Media, News, Publishing: News update 26/05/2020 (1134)

He was tall, lame on his right leg, with eyes like candlelight, but without sparkle, with a powerful voice. He was not afraid of death, he was strong in thought and fearless, like a solid rock. He was not gloomy in misfortune and was not cheerful in case of success,” a contemporary wrote about a man nicknamed Timur Leng - the Iron Lame. In the mouths of Europeans, his name sounded like Tamerlane, bringing the rulers of East and West into awe.

They heard about him when a struggle for inheritance broke out in the state of Chagatai, the son of Genghis Khan, whose possessions united the lands of Central Asia and Semirechye. By the middle of the XIV century. there were no male descendants of Chagatai in the country. The last khan died in the struggle with his vassals. Among the winners, the ruler of the city of Samarkand, Emir Hussein, stood out with strength and wealth.

But soon he had a rival. He was the leader of the Mongol-Turkic family, who lived on the lands along the Kashka-Darya River. His name was Timur.

Hussein and Timur decided to unite their forces and began to attack their neighbors together: rob, take the inhabitants into captivity, annex other people's possessions to their own. Then, in one of the raids, Timur was seriously wounded in the leg, limping for life.

The friendship between Timur and Hussein was short-lived. In 1370, in the city of Balkh, Timur captured Hussein and executed him, giving himself the title of emir. Having no rights to the Khan's throne, Timur nevertheless disposed of it. He planted weak, weak-willed and obedient offspring of the Chagatai clan into the kingdom, skillfully using them to his advantage. Timur's interests were to create his own state, vast, strong and rich.

One of the first territories conquered by Timur were the lands of Khorezm. Five times he invaded this flourishing and rich land, betraying everything to fire and sword. The city of Urgench, which resisted him, he ordered not only to destroy to the ground, but also to plow and sow the land on which it stood.

In 1392, Timur came to Transcaucasia, conquered Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia. On the Terek River, he defeated the troops of the Khan of the Golden Horde Tokhtamysh, whom he once helped to take the throne. Pursuing him, Timur through the southern Russian steppes reached the city of Yelets and ruined it. Then he turned south, to the Crimea, where he plundered a number of cities. Then he moved east, to the banks of the Volga, approaching the capital of the Golden Horde, the city of Saray, which, according to the Arab traveler and writer of the XIV century. Ibn Battuta, was one of the most beautiful cities of that time. In it, large and populous, there were beautiful buildings, well-appointed residential and commercial quarters, 13 mosques for conciliar service. On its streets and bazaars one could meet people of different nationalities: Russians, Mongols, Kipchaks, Ases, Circassians, Byzantines, Iranians, Egyptians, Syrians, etc. After the invasion of Timur, ruins remained from Sarai, and the inhabitants were exterminated or taken into captivity.

Three times Timur's troops went to conquer Iran, adding its lands to the possessions of the Iron Lame. Then he led them to India, where he plundered Delhi and reached the mouth of the Ganges. Timur returned to his homeland, burdened with huge booty, countless treasures, and immediately began to prepare for a new campaign - into the possession of the Egyptian sultan, from whom he conquered part of Syria. Then he fought with the Turkish Sultan Bayazet, took and destroyed the rich trading cities of Damascus and Baghdad. Finally, in 1402, in the battle of Angora (now Ankara), he defeated Bayazet's troops, and captured him himself.

At the beginning of 1405, he began to prepare for a campaign in China. His own possessions, stretching from the Indus to the Volga and from Syria to the borders of China, were not enough for him. He wanted to reign over the whole world, saying that "the whole expanse of the inhabited part of the world is not worth having two kings." China was saved from the invasion of Timur's troops only by his death, which overtook him in the same year.

This cruel, vengeful, cunning man, fearless warrior and talented commander dreamed of turning the capital of his state, Samarkand, into the most beautiful city in the world. By his order, craftsmen were gathered in Samarkand from all the conquered lands. Most of them were prisoners. They rebuilt the city at the request of Timur, erected palaces, laid out gardens and flower beds, laid wide streets and canals. The cathedral mosque of the city, called Bibi-khanum, was a wonder of the world, and the mausoleum, built by Timur for himself, was a role model for centuries.

For the arrangement of cities, the maintenance of troops and the encouragement of close ones, money was needed, a lot of money. And Timur found a way to get them: he established control over the caravan routes that passed from East to West, through the lands of Iran, Western Asia and Transcaucasia conquered by him. He vigilantly monitored that caravans would in no case choose more northern routes (the Black Sea and the Caspian), for which he ruthlessly destroyed the trading cities that stood on these routes, exterminated their population.

Human life had no value in Timur's eyes. After each fight, his soldiers were required to bring to the commanders several dozen severed enemy heads, receiving a reward for this.

Having taken the fortress of Sebzevar in Iran, Timur ordered the construction of a tower, immuring 2000 people in its walls. People were tied with ropes and stacked on top of each other, like stacks of firewood, shifting with bricks and clay. The quality of this building, apparently, did not satisfy the Iron Lame, because in the lands of Sistan and Kandahar he ordered to build towers only from the heads of prisoners. In the vicinity of Delhi, Timur ordered the beheading of 100 thousand civilians - just in case, just like that. At the sight of this horror, a contemporary wrote: "The towers made from the heads of the Indians reached great heights, and their bodies became food for wild animals and birds."

Timur, who did not know pity and compassion for his victims, who could not read and write, loved to listen to poetry, knew history well, treated learned people with respect, inviting them to his court. He made sure that his children and grandchildren received a good education.

Timur's grandchildren were not at all like their warlike grandfather. Baysunkur Mirza invited to his court in Herat many scientists, writers and artists known at that time. More than anything, he loved literature and collected a huge library, which became known far beyond his possessions. He did not spare gold to replenish it and kept a workshop where he worked on manuscripts; skilful copyists, calligraphers and painters were among them.

Another grandson of Timur, Ulugbek, also proela-; curled his patronage of scientists and artists-1 Kam. Astronomy was his true passion. He] built a large observatory in Samarkand, where] he spent almost all his free time from public affairs. Gradually, worldly concerns began to worry him less and less.

The courtiers at first only marveled at the emir's enthusiasm, and then began to plot. For the right to be himself, and not a bloody despot, like his] grandfather, Ulugbek had to pay with his life. In 1449, his son, setting up guards against his father, broke into his chambers and beheaded him. “La] arhama beina-l-muluk” (“There are no family ties between kings”) is a well-known Arabic proverb.

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суббота, 27 июня 2020 г.

News update 26/05/2020 (1134)

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суббота, 27 июня 2020 г.

News update 26/05/2020 (1134)

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суббота, 27 июня 2020 г.