| Timurid conquests and invasions | |||||
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 Timurid Empire at its greatest extent (without vassals) – dark green is territories and light green is areas subjugated to Timur's raids. | |||||
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TheTimurid conquests and invasions started in the late 14th century withTimur's control over theChagatai Khanate and ended at the start of the 15th century with the death of Timur. Due to the sheer scale of Timur's wars, and due to the fact that he was generally undefeated in battle, he has been regarded as one of the most successful military commanders of all time. These wars resulted in Timur's supremacy overCentral Asia,Persia, theCaucasus, theLevant, and parts ofSouth Asia andEastern Europe, and they also resulted in the formation of the short-livedTimurid Empire.[1]
Timur gained power over theWestern Chagatai Khanate (Transoxiana) after defeatingAmir Husayn, the regent of the Chagatai Khanate, at theBattle of Balkh but the laws laid down byGenghis Khan prevented him from becomingKhagan in his own right because he was not adirect descendant of Genghis Khan by birth.[2] Instead, he installed apuppet Khan descended fromÖgedei,Suurgatmish. After that, he launched massive military campaigns in all directions and established his suzerainty over most of the Middle East and Central Asia.[2] He never adopted the title ofEmperor orCaliph, maintaining the title ofAmir.[3]
To legitimize his rule and his military campaigns, Timur married Husayn's widowSaray Mulk Khanum, a princess who was a descendant ofGenghis Khan.[4] In this way, he called himself Temur Gurgan (son-in-law of Genghis Khan, theGreat Khan).[5][6] Timurid territorial gains inTransoxiana and Central Asia as well as Timur'ssuzerainty over theMamluk Sultanate, theOttoman Empire, theDelhi Sultanate and theGolden Horde were weakened after his death, due to a war of succession between his son and grandsonShahrukh Mirza andKhalil Sultan.[2] However, in theIndian subcontinent a Timurid state survived until the mid 19th century in the form of theMughal Empire which was founded by his great-great-grandsonBabur.[7]
Timur became head of the MongolBarlas tribe (aCentral Asian tribe) and its vast lands by helpingAmir Husayn, aQara'unas prince andde facto ruler ofWestern Chagatai Khanate.[7] Timur's period as a Moghul vassal came to an end whenTughlugh Timur appointed his sonIlyas Khoja as governor ofMawarannahr. Both Timur and Amir Husayn rebelled against Ilyas Khoja but were defeated by Khoja's army atTashkent.[8] Ilyas Khoja advanced towardsSamarkand but here he was defeated by Timurid forces and forced to retreat back intoEastern Chagatai Khanate. In this way, Timur became ruler of Samarkand.[8]
My principal object in coming to Hindustan…has been to accomplish two things. The first was to war with the infidels, the enemies of the Mohammadan religion; and by this religious warfare to acquire some claim to reward in the life to come. The other was…that the army of Islam might gain something by plundering the wealth and valuables of the infidels: plunder in war is as lawful as their mothers’ milk to Musalmans who war for their faith, and the consuming of that which is lawful is a means of grace.”
— Timur[9]
In 1370 Timur decided to attackAmir Husayn atBalkh. After crossing theAmu Darya atTermez his army surrounded the city.[2] Husayn's army came out of the city to attack Timur's men, perhaps suggesting that they were unhappy to find themselves being besieged. The same occurred on the second day of the battle, but this time Timur's men managed to get into the city. Husayn shut himself up inside the citadel, leaving Timur's men to sack the city.[1]
After capturing the city, Timur executedKhabul Shah, the Husayn's puppetKhan of Western Chagatai and installedSuurgatmish on the throne of Khan as his puppet. This made Timur the main power in Mawarannahr and Western Chagatai Khanate with supremacy over Central Asia.[2]
Balochistan centres aroundKandahar and it was in this area in 1398 thatPir Muhammad, the grandson of Timur, fought theAfghans in the Sulaiman mountains. According to local tradition Timur himself passed through Marri country during one of his Indian expeditions.[10]
In 1398, Timur started his campaign towardsIndian subcontinent (Hindustan). At that time the dominant power of subcontinent wasTughlaq dynasty ofDelhi Sultanate but it had already been weakened by the formation of regionalsultanates and struggle of succession within imperial family. Timur started his journey fromSamarkand. He invaded the north Indian subcontinent (present day Pakistan andNorth India) by crossing theIndus River on September 30, 1398.
