The Powerful Tamerlane
Tamerlane’s most impressive victory came at the expense of the Ottoman Turks. At the time, the Ottomans were a rising power in their own right, as exuberantly confident in their prowess as was Tamerlane. For years, insulting letters were exchanged between Tamerlane and the Ottoman Sultan, Bayezid, until Tamerlane finally showed up and defeated him in 1402. He took to Ottoman ruler captive, and humiliated him by keeping him in a cage at court, while Bayazid’s favorite wife was made to serve Tamerlane and his courtiers, naked.
His decades-long rampage finally ended in 1405 as he prepared to invade China, only to get ill while encamped and die before he could launch the campaign. Tamerlane’s grave was reportedly cursed. His body was exhumed by Soviet anthropologists on June 19th, 1941. Carved inside his tomb were the words “When I rise from the dead, the word shall tremble“. Two days later, the Nazis launched the largest military operation of all time against the USSR. The Soviets survived only by the skin of their teeth. Just to be on the safe side, in November, 1942, shortly before Operation Uranus which led to the first major Soviet victory at Stalingrad, Tamerlane was reburied with full Islamic ritual.
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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading
Appian – The Civil Wars, Book II
Chambers, James – The Devil’s Horsemen: The Mongol Invasion of Europe (2001)
Discover Magazine, August 5th, 2010 – 1 in 200 Men are Direct Descendants of Genghis Khan
Encyclopedia Britannica – Carbon Sink
Encyclopedia Britannica – Peter the Great
Gonick, Larry – The Cartoon History of the Universe, Volume II (1994)
Grey, Ian – Peter the Great, Emperor of All Russia (1960)
Hildinger, Erik – Warriors of the Steppe: Military History of Central Asia, 500 BC to 1700 AD (1997)
History Collection – These Leaders Were Accused of Abusing Their Power
Holland, Tom – Rubicon: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic (2004)
Kitchen, Kenneth – Pharaoh Triumphant: The Life and Times of Ramesses II, King of Egypt (1983)
Lamb, Harold – Tamerlane: The Earth Shaker (1929)
Leach, John – Pompey the Great (1978)
Live Science – Mongol Invasion in 1200 Altered Carbon Dioxide Levels
Manz, Beatrice Forbes – The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane (1999)
Marozzi, Justin – Tamerlane: Sword of Islam, Conqueror of the World (2006)
Massie, Robert K. – Peter the Great: His Life and World (1980)
Monga Bay – How Genghis Khan Cooled the Planet
Saunders, John Joseph – The History of the Mongol Conquests (2001)
Sima Qian – Records of the Grand Historian, Volume 8
Suetonius – The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Book II, Augustus
Whiting, Marvin C. – Imperial Chinese Military History, 800 BC – 1912 AD (2002)
Woods, John E. – The Timurid Dynasty (1990)