The defeat of the Golden Horde by Timur Tamerlane. Tamerlane. "Great Lame". A Brief History of the Conquests. The idea that Tamerlane could not implement

Name: Timur Tamerlan

Age: 68 years old

Place of Birth: Khoja-Ilgar, Kesh, Uzbekistan

A place of death: Otra, Kazakhstan

Activity: commander and conqueror

Family status: was married

Timur Tamerlane - Biography

March marked the 680th anniversary of the birth of the man who defeated the Golden Horde. Timur Tamerlane was not a descendant of Genghis Khan, but continued his work. He was lame, but he walked half the world. His armies sowed destruction from the Bosphorus to the Ganges, building walls of corpses and pyramids of skulls. Six centuries later, his deeds are almost forgotten, but his name remains in the memory of all peoples, short and severe, like a scimitar blow - Timur-Leng, the Iron Lame.

Women of the Barlas clan lived in houses, but according to the law of their ancestors, they went to felt yurts to give birth. In such a yurt, the future conqueror of Asia was born. It happened in March 1336 near the city of Shahrisyabz, which was then called Keshch. Its ruler Taragai was the father of the child, history did not preserve the name of the mother - the Turkic emir had many wives and concubines. A hundred years earlier, the Mongol hordes had seized the lands of Central Asia, dividing them among the three Chingizid khans - Jochi, Chagatai and Khulagu.

The nomadic nobility mercilessly robbed the settled population and called them "Sarts" - slaves. At the same time, the Mongols quickly adopted the customs of more cultured local peoples. After a couple of generations in China, nomads could not be distinguished from the Chinese, in Iran - from the Persians, and in Maverannahr, present-day Uzbekistan - from the local Turks. Therefore, the newborn son of Taragay received the Turkic name Timur - "iron". But his hair was red, like Genghis's; it seems that both of them had Scythian Caucasians in their ancestors.

Since childhood, Timur lived up to his name, showing strength and courage in boyish games. The ruler's son learned to wield all types of weapons, hunt, and ride bareback. At the same time, he - an unprecedented thing - learned to read and attended the lessons of learned ulema. They told him about the vast world outside of Maverannahr - about the great city of Constantinople, about the wonders of India and China. Perhaps even then he had a dream to conquer this world. But in any case, military service had to start from the basics.

At the age of 12, Timur entered the army of the Chagatai Khanate, which at that time was ruled by Khan Bayan-Kuli. Year after year, the young man comprehended military science, became a centurion, and then a thousandth minbaschi. In his detachment, he selected the best warriors who were selflessly devoted to him. When in 1359 the ruler of neighboring Mogolistan (present-day Kyrgyzstan) Togluk-Timur invaded the country, Bayan-Kuli waited for the faithful thousand-man to reject the enemy.

However, Timur was not only brave, but also prudent. He knew that the khan had no chance of winning, and he chose the side of the strongest in time. A couple of weeks later, Bayan's head stuck out at the peak in front of the palace, and a thousand-man with rich gifts stayed in the yurt of Togluk-Timur. This allowed Timur to keep his detachment and possessions inherited after the death of his father.

But the peace was short-lived. In those years, all of Asia was in motion. China overthrew the Mongol khans, in Iran, the descendants of Hulagu were pressed by the rebels-sarbadars (that is, "gallows"). Moscow Prince Dmitry saved up strength to overthrow the power of the Golden Horde. The strong and dexterous at that moment opened the road to power, and Timur did not miss his chance. To begin with, he became related to the ruler of Samarkand, Emir Hussein, taking his sister Uljai-Turkan as his wife. Together they rebelled against Togluk-Timur, but were defeated.

Timur fled to the Tajik mountains, taking his beloved wife with him; he hid his two sons in a safe place, placing them in the care of a deaf-mute servant. For several years, with a small detachment, he served as a mercenary for various eastern sovereigns. In one of the campaigns in Sistan, the enemies fired at him with bows. He survived, but was severely injured - his right arm lost half its strength, and the ligament on his leg, broken by an arrow, made him permanently lame. Since then, he was called Lame Timur - Temir-Aksak in Turkic, Timur-Leng in Persian. In European languages, he turned into Tamerlane.

Despite the injuries, Timur did not lose influence on his warriors. He was strict but fair, generously rewarded the faithful, and the blacksmiths defeated the Mongols. Right at the feast in honor of the victory, Timur killed his "agitators" - the Sarbadar leaders - he did not need rivals. However, it turned out that Hussein did not really need him either, who did not very politely put an ally out of the city. After the death of Tamerlane's wife Uljay-Turkan, who somehow reconciled the brothers, an open war began between them. As a result, after many campaigns and skirmishes in 1370, Hussein was slaughtered at night by two close associates. When they came to Timur for a reward, he ordered them to be strangled, saying: "He who betrays once will betray him again."

According to Eastern custom, Timur took away all the property of the killed enemy, including his wife Mulk Khanum. He made Samarkand his capital, from where he began the conquest of Central Asia. First, the battle-hardened army moved against Togluk Timur and captured his country. Then Timur achieved the submission of Khorezm by marrying his eldest son Jahangir to the daughter of the Khorezm ruler. Then came the turn of the lord of the Semirechie Kamar Addin - he had to give his beautiful daughter Dilshod-aga as a wife to the winner.

At the same time, Timur helped the Siberian prince Tokhtamysh overthrow Mamai, defeated on the Kulikovo field, and take the throne of the Golden Horde. When the North was at the mercy of Timur, he turned his troops south into Iran and Afghanistan. After three campaigns, these countries were conquered. In the meantime, Timur managed to catch the warrior who once crippled him. The unforgiving Iron Lame ordered the enemy to be tied to a tree and shot with bows.

Having become the ruler of a vast territory, Timur did not take the title of khan: according to custom, only a descendant of Genghis Khan could become it. He himself limited himself to the more modest title of emir, but in fact his power was unlimited. Timur made a huge 500,000-strong army the backbone of the state - in each family, one of the men had to go to military service. He distributed to the brave warriors in hereditary possession of the lands taken from the rebels and cowards. His entourage and relatives got into the administration of the province and even entire countries.

The affairs of the entire state were managed by the Divan (council), which included viziers, military leaders and theologians. Once a week, Timur attended council meetings, participating in the resolution of all issues. When appointed to high posts, he did not pay attention to generosity - one of his viziers was Hamid-aga, the son of a baker. Diligence and devotion were the main criteria. But death awaited even the most devoted, if they robbed the population in peacetime or put their hand into the treasury. “My law is the same for everyone,” the emir said, and this was actually the case.

Timur's main hobby was the decoration of his capital. He called experienced architects, engineers and artists from all over the world to Samarkand. Their efforts erected such magnificent buildings as the ensemble of the main Registan square, the Gur-Emir tomb and the huge Bibi-Khanym mosque, later destroyed by an earthquake. Timur regularly visited construction sites and observed the progress of work. Even more often, he gathered learned people who lectured him on a variety of topics.

Historian Khafizi Abru states: “Timur had a deep knowledge of the history of the Persians and the Turks. He valued all knowledge that could be of practical use, that is, medicine, astronomy and mathematics, and paid special attention to architecture. His contemporary Arabshchakh echoes him: “Timur revered scholars and poets and showed them special favor... He entered into scientific discussions with them, and in disputes he was fair and courteous.” It is worth noting that he was the first of the eastern rulers to write (or, more precisely, dictated) his autobiography. In addition to scientific disputes, Timur adored the game of chess and gave his beloved youngest son the name Shahrukh - “chess boat”.

