Tamerlane

I read that Tamerlane was a military genius. What did he do that was so brilliant?

Was he really a mongol or was he more turkish? Did he basically reconquer the original Mongol empire?

Did his empire collapse after his death and all that was left was the mughal empire in India?

As for his ethnicity, Taimur the lame, was whatever he wanted to be.

Timur was a so-called "Turko-Mongol," he originated from the originally Mongolian tribe Barlas, which however by his birth has already complitely converted to Islam and Turkicized. Timur himself spoke Turkic but not Mongolian language. Mongols at that time were already mixed to the great extent with the Cental Asian Turk, yet to be a Mongol meant to be a part of the ruling nobility, elite warrior class.

Originally posted by Guess I read that Tamerlane was a military genius. What did he do that was so brilliant?

Hmm...waging war for over 30 years brought him some experience

Originally posted by Guess Was he really a mongol or was he more turkish? Did he basically reconquer the original Mongol empire?

He was a Turco-Mongol and he did not reconquer the Mongol empire, it was more similar to the Parthian empire (for extension and location)

what were the brilliant tactics, strategies, etc... that tamerlane used?

Originally posted by Seko Towers of skulls are purported to be his signature trademark. He was a brute but a genius as well. His weakness is due to his lack of administration skills and huge ego. Militarily, you would be hard pressed to find his equal.

One of my father's old friends had read Timurlane's memoirs (which are in Persian) and the man was apparently a sociopath.  He had an admiration for Persian genius in engineering, philosophy and architecture yet at the same time he hated the civilisation.

On his campaign which passed through Central Iran, he sacked Isfahan and beheaded all inhabitants (except artisans, poets etc) and stacked their heads in a pyramid.  He marveled at the city before hand, commenting that the walls were so immense that two carriages could pass each other side on.   A year later on his return he noted how the skulls shone so brightly in the sun, attributing it to the genius of the slain.  This can be rationalised with another comment he made about the country in which he stated that even the simple people of the towns converse over matters of philosophy.

He was a sociopath, look up the meaning.   He expressed admiration, yet at he same time was very happy to kill mercilessly and salt the earth, destroy irrigation in vindictive acts of terror and actually attempt to bury the civilisation.  Sounds pretty unstable to me.  Or maybe you have read his memoirs completely and know something I don't?  In which case it would be polite to actually make a proper response and share some information.

Originally posted by Sarmat12 I don't think you can blame him for that. He was a person of his time; everybody did this. If he would lose a battle to some other warlord the same fate would find his people.   He simply wanted to damage his enemies as much as he can. At the same time he made Samarkand the most brilliant Muslim city of its time. For sure another ruler would do totally the same thing. The difference regarding Tamerlane is that he was able to conduct large wars with strong enemies, covering vast territories; for that reason, naturally, all these were followed by the large scale atrocities.

he was just following what the Hordes before his time did, but I think the Mameluks of that time and the Christians did not do the same.

Originally posted by bulldog Historical records show Babur was a Timurid, direct descendant of the Timur, the Mughal name is a misnomer, they were Timurids driven out of Turkistan south to India.

Anyone coming from central asia was called a mongol (Mughal) during that period of Indian history.

Originally posted by Omar al Hashim Originally posted by bulldog Historical records show Babur was a Timurid, direct descendant of the Timur, the Mughal name is a misnomer, they were Timurids driven out of Turkistan south to India. Anyone coming from central asia was called a mongol (Mughal) during that period of Indian history.