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[[File: Timur reconstruction03.jpg |270px|thumb|left|Reconstruction of the face of Timur]]
Later Timur, whose name meant iron in Turkic, became a bandit and rustler. An arrow wounded him during one raid that left him lame, hence his name Timur the lame or Tamerlane. By dint of his personality and ferocity, he soon became the ruler of Transoxiana's rich area in 1366 AD. Timur proved himself to be a military genius. Tamerlane modeled himself on Genghis Khan and used similar savage methods to conquer and subdue his Empire. He was able to lead a multi-ethnic army who were very loyal to him.<ref> Marozzi, p. 81</ref> Timur was shrewd, and he was careful to take advantage of the temporary weaknesses of his enemies. He also developed an elaborate intelligence gathering network and was a careful planner master of logistics. From Samarkand, he expanded his realm and proclaimed himself khan of Chagatai and the restorer of the Mongol empire.
Timur believed that he was the successor of Genghis Khan, even though he was a pious Muslim. He fought against other Khans in Central Asia, and he eventually conquered all of Central Asia. He next intervened in the Mongol Empire of the Golden Horde in support of an ally. He defeated the Russians and the Lithuanians in two great battles. In 1383 Timur turned his attention to Persia, which was ruled by a variety of competing rulers. Timur invaded eastern Persia (1383-1385). Between 1386 and 1390, Timur and his by now huge army conquered western Persia and the Caucasus. His old ally, the Khan of the Mongol Golden Horde (based on in Russia), invaded his territories. In a series of bloody battles’battles, the Golden Horde army was destroyed, and the Khanate was weakened. Timur briefly occupied much of Russia. After a wholesale revolt in Persia, he was forced to retire, and Timur repressed it with great brutality. Timur, now styling himself an Emir left Persia a ‘wasteland of destroyed farms and irrigation works and ruined cities.’ <ref>Mazoni, p. 178</ref>
It was here that he built several towers of skulls. In 1398 by now styling himself an Emir, Timur invaded India on the pretext that the Muslim Sultans of Delhi were not good Muslims. Timur with a huge army, composed mostly of horse riders from Central Asia, crossed the Indus River on, leaving a trail of carnage in his wake, marched on Delhi, which was the Muslim capital Sultans of the Tughluq dynasty. Timur and the Tughluq Sultan met in a great battle at Panipat in 1398. The Khan of Chagatai was the victor, and he went on to capture Delhi and left it in ruins. He took away a great deal of wealth and many prisoners. The conqueror had an insatiable thirst for war, and he then turned his attention to Mamelukes who were based in Egypt and Syria, and he defeated them.
During this campaign, he devastated Baghdad and the Christian kingdoms of Armenia and Georgia. Next, the conqueror campaigned against the Ottoman Turks based in Asia Minor (modern Turkey). He defeated the Ottoman Turks at the great Battle of Ankara (1402) and even captured the Sultan Bajzet. At this time, he ruled directly or indirectly a huge area of Western Asia. The Timurid Empire included the modern countries of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran, through Central Asia encompassing part of Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Pakistan.<ref> Martin, Richard. Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World (New York, Macmillan Reference USA, 2004), p. 134 </ref>
By now, well into his sixties, he still wanted to