But you should not imagine him as a kind and fair "father of peoples." Taking care of the center of his state, Timur ruthlessly ruined its outskirts. After the relative tolerance of the Mongol khans, he raised the banner of Muslim fanaticism. Assigning himself the title of "gazi" (defender of the faith), he declared war on all "infidels" - the subjects had to convert to Islam or die. His anger also fell on the Iranian Shiites, whom he considered heretics.

In 1387, he attacked the city of Isfahan and killed 70,000 people there. A high tower was subsequently erected from their heads. From now on, Timur applied this barbaric custom in all the conquered countries in order to intimidate the local population. But such cruelty cannot be explained by one political calculation; something sadistic is seen in it. Perhaps the influence of schizophrenia - all the sons of Timur suffered from this disease, except for Shahrukh. However, it could also be that the emir was pissed off by the stubborn disobedience of his subjects - he had to take the same Isfahan three times, and make four whole campaigns against Khorezm.

Meanwhile, while Timur was plundering Iran, his empire was attacked by the ruler of the Horde, Khan Tokhtamysh. Rus' almost stopped paying tribute, and the khan urgently needed rich booty. Striking from the north, he plundered many cities and almost took Samarkand, which Prince Miranshah managed to defend with difficulty. Returning, Timur made a return trip to the Volga, but the Horde easily left the clumsy foot army. Then Timur turned back to Iran and finally conquered it, reaching Baghdad. At this time, the restless Tokhtamysh attacked from the other side, because of the Caucasus Mountains.

In 1395, Timur's huge army moved north to finish off the khan once and for all. One after another, the cities of the Caucasus and the Volga region turned into ruins, and in August the army of the emir approached the borders of Russia. Grand Duke Vasily Dmitrievich hastily began to assemble an army, but the forces were unequal. The first on the way of the conquerors was little Yelets - he fell after two days of resistance. Timur ordered to kill all the men and boys taller than the cart axis (about 70 cm), and took the rest into captivity. Other cities awaited the same fate with trepidation, but Timur unexpectedly turned his army back.

For this miracle, they thanked the icon of Our Lady of Vladimir brought to Moscow - since then it has become one of the most revered in Rus'. But in fact, Timur was not going to move on, and besides, he was in a hurry to leave a foreign country before the cold weather. The purpose of his campaign - to defeat the enemy troops - was achieved. Tokhtamysh fled to Siberia, where he died.

After that, Timur attacked the rich and populous India. The Muslim Tughlakid dynasty ruled there, which the emir accused of connivance with the "infidel" Hindus. In the summer of 1398, his army launched an offensive from the west, one after another, destroying the fortresses of the warlike Rajputs. Before dying, the Hindus threw their wives and children into the flames so that they would not get to the enemies. Timur's warriors cut off the heads of the living and the dead and methodically built pyramids out of them. In December, the emir approached Delhi, where he was met by hundreds of fighting Elephants of Sultan Muhammad Tughlaq.

Timur ordered to shower them with a hail of arrows wrapped in burning tow; frightened, the animals rushed back and trampled their own army. The city surrendered without resistance, but Timur still gave it to be plundered. It all ended in a fire, after which only the spiers of minarets remained from the huge city - they, along with mosques, were forbidden to touch under pain of death. Further, the army moved at a snail's pace, burdened with a huge number of prisoners. When Timur realized that the prisoners were depriving the army of mobility, he ordered to kill them all - 100 thousand people died.

Having reached the edge of the jungle, the army turned back. Thousands of camels carried loot to Samarkand. On the way they passed a huge pile of stones - going to India, each warrior threw a stone on the ground. On the way back, the survivors took a stone, and the rest could be judged on the losses. I must say that Timur always tried to establish accounting and control in his possessions. The goods exported from India, primarily spices, he sold at a huge profit in the markets of the Middle East.

The emir planned to establish relations with Europe as well, sending proposals to the kings of England and France to establish trade relations. At the same time, the emir suggested that European rulers unite in an alliance against Ottoman Turkey, which was now Timur's main opponent. The Turkish sultan Bayazid, having defeated the Christians in Eastern Europe, turned his weapons against his co-religionists and threatened Iraq. His ally, the Egyptian sultan Barquq, killed Timur's ambassadors, which in the East was considered the gravest insult. The reaction of the emir, as always, was quick. Soon Barkuk was poisoned, and the 400,000-strong army of Tamerlane moved from Samarkand to the west.

The western provinces were ruled by Timur's son Miranshah, but he suffered from seizures, and eventually went completely mad. Taking advantage of this, the inhabitants of Iraq and Syria refused to pay taxes and threatened to go over to Bayezid's side. With the advent of Timur, a massacre awaited them. Baghdad was burned, and the heads of 90 thousand of its inhabitants were placed in another tower. The Syrian Aleppo surrendered after the Emir promised not to shed the blood of Muslims. Timur kept his word: only the Christian population was slaughtered, and the Muslims were buried alive in the ground.

The conquerors were especially atrocious in Georgia and Armenia, where churches were burned or converted into mosques. Two thousand Armenians were burnt in the city of Dvin. In the spring of 1402, Timur invaded Anatolia and laid siege to the fortress of Sivas. After her capture, the Muslims were pardoned for a change, and the Christians were buried alive. In July of the same year, the armies of Timur and Bayezid met near the current Turkish capital Ankara. The army of the Sultan, into which the Greeks and Serbs were forcibly mobilized, was even larger than that of his opponent.

In total, about a million people participated in the battle, of which 150 thousand died. The massacre continued for more than a day, until Timur's more experienced and organized army put the enemy to flight. Bayazid himself was taken prisoner, who was brought to the winner in chains. Timur looked at the hunched figure of the Sultan and his yellow face - Bayezid had a diseased liver. "Great is Allah! said the Emir. “He was pleased to divide the world between a cripple and an ailing old man.”

The Sultan was put in a cage and sent to Samarkand - according to rumors, Timur planned to arrange there something like a zoo of the overthrown rulers. On the way, Bayezid died, and his heirs fought each other for a long time. In addition to the will of the “defender of the Muslim faith,” Timur became an ally of Christian Byzantium: by defeating the Turkish army, he delayed the fall of Constantinople for half a century.

In 1403 Iron Lame returned to Samarkand. The city continued to prosper, but this did not please the aging ruler. He was tormented by pain in his wounded leg and tormented by thoughts about the fragility of his power. Who should leave a huge empire, in different parts of which riots broke out every now and then? The eldest son Jahangir died before he was eighteen, and his two brothers also went to the grave. Mad Miranshah lived out his days under strict supervision. Shahrukh remained - soft, compliant, not at all like his father. His mother, the young nomadic princess Dilshodaga, also died. How fleeting is human life! But Timur has not yet carried out all his plans.

At the very beginning of 1405, the armies again set off on a campaign. Their goal was China - there were waiting for riches that had not yet been plundered and millions of "infidels" who had to be converted to Islam. To lead the campaign, Timur arrived in the city of Otrar on the border of the steppes, but suddenly fell ill and on February 18 died in terrible agony. His body was taken to Samarkand and buried in the Gur-Emir mausoleum.

For many centuries, there was a belief in the East: whoever disturbs the ashes of the conqueror will cause a terrible, yet unprecedented war. But Soviet archaeologists, led by Mikhail Gerasimov, ignored these warnings. Scientists began opening the tomb of Tamerlane early in the morning June 22, 1941!

After the Victory, the work was completed. Based on a cast from the bones of the skull, Gerasimov managed to restore the appearance of Tamerlane. Visitors to the Moscow Historical Museum saw high cheekbones, narrow tiger eyes, and sternly compressed lips. He was a real god of war, the ruler of a vast empire, for the greatness of which its subjects paid with millions of lives.

