Timur "the scourge from the Steppe"

The term in the title belongs to Ibn 'Arabshah. Timur is one of the great marshals and statesmen in Turkish history who never lost a battle, and we will examine the effects of the turning points in his life on world history and today.

His Life

Timur was born on April 8, 1336 in the village of Khoja Ilgar near Kash in the territory of the Chagatai khanate to Turagay, the emir of the Barlas tribe, and Tekina Khatun. There is not enough information about his childhood and youth. He spent his youth in intense physical training and combat experiences, i.e. hunting and small expeditions. It is obvious that Ibn Khaldun admired Timur's knowledge of history and took lessons and examples from ancient battles in his wars.

At that time, Kertler ruled in Khorasan, Serbedâris (those who gave their heads on the gallows) ruled in the west of Khorasan, Toga Timurids ruled around Esterâbâd, and Jalâyirlis ruled in Azerbaijan.

In this chaotic environment, Timur started to organize raids and collect booty with a group of men around him in order to gain a foothold. When he was 27 years old, he was wounded with an arrow by a shepherd while trying to plunder a herd he wanted to seize. His right arm and right leg were wounded. Because of this injury, he is called Timurlenk by some historians. The shepherd took Timur to Amir Hussein, the Emir of Khorasan, to whom he was loyal. The Emir ordered him to be executed, but when his son Gıyaseddin asked him to spare him, he put him under his son's command. Timur thus fought against the Mongols under Emir Hussein and his son.

Rising in time, Timur was declared Emir by Amir Hussein and married his sister Oljay Turkan. Sayyid Bereke of Termez (died 1404), who had asked Amīr Husayn for donations for the foundations of Mecca and Medina but did not receive them, appealed to Amīr Timur. Timur immediately accepted these requests, and when he established his state, he appointed Sayyid Bereke as the head of the foundations of Mecca and Medina.

The Serbedâris, who were composed of those who hated the state as a result of the lack of authority in the region, became powerful enough to establish a state with the slogan "It is better to die than to live in infamy". Seeing this danger as an opportunity for his own growth, Timur formed an alliance with Amir Husayn and eliminated the Serbedâris. Now it was Amir Husayn's turn.

Amîr Hussein was collecting high taxes from the beys under him. When Timur paid this tax with the jewels given to his wife Olcay Türkan Hatun by her brother, they fell out with Emir Hüseyin. Amir Hussein was defeated in the war against Timur. He gathered a larger army and marched against Timur again in 1370. Although he was outnumbered, Timur tricked him into besieging him in a narrow pass. He inflicted a heavy defeat on him, just as the Ispartan commander Leonidas had defeated the Persians with 300 Ispartans at Thermophylai. Amîr Hüseyin was captured while fleeing and took his wives Saray Mülk Hatun, the daughter of the Sultan of Kazan, and Ulus Aga, the daughter of Bayan Sulduz. He confiscated all of Amir Hussein's wealth. Amir Hussein was also killed.

Golden Horde campaign

He organized 4 campaigns in 1371-1379 and conquered the whole of Khorasan. He also destroyed Kertler and Toga Timurids and conquered Georgia and Azerbaijan. After a while, Toktamish, whom he helped to become the head of the Golden Horde, revolted against Timur in agreement with the Mamluks. Toktamish, who was defeated in the battles of Kundurcha in 1391 and Terek in 1395, managed to survive, but when he was defeated by Amîr Edigey, he had to live in the deserts of Dasht-i Kipchak until his death. The Golden Horde state became very weak. After Emîr Edigey's death, the Golden Horde disintegrated into the Nogay, Uzbek and Kazakh Horde and the Crimean, Kazan, Qasim and Astrakhan khanates. 

This period, which had lasted since 1238 and was called the "Tatar yoke" by the Russians, was now over. With the pressure lifted, the Moscow Knezate suddenly appeared on the stage of history. The Russians quickly became a state and began to avenge the Tatar yoke. In 1480, the defeat of the Golden Horde forces on the banks of the Don by Ivan III, Knez of Moscow, was the final blow, and this defeat brought the Golden Horde State to an end nearly 20 years later in 1502. Kazan in 1552, Astrakhan in 1556, Sibir in 1607 and the Khanate of Qasim in 1681 fell into Russian captivity. The Crimean Khanate came under Ottoman rule immediately after its establishment. The Russian captivity of the Turkish provinces, including Crimea, continues to this day. Those that are nominally republics are subordinate to Russia in many respects and cannot even get rid of the Krill alphabet. Each Turkic state is treated as a separate race, and it is imposed that they are not Turks, but Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Tatars, Turkmen, Azeri, etc. In Russian history textbooks, the effect of the Tatar yoke is not forgotten and hatred of Turks is constantly instilled.

