The full name of the great conqueror of antiquity, which will be discussed in our article, is Timur ibn Taragai Barlas, but in literature he is often referred to as Tamerlane, or Iron Lame. It should be clarified that he was nicknamed Iron not only for his personal qualities, but also because this is how his name Timur is translated from the Turkic language. Lameness was the result of a wound received in the battle of Seistan. There is reason to believe that this mysterious commander of the past was involved in the great blood shed in the 20th century.
Who is Tamerlane and where is he from?
First, a few words about the childhood of the future great khan. It is known that Timur-Tamerlane was born on April 9, 1336 on the territory of the present Uzbek city of Shakhrisabz, which at that time was a small village called Khoja-Ilgar. His father, a local landowner from the Barlas tribe, Muhammad Taragai, professed Islam, and raised his son in this faith.
Following the customs of those times, from early childhood he taught the boy the basics of military art - horseback riding, archery and javelin throwing. As a result, barely reaching maturity, he was already experiencedwarrior. It was then that the future conqueror Tamerlane received invaluable knowledge.
The biography of this man, or rather, that part of it that became the property of history, begins with the fact that in his youth he won the favor of Khan Tuglik, the ruler of the Chagatai ulus, one of the Mongol states, on whose territory the future commander was born.
Appreciating the fighting qualities, as well as Timur's outstanding mind, he brought him closer to the court, making him his son's tutor. However, the entourage of the prince, fearing his rise, began to build intrigues against him, and as a result, fearing for his life, the newly-minted teacher was forced to flee.
Leading a squad of mercenaries
The years of Tamerlane's life coincided with the historical period when Central Asia was a continuous theater of military operations. Fragmented into many states, it was constantly torn apart by civil strife of local khans, who were constantly trying to seize neighboring lands. The situation was aggravated by countless bands of robbers - Jete, who did not recognize any authority and lived exclusively by robberies.
In this situation, the failed teacher Timur-Tamerlan found his true calling. By uniting several dozen ghouls - professional mercenary warriors - he created a detachment that surpassed all other surrounding gangs in its fighting qualities and cruelty.
First conquests
Together with his thugs, the newly-minted commander made daring raids on cities and villages. It is known that in 1362 he stormedseveral fortresses belonging to the Sarbadars - participants in the popular movement against the Mongol rule. Having captured them, he ordered the surviving defenders to be immured into the walls. This was an act of intimidation for all future opponents, and such cruelty became one of the main features of his character. Very soon, the whole East learned about who Tamerlane was.
It was then in one of the fights that he lost two fingers of his right hand and was seriously wounded in the leg. Its consequences were preserved until the end of his life and served as the basis for the nickname - Timur the Lame. However, this injury did not prevent him from becoming a figure who played a significant role in the history of not only Central, Western and South Asia, but also the Caucasus and Russia in the last quarter of the 14th century.
The leadership talent and extraordinary audacity helped Tamerlane to conquer the entire territory of Ferghana, subjugating Samarkand, and making the city of Ket the capital of the newly formed state. Further, his army rushed to the territory belonging to present-day Afghanistan, and, having ruined it, stormed the ancient capital of Balkh, whose emir, Husein, was immediately hanged. Most of the courtiers shared his fate.
Cruelty as a deterrent
The next direction of his cavalry strike was the cities of Isfahan and Fars located south of Balkh, where the last representatives of the Persian Muzaffarid dynasty ruled. Isfahan was the first on his way. Having captured it and given it to his mercenaries for plunder, Timur the Lame ordered to put the heads of the dead in a pyramid, the height of which exceededman's height. This was a continuation of his constant tactics of intimidating opponents.
It is characteristic that the whole subsequent history of Tamerlane, the conqueror and commander, is marked by manifestations of extreme cruelty. In part, it can be explained by the fact that he himself became a hostage to his own politics. Leading a highly professional army, Khromoy had to regularly pay his mercenaries, otherwise their scimitars would turn against him. This forced us to seek new victories and conquests by any means available.
The beginning of the fight against the Golden Horde
In the early 80s of the XIV century, the next stage in the ascent of Tamerlane was the conquest of the Golden Horde, or, in other words, the Dzhuchiev ulus. From time immemorial, it has been dominated by the Euro-Asian steppe culture with its religion of polytheism, which had nothing to do with Islam, professed by the majority of its warriors. Therefore, the fighting that began in 1383 became a clash not only of opposing armies, but also of two different cultures.
The Horde Khan Tokhtamysh, the same one who in 1382 made a campaign against Moscow, wishing to get ahead of his opponent and strike first, undertook a campaign against Kharezm. Having achieved temporary success, he also captured a significant territory of present-day Azerbaijan, but soon his troops were forced to retreat, having suffered significant losses.