Tamerlane is one of the greatest conquerors in world history. His whole life was spent on campaigns. He took Khorezm, defeated the Golden Horde, conquered Armenia, Persia and Syria, defeated the Ottoman sultan and even reached India.

Tamerlane (or Timur) is a Turkic-Mongolian conqueror whose victories made him the master of most of Western Asia. Tamerlane belonged to the Turkicized Mongol clan Barlas, whose representatives, as the Mongol armies moved westward, settled in the Kashka valley, near Samarkand. Tamerlane was born near Shakhrisabz on April 9, 1336. This place is located on the territory of modern Uzbekistan between the rivers Amu Darya and Syr Darya, and at the time of his birth, these lands belonged to Khan Chagatai, named after the founder of his family, the second son of Genghis Khan.

In 1346-1347. Kazan Khan Chagatai, was defeated by Emir Kazgan and was killed, as a result of which Central Asia ceased to be part of his khanate. After the death of Kazgan in 1358, a period of anarchy followed, and the troops of Tughlak-Timur, the ruler of the territories beyond the Syr Darya, known as Mogolistan, invaded Maverannahr, first in 1360 and then in 1361 in an attempt to seize power.

Tamerlane declared himself a vassal of Tughlak-Timur and became the ruler of the territory from Shakhrisabz to Karshi. Soon, however, he rebelled against the rulers of Mogolistan and formed an alliance with Hussein, the grandson of Kazgan. Together in 1363 they defeated the army of Ilyas-Khoja, the son of Tughlak-Timur. However, around 1370, the allies quarreled and Tamerlane, having captured his colleague, announced his intention to revive the Mongol Empire. Tamerlane became the sole owner of Central Asia, settling in Samarkand and making this city the capital of the new state and his main residence.

From 1371 to 1390, Tamerlane made seven campaigns against Mogolistan, finally defeating the army of Qamar ad-Din and Anka-Tur in 1390. Tamerlane undertook the first two campaigns against Qamar ad-Din in the spring and autumn of 1371. The first campaign ended with a truce; during the second, Tamerlane, leaving Tashkent, moved towards the village of Yangi on Taraz. There he put the Moghuls to flight and captured much booty.

In 1375, Tamerlane carried out the third successful campaign. He left Sairam and passed through the regions of Talas and Tokmak, returning to Samarkand through Uzgen and Khujand. However, Qamar ad-Din was not defeated. When Tamerlane's army returned to Maverannahr, Qamar ad-Din invaded Ferghana in the winter of 1376 and laid siege to the city of Andijan. The governor of Ferghana, the third son of Tamerlane Umar-sheikh, fled to the mountains. Tamerlane hurried to Ferghana and pursued the enemy for a long time behind Uzgen and the mountains of Yassy to the very valley of At-Bashi, the southern tributary of the upper Naryn.

In 1376-1377, Tamerlane made his fifth campaign against Qamar ad-Din. He defeated his army in the gorges west of Issyk-Kul and pursued him to Kochkar. The sixth campaign of Tamerlane in the Issyk-Kul region against Kamar ad-Din took place in 1383, but the ulusbegi again managed to escape.

In 1389 Tamerlane went on his seventh campaign. In 1390, Qamar ad-din was finally defeated, and Mogolistan finally ceased to threaten the state of Tamerlane. However, Tamerlane reached only the Irtysh in the north, Alakul in the east, Emil and the headquarters of the Mongol khans Balig-Yulduz, but he could not conquer the lands east of the Tangri-tag and Kashgar mountains. Qamar ad-Din fled to the Irtysh and subsequently died of dropsy. Khizr-Khoja established himself as the Khan of Moghulistan.

2 The first trips to Asia Minor

In 1380, Tamerlane went on a campaign against Malik Ghiyas-ad-din Pir-Ali II, since he did not want to recognize himself as a vassal of the Emir Tamerlane and began to strengthen the defensive walls of his capital city of Herat in response. At the beginning, Tamerlane sent an ambassador to him with an invitation to the kurultai in order to solve the problem peacefully, but Giyas-ad-din Pir-Ali II rejected the proposal, detaining the ambassador. In response to this, in April 1380, Tamerlane sent ten regiments to the left bank of the Amu Darya. His troops captured the regions of Balkh, Shibirgan and Badkhyz. In February 1381, Tamerlane himself came out with troops and took Khorasan, the cities of Serakhs, Jami, Kausia, Tuye and Kelat, and the city of Herat was taken after a five-day siege. In addition to Kelat, Sebzevar was taken, as a result of which the state of the Serbedars finally ceased to exist. In 1382, Tamerlane's son Miran Shah was appointed ruler of Khorasan. In 1383, Tamerlane devastated Sistan and brutally crushed the uprising of the Serbedars in Sebzevar. In 1383, he took Sistan, in which the fortresses of Zireh, Zave, Farah and Bust were defeated. In 1384, he captured the cities of Astrabad, Amul, Sari, Sultania and Tabriz, in fact capturing all of Persia.

3 Three-year campaign and the conquest of Khorezm

The first, so-called "three-year" campaign in the western part of Persia and the regions adjacent to it, Tamerlane began in 1386. In November 1387, Tamerlane's troops took Isfahan and captured Shiraz. Despite the successful start of the campaign, Tamerlane was forced to return back due to the invasion of Maverannahr by the Golden Horde Khan Tokhtamysh in alliance with the Khorezmians. A garrison of 6,000 soldiers was left in Isfahan, and Tamerlane took away its ruler Shah Mansur from the Muzaffarid dynasty. Shortly after the departure of the main troops of Tamerlane, a popular uprising took place in Isfahan, led by the blacksmith Ali Kuchek. The entire garrison of Tamerlane was killed.

In 1388, Tamerlane drove out the Tatars and took the capital of Khorezm, Urgench. By order of Tamerlane, the Khorezmians who resisted were mercilessly exterminated, the city was destroyed.

4 First campaign against the Golden Horde

In January 1391, the army of Tamerlane set out on a campaign against the Golden Horde Khan Tokhtamysh. To gain time, Tokhtamysh sent ambassadors, but Tamerlane refused to negotiate. His army passed Yasy and Tabran, passed the Hungry Steppe, and by April, having crossed the Sarysu River, entered the Ulytau Mountains. The army of Tokhtamysh, however, eluded the battle.

On May 12, Tamerlane's army reached Tobol, and by June saw the Yaik River. Fearing that the guides might lead his people to an ambush, Tamerlane decided not to use the usual fords, but ordered to swim across in less favorable places. A week later, his army arrived on the banks of the Samara River, where scouts reported that the enemy was already nearby. However, the Golden Horde retreated to the north, using the tactics of "scorched earth". As a result, Tokhtamysh accepted the battle, and on June 18 a battle took place on the Kondurche River near Itil. In this battle, the Golden Horde were utterly defeated, but Tokhtamysh managed to escape. The army of Tamerlane did not force the Volga and moved back through Yaik and reached Otrar two months later.

5 "Five-year campaign" and the defeat of the Horde

Tamerlane began the second long, so-called "five-year" campaign in Iran in 1392. In the same year, Tamerlane conquered the Caspian regions, in 1393 - western Persia and Baghdad, and in 1394 - Transcaucasia. Tsar George VII managed to carry out defensive measures by 1394 - he gathered a militia, to which he attached the Caucasian highlanders, including the Nakhs. At first, the united Georgian-Mountain army had some success, they were even able to push back the advanced detachments of the conquerors. However, in the end, Tamerlane's approach with the main forces decided the outcome of the war. The defeated Georgians and Nakhs retreated north into the mountain gorges of the Caucasus. Given the strategic importance of the pass roads to the North Caucasus, in particular, the natural fortress - the Darial Gorge, Tamerlane decided to capture it. However, a huge mass of troops was so mixed up in the mountain gorges that they turned out to be unfit for combat. Tamerlane appointed one of his sons, Umar Sheikh, the ruler of Fars, and another son, Miran Shah, the ruler of Transcaucasia.

