Born: 9 April 1336.
Died: 18 February 1405.
Known in the West as Tamerlane, Timur was the last great Mongol conqueror. Described by Christopher Marlowe as “The scourge of god and terror of the world”, Timur was an ambitious warlord who took great trouble to bring his enemies to battle while they were at a disadvantage. During his thirty-five years of conquest, Timur defeated in battle enemies as diverse as the Persians, Golden Horde Mongols, Indians, Mamluk Egyptians, and Ottoman Turks. Timur’s insatiable appetite for warfare led him to plan the conquest of Ming China, which was cut short by his death in 1405.
Historical Background
Timur was born on 9 April 1336 in Uzbekistan to Taraghai, a minor noble of the Barlas clan, and Tekina Khatun, who was possibly a descendant of Genghis Khan. As a young man, Timur became a leader of a small band of fighters engaged in skirmishes and raids against rival tribes and merchants. In 1362, Timur was shot in the leg by an arrow which caused his right arm and leg to become partially paralysed. Despite his disability, he subsequently served under Husayn of Balkh before deposing him in 1370 and becoming ruler of Transoxiana. From his base at Samarkand, Timur embarked on 35 years of campaigning and conquest, during which he fought against Persia (1387), Golden Horde Mongols (1391 and 1395), Delhi Sultanate of India (1398), Mamluk Egyptians (1400) and Ottoman Turks (1402). By 1404, his empire stretched from Syria in the west to the borders of India in the east, with his thirst for conquest remaining unsatisfied. In January 1405, Timur embarked on a campaign against Ming China before falling ill at Otrar and dying on 18 February at the age of 68.
Historical Influences
Timur was influenced by Genghis Khan, whom he sought to emulate. Unlike Genghis Khan, he always commanded his armies in person and took a keen interest in military logistics, tactics, and strategy. He was also a first-rate chess player and incorporated his skills as a sharp and calculating grand master into the domain of warfare. As stated by R.G. Grant, “Of his mental strength there was never the slightest doubt. Timur’s keen intellect and unshakeable willpower were attested by all those who met him” (Grant, 2010, p.92). Timur was also a devout and intolerant follower of Islam and expected his followers and other Muslim rulers to follow suit. Styling himself as the “Sword of Islam,” Timur drew freely from Islamic and Mongol laws to justify his military and political actions. For example, one of the main reasons for Timur’s invasion of India in 1398 was that the Sultan of Delhi had failed to keep his Hindu subjects in proper submission. Timur also employed astrologers as part of his entourage, but just as he felt free to pick and choose Islamic laws that suited him, he ignored astrological portents when his estimation of a situation did not match their predictions.
Key Battle
Timur’s signature battle was the Battle of Ankara (1402). At Ankara, he outmanoeuvred the Ottomans before the battle began by placing his army between them and the only available water supply. He even engineered the defection of Ottoman Tatar cavalry in the months leading up to the Battle of Ankara. When the battle was joined, the Tatar cavalry switched sides and attacked the Ottoman left wing from the rear while Timur’s grandson, Muhammad Sultan, routed the right wing. The Timurid infantry and war elephants then advanced against the Ottoman centre, which buckled after a brief resistance. The Ottoman sultan, Bayezid I, fled with his cavalry reserve, only to be captured and imprisoned.
Historical Significance
Despite striking terror into the Islamic World, Timur’s Empire quickly crumbled after his death. Nevertheless, he left behind a legacy in the form of the Timurid Renaissance and the Mughal Empire. Although he left destruction and depopulation in the lands he occupied, Timur’s capital Samarkand became a place of beauty and learning where the arts and sciences flourished. Under his successors, particularly Ulugh Beg (1411-1449), the Timurid Renaissance peaked, with Ulugh Beg overseeing great advances in astronomy and mathematics. Timur was the last of the great nomadic conquerors of the Eurasian steppes, and his conquests set the stage for the more durable Islamic empires of the Gunpowder Era. In 1526, under Babur, Timur’s great-great-great grandson, the remaining Timurid forces defeated the Delhi Sultanate at the Battle of Panipat and established their rule over most of India. The Mughal Empire brought political stability and cultural flowering to India and ruled the Indian subcontinent until 1857.
Bibliography
Black, Jeremy. World History Atlas: Mapping the Human Journey. London, Dorling Kindersley, 2005.
Grant, R.G. Battle: A Visual Journey Through 5,000 Years of Combat. London, Dorling Kindersley, 2005.
Grant, R.G. Commanders: History’s Greatest Military Leaders. London, Dorling Kindersley, 2010.
Marozzi, Justin. Tamerlane: Sword of Islam, Conqueror of the World. London, Harper Perennial, 2005.
Shakko. “Timur reconstruction03.” Wikimedia Commons. Last revised July 19, 2016. www.commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Timur_reconstruction03.jpg
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