Well, actually, he committed many more of them — not for nothing is the Central Asian conqueror considered one of the most dangerous men who walked the earth. For the sake of personal glory and the joy of victory, he destroyed countries and cities that were more cultured, rich, tolerant and developed, which led to the civilizational backwardness of the Islamic world. But let’s limit ourselves to a short list, and talk only about six of his terrible deeds.
Isfahan was an ancient Persian city where many scholars, poets and intellectuals worked. What it lacked were defenders and strong walls. Therefore, after Tamerlane’s huge army came here, local leaders prudently decided to surrender without a fight. The commander accepted the surrender and sent a relatively small detachment to get a ransom for keeping alive. But his soldiers did start looting, at which point they were outnumbered. After this Isfahan was exemplarily taken, and every soldier was ordered to bring some heads — men, children and women lost their lives. Twenty-eight pyramids of skulls were poured outside the walls — 1,500 in each. «Then he ordered women and children to be taken to the plain outside the city, and ordered children under seven years of age to be put separately, and ordered his men to ride over these children,» is how Ahmad ibn Arabshah wrote about it. Many refused, and then he set an example himself.
If Timur’s Muslim enemies had the opportunity to preserve their lives at least on condition of surrender, there was no such preferential treatment for Christians. Therefore, the followers of one or another of the Eastern churches, which had previously flourished in Central Asia and Iraq, were physically destroyed. In the latter they constituted up to half of the total population, but after the campaigns of the «Iron Hammer» their numbers could never recover.
Before Tamerlane, Baghdad presented itself as the jewel of the Islamic world and the most brilliant of the eastern capitals, where Sunnis, Shiites, Christians and Jews coexisted in relative harmony. When sappers broke down the walls after six weeks of siege, the nomads rushed in like locusts. Once again, a quota was set for the soldiers to each bring two heads — otherwise they would part with their own. And again pyramids of skulls were poured outside the city.
Formally, the reason for the invasion of India was the excessive tolerance shown to the infidels by the rulers of the Delhi Sultanate. At one moment Timur had up to one hundred thousand captive Indians in his hands, and then it became known that a new army was moving towards him. What was then described in his memoirs, «I announced throughout the camp that every man who had captured infidels should put them to death, and he who neglected to do so should be executed himself and his property given to the informer.» Even the scholar of Maulana Nasiruddin Umar, who had never harmed even a sparrow in his life, was forced to get rid of those who were considered his captives.
Shortly before the Central Asian warlord attacked the Ottoman Empire with all his might, he marched on disputed borderlands. In 1399, he besieged the ancient city of Sivas, which was defended by 3,000 Armenian soldiers. Tamerlane made a promise that in case of surrender he would not shed their blood. And he kept his word — everyone was buried alive.
In 1400 the emir invaded Syria to punish the Mamluks, whom he considered his enemies. When Homs and Aleppo were destroyed, only Damascus remained in the way. The city held out for about a month, but, failing to receive reinforcements, was forced to surrender. After that it was ransomed and terrorized: for several days each warrior did whatever he wanted to the inhabitants. What saved it from total destruction was the fact that it was home to many skilled artisans, especially the world’s best weapons makers. They survived and were taken away as prisoners.
Together with them went and the future historian Ahmad ibn Arabshah — at that time he was still a child. The great conqueror he saw with his own eyes and served at his court. But later he got a chance to return to his homeland and wrote a book called «The Miracles of Fate of Timur’s History». And told about what he saw, and what a black soul the «Iron Hammer» had.