Timurid forces firstly sackedTulamba[11] and thenMultan by October 1398.[12] Prior to Timur's invasion on Delhi, his grandsonPir Muhammad had already started his expedition. He had capturedUch. Pir Muhammad then joined Timur. The governor of theBhatner fort was defeated, and Timur destroyed the fort and the city in the Siege of Bhatner also known as Sack of Bhatner Fort (1398).[13] He also faced resistance byKhap militias inMeerut but he was still able to approachDelhi, arrived in 1398. In this way, he already defeated all-important administrative centres of Delhi Sultanate before his arrival to Delhi.[13]
The battle betweenSultan Nasir-ud-Din Tughlaq allied with Mallu Iqbal[14] and Timur took place on 17 December 1398. Indian forces hadwar elephants armored with chain mail and poison on their tusks which gave difficult time to Timurid forces as Timurids experienced this first time.[2] But within a passage of time Timur had understood that elephants were easily panicked. He capitalized on the subsequent disruption in the forces of Nasir-ud-Din Tughluq, securing an easy victory.Sultan of Delhi fled with remnants of his forces. Delhi was sacked and left in ruins.[15] After the battle, Timur installedKhizr Khan, the Governor of Multan as the new Sultan of Delhi Sultanate under his suzerainty.
Delhi's conquest was one of the greatest victories of Timur, arguably surpassingCyrus the Great,Darius the Great,Alexander the Great andGenghis Khan because of the harsh conditions of the journey and the achievement of taking down the richest city of the world at the time. Delhi suffered a great loss due to this and took a century to recover.[2]
Tamerlane launched a series of campaigns in Western Asia to assert dominance in the first decade of the 15th century. He reestablished his authority overGeorgia and recaptured Baghdad from theJalayirid SultanAhmad Jalayir, who had seized it in his absence. He also launched another campaign throughKurdistan, battling theQara Qoyunlu Turkmens. Later, he attacked Syria, capturingAleppo andHoms without resistance but looted and brutally massacredDamascus. Despite objections from his commanders, he pressed on to Anatolia, where he clashed with theOttomans in 1402. At theBattle of Ankara, he decisively defeated SultanBayezid I, capturing him and destabilizing Ottoman rule. After looting major Ottoman cities, he withdrew without establishing a permanent administration. His return toSamarkand in 1404 was marked by suppressing a rebellion inMazandaran. His conquests in Western Asia were demonstrations of power and prestige and not aimed at annexation, in fact he left no lasting governance in Anatolia. His campaigns reshaped power dynamics, for example delaying Ottoman expansion.[16]
Tamerlane's conquests in Western Asia were accompanied bygenocidal massacres.[17] William Rubinstein wrote: "InAssyria (1393–4)—Tamerlane got around—he killed all the Christians he could find, including everyone in the, then, Christian city ofTikrit, thus virtually destroyingAssyrian Church of the East. Impartially, however, Tamerlane also slaughtered Shi'ite Muslims, Jews and heathens."[18]
TheKingdom of Georgia, aChristiankingdom dominated on the most ofCaucasus,[19][20] was subjected many times byTimur between 1386 and 1403.[21] These conflicts were intimately linked withthe wars between Timur andTokhtamysh, the lastkhan of the Golden Horde.[22] He officially proclaimed his invasions to bejihad against non-Muslims. Although Timur invaded the Georgia many times but he never made attempt to make Georgia aMuslim country.[2] Timur personally led most of these raids to subdue the recalcitrantGeorgian monarch. Kingdom of Georgia suffered a great loss due to these invasions and never recovered again. By the timeGeorge VII was forced to accept Timur's terms of peace and agree to pay tribute, he was a master of little more than gutted towns, ravaged countryside and a shattered monarchy.[23]
Timur's first appearance in the Caucasus was a response toTokhtamysh’s marauding inroad intoNorthern Iran through the Caucasian lands in 1385.[24] After having overrunAzerbaijan andKars, Timur marched into Georgia. Firstly he assailedSamtskhe atabegate, the principality of Kingdom of Georgia. From there, hemarched against Tbilisi which the Georgian kingBagrat V had fortified.[25] The city fell on November 21, 1386, and King Bagrat V was captured. However Bagrat V was given some 12,000 troops to reestablish himself in Georgia under Timur's suzerainty.[26]