In 1394, Tamerlane learned that Tokhtamysh had again raised an army and made an alliance against him with the Sultan of Egypt, Barquq. The Golden Horde Kipchaks poured south through Georgia and again began to devastate the borders of the empire. An army was sent against them, but the Horde retreated to the north and disappeared into the steppes.

In the spring of 1395, Tamerlane held a review of his army near the Caspian Sea. Rounding the Caspian, Tamerlane went first to the west, and then turned north in a wide arc. The army passed through the Derbent passage, crossed Georgia and entered the territory of Chechnya. On April 15, two armies converged on the banks of the Terek. In the battle, the army of the Golden Horde was destroyed. So that Tokhtamysh would not recover again, Tamerlane's army went north to the banks of the Itil and drove Tokhtamysh into the forests of Bulgar. Then the army of Tamerlane moved west to the Dnieper, then rose to the north and ruined Rus', and then descended to the Don, from where they returned to their homeland through the Caucasus in 1396.

6 Campaign in India

In 1398, Tamerlane undertook a campaign against India, and the highlanders of Kafiristan were defeated along the way. In December, under the walls of Delhi, Tamerlane defeated the army of the Delhi Sultan and occupied the city without resistance, which a few days later was plundered by his army and burned. By order of Tamerlane, 100 thousand captured Indian soldiers were executed for fear of a rebellion on their part. In 1399, Tamerlane reached the banks of the Ganges, took several more cities and fortresses on the way back, and returned to Samarkand with huge booty.

7 Campaign in the Ottoman state

Returning from India in 1399, Tamerlane immediately began a new campaign. This campaign was originally caused by unrest in the area ruled by Miran Shah. Tamerlane deposed his son and defeated the enemies who invaded his possessions. Moving west, Tamerlane encountered the Turkmen state of Kara-Koyunlu, the victory of Tamerlane's troops forced the leader of the Turkmen Kara Yusuf to flee west to the Ottoman Sultan Bayazid the Lightning. After that, Kara Yusuf and Bayezid agreed on a joint action against Tamerlane.

In 1400, Tamerlane began hostilities against Bayezid, who captured Erzinjan, where Tamerlane's vassal ruled, and against the Egyptian sultan Faraj an-Nasir, whose predecessor, Barquq, ordered the assassination of Tamerlane's ambassador back in 1393. In 1400 he took the fortresses of Kemak and Sivas in Asia Minor and Aleppo in Syria, which belonged to the Egyptian sultan, and in 1401 he occupied Damascus.

On July 20, 1402, Tamerlane won a major victory over the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I, defeating him at the Battle of Ankara. The Sultan himself was taken prisoner. As a result of the battle, Tamerlane captured all of Asia Minor, and the defeat of Bayazid led to a peasant war in the Ottoman state and internecine strife among Bayazid's sons.

The fortress of Smyrna, which belonged to the Knights of St. John, which the Ottoman sultans could not take for 20 years, Tamerlane captured by storm in two weeks. The western part of Asia Minor in 1403 was returned to the sons of Bayazid, in the eastern part the local dynasties deposed by Bayazid were restored.

8 Hike to China

In the autumn of 1404, 68-year-old Tamerlane began to prepare for an invasion of China. The main goal was to capture the rest of the Great Silk Road in order to obtain maximum profits and ensure the prosperity of the native Maverannahr and its capital Samarkand. The campaign was stopped due to the beginning of a cold winter, and in February 1405, Tamerlane died.

Tamerlane

Central Asian commander-conqueror.

Tamerlane, the most powerful Central Asian general of the Middle Ages, restored the former Mongol empire of Genghis Khan (No. 4). His long life as a general was spent in almost constant combat, as he sought to expand the borders of his state and hold on to conquered lands that stretched from the Mediterranean coast in the south to India in the west and to Russia in the north.

He was born in 1336 into a Mongol military family in Kesh (present-day Shakhrisaba, Uzbekistan). His name comes from the nickname Timur Leng (Lame Timur), which is associated with his lameness on his left leg. Despite his humble origins and physical handicap, Timur, thanks to his abilities, achieved high ranks in the Mongol Khanate, whose territory covers present-day Turkestan and central Siberia. In 1370, Tamerlane, who became the head of the government, overthrew the khan and seized power in the Jagatai ulus. After that, he proclaimed himself a direct descendant of Genghis Khan. In the next thirty-five years, Tamerlane waged wars of conquest, capturing more and more new territories and suppressing any internal resistance.

Tamerlane sought to take the wealth of the conquered lands to his palace in Samarkand. Unlike Genghis Khan, he did not unite the newly conquered lands into an empire, but left behind monstrous destruction and erected pyramids from enemy skulls to commemorate his victories. Although Tamerlane greatly valued literature and art and turned Samarkand into a cultural center, he and his men carried out military operations with barbaric brutality.

Starting with the subjugation of neighboring tribes, Tamerlane then began to fight with Persia. In 1380-1389. he conquered Iran, Mesopotamia, Armenia and Georgia. In 1390 he invaded Russia, and in 1392 he went back through Persia, crushing the uprising that broke out there, killing all his opponents along with their families and burning their cities.

Tamerlane was an excellent tactician and a fearless commander who knew how to raise the morale of his soldiers, and his army often numbered more than a hundred thousand people. The military organization of Tamerlane partly resembled that of Genghis Khan. The main striking force was cavalry, armed with bows and swords, and supplies were carried on spare horses for long campaigns.

Obviously, only because of the love of war and imperial ambitions in 1389 Tamerlane invaded India, captured Delhi, where his army massacred, and destroyed what he could not take to Samarkand. Only a century later, Delhi was able to recover from the damage suffered. Not satisfied with the casualties among the civilian population, after the battle of Panipat on December 17, 1398, Tamerlane destroyed one hundred thousand captured Indian soldiers.

In 1401, Tamerlane conquered Syria, killing twenty thousand inhabitants of Damascus, and the following year he defeated the Turkish Sultan Bayezid I. After that, even those countries that were not yet subject to Tamerlane recognized his power and paid tribute to him, just to avoid invasion his horde. In 1404, Tamerlane even received tribute from the Egyptian Sultan and the Byzantine Emperor John.

Now the empire of Tamerlane could compete in size with Genghis Khanova, and the palace of the new conqueror was full of treasures. But although Tamerlane was well over sixty, he did not calm down. He plotted to invade China. However, on January 19, 1405, not having time to realize this plan, Tamerlane died. His tomb, Gur Emir, is today one of the great architectural monuments of Samarkand.

According to Tamerlane's will, the empire was divided between his sons and grandsons. It is not surprising that his heirs turned out to be bloodthirsty and ambitious. In 1420, after many years of war, the youngest son of Tamerlane Sharuk, the only survivor, received power over his father's empire.

Of course, Tamerlane was a powerful commander, but he was not a politician capable of creating a true empire. The conquered territories only provided him with booty and soldiers for robbery. He left no accomplishments other than scorched earth and pyramids of skulls. But it is indisputable that his conquests were very extensive, and his army kept all neighboring countries in fear. His direct influence on the life of Central Asia continued for most of the 14th century, and his conquests led to an increase in militancy, as the peoples had to arm themselves to protect themselves from the hordes of Tamerlane.

