Tamerlane (Amir Temur, Temur the Great) (1336-1405) was a man of a complex, multi-faceted personality

Tamerlane
Tamerlane (Amir Temur, Temur the Great) (1336-1405) was a man of a complex, multi-faceted personality. He forged his own destiny and became a prominent historical figure.
It was near Samarkand, in the town of Kesh, which later was given the name Shakhrisabz, Shakhrisabz ("a green town"), where in 1336 to the chief of a small tribe was born a son.
The boy was named Temur. The wounding of his right leg by an arrow made him lame. That is why he is known as "Lame Temur" or "Tamerlane" in English. 
From his youth he appeared on the political scene as an active politician and military figure. Having become the ruler of Samarkand he built a great army and carried on many annexationist campaigns. Thus he expanded his empire that stretched from the Volga River and the Caucasian ridges in the west to India in the Southwest. But the center of the empire was in Central Asia. Tamerlane wanted to designate his hometown, Shakhrisabz, as his capital, but certain political considerations forced him to leave with Samarkand the loving moniker of "Shining Star of the Orient".
Tamerlane made an outstanding contribution to the national state system, education and culture, and general development of his state. He promoted the construction of monumental historic buildings, especially in Samarkand. Some of them can be seen today. The inscription on the portal of Tamerlane's Palace Ak-Sarai in Shakhrisabz, reads "If you doubt our might, look at our buildings". The impressiveness of the architecture was aimed at the demonstration of the greatness of the empire. All possible means and every effort were exerted to construct these magnificent buildings. A vast range of building materials from neighboring regions, famous architects, suppliers, and a great number of workers were brought to work. Different specialists were taken from occupied lands.
During the entire 14th century there were many experienced architects and artists gathered in Central Asia, most of them particularly in Samarkand. Skilled craftsmen from Iran, Azerbaijan, Khorezm, and India were invited without hesitation. Both foreign and local masters realized the great importance of the projects. They represented different arts and crafts which were mastered by others. They adopted each others' styles, which combined into a completely original type of design.
Tamerlane's political status required him to have friendly relations with the leaders of many religions.
Such relations were established by constructing mosques, madrassahs, and especially mausoleums. Many of them, for example the Juma Mosque, Gur-Emir Mausoleum and Shahi-Zinda Architectural Ensemble, all in Samarkand, and the Dorus-Siadat Mausoleum in Shakhrisabz, Chashma-Ayub Mausoleum in Bukhara, and Hadji-Ahmad Jassaviy Mausoleum in Turkestan, have stood the test of time and can be seen today.
Timur, Tarmashirin Khan, Emir Timur (Persian: تیمور‎ Timūr, Chagatai: Temür "iron"; 9 April 1336 – 18 February 1405), historically known as Tamerlane[1] (from Persian: تيمور لنگ‎, Timūr-i Lang, Aksak Timur "Timur the Lame" in Turkish), was a Turkic ruler[2][3][4] who conquered West,South and Central Asia and founded the Timurid dynasty. He was the grandfather of Ulugh Beg, who ruled Central Asia from 1411 to 1449,[5][6][7] and the great-great-great-grandfather ofBabur Beg, founder of the Mughal Empire, which ruled South Asia for centuries.[8][9][10][11][12]
Timur envisioned the restoration of the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan.[13] Unlike his predecessors Timur was also a devout Muslim who referred to himself as the Sword of Islam, converting nearly all the Borjigin leaders to Islam during his lifetime.[14] His armies were inclusively multi-ethnic and multicultural. During his lifetime Timur would emerge as the most powerful ruler in the Muslim world after defeating the Mamluks of Egypt and Syria, the emergingOttoman Empire and the declining Sultanate of Delhi. Timur had also decisively defeated the Christian Knights Hospitaler at Smyrna; styling himself a Ghazi. By the end of his reign Timur had also gained complete suzerainty over all the remnants of the Chagatai Khanate, Ilkhanate, and Golden Horde.
