5 – Timur (1336 – 1405)
During his military career, Timur, (also known as Tamerlane) exhibited none of the chivalry associated with Saladin. In fact, he is widely known for his extraordinary cruelty which he got a chance to display regularly during his many conquests. Born in modern-day Uzbekistan in 1336, Timur founded the Timurid dynasty and conquered wide tracts of land from India to Russia and the Mediterranean. He only knew war and had no time for surrender or mercy for those he conquered.
Timur was a member of the Barlas tribe, a Mongol subgroup that had been involved in the campaigns of Genghis Khan’s son, Chagatai, in Transoxania, before settling in the region. Timur’s dream was to restore the Mongol Empire of Khan and began his mission in around 1370 after turning against one-time ally Amir Husayn, who was also his brother-in-law. Over the next decade, he fought against the Khans of Jutah and occupied Kashgar in 1380. He helped the Mongol khan of Crimea fight the Russians and his troops took Moscow before defeating Lithuanian troops in a battle near Poltava.
His brutal invasion of Persia began in 1383, and he conquered Khorasan and the whole of Eastern Prussia within two years. His thirst for blood and territory only grew stronger, and between 1386 and 1394, he conquered Armenia, Iran, Mesopotamia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. Timur even found time to dethrone the Khan of the Golden Horde, and he occupied Moscow for a year in 1395. While he was away, a huge revolt broke out in Persia which Timur suppressed with his typical level of brutality. He gleefully destroyed cities, massacred entire populations and used their skulls to build towers.
Next, he invaded India in 1398 because he said the Sultans were too nice to the Hindu population. He destroyed the army of the Delhi Sultan in December and razed the city. After briefly returning home and presumably growing bored, Timur invaded Syria in 1399 and took Aleppo, Damascus, and Baghdad by 1401. After invading Anatolia and winning at the Battle of Ankara in 1402, he returned to Samarkand when the Sultan of Egypt and co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire both offered submission.
Far from being finished, Timur set his sights on an invasion of China which began in December 1404. Fortunately for his latest enemy, he fell ill and died in February 1405. According to historians, his conquests resulted in the death of 17 million people which was the equivalent of 5% of the world’s population at that time.