Who was this undoubtedly talented organizer and the greatest military leader in world history? In Asia he is considered a genius, in Europe — an ogre.
Perhaps, only Genghis Khan, if he really existed, could be compared by the number of victories on the battlefield with Tamerlane. He crushed the armies of the Golden Horde, the Ottoman Empire, Persia, Egypt, India and other states.
Tamerlan is not a name, but a nickname
We know him as “Tamerlane.” It turns out that this is not his real name. The Persians he beat repeatedly and those hated him.
In their chronicles, the Persians referred to the commander as “Timur-e Liang”, that is, “Timur the Lame”, mocking his physical disadvantage. In European sources, however, “Timur-e Liang” was read as “Tamerlane”.
Therefore, when we call him Tamerlan, we are calling him a derogatory nickname. But over time, the name lost its pejorative meaning.
His real name is Timur ibn Taragai Barlas. It tells us that he is Timur, son of Taragai and comes from the Barlas family.
Claims about his nationality are speculative
Timur was born in the family of a poor landowner. He grew up a healthy and mobile child. The boy loved war games, and when he grew up he spent weeks on hunting.
All claims about his nationality are speculative. Scientists who examined Timur’s remains concluded that the warlord belonged to the South Siberian race of mixed Mongoloid-European origin.
He lived at a time when the modern nationalities of the Central Asian region had not yet developed. There were no Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Uighurs, Altaians or Khakasses.
Timur died when he was 68 years old. So, anthropologists were surprised when they examined his remains. The biological age of the conqueror did not exceed 50 years.
He was no descendant of Genghis Khan.
Powerful, invincible, possessing a huge army Timur could not call himself a great khan. You can imagine how titles were treated back then.
The fact is that the great commander did not belong to the dynasty of Genghis Khan, neither in the first, nor in the fifth, nor in any other generation. In order to somehow enter the huge family of Chinggisids (descendants of Genghis Khan), he was forced to marry Sarai-mulk khanim — the daughter of Chinggisid Kazan-khan.
On the rights of his son-in-law he could safely enter the chambers of the Chingizids, have conversations with them and make alliances. Otherwise, he, even so great and with such a huge army, could not be allowed on the threshold.
Unbearable pains haunted him for the rest of his life
Timur was seriously wounded in Seistan (a region in southeastern Iran and southwestern Afghanistan). He was fighting against the Mongols with his still very small band. Well, how did he fight… robbed caravans of goods. After all, he started out as a robber.
So in one of these skirmishes young Timur had two fingers on his right hand, and then he also broke his leg. All in all, it was not a good day for him.
The bone had healed, but somehow not in the right way. The warlord felt the pain in his right leg for the rest of his life.
But maybe it was a sign from above? After all, after that Timur thought — how to live on? He could no longer hold a sword, he limped on one leg. What kind of warrior was he?
And since he was a man of great intelligence, he began to build his empire. And he did.
He created the vast empire of the Timurids.
The crown of the conquests of the talented commander was the creation of the state of Turan, also known as the Timurid Empire.
It was formed in 1370, when Timur came to power and he was handed by the descendant of the Prophet Muhammad Sheikh Mir Said Barak symbols of power: a drum and a banner.
It was a huge state. It included the Caucasus, including the North Caucasus (modern Abkhazia would just be the westernmost province of Turan), all of modern Iran, the eastern part of Turkey, the northeastern part of Syria, Mesopotamia, and the western part of modern Afghanistan.
His army numbered about 200,000 warriors
Timur did not invent a bicycle, which was invented before him, and just took and organized his army, which numbered about 200 thousand warriors, according to the system of Genghis Khan’s army.
His army was structured according to the decimal system, common, by the way, for Asia. The military division was divided as follows: arban (ten), jagun (hundred), mingan (thousand) and tumen (ten thousand).
At the peak of his glory Timur had about 20 tumen of selected mounted warriors. Even the great Genghis Khan did not have such an army.
Naturally, such a huge army had to be managed somehow. And not only in battle. So Timur had a special body. Something like the modern Ministry of Defense. Most likely, the functions of this body were similar to modern military institutions.
Contributed to the fall of the Golden Horde’s influence over the Russian principalities
Timur never considered the northwestern lands belonging to the Russian principalities as an object for conquest. Only once he with the army has appeared on lands of Russia.