In 1385, taking advantage of the fact that Timur and his hordes were in Persia, he tried again, but this time failed. Learning about the invasion of the Horde, formidablethe commander urgently returned his troops to Central Asia and utterly defeated the enemy, forcing Tokhtamysh himself to flee to Western Siberia.
Continuation of the fight against the Tatars
However, the conquest of the Golden Horde has not yet ended. Its final defeat was preceded by five years filled with incessant military campaigns and bloodshed. It is known that in 1389 the Horde Khan even managed to insist that Russian squads support him in the war with the Muslims.
This was facilitated by the death of the Grand Duke of Moscow Dmitry Donskoy, after which his son and heir Vasily was obliged to go to the Horde for a label to reign. Tokhtamysh confirmed his rights, but subject to the participation of Russian troops in repelling the Muslim attack.
The defeat of the Golden Horde
Prince Vasily agreed, but it was only formal. After the defeat perpetrated by Tokhtamysh in Moscow, none of the Russians wanted to shed blood for him. As a result, in the very first battle on the Kondurcha River (a tributary of the Volga), they abandoned the Tatars and, having crossed to the opposite bank, left.
The completion of the conquest of the Golden Horde was the battle on the Terek River, in which the troops of Tokhtamysh and Timur met on April 15, 1395. Iron Lame managed to inflict a crushing defeat on his opponent and thus put an end to the Tatar raids on the territories under his control.
Threat to Russian lands and campaign against India
The next blow was prepared by him in the very heart of Russia. The purpose of the planned campaign was Moscow and Ryazan, which had not known before thatpores, who is Tamerlane, and paid tribute to the Golden Horde. But, fortunately, these plans were not destined to come true. The uprising of the Circassians and Ossetians prevented, which broke out in the rear of Timur's troops and forced the conqueror to turn back. The only victim then was the city of Yelets, which appeared on his way.
Over the next two years, his army made a victorious campaign in India. Having captured Delhi, Timur's soldiers plundered and burned the city, and killed 100 thousand defenders who were captured, fearing a possible rebellion on their part. Having reached the banks of the Ganges and captured several fortified fortresses along the way, the army of many thousands returned to Samarkand with rich booty and a large number of slaves.
New conquests and new blood
Following India, it was the turn of the Ottoman Sultanate to submit to the sword of Tamerlane. In 1402, he defeated the Janissaries of Sultan Bayazid, who had been invincible until then, and captured him himself. As a result, the entire territory of Asia Minor was under his dominion.
Could not resist the troops of Tamerlane and the Ionite knights, who for many years held in their hands the fortress of the ancient city of Smyrna. Having repeatedly repulsed the attacks of the Turks before, they surrendered to the mercy of the lame conqueror. When the Venetian and Genoese ships with reinforcements arrived to their aid, the victors threw them from the fortress catapults with the severed heads of the defenders.
The idea that Tamerlane could not implement
The biography of this outstanding commander and the evil genius of his era, ends with the latest ambitious project,which was his campaign against China, which began in 1404. The goal was to capture the Great Silk Road, which made it possible to receive a tax from passing merchants and replenish their already overflowing treasury due to this. But the implementation of the plan was prevented by a sudden death that ended the life of the commander in February 1405.
The great emir of the Timurid Empire - under this title he entered the history of his people - was buried in the Gur Emir mausoleum in Samarkand. A legend is connected with his burial, passed down from generation to generation. It says that if Tamerlane's sarcophagus is opened and his ashes are disturbed, then a terrible and bloody war will be the punishment for this.
In June 1941, an expedition of the USSR Academy of Sciences was sent to Samarkand to exhume the remains of the commander and study them. The grave was opened on the night of June 21, and the next day, as you know, the Great Patriotic War began.
Another fact is also interesting. In October 1942, a participant in those events, cameraman Malik Kayumov, meeting with Marshal Zhukov, told him about the fulfilled curse and offered to return the ashes of Tamerlane to their original place. This was done on November 20, 1942, and on the same day a radical turning point followed during the Battle of Stalingrad.
Skeptics are inclined to argue that in this case there were only a number of accidents, because the plan of attack on the USSR was developed long before the opening of the tomb by people who, although they knew who Tamerlane was, but, of course, did not take into account the pressure on his grave spell. without entering intocontroversy, let's just say that everyone has the right to have their own point of view on this matter.
Conqueror Family
The wives and children of Timur are of particular interest to researchers. Like all Eastern rulers, this great conqueror of the past had a huge family. He had 18 official wives alone (not counting concubines), the favorite of whom is considered to be Sarai-mulk xanim. Despite the fact that the lady with such a poetic name was barren, her master entrusted the upbringing of many of his sons and grandchildren. She also went down in history as the patroness of art and science.
It is quite clear that with so many wives and concubines, there was no shortage of children either. Nevertheless, only four of his sons took the places befitting such a high birth, and became rulers in the empire created by their father. In their face, the story of Tamerlane found its continuation.
