1336-1405, Central Asian Conqueror and Founder of the Timurid Dynasty
Of
Mongol descent, though a speaker of Turkic, Tamerlane galvanized an army initially composed of nomads to set forth on wide-ranging campaigns that rivaled and actually surpassed the conquests of Genghis Khan. However, he could never assume the title of khan because he was not directly descended from Genghis.
Born to a seemingly modest family within the Barlas tribe of modern Uzbekistan, in 1361-1362 he assumed control of the tribe. His next objective was leadership of the Ulus Chaghadai, the tribal confederation that constituted one-half of the Mongols' Central Asian empire. By the end of the 1360s, he had overwhelmed his other rivals; assumed the title of amir; installed a powerless figure, whom he could readily manipulate, as khan; and married a woman from the Genghisid line, thus bolstering his legitimacy by using the title güregen (royal son-in-law).
Having a sizable military force, Tamerlane now had to persist in expeditions in order to preserve the loyalty and support of his men. As his army grew, he recruited Turkic slaves as well as foreigners, and this multiethnic force, composed of Turks, Mongols, and Persians, among others, no doubt contributed to his success. He needed the military and administrative skills provided by his recruits from the sedentary world.
After a ten-year period during which he simply increased his eastern territory, Tamerlane initiated an astonishing series of successful campaigns over the next two decades. Starting in 1381, for about five years he led expeditions in Iran and Afghanistan that resulted in his occupation of Sistan (northern Afghanistan), Khurasan (eastern Iran), and northern Iran. In the late 1380s, his troops overran Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, territories the Mongols had conquered in the previous century. Hoping to buttress his position, he was about to return to Iran and Afghanistan when the Mongol khan of the Golden Horde, Tokhtamish, attacked his domain in Central Asia. He immediately headed back, and by 1390, he had expelled the khan from Central Asia, although sporadic fighting continued until Tamerlane routed Tokhtamish's forces in 1395. He destroyed Sarai, the Golden Horde capital; burned other important cities; and transferred the trade routes, with caravans coming from the East, to south of the Caspian, thus excluding the Golden Horde from this lucrative commerce.
In the last years of his life, Tamerlane campaigned on an even more expansive terrain. In 1398, he attacked North India and took Delhi; by 1402, his troops occupied Syria and defeated the Ottoman Turks (see
Ottomans); and finally, in 1404, he made meticulous plans to conquer the largest empire in the world, China. In February of 1405, he died en route to China. He was buried in a tomb in Samarkand. In 1941, Russian scientists dug up his corpse and confirmed that his name, "Timur the Lame," was accurate.
His brutality has been overstated in the West: only if he met stiff resistance did he sanction the deliberate destruction of which he has been accused. His devotion to Islam, not simply a bloodthirsty drive for power, prompted some of his campaigns. His patronage of Islamic scholars and of poets and painters belies his image as a barbarian; and Samarkand, with its beautiful mosques, minarets, tombs, bathhouses, and central square (Registan) that he constructed, remains as one of his greatest legacies.
Morris Rossabi
Beatrice Forbes Manz, The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane (1989).