Timur is regarded as a military genius and a tactician, whose prowess made him one of the greatest conquerors in history. Timur's armies were feared throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe.[15] sizable parts of which were laid to ruin by his campaigns.[16] Scholars estimate that his military campaigns caused the deaths of 17 million people, amounting to about 5% of the world population.[17] The historian of Islamic Asia John Joseph Saunders summarized that "Till the advent of Hitler, Timur stood forth in history as the supreme example of soulless and unproductive militarism".[18]
On the other hand, Timur is also recognized as a great patron of art and architecture, while he interacted with Muslim intellectuals such as Ibn Khaldun and Hafez.[19]
Timur was born in Transoxiana , near the City of Kesh (an area now better known as Shahrisabz, "the green city"), some 50 miles south ofSamarkand in modern day Uzbekistan, part of the Chagatai Khanate. His father, Taraqai, a minor noble belonging to the Barlas tribe. The Barlas, a Turko-Mongol tribe[20] which originally were Mongolian tribes[21] that became Turkified[22] and/or became Turkic-speaking[23] or intermingling with the Turkic peoples.[24] According to Gérard Chaliand, Timur was a Muslim Turk[25] but he saw himself as Genghis Khan's heir.[25] Though not a Chinggisid,[26] he clearly sought to evoke the legacy of Genghis Khan's conquests during his lifetime.[27]
At the age of eight or nine, Timur with his mother and brothers, were carried as prisoners to Samarkand by an invading Mongol army. In Samarkand and his many travels, Timur, under the guidance of distinguished scholars was able to learn Persian, Mongolian, and Turkic languages.[28]
In his childhood, Timur with a small band of followers raided travelers for goods with most being animals such as sheep, horses, and cattle.[29] At around 1363, it is believed that Timur tried to steal a sheep from a shepherd but was shot by two arrows; one in his right leg and another in his right hand, where he loss two fingers. Both injuries caused him to be crippled for life. Some believe that Timur suffered his crippling injuries while serving as a mercenary to the khan of Sistan in Khorasan in what is known today as Dasht-i Margo (Desert of Death) in south-west Afghanistan. Timur's injuries have given him the surname of Timur the Lame or Tamerlane by Europeans.[30]
Timur was a Muslim, but while his chief official religious counsellor and advisor was the Hanafi scholar 'Abdu 'l-Jabbar Khwarazmi, his particular persuasion is not known. In Tirmidh, he had come under the influence of his spiritual mentor Sayyid Barakah, a Shiite leader fromBalkh who is buried alongside Timur in Gur-e Amir.[31][32][33] Timur was known to hold Ali and the Ahlul Bayt in high regard and has been noted by various scholars for his "pro-Alid" stance.[citation needed] Despite this, Timur was noted for attacking Shi’is on Sunni grounds and therefore his own religious inclinations remain unclear.[34]
Timur is also known to have devout Islamic inclinations regarding his personal life and as such restricted himself to only four wives, while mostMongol rulers during that period did not. According to his famous descendant Babur, Timur is known to have kept fine copies of both theQuran and the Yassa (a Mongol code of honor introduced by Genghis Khan).
In about 1360 Timur gained prominence as a military leader whose troops were mostly Turkic tribesmen of the region.[25][35] He took part in campaigns inTransoxiana with the Khan of Chagatai. His career for the next ten or eleven years may be thus briefly summarized from the Memoirs. Allying himself both in cause and by family connection with Kurgan, the dethroner and destroyer ofVolga Bulgaria, he was to invade Khorasan at the head of a thousand horsemen. This was the second military expedition that he led, and its success led to further operations, among them the subjugation of Khorezm and Urganj.
Following Kurgan's murder, disputes arose among the many claimants tosovereign power; this infighting was halted by the invasion of the energetic Chagtaid Tughlugh Timur of Kashgar, another descendant of Genghis Khan. Timur was dispatched on a mission to the invader's camp, which resulted in his own appointment to the head of his own tribe, the Barlas, in place of its former leader, Hajji Beg.
The exigencies of Timur's quasi-sovereign position compelled him to have recourse to his formidable patron, whose reappearance on the banks of the Syr Darya created a consternation not easily allayed. One of Tughlugh's sons was entrusted with the Barlas's territory, along with the rest of Mawarannahr (Transoxiana); but he was defeated in battle by the bold warrior he had replaced at the head of a numerically far inferior force.
It was in this period that Timur reduced the Chagatai khans to the position of figureheads while Timur ruled in their name. During this period Timur and his brother-in-law Husayn, who were at first fellow fugitives and wanderers in joint adventures, became rivals and antagonists. The relationship between Timur and Husayn began to become strained after Husayn abandoned Timur's orders to finish off Ilya Khoja (former governor of Mawarannah) close to Tishnet.[36]
Timur began to gain a following of people in Balkh that consisted of merchants, fellow tribesmen, Muslim clergy, aristocracy and agricultural workers because of his kindness to share his belongings with them; as opposed to Husayn who alienated these people, took many possessions from them because of his heavy tax laws and selfishly spend the tax money building elaborate structures. [37] At around 1370 Husayn surrendered to Timur; later being assassinated by a chief of a tribe, allowed Timur to formally proclaimed sovereign at Balkh. Timur married Husayn's wife Saray Mulk-khanum; a descendant of Genghis Khan, allowing him to become imperial ruler of Chaghatay tribe.[38]
One day Aksak Temür spoke thusly:
"Khan Züdei (in China) rules over the city. We now number fifty to sixty men, so let us elect a leader." So they drove a stake into the ground and said: "We shall run thither and he who among us is the first to reach the stake, may he become our leader". So they ran and Aksak Timur (since he was lame) lagged behind, but before the others reached the stake he threw his cap onto it. Those who arrived first said: "We are the leaders". (But) Aksak Timur said: "My head came in first, I am the leader". In the meanwhile an old man arrived and said: "The leadership should belong to Aksak Timur; your feet have arrived but, before then, his head reached the goal". So they made Aksak Timur their prince.[39][40]
Timur set up a puppet Chaghatay khan, Suyurghatmish, as the nominal ruler of Balkh; adhering to the traditional Mongol laws that forbid him to become sole ruler because he was not from the same lineage as Genghis Khan.[41]
Timur never used the title of khan because the name khan could only be used by those who come from the same lineage as Genghis Khan himself. Timur instead used the title of amir meaning general, and acting in the name of the Chagatai ruler of Transoxania.
