The Handy Military History Answer Book. Samuel Willard Crompton

happened to the Golden Horde?

      For more than a century and a half, the Mongol leaders of the Golden Horde had lived magnificent lives, split between the rigors of the trail and their wonderful city of Sarai on the lower Volga River. It was their misfortune that Toktamish—who had known Tamerlane from his earliest days—became their leader around the year 1380. Whether Toktamish betrayed Tamerlane or the other way around will forever remain in doubt; all that is known is that the two men hated and feared each other.

      Tamerlane was in the western part of his domain when Toktamish invaded and briefly occupied the city of Samarkand. Toktamish departed as Tamerlane returned, and perhaps he believed that would be all. Tamerlane pursued him, however, over a distance of 800 miles, and he finally sacked the city of Sarai. For more than a century, Sarai and Samarkand had been rivals in the merchant trade: Tamerlane put an end to that.

      Could Tamerlane have taken and sacked Moscow?

      He was within 250 miles, and to him that was a relatively short distance. The people of Moscow implored God to save them from the terrible Turks. But Tamerlane had no special interest in Moscow. Its 50,000 people would not have been any benefit to his Central Asian-based empire, and he, therefore, headed for home.

       Is Tamerlane, then, one of the few leaders ever to invade Russia and succeed?

      Yes. King Charles XII of Sweden failed in 1709, Napoleon failed in 1812, and Hitler failed in the truest sense of that word during World War II. About the only successful invasions of Russia have come from the south and the east, and most have been led either by Mongols or Turks.

      The Golden Horde never recovered. Though some descendants of Jochi and Batu continued to call themselves “Khan” for some generations, there was no more reality to the claim. This was not the only kingdom or principality that Tamerlane would destroy, however.

      How did Tamerlane find himself in India?

      Tamerlane grew up within sight of some of the northernmost mountains of Afghanistan, and he had great curiosity about what lay beyond. In 1398, he brought an immense army, of perhaps 150,000, over the mountains and into northwest India. He encountered little opposition, and, from a religious point of view, he had little reason to fight because so many of those he encountered were fellow Muslims. But when he reached the city of Delhi, capital of the sultanate of the same name, a series of misunderstandings led to a terrible sack.

      Whether the people of Delhi disrespected a banner of truce or some of Tamerlane’s men stole some sheep and then blamed it on their foes is not certain; what we can say is that Delhi was captured and put to the worst sack of Tamerlane’s reign. Mounds of skulls were placed near the city walls, and the death toll may have been as much as 100,000. Tamerlane never commented publicly on the matter, but there are indications that he regretted it.

      Was there any force on earth that could stop, or defeat,Tamerlane?

      At his peak, no. When Tamerlane set out on campaign, which was most of the time, he marched with a virtual city of soldiers, cavalrymen, and camp followers. These people lived off the land and did so in a rather grand style. They, therefore, destroyed their enemies’ sustenance even before meeting them in battle, and once battle was joined, Tamerlane’s incredible skill and ruthlessness always prevailed.

      The best example of this came in 1402, when the Ottoman Turkish sultan Bayezid, known as “Bayezid the Thunderbolt,” challenged Tamerlane. The Ottoman Turks were cousins to Tamerlane’s people, but that did not matter; leadership of the Turkic-Mongol world was at stake. Tamerlane marched west and inflicted a terrible defeat on Bayezid at the Battle of Ankara, where the capital of modern-day Turkey is located. Tamerlane’s army captured Bayezid; Tamerlane kept him a prisoner until Bayezid died, a year later. Whether Tamerlane actually caged Bayezid or made him perform degrading tasks is unknown, but the rivalry between the two men has been fodder for poets and dramatists for centuries.

      The Bibi-Khanym Mosque in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, is one of the few tangible legacies built by the conqueror Tamerlane. Completed a year before his death in 1405, it is named after his wife.

      What did Western Christians think of Tamerlane?

      To them, he was the bogeyman, the enemy that might appear at any time but would do so under the cover of night. Europeans knew more about Tamerlane than they ever did about Genghis Khan, and he was, in some ways, more frightful to them. Numerous European monarchs sent letters to Tamerlane, assuring him of their friendship. They were careful to observe his protocol, which meant that the letters were addressed to the “Lord of Asia.”

      How old was Tamerlane when he defeated Bayezid?

      He was about sixty-five and in poor health. Two years later, when he set out for his intended conquest of China, Tamerlane was so lame that he had to be carried in a litter. No one doubted he would accomplish his goal, however, until he died of natural causes in February 1405.

      Tamerlane is still, even in our time, the destroyer par excellance. Not even Genghis Khan killed so many people or ruined so many cities. A major difference between the two is that Genghis left a viable legacy to be enjoyed by his sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons, while Tamerlane left almost nothing. His army broke up soon after his death, and what he called his empire was revealed to be held together by his personality and nothing else. One of the few exceptions to the general rule is the magnificent mosque in Samarkand, built soon after his return from India. Tamerlane is buried there.

      When was his body exhumed?

      A legend long existed that if the grave of Tamerlane was ever disturbed, an even greater menace than him would come to destroy the world. That was enough to keep away most grave robbers, and it was not until the first half of 1941, when a serious, modern-day scientific team arrived in Samarkand, that Tamerlane’s body was exhumed. Led by a Russian scholar, the team recovered the body and was able—based on forensics—to recreate Tamerlane’s face. Many of the particulars conform closely to the chronicles. Tamerlane was tall, lean, and exceptionally fit. His face was a mixture of intelligence and ferocity, much as we might imagine. The single biggest coincidence, however, was that the German invasion of the Soviet Union—a terrible conflict that claimed more than twenty million lives—began on the very day—June 22, 1941—that Tamerlane’s body was exhumed.

THE NORMANS

      Why do we sometimes call the Normans the “supermen” of the eleventh and twelfth centuries?

      It is because they seemed to be here, there, and everywhere. The Normans originated from a rather small population base in the peninsula of northern France, which later became famous due to the D-Day Invasion. Norman, in its original meaning, meant “North-man’s-land.” Some, though not all, of the early Normans had Viking blood in their veins, and they certainly acted the part, marauding far and wide. The great and important difference is that they did so with the blessing of the Roman Catholic Church.

      In the middle of the eleventh century, the Normans began invading the Island of Sicily. They soon saw its great strategic potential, and within thirty years they had taken the island and established a Norman kingdom in the south. Their actions were just as important as those of William the Conqueror, though they are less known.

      Who was William the Conqueror?

      It helps to start with his original name, which was William the Bastard. This is because although his father was Duke Robert of Normandy, his mother was the daughter of a tanner in the market town of Rouen. As an illegitimate son, he was referred to as William the Bastard. Over time, as he defeated his legitimate brothers and became the leader of Normandy, he was known as William, Duke of Normandy. Only later did he become King William of