It was early spring of 1395. Iron Thunderer had no need to make war with Russian princes. It with the army has come from the side of Caucasus mountains to finally pacify Tokhtamysh, mean and corrupt descendant of dynasty Chingizids.
The battle of two armies on the Terek ended with Timur’s victory. Tokhtamysh once again gave a buzz and crawled away to lick his wounds in Volga Bulgaria. Timur’s warriors, as it is supposed, began to gut the possessions of the defeated khan. They were so carried away that they reached the Ryazan lands, where they plundered and burned Yelets. Then they turned around and quietly went south. To plague the Turks.
So involuntarily Timur promoted falling of influence of Golden Horde on Russian princedoms.
Developed science, painting, secular and religious education
It is said that Tamerlane was illiterate. He was not. Even at an early age he learned literacy from his mentor — a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad Mira Said Barak. It was from him that he always received a blessing for the next battle.
Talented and capable, he knew several foreign languages and could speak them with foreign scholars. Sometimes, having spoken to the scientists on this or that subject, Timur surprised them greatly. So deep was his knowledge.
Legends were made about Timur’s cruelty. His warriors exterminated entire tribes and communities. They spared neither babies, women nor the elderly.
At the same time, from his bloody campaigns, the Iron Hammer brought dozens of artisans, artists, architects.
He, on whose orders hundreds of cities and settlements were destroyed and burned, as if atoning for his guilt. He actively rebuilt cities, built roads and bridges. Welcomed the development of science, painting, education.
Timur had 18 wives.
As befits an eastern despot, whose personality was deified during his lifetime, Timur was surrounded by numerous wives. He had about eighteen of them. Maybe more, maybe less. Who counted them then.
Timur’s favorite wives were Uljai-turkan aga and Sarai-mulk khans. And most interestingly, the former was the sister of his fellow Emir Hussein, the ruler of Maverannahr, and the latter was Hussein’s widow.
The Chinese were saved by an extremely cold winter
Well, and of course, like any conqueror, Timur simply could not bypass China. For some reason everyone was convinced that it was the richest land. Silk, gold and precious stones.
But that’s what it really was. In 1404, when Timur began preparations for the conquest of China, this state had the largest merchant fleet. 250 ships, among which 60 huge ships, the so-called “treasure ships” stood out.
These ships had no analogues in the world and traded with East Africa. Only in the period from 1405 to 1433, the fleet of these “treasure ships” made 7 trade expeditions across the Indian Ocean.
China was lucky. Timur’s huge army had already begun to move to the border of China, but the early onset of winter, and in addition extremely cold, interrupted this campaign.
It was decided to postpone this venture for a year, but the campaign never took place. In 1405 Timur died.
The beginning of the war had nothing to do with the opening of Timur’s tomb
An unusually large number of legends and speculations are associated with the tomb of the great commander. It should happen that Soviet anthropologists began to open the grave two days before the war, June 20, 1941.
Immediately the beginning of the war was associated with the so-called curse of Tamerlane’s tomb. Maybe they would not have opened the tomb, and everything would have been fine.
Maybe, maybe… That’s if you ignore the German plan of attack on the Soviet Union. This directive № 21 under the code name “Barbarossa” was approved by Hitler in late 1940, and the plan itself was developed by the German General Staff in the second half of 1940.
As for some scary inscriptions promising trouble for grave robbers, they were just meant to scare them away. Nothing more.
The same famous anthropologist Mikhail Gerasimov, who directly participated in the excavations, and then also restored the appearance of the Iron Hammer on his skull, died in 1970.
The meaning of the rings on the banner has not yet been found out
Timur’s banner is a symbol of his power. Back in those days, the meaning of this symbol was given great importance. To lose it in battle meant to lose the opportunity to resist the enemy.
On the banner of Tamerlane were depicted three rings, located in the form of an equilateral triangle.
The first version, which was put forward by historians, tells us that it symbolizes earth, water and sky.
But has the right to life and another version. Under Timur counted only three parts of the world. So it comes out that the commander possessed the whole world, that is, all parts of the world.
Nicholas Roerich believed that this symbol is something else, as “triunity”. This sign is universal in many cultures: Turkic, Celtic, Indian and many others.