Tamerlane carried out his conquests thanks to the large number and power of his army and merciless cruelty. In our series, he can be compared with Adolf Hitler (No. 14) and Saddam Hussein (No. 81). Tamerlane took a place between these two historical figures, because he surpassed the latter in cruelty, although he is far inferior to the first.

Timur, the son of a Bek from the Turkicized Mongol 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 on his left leg. From childhood, he persistently engaged in military exercises and from the age of 12 began to go on campaigns with his father. He was a zealous Mohammedan, which played a significant role in his struggle with the Uzbeks.

Timur early showed his military abilities and the ability not only to command people, but also to subordinate them to his will. In 1361, he entered the service of Khan Togluk, a direct descendant of Genghis Khan. He owned large territories in Central Asia. Pretty soon, Timur became an adviser to the khan's son Ilyas Khoja and the ruler (viceroy) of the Kashkadarya vilayet in the possessions of Khan Togluk. By that time, the Bek's son 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 thousandth detachment in pursuit of Timur, but he, having fallen into a well-arranged ambush, was almost completely exterminated by Timur's soldiers in battle.

Gathering strength, Timur entered into 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 soldiers. On the side of Timur came the Turkmen tribes, who gave him numerous cavalry. Soon he declared war on his ally, the 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 were garrisons of fortresses and almost did not participate in field battles. Timur's cavalry detachment numbered only about 2 thousand people, but they were experienced warriors. In a number of battles, Timur defeated the khan's troops, and by 1370 their remnants retreated across the Syr River.

After these successes, Timur went to a military trick, which he succeeded brilliantly. On behalf of the khan's son, who commanded the troops of Togluk, he sent an order to the commandants of the fortresses to leave the fortresses entrusted to them and to move beyond the Syr River with the garrison troops. So, with the help of military cunning, Timur cleared all the enemy’s fortresses from 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 now he could lay claim to independent khan power.

In the same 1370, Timur became emir in Maverannahr - the 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 to prepare 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 by that time had thoroughly forgotten.

Timur began his struggle for power with a detachment of 313 warriors devoted to him. It was they who formed the backbone of the commanding staff of the army he created: 100 people began to command dozens of soldiers, 100 - hundreds and the last 100 - thousands. The closest and most trusted associates of Timur received the highest military posts.

He paid special attention to the selection of military leaders. In his army, foremen were chosen by the ten soldiers themselves, but Timur appointed centurions, thousandth and higher commanders personally. “The chief, whose power is weaker than a whip and a stick, is not worthy of the title,” said the Central Asian conqueror.

His army, unlike the troops of Genghis Khan and Batu Khan, received a salary. An ordinary soldier received from two to four horse prices. The size of such a salary was determined by the serviceman's service. The foreman received the salary of his ten and therefore was personally interested in the proper performance of the service by his subordinates. The centurion received a 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 measure of punishment was the deduction 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 ax, a saw, an awl, a needle, a lasso, a tursuk bag (water bag) and a horse. For 19 such warriors on a campaign, one wagon relied. 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. Five such horsemen relied on one wagon. In addition to the obligatory weapons, there were pikes, maces, sabers and other weapons. The Mongols carried everything necessary for camp life 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, the accuracy of shooting increased. Such horse archers were very effective in ambushes, during military operations in the mountains and during the siege of fortresses.

Timur's army was distinguished by a well-thought-out organization and a strictly defined order of construction. Each warrior knew his place in the ten, the ten in the hundred, the hundred in the thousand. Separate parts of the troops differed in the colors of horses, the color of clothes and banners, and combat equipment. According to the laws of Genghis Khan, before the campaign, the soldiers were reviewed with all the severity.

During campaigns, Timur took care of reliable military guards in order to avoid a sudden attack by the enemy. On the way or in the parking lot, security detachments were separated from the main forces at a distance of up to five kilometers. From them, sentinel posts were sent out even further, which, in turn, sent horse sentries forward.

Being an experienced commander, Timur chose for the battles of his predominantly cavalry army flat terrain, with water sources and vegetation. He lined up the troops for the 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 involved in the battle.

Timur began the battle with light cavalry, which bombarded the enemy with a cloud of arrows. After that, horse attacks began, which followed one after another. When the opposing side began to weaken, a strong reserve was brought into battle, consisting of heavy armored cavalry. Timur said: "The ninth attack gives victory." This was one of his main rules in the war.

Timur began his campaigns of conquest outside his original possessions in 1371. By 1380, he made 9 military campaigns, and soon all the neighboring regions inhabited by Uzbeks and most of the territory of modern Afghanistan were under his authority. Any resistance to the Mongol army was severely punished - after himself, the commander Timur left huge destruction and erected pyramids from the heads of defeated enemy soldiers.

In 1376, Emir Timur provided military assistance to Tokhtamysh, a descendant of Genghis Khan, 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 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 conquests of the Mongol army.

In 1386, Emir Timur made an aggressive campaign in the Caucasus. Near Tiflis, the Mongol army fought the Georgian army and won a complete victory. The capital of Georgia was destroyed. The defenders of the fortress of Vardzia put up courageous resistance to the conquerors, the entrance to which led through the dungeon. Georgian soldiers repelled 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. Simultaneously with Georgia, neighboring Armenia was also conquered.

In 1388, after a long resistance, Khorezm fell, and its capital Urgench was destroyed. Now all the lands along the river Jeyhun (Amu Darya) from the Pamir Mountains to the Aral Sea became the possessions of Emir Timur.

In 1389, the cavalry of the Samarkand Emir made a campaign in 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 big war with the Golden Horde. Timur's cavalry had to travel 2,500 kilometers across the arid steppes. Timur made three big 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 fortress of Derbent.

In July 1391, the largest battle between the armies of Emir Timur and Khan Tokhtamysh took place near Lake Kergel. The forces of the parties were approximately equal - 300 thousand cavalry soldiers each, but these figures in the sources are clearly overestimated. The battle began at dawn with a mutual skirmish of archers, followed by mounted attacks on each other. By noon, the army of the Golden Horde was defeated and put to flight. The winners got the khan's camp and numerous herds.

Timur successfully waged war against Tokhtamysh, but did not annex his possessions to himself. The Emir Mongol troops plundered the Golden Horde capital Sarai-Berke. Tokhtamysh with his troops and camps 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 city of Yelets. Its few defenders could not resist the enemy, and Yelets was burned. After that, Timur suddenly 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. Assessing the situation, Timur reinforced his reserve of heavy armored cavalry with troops that had not yet joined the battle, and he himself led the counterattack, which became victorious. The Persian army in the battle of Patila was utterly defeated. 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 moved there on a campaign at the head of his army. All the cities that rebelled against him were destroyed, and their inhabitants were ruthlessly exterminated. In the same way, the ruler of Samarkand suppressed revolts against Mongol rule in other countries he conquered.

In 1398 the great conqueror invades India. In the same year, Timur's army besieged the fortress city of Merath, which the Indians themselves considered impregnable. After inspecting the city fortifications, the emir ordered digging. However, underground work progressed very slowly, and then the besiegers took the city by storm with the help of ladders. Bursting into Merath, the Mongols killed all its inhabitants. After that, 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 boats. The Mongol warriors rushed with their horses to the Ganges and swam attacked the 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 the Delhi Muslims under the command of Mahmud Tughlaq. The battle began with the fact that 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 repulsed the first attack, and soon the main forces of the Mongol army entered the battle, and the Delhi Muslims were driven behind the walls of the city.

Timur captured Delhi from battle, betraying this numerous and rich Indian city to plunder, and its inhabitants to massacre. The conquerors left Delhi, burdened with huge booty. Everything that could not be taken to Samarkand, Timur ordered to destroy or destroy to the ground. It took a whole 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 slaughter of 100,000 Indian soldiers who had surrendered to him.

