of them - for Timur’s saber swing reached far. To many countries. He was a worthy spiritual successor Genghis Khan, who saw the limits of his empire where the hooves of Mongol horses could reach. Timur developed this idea even further: “The entire space of the inhabited part of the world does not deserve to have more than one king.” Timur himself.
Formally, Timur never proclaimed himself a khan and always kept with him dummy khans from Chingizidov. Thus, he demonstrated his loyalty to the covenants Genghis Khan And once again reminded everyone of his own roots. He was of Barlas origin - a representative of one of the four Chagatai tribes, descendants of nomads who once came to Central Asia with Genghis Khan and his heirs.
Timur was born into the family of Barlas bek Toragai, a poor but influential man, in the village of Khoja Ilgar, not far from the city of Shakhrisyabz. He was raised as a future warrior and early became a good rider and an excellent archer. But Timur never forgot that he was the son of a bek, and therefore he always tried to be the leader in all children's games. By nature he was a true leader and therefore, already in adolescence, he acquired for himself four devoted nukers (future warriors, for now - only horse servants). At the head of his nukers, he famously attacked distant and close neighbors, stealing almost every day a sheep, a cow, and occasionally a horse - the main value of yesterday's nomads.
At first, for Timur it was a brave thing, an attempt to prove to everyone, and above all to himself, that he could already live according to the great law of nomads, who consider everything that a neighbor cannot protect or hide as theirs. Over time, this great nomadic wisdom became clear to young Timur. For, following her, he became stronger and stronger. Not only by his own strength and polished military skills, but also by the number of his supporters. For the captured booty testified to his luck, one of the most necessary qualities of a future leader. The rumor about her spread throughout the area. As did the news of his generosity, for he divided everything he got with his unstinting hand among his associates. Believing that this booty is not what he wants for himself. That everything is still ahead of him. And the surrounding youth whispered about this among themselves, deciding to throw in their lot with Timur. Soon he had more nukers. And the goals of his detachment became different - the extraction of entire villages, caravans of merchants passing by.
In 1361 Timur offered his services Mongol Khan Toklug-Timur, who appeared with his army in Transoxiana. So Timurleng became the ruler of Kashkadarya.
Soon the khan sent his son as governor of the entire country. But Timur, who collected soldiers without sparing the treasury, refused to recognize the power of the khan’s son over Kashkadarya and declared himself an independent ruler.
This was largely possible thanks to Emir Hussein, grandson of the great Emir of Kazagan. The emir saw great potential in the young robber and began to help him, relying in his policy on the growing strength of Timur. They became related - and Hussein’s sister Uljay Turkan-aga became the beloved wife of Timur, from now on also the emir.
Together the two emirs went on campaigns against their neighbors. They were looking for glory, but more so for booty. For Hussein was never lazy to repeat that the strong are always right. However, he was not the only one who thought so - and therefore not every joint raid was successful. Once in Seistan, together with Hussein, they attacked shepherds guarding a flock of sheep. But this time they were ambushed. Most of Timur's detachment was cut down. They wounded him in the right leg with a saber blow, knocked him off his horse and tried to finish him off on the ground.
Wounded, he accepted the battle and emerged victorious. True, he lost two fingers on his right hand, which fell under the cunning striking blow of the horseman. But Timur managed to kill the enemy with his left hand. In 1365, someone expelled from here after his death came to Transoxiana. Toklug-Timur his son Ilyas Khoja. Timur and Hussein, having recruited an army, went to meet him. The troops met between Chinaz and Tashkent. And so began what will go down in history as “ mud battle" Heavy rain turned the clay into sticky mud. Timur and Hussein were forced to flee to Samarkand, Hussein’s possession, and further beyond the Amu Darya, to the Balkh region, leaving the battlefield and their lands to the winner.
Luckily for the people of Samarkand, there were many serbedars in the city, which means “gallows,” for the serbedars said that it was better to die on the gallows than to submit to the Mongols. Timur and Hussein by this time had already become close to the local population, while Ilyas Khoja was a real Mongol khan. And the Serbedars swore to defend the city from him.
They left the main roads free, but blocked the internal narrow streets with barricades and chained them on top. Archers were placed above the key barricades. And they hit the Mongols from the flanks when they, not expecting a trick, were drawn into the city. In the first ambush battle Ilyas Khoja lost about two thousand soldiers. The rest were drawn into a grueling urban war. Soon the invaders suffered another blow - a pestilence began among their horses: out of every four, only one survived. A Mongol without a horse is not a warrior, and their khan hastily retreated from Samarkand, leading his army, which was almost on foot.
The Serbedars remained the masters of the city. A few months later they returned to Samarkand Hussein and Timur. They didn’t return right away - they were saving up their strength so that they would have something to oppose the armed townspeople who had tasted victory over strong enemy and now they were not particularly eager to obey the old rulers again.