In the following years Timur invaded Georgia many times and remained victorious in most of conflicts. In spring of 1387, he returned to Georgia to take revenge for the ambush and escape.Timur captured and destroyedErevan in the end this disaster resulted in 500 people were killed[27][28].In 1394, he again captured eastern provinces which were taken by Georgians duringTokhtamysh–Timur wars.[29]
In 1395 the desperate Georgians allied themselves with Sidi Ali ofShekki and captured theJalayirid prince, Tahir. This event prompted Timur to return, later in 1399. He took Shekki and devastated the neighboring region ofKakheti.[30] In the spring of 1400, Timur moved back to destroy the Georgian state once and for all. He demanded that George VII should hand over the Jalayirid Tahir but George VII refused and met Timur at the Sagim River inLower Kartli, but suffered a defeat.[31] After the war, of those who survived the fighting and reprisals, many thousands died of hunger and disease, and 60,000 survivors were enslaved and carried away by Timur's troops.[26]
In late 1401, Timur invaded the Caucasus once again.[8] George VII had to sue for peace, and sent his brother with the contributions. Timurmade peace with George VII on condition that the King of Georgia supplied him troops duringhis campaign against Ottoman Empire and granted theMuslims special privileges.[32] Once theOttomans were defeated, Timur, back toErzurum in 1402, decided to punish the king of Georgia for not having come to present his congratulations on his victory. Historians reported that 700 towns were destroyed and their inhabitants massacred by Timurid forces.[25][26]
George VII had to pay a huge tribute in the name of Timur. After the tribute, Timur made peace with George VII and then finally he left Caucasus permanently. All the territories fromBeylagan toTrebizond were officially given by Timur as an appanage to his grandsonKhalil Sultan.[26]
TheGolden Horde was afragment of the Mongol Empire mainly located inEastern Europe.[33][34] After the death ofJochi, the eldest son ofGenghis Khan andkhan of the Golden Horde, the Golden Horde itself divided into many wings with mainlyWhite andBlue wings among Jochi's descendants.[35][36] In the late 1370s and early 1380s,Timur firstly helpedTokhtamysh against his uncleUrus Khan to assume supreme power in theWhite wing and then in the unification of the Golden Horde.[29] Timur also supported him inthe siege of Moscow in 1382 and received tribute fromMuscovy.[29]
After being established, Tokhtamysh invadedAzerbaijan and Northwest Iran in 1385 when Timur was busy inhis conquest of Persia.[37] Tokhtamysh plunderedTabriz. The inevitable response by Timur resulted in the major-scale war between them. The initialbattle was fought between them atVolga River in 1391 which became victorious for Timur and allowed Tokhtamysh with his remaining army to escape.[24] Despite the defeat, Tokhtamysh recovered his position and in the spring of 1395 raided the Timurid territory ofShirvan.[37]
At that time Timur then counter-attacked, reconquering his own territories and advanced into theCaucasus region.[24] In 1395, Timur defeated Tokhtamysh in theBattle of the Terek River, concluding the struggle between them. In the same year, Timur plunderedSarai, the capital of the Golden Horde[38] and other important cities includingUkek,Majar,Azaq andAstrakhan.[29][39] After the battle of Terek River, Tokhtamysh was deposed and fled to the Ukrainian steppes where he asked for help fromGrand Duke Vytautas ofLithuania, no aid was granted.[40]
Timur installedEdigu on the throne under his suzerainty in place of Tokhtamysh, the Golden Horde became atributary of Timur and the boundaries ofTimurid Empire were secured.[2] The Golden Horde never recovered again from this and in the middle of the 15th century, it fragmented into smallerkhanates: theKazan Khanate,Nogai Horde,Qasim Khanate,Crimean Khanate andAstrakhan Khanate. This led to the decline ofTatar-Mongol rule overRussian lands and thus in 1480, the Grand duchy of Moscow became free from paying tribute to the Tatar-Mongols.[41]
On the occasion of the birth of Babar Padishah (the son of Omar Shaikh)
Also calledKipchak Khanate Russian designation for Juchi's Ulus, the western part of the Mongol Empire, which flourished from the mid-13th century to the end of the 14th century. The people of the Golden Horde were mainly a mixture of Turkic and Uralic peoples andSarmatians &Scythians and, to a lesser extent, Mongols, with the latter generally constituting the aristocracy. Distinguish the Kipchak Khanate from the earlierCuman-Kipchak confederation in the same region that had previously held sway, before its conquest by the Mongols.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Timūr".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