In 1400, Timur began an aggressive campaign 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 the Turkish troops, commanded by the Syrian emirs. They did not want to sit in a siege behind the fortress walls and went out to battle in an open field. The Mongols inflicted a crushing defeat on the opponents, and they retreated to Aleppo, losing several thousand people killed. After that, 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 was to be sent to Samarkand. In the Syrian capital of Damascus, which was captured on January 25, 1401, the Mongols massacred 20,000 inhabitants.

After the conquest of Syria, a war began against the 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 reports, 800,000-strong army. After that, he ordered the capture of crossings over the Kizil-Irmak River and laid siege to the Ottoman capital Ankara. This forced the Turkish army to accept a general battle with the Mongols under the camps of Ankara, it happened 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, which consisted of Ottoman Turks, hired Crimean Tatars, Serbs and other peoples of the Ottoman Empire, numbered 120-200 thousand people.

Timur won a victory largely due to the successful actions of his cavalry on the flanks and the transfer of bribed 18 thousand mounted Crimean Tatars to his side. In the Turkish army, the Serbs, who were on the left flank, held out most staunchly. Sultan Bayezid I was taken prisoner, and the Janissary infantrymen who were surrounded were completely killed. The fugitives were pursued by the emir's 30,000 light cavalry.

After a convincing victory at Ankara, Timur laid siege to the large seaside city of Smyrna and, after a two-week siege, took and sacked it. Then the Mongol army turned back to Central Asia, once again plundering 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 tribute to him, if only 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 huge state included Maverannahr, Khorezm, Transcaucasia, Persia (Iran), Punjab and other lands. All of them were combined artificially, through the strong military power of the conquering ruler.

Timur, as a conqueror and a great commander, reached the heights of power thanks to the skillful organization of his large army, built according to the decimal system and continuing the traditions of the military organization of Genghis Khan.

According to the will of Timur, who died in 1405 and was preparing a big campaign of conquest in China, his state was divided between his sons and grandsons. They immediately started a bloody internecine war and in 1420 Sharuk, who remained the only one among Timur's heirs, received power over his father's possessions and the emir's throne in Samarkand.

7 467

680 years ago, on April 8, 1336, Tamerlane was born. One of the most powerful world rulers, famous conquerors, brilliant commanders and cunning politicians. Tamerlane-Timur created one of the largest empires in the history of mankind. His empire stretched from the Volga River and the Caucasus Mountains in the west to India in the southwest. The center of the empire was in Central Asia, in Samarkand. His name is shrouded in legends, mystical events and still inspires interest.

"Iron Lame" (the right leg was struck in the area of ​​the kneecap) was an interesting personality, in which cruelty was combined with great intelligence, love of art, literature and history. Timur was a very brave and restrained man. He was a real warrior - strong and physically developed (a real athlete). A sober mind, the ability to make the right decisions in difficult situations, foresight and talent as an organizer allowed him to become one of the greatest rulers of the Middle Ages.

Timur's full name was Timur ibn Taragai Barlas - Timur son of Taragai from Barlas. In the Mongolian tradition Temir means "iron". In medieval Russian chronicles, it was referred to as Temir Aksak (Temir - "iron", Aksak - "lame"), that is, Iron Lame. In various Persian sources, the Iranianized nickname Timur-e Liang - "Timur the Lame" is often found. It passed into Western languages ​​as Tamerlane.

Tamerlane was born on April 8 (according to other sources - April 9 or March 11), 1336 in the city of Kesh (later called Shakhrisabz - "Green City"). This entire region was called Maverannahr (in translation - “what is beyond the river”) and was located between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers. It has been part of the Mongol (Mughal) empire for a century. The word "Mongols", in the original version "Moguls" comes from the root word "could, can" - "husband, mighty, mighty, powerful." From this root came the word "Moguls" - "great, powerful." Timur's family was also a representative of the Turkified Mongols-Moguls.

It is worth noting that the then Mongols-Moguls were not Mongoloids, like the modern inhabitants of Mongolia. Tamerlane himself belonged to the so-called South Siberian (Turanian) race, that is, a mixture of Caucasians and Mongoloids. The mixing process then took place in the south of Siberia, in Kazakhstan, Central Asia and Mongolia. Caucasoids (Aryans-Indo-Europeans), who for many millennia inhabited these areas, and gave passionary impetuses to the development of India, China and other regions, mixed with the Mongoloids. They completely dissolve in the Mongoloid and Turkic ethnic arrays (the genes of the Mongoloids are dominant), passing on to them some of their characteristics (including militancy). However, in the XIV century the process was not yet completed. Therefore, Timur had blond (red) hair, a thick red beard, and anthropologically belonged to the South Siberian race.

Timur's father, the petty feudal lord Taragai (Turgai), came from the Barlas tribe, which at one time was among the first, united by Temuchin-Genghis Khan. However, he did not belong to the direct descendants of Temuchin, so later Tamerlane could not claim the khan's throne. The founder of the Barlas clan was considered a large feudal lord Karachar, who at one time was an assistant to the son of Genghis Khan Chagatai. According to other sources, Tamerlane's ancestor was Irdamcha-Barlas - allegedly the nephew of Khabul Khan, the great-grandfather of Genghis Khan.

Little is known about the childhood of the future great conqueror. Timur's childhood and youth were spent in the mountains of Kesh. In his youth, he loved hunting and equestrian competitions, javelin throwing and archery, and had a penchant for war games. There is a legend about how ten-year-old Timur once drove home sheep, and with them managed to drive a hare, not allowing him to fight off the herd. At night, frightened by his too quick son, Taragai cut the tendons on his right leg. Allegedly, then Timur became lame. However, this is only a legend. In fact, Timur was wounded in one of the skirmishes during his turbulent youth. In the same fight, he lost two fingers on his hand, and all his life Tamerlane suffered from severe pain in his crippled leg. Perhaps this could be associated with outbursts of rage. Thus, it is known for sure that the boy and the youth were distinguished by great dexterity and physical strength, and from the age of 12 he took part in military skirmishes.

Start of political activity

The Mongol Empire was no longer a single state, it broke up into destinies-uluses, there were constant internecine wars that did not bypass Maverannahr, which was part of the Chagatai ulus. In 1224, Genghis Khan divided his state into four uluses, according to the number of sons. The second son Chagatai got Central Asia and nearby territories. The ulus of Chagatai covered primarily the former state of the Karakitays and the land of the Naimans, Maverannahr with the south of Khorezm, most of the Semirechye and East Turkestan. Here, since 1346, the power actually belonged not to the Mongol khans, but to the Turkic emirs. The first head of the Turkic emirs, that is, the ruler of the interfluve of the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, was Kazgan (1346-1358). After his death, serious unrest began in Maverannahr. The Mongol (Mogul) Khan Toglug-Timur invaded the region and captured the region in 1360. Soon after the invasion, his son Ilyas-Khodzhi was appointed governor of Mesopotamia. Part of the Central Asian nobles took refuge in Afghanistan, the other - voluntarily submitted to Toglug.

Among the latter was the leader of one of the detachments - Timur. He began his activity as the ataman of a small detachment (gang, gang), with which he supported one or the other side in civil strife, robbed, attacked small villages. The detachment gradually grew to 300 horsemen, with whom he entered the service of the ruler of Kesh, the head of the Barlas tribe, Haji. Personal courage, generosity, the ability to understand people and choose his assistants, and the pronounced qualities of a leader brought Timur wide popularity, especially among warriors. Later, he received the support of Muslim merchants, who began to see in the former bandit a protector from other gangs and a true Muslim (Timur was religious).

Timur was approved as the commander of the Kashkadarya tumen, the ruler of the Kesh region and one of the assistants to the Mogul prince. However, he soon quarreled with the prince, fled after the Amu Darya to the Badakhshan mountains and joined with his forces the ruler of Balkh and Samarkand, Emir Hussein, the grandson of Kazgan. He strengthened his alliance by marrying the emir's daughter. Timur with his warriors began to raid the lands of Khoja. In one of the fights, Timur was crippled, becoming the "Iron Lame" (Aksak-Timur or Timur-Leng). The fight against Ilyas-Khoja ended in 1364 with the defeat of the latter's troops. The uprising of the inhabitants of Maverannahr, which was dissatisfied with the cruel eradication of Islam by pagan warriors, helped. The Mughals were forced to retreat.

In 1365, the army of Ilyas-Khoja defeated the troops of Timur and Hussein. However, the people revolted again and expelled the Mughals. The uprising was led by the Serbedars (Persian “gallows”, “desperate”), supporters of the dervishes who preached equality. People's rule was established in Samarkand, the property of the rich sections of the population was confiscated. Then the rich turned to Hussein and Timur for help. In the spring of 1366, Timur and Hussein crushed the uprising by executing the Serbedar leaders.

"Great Emir"

Then there was a discord in the relationship between the two leaders. Hussein hatched plans to take the post of supreme emir of the Chagatai ulus, like his grandfather Kazagan, who seized this position by force during the time of Kazan Khan. Timur stood on the way to sole power. In turn, the local clergy took the side of Timur.

In 1366, Tamerlane rebelled against Hussein, in 1368 he made peace with him and again received Kesh. But in 1369 the struggle continued, and thanks to successful military operations, Timur fortified himself in Samarkand. In March 1370, Hussein was taken prisoner in Balkh and killed in the presence of Timur, although without his direct order. Hussein was ordered to be killed by one of the commanders (due to blood feud).

On April 10, Timur took the oath from all the military leaders of Maverannahr. Tamerlane declared that he was going to revive the power of the Mongol Empire, declared himself a descendant of the mythical progenitor of the Mongols Alan-Koa, although, being a non-Chinghisid, he was content with the title of only "great emir". With him was "zits-khan" - the real Genghisid Suyurgatmysh (1370-1388), and then the son of the latter Mahmud (1388-1402). Both "khans" did not play any political role.

The city of Samarkand became the capital of the new ruler; Timur moved the center of his state here for political reasons, although he initially leaned towards the Shakhrisabz option. According to legend, choosing the city that was to become the new capital, the great emir ordered to slaughter three rams: one in Samarkand, another in Bukhara and the third in Tashkent. Three days later the meat in Tashkent and Bukhara was rotten. Samarkand became "the home of the saints, the birthplace of the purest Sufis and a gathering of scholars." The city has really turned into the largest cultural center of the vast region, the “Shining Star of the East”, the “Precious Pearl”. Here, as well as in Shakhrisabz, the best architects, builders, scientists, writers from all countries and regions conquered by the emir were brought. An inscription was made on the portal of the beautiful Ak-Saray palace in Shakhrisabz: “If you doubt my power, look what I built!” Ak-Saray was built for 24 years, almost until the death of the conqueror. The arch of the entrance portal of Ak-Saray was the largest in Central Asia.

In fact, architecture was the passion of the great statesman and commander. Among the outstanding works of art that were supposed to emphasize the power of the empire, the Bibi Khanum Mosque (aka Bibi-Khanym; built in honor of Tamerlane's wife) has survived to this day and amaze the imagination. The mosque was erected by order of Tamerlane after his victorious campaign in India. It was the largest mosque in Central Asia; 10,000 people could pray in the courtyard of the mosque at the same time. Also worth noting is the Gur-Emir Mausoleum - the family tomb of Timur and the heirs of the empire; the architectural ensemble of Shakhi-Zinda - an ensemble of mausoleums of the Samarkand nobility (all this in Samarkand); the mausoleum of Dorus-Siadat in Shakhrisabz is a memorial complex, first for the prince Jahongir (Timur loved him very much and prepared him to become the heir to the throne), later he began to act as a family crypt for part of the Timurid dynasty.

Bibi-Khanym Mosque

Mausoleum Gur-Emir

The great commander did not receive a school education, but he had a good memory and knew several languages. A contemporary and prisoner of Tamerlane, Ibn Arabshah, who knew Tamerlane personally since 1401, reports: "As for Persian, Turkic and Mongolian, he knew them better than anyone else." Timur liked to talk with scientists, especially to listen to the reading of historical works, at court there was even a position of "reader of books"; stories of brave heroes. The great emir showed respect to Muslim theologians and hermit dervishes, did not interfere in the management of the property of the clergy, ruthlessly fought against numerous heresies - he also included philosophy with logic, which he forbade to engage in. The Christians of the captured cities should have rejoiced if they remained alive.

During the reign of Timur, a special cult of the Sufi teacher Ahmed Yasawi was introduced in the territories subordinate to him (primarily Maverannakhr). The commander claimed that he introduced a special worship of this outstanding Sufi, who lived in the XII century, after a vision at his grave in Tashkent, in which the Teacher appeared to Timur. Yasawi allegedly appeared to him and ordered to memorize a poem from his collection, adding: “In difficult times, remember this poem:

You, who at will are free to turn the dark night into day.
You who can turn the whole earth into a fragrant flower garden.
Help me in the difficult task that lies ahead of me and make it easy.
You who make everything difficult easy."

Many years later, when during a fierce battle with the army of the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid, Tamerlane's cavalry rushed to the attack, he repeated these lines seventy times, and the decisive battle was won.

Timur took care of the observance by his subjects of the prescriptions of religion. In particular, this led to the appearance of a decree on the closure of entertainment establishments in large trading cities, although they brought large income to the treasury. True, the great emir himself did not deny himself pleasures, and only before his death he ordered the destruction of the belongings of feasts. Timur found religious reasons for his campaigns. So, it was necessary to urgently teach heretics a lesson in Shiite Khorasan, then to avenge the Syrians for the insults inflicted on the family of the prophet in their time, then to punish the population of the Caucasus for drinking wine there. Vineyards and fruit trees were destroyed in the occupied lands. Interestingly, later (after the death of the great warrior), the mullahs refused to recognize him as a true Muslim, since he "honored the laws of Genghis Khan above religious ones."

Tamerlane devoted all the 1370s to the fight against the khans of Dzhent and Khorezm, who did not recognize the power of Suyurgatmysh Khan and the great emir Timur. It was restless on the southern and northern borders of the border, where Mogolistan and the White Horde were causing concern. Moghulistan (Mughal Ulus) is a state that was formed in the middle of the 14th century on the territory of South-Eastern Kazakhstan (south of Lake Balkhash) and Kyrgyzstan (the coast of Lake Issyk-Kul) as a result of the collapse of the Chagatai ulus. After the capture of Sygnak by Urus Khan and the transfer of the capital of the White Horde to it, the lands subject to Timur were in even greater danger.

Soon the power of Emir Timur was recognized by Balkh and Tashkent, but the Khorezm rulers continued to resist the Chagatai ulus, relying on the support of the rulers of the Golden Horde. In 1371, the ruler of Khorezm attempted to capture southern Khorezm, which was part of the Chagatai ulus. Timur made five trips to Khorezm. The capital of Khorezm, rich and glorious Urgench, fell in 1379. Timur waged a stubborn struggle with the rulers of Mogolistan. From 1371 to 1390, Emir Timur made seven campaigns against Mogolistan. In 1390, the Moghulistan ruler Kamar ad-din was finally defeated, and Mogolistan ceased to threaten the power of Timur.

