Timur

: For the chess engine Tamerlane, see Tamerlane.

Military leader

About 1358, however, he came before the world as a military leader. Timur took part in campaigns in Transoxania with the khan of Chagatai, a descendant of Genghis Khan. 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 of Volga Bulgaria, he was to invade Khorasan at the head of a thousand horsemen. This was the second warlike expedition in which he was the chief actor, and the accomplishment of its objects led to further operations, among them the subjection of Khwarizm and Urganj.

Related Topics:
1358 - Transoxania - Chagatai - Kurgan - Volga Bulgaria - Khorasan - Khwarizm - Urganj

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After the murder of Kurgan the contentions which arose among the many claimants to sovereign power were halted by the invasion of Tughluk Timur of Kashgar, a descendant of Genghis Khan. Timur was despatched on a mission to the invader's camp, the result of which was his own appointment to the government of Mawarannahr.

Related Topics:
Tughluk Timur - Kashgar - Genghis Khan - Mawarannahr

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Timur's father had retired to a Muslim monastery, telling his son that "the world is a beautiful vase filled with scorpions." However, Timur was a man of action who did not follow the same path.

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By the death of his father, Timur also became hereditary head of the Barlas tribe. The exigencies of his 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. Mawaranahr was taken from Timur and entrusted to a son of Tughluk; but he was defeated in battle by the bold warrior he had replaced at the head of a numerically far inferior force.

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