Without entering the city, the emirs stopped in a small village and widely informed everyone that they fully approved of all the actions of the Serbedars and invited their leaders to their headquarters. The first ceremonial reception was held in an atmosphere of love and friendship - all the Serbedar rulers were shown almost royal signs of attention. Rumors of such an honor spread widely throughout the area. The next day, Hussein and Timur again invited the people of Samarkand to their place to talk about business, about the future of the city. They invited me, knowing that they couldn’t come to an agreement. They didn’t really try - almost immediately they were captured and accused of usurping power, violating the rights of the existing dynasty, and causing offense to worthy people of the city...
Almost immediately after the accusations were made, the Serbedar leaders were executed. And Samarkand, shocked by the determination of the emirs, unconditionally recognized their power.
Soon disagreements began between father-in-law and son-in-law, each of whom wanted to be the first in the country. The disagreement ended in 1370 with the death of Hussein. In the same year, the military leaders of Maverannahr proclaimed Timur the sole sovereign of the country, and Timur himself appointed Chingizid Suyurgatmysh as khan, the first of a chain of dummy khans, under whom he would be the real ruler for many decades.
In 1372 Timur moved march to Khorezm, an ancient and rich country, and a year later he undertook another campaign. The result of the two campaigns was the humility of Khorezm and the entry of its southern part into the state of Timur.
Soon from White Horde ran to Timur Emir Tokhtamysh, the son of the closest associate of the Khan of the White Horde, who was recently executed for speaking out against the intention of the Khan of the White Horde to unite the entire ulus Jochi, subjugating the Golden Horde.
Timur helped several times Tokhtamysh organize a campaign against the Khan of the White Horde. Finally, in 1379 Tokhtamysh became the khan of the White Horde, immediately forgetting about Timur’s help and deciding to become the head of everything himself ulus Jochi.
Fulfilling this intention, he soon after the defeat Mom, I on the Kulikovo field Dmitry Donskoy in the same 1380 he defeated again Mom, I on the Kalka River. After which he became the single khan of the Golden and White Hordes, i.e. ulus Jochi.
His aggressive policy in Transcaucasia increasingly came into conflict with Timur. Thus, Tokhtamysh incited the Shah of Khorezm to fight against Timur. He responded by marching towards Northern Khorezm.
Its ruler, Yusuf Sufi, closed with his army in his capital, Urgench. Seeing the inaccessibility of the walls of this fortress city, Timur threw his army with fiery lava against the surrounding villages. Then Yusuf decided to try his luck and offered to meet Timur in a personal duel.
Timur accepted the challenge - despite everyone's persuasion. In light armor, with a saber and shield, he shouted for a long time at the city moat, calling Yusuf and reminding that better death than breaking a word. Yusuf did not come out, suddenly remembering Timur's glory as a skilled warrior.
Urgench held out for almost three more months. The last assault, which broke the defenders, took place after the death of Yusuf, who defended himself to the end. The city fell. For ten days it was robbed, burned and destroyed by the will of Timur. Of all the buildings, only one mosque with minarets survived as a result of this. Timur ordered the rest of the land, which until recently had been a beautiful city, to be sown with barley so that not a trace would remain of the city that dared to resist him.
Timur walked three times march to Tokhtamysh. In 1391, at the head of a 200,000-strong army between present-day Samara and Chistopol, he defeated the khan. In 1395, in the Terek Valley, Timur again defeated Tokhtamysh, moved to his capital - the city of Saray Berke, in the Volga region, and captured it. The cities of Crimea also came under Timur's attack, Sea of Azov, Volga delta, North Caucasus.
After this blow, the Golden Horde never recovered. Which largely ensured the end of the yoke in Rus' in 1480.
During these same years, Timur made several long campaigns. Their goal is conquest and extraction. 1381— trip to Iran, to Herat, which Timur took by storm, capturing large amounts of valuables and people.
A few years later he captured Seistan(its capital - Zaranj - will be crushed by the army of conquerors: all the walls are demolished to the ground, all the inhabitants are killed), so by the mid-80s most of Eastern Iran belonged to Timur. And by the end of the century - three campaigns later - he will conquer all of Iran. It was on these trips - when conquest of the city of Isfahan- 70 thousand people were killed, from which high towers were built by the will of the emir...
He loved such constructions from his victims. Isfahan Towers- the most famous. But there was a construction of a tower of two thousand living people, layered with broken bricks and clay, during the capture of the Afghan city of Isfizar.
Sometimes he simply ordered the rebellious to be buried alive - this is how four thousand people died during the conquest of the Asia Minor city of Sivas. And before the general battle with the Delhi Sultan, on his orders, one hundred thousand prisoners were slaughtered - Timur heard a rumor that his unarmed prisoners were allegedly preparing to stab him in the back at the most critical moment.
His troops awed not only the East, but also the West. In 1392, Armenia and Georgia became his possessions, and five years later - Azerbaijan.
The next year he goes on a campaign to India, takes over Delhi and takes out huge booty from there, including two white parrots, who for many years “guarded” the peace of the Sultans of Delhi.
Immediately after completing his campaign in India in 1400, he began to fight against Turkish Sultan