Further conquests

Having established himself in Maverannahr, the Iron Lame proceeded to large-scale conquests in other parts of Asia. Timur's conquest of Persia in 1381 began with the capture of Herat. The unstable political and economic situation in Persia at the time favored the invader. The revival of the country, which began during the reign of the Ilkhans, again slowed down with the death of the last representative of the Abu Said clan (1335). In the absence of an heir, the throne was occupied in turn by rival dynasties. The situation was aggravated by the clash between the dynasties of the Mongolian Jalayrids, who ruled in Baghdad and Tabriz; the Perso-Arab family of the Muzafarids, who were in power in Fars and Isfahan; Harid Kurtami in Herat. In addition, local religious and tribal alliances, such as the Serbedars (who rebelled against the Mongol oppression) in Khorasan and the Afghans in Kerman, and petty princes in the border regions participated in the civil war. All these warring dynasties and principalities could not jointly and effectively resist Timur's army.

Khorasan and all of Eastern Persia fell under his onslaught in 1381-1385. The conqueror made three large campaigns in the western part of Persia and the adjacent regions - a three-year (from 1386), a five-year (from 1392) and a seven-year (from 1399). Fars, Iraq, Azerbaijan and Armenia were conquered in 1386–1387 and 1393–1394; Mesopotamia and Georgia came under the rule of Tamerlane in 1394, although Tiflis (Tbilisi) submitted as early as 1386. Sometimes vassal oaths were taken by local feudal lords, often close military leaders or relatives of the conqueror became the heads of the conquered regions. So, in the 80s, Timur's son Miranshah was appointed ruler of Khorasan (later Transcaucasia was transferred to him, and then the west of his father's power), Fars was ruled for a long time by another son - Omar, and finally, in 1397, Timur was the ruler of Khorasan, Seistan and Mazanderan appointed his youngest son - Shahrukh.

It is not known what prompted Timur to conquer. Many researchers tend to the psychological factor. Like, the emir was driven by irrepressible ambition, as well as mental problems, including those caused by a wound in his leg. Timur suffered from severe pains and they caused outbursts of rage. Timur himself said: "The whole space of the inhabited part of the world is not worth having two kings." In fact, this is a call for globalization, which is also relevant in the modern world. Alexander the Great and the rulers of the Roman Empire, Genghis Khan, also acted.

It is worth noting such an objective factor as the need to feed and maintain a large army (its maximum number reached 200 thousand soldiers). In peacetime it was impossible to maintain a large army, tens of thousands of professional soldiers. The war fed itself. The troops ravaged more and more new areas and were pleased with their ruler. A successful war made it possible to channel the energy of the nobility and warriors, to keep them in subjection. As Lev Gumilyov wrote: “Having started the war, Timur had to continue it - the war fed the army. Having stopped, Timur would have been left without an army, and then without a head. The war allowed Timur to obtain great wealth, export the best craftsmen from various countries and equip the heart of his empire. The emir brought to the country not only material booty, but also brought with him prominent scientists, artisans, artists, architects. Timur cared mainly about the prosperity of his native Maverannahr and about the exaltation of the splendor of his capital - Samarkand.

Tamerlane, unlike many other conquerors, did not always strive to create a strong administrative system on the conquered lands. Timur's empire rested solely on military power. Apparently, he chose civilian officials much worse than military leaders. This can be evidenced by at least numerous cases of punishment for extortion of high dignitaries in Samarkand, Herat, Shiraz, Tabriz. As well as uprisings of the local population, caused by the arbitrariness of the administration. In general, the inhabitants of the newly conquered regions of Tamerlane were extremely weakly interested. His armies smashed, crushed, robbed, killed, leaving a bloody trail of tens of thousands of dead people. He sold the population of entire cities into slavery. And then he returned to Samarkand, where he brought the treasures of the whole world, the best masters and played chess.

Tamerlane came from the Barlas clan. 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 4,000-strong 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 means “thick, strong” in Mongolian. 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 the commanders of Tamerlane were just Barlas.

Interestingly, when the Persian Shah Mansour Muzaffari in his message he called Tamerlane an "Uzbek", the "iron lame man" was greatly offended. This was the reason for the campaign against the 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 generals in world history is Timur ibn Taragay Barlas, which means "Timur son of Taragai from the Barlas family." Various Persian sources mention the derogatory nickname Timur-elang, that is "Timur Khromoy" given to the general by his enemies. "Timur-e Liang" migrated to Western sources as "Tamerlane". Having lost its pejorative meaning, it became the second historical name of Timur.

2. From childhood, who loved hunting and war games, Timur was a strong, healthy, physically developed person. Anthropologists who studied the tomb of the commander 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 the appearance of Tamerlane from his skull. Mikhail Mikhailovich Gerasimov, 1941. Photo: Public Domain

3. From the time of Genghis Khan The title of Great Khan could only be worn by Genghisides. That is why Timur formally bore the title of emir (leader). At the same time, in 1370, he managed to intermarry with the Genghisides, marrying his daughter Kazan Khanbarn-mulkxanim. After that, Timur received the prefix Gurgan, which means "son-in-law", which allowed him to live and act freely in the homes of "natural" Genghisides.

4. In 1362, Timur, who was waging a guerrilla war against the Mongols, was seriously injured during the battle in Seistan, having lost two fingers on his right hand and was seriously wounded in his right leg. The injury, which plagued Timur for the rest of his life, led to lameness and the nickname "Timur the Lame".

5. For several decades of virtually continuous wars, Timur managed to create a huge state that included Maverannahr (the historical region of Central Asia), Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The conqueror Timur himself gave the name Turan to the created state.

Tamerlane's conquests. Source: Public Domain

6. At the peak of his power, Timur had at his disposal an army numbering about 200 thousand soldiers. It was organized according to the system created by Genghis Khan - tens, hundreds, thousands, as well as tumens (divisions of 10 thousand people). A special control body was responsible for order in the army and its provision with everything necessary, the functions of which were similar to the modern Ministry of Defense.

7. In 1395, Timur's army for the first and last time ended up in Russian lands. The conqueror did not consider Russian territories as an object for joining his state. The reason for the invasion was the struggle of Timur with the Golden Horde Khan Tokhtamysh. And although Timur's army devastated part of the Russian lands, capturing Yelets, on the whole, the conqueror, with his victory over Tokhtamysh, contributed to the fall of the Golden Horde's influence 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, liked to talk with scientists and demanded to read works on history 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 campaigns not only material booty, but also scientists, artisans, artists, architects. Under him, there was an active restoration of cities, the foundation of new ones, the construction of bridges, roads, irrigation systems, as well as the active development of 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 Turkanyeah And barn-mulkxanim. 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 Saray-mulk xanim is his widow.

11. Back in 1398, Timur began to prepare for an aggressive campaign in China, which was launched in 1404. As often happens in history, the Chinese were saved by chance - the campaign that had begun was interrupted due to the 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 the grave of Tamerlane." Allegedly, immediately after the opening of the grave of Timur, a great and terrible war should begin. Indeed, Soviet archaeologists opened the tomb of Timur in Samarkand on June 20, 1941, that is, two days before the start of World War II. Skeptics, however, remind that the plan of attack on the USSR was approved in Nazi Germany long before the opening of Timur's grave. As for the inscriptions promising trouble to those who open the grave, they did not differ in any way from similar ones made on other burials of the Timur era, and were intended to scare away tomb robbers. It is worth noting one more thing - the famous Soviet anthropologist and archaeologist Mikhail Gerasimov, who not only participated in the opening of the tomb, but also restored the appearance of Timur from his skull, lived safely until 1970.