India Expedition

After returning from the Golden Horde campaign, Timur marched on India in the spring of 1398. He conquered the Punjab and Sindh regions with much looting and massacres. He returned to Khorasan in April 1399 with plenty of booty and elephants. One of his grandsons, Babur, founded the Timurid Empire of India, which ruled from 1526 to 1858 in northern India and Afghanistan with its center in Agra. Babur is one of the rarest and most distinguished rulers in world history. His poems written in Turkish and his book Baburname are among the world classics. His grandson Shahjihan (1627-1658) built magnificent works such as Taj Mahal in Agra and Friday Masjid in Delhi. In 1858, with the collapse of the Timurid Empire, India came under British rule.

Anatolian Expedition

After the Golden Horde, Timur marched on the Ottoman lands. He first besieged Sivas. The defenders of Sivas, who held out for 18 days, could not hold out any longer and surrendered with the guarantee of their lives. But Timur did not keep his word. Thousands of people, with their heads between their legs and ropes, were stuffed into wide ditches, one by one. The pits were covered with wood, earth was placed on top and they were buried alive. Sivas was destroyed and burned without leaving a stone on stone. Timur tied Bayezid's son Ertuğrul, who was among the captives, to the back of his horse and dragged him for days, then had him beheaded. When Bayezid heard about the incident, he left the siege of Istanbul and immediately set out. On the way, when he heard a shepherd playing his pipe with joy, he said in sorrow, "Play, shepherd, did your city burn like Sivas? Did your son like Ertuğrul die?" he cried. The two monarchs, who were eager to fight each other, did not listen to any mediator. Bayezid's statesmen insisted that the enemy was superior in numbers and equipment, that they should be worn down in the mountains, gorges and forests, and that the soldiers' salaries should be paid. Timur had 160,000 soldiers and 32 elephants, Bayezid had 70,000. Bayezid was defeated, captured, chained at night, made to walk around in a cage during the day, and his wife, the daughter of the Serbian King, was made to serve as a sommelier at drinking parties. He died in Akşehir in 1403. Anatolian unity was broken and the conquest of Istanbul was delayed for 51 years.

After the Battle of Ankara, Timur sent troops to Bursa and came to İzmir by taking Kütahya and Aydin. In December 1402, he took Izmir from Rhodes Hospitalier Knights and handed it over to Aydınoğulları Principality.

Persian miniature from Zafernâme (1467), drawn by Bihzâd, depicting the Siege of Izmir

Timur died in Otrar on February 18, 1405, after returning from his Anatolian campaign.

His deeds 

The most important reason for his victories was fear of him. Because he had never lost a battle. In addition, when he conquered the towns that resisted him, he plastered the bodies they killed or the heads they cut off with clay and built towers, minarets and kumbets. He built a pyramid of heads in Izmir. In Sivas, he buried alive thousands of people who surrendered after he assured them that he would not touch their lives. The fact that he gave place to scholars such as Taftazani and Jurjani in his assemblies and respected the ulema wherever he went is in stark contrast to the brutal massacres he committed. He believed that he was under the wrath of Allah.

Timur gathered the crowns of nine dynasties on his head. 1- Chagatai dynasty, 2- Jat dynasty in Turkestan and Mongolia, 3- Khârizm dynasty, 4- Khorasan dynasty, 5- Tatar dynasty in Tatarstan and Dasht-i Kipchak, 6 - Benî Muzaffar dynasty in Persia, 7- Ilkhanids in Arabia, 8- Hind dynasty, 9- Ottoman dynasty.

What they did not do

He conquered Izmir and handed it over to the Aydınoğulları principality, but he did not march on Istanbul. He did not move to Europe after he destroyed Moscow.

References

Ibn Arabsah, Acâʾibü'l-Maḳdûr (Trouble from the Steppe), Selenge Publications, Istanbul 2012.

Feridun Emecen, "Timur Imajı in the First Ottoman Chronicles", Prof. Dr. İsmail Aka Armağanı, İzmir 1999.

Halil İnalcık, "Bayezid I", TDVİA.

İsmail Aka, "Timur and his State", TTK Publications, Ankara, 2000.

A.Yu. Yakubovskiy, "Golden Army and its Collapse", Trans. Hasan Eren, TTK Publications, Ankara, 2021.

Muslim Sultans from the Summit to the Dramatic End, "Emir Hussein", C. Haluk Özalp, Mana Publications, Istanbul, 2020.