Timur spent the next 35 years in various wars and expeditions. He not only consolidated his rule at home by the subjugation of his foes, but sought extension of territory by encroachments upon the lands of foreign potentates. His conquests to the west and northwest led him to the lands near the Caspian Sea and to the banks of the Ural and the Volga. Conquests in the south and south-West encompassed almost every province in Persia, including Baghdad, Karbala and Northern Iraq.
One of the most formidable of Timur's opponents was another Mongol ruler, a descendant of Genghis Khan named Tokhtamysh. After having been a refugee in Timur's court, Tokhtamyshbecame ruler both of the eastern Kipchak and the Golden Horde. After his accession, he quarrelled with Timur over the possession of Khwarizm and Azerbaijan. However, Timur still supported him against the Russians and in 1382 Tokhtamysh invaded the Muscovite dominion and burned Moscow.[43]
After the death of Abu Sa'id, ruler of the Ilkhanid Dynasty, in 1335, there was a power vacuum inPersia. In 1383, Timur started the military conquest of Persia. He captured Herat, Khorasan and all eastern Persia by 1385; he captured almost all of Persia by 1387. Of note during the Persian campaign was the capture of Isfahan. When Isfahan surrendered to Timur in 1387, he treated it with relative mercy as he normally did with cities that surrendered. However, after the city revolted against Timur's taxes by killing the tax collectors and some of Timur's soldiers Timur ordered the massacre of the city's citizens with the death toll reckoned at between 100,000 and 200,000.[44]An eye-witness counted more than 28 towers constructed of about 1,500 heads each.[45] This has been described as a "systematic use of terror against towns...an integral element of Tamerlane's strategic element" which he viewed as preventing bloodshed by discouraging resistance. His massacres were selective and he spared the artistic and technical (e.g. engineers) elites.[44]
In the meantime Tokhtamysh, now khan of the Golden Horde, turned against his patron and in 1385 invaded Azerbaijan. The inevitable response by Timur resulted in the Tokhtamysh–Timur war. In the initial stage of the war Timur won a victory at the Battle of the Kondurcha River. After the battle Tokhtamysh and some of his army were allowed to escape. After Tokhtamysh's initial defeat Timur then invaded Muscovy to the north of Tokhtamysh's holdings. Timur's army burnedRyazan and advanced on Moscow. He was then pulled away before reaching the Oka River by Tokhtamysh's renewed campaign in the south.[43]
In the first phase of the conflict with Tokhtamysh Timur led an army of over 100,000 men north for more than 700 miles into the steppe. He then rode west about 1,000 miles advancing in a front more than 10 miles wide. During this advance Timur's army got far enough north to be in a region of very long summer days causing complaints by his Muslim soldiers about keeping a long schedule of prayers.It was then that Tokhtamysh's army was boxed in against the east bank of the Volga River in the Orenburg region and destroyed at the Battle of the Kondurcha River.
It was in the second phase of the conflict that Timur took a different route against the enemy by invading the realm of Tokhtamysh via the Caucasus region. The year 1395 saw the Battle of the Terek River concluding the titanic struggle between the two monarchs.
Tokhtamysh was not able to restore his power or prestige. He was killed about a decade after the Terek River battle in the area of present day Tyumen.
During the course of Timur's campaigns his army destroyed Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde, and Astrakhan, subsequently disrupting the Golden Horde's Silk Road. The Golden Horde no longer held power after the coming of Tamerlane.
In May 1393 Timur's army invaded the Anjudan. This crippled the Ismaili village only one year after his assault on the Ismailis in Mazandaran. The village was prepared for the attack. This is evidenced by it containing a fortress and a system of underground tunnels. Undeterred Timur’s soldiers flooded the tunnels by cutting into a channel overhead. Timur’s reasons for attacking this village are not yet well-understood. However, it has been suggested that his religious persuasions and view of himself as an executor of divine will may have contributed to his motivations.[46] The Persian historian Khwandamir explains that an Ismaili presence was growing more politically powerful in Persian Iraq. A group of locals in the region was dissatisfied with this and, Khwandamir writes, that these locals assembled and brought up their complaint with Timur; possibly provoking his attack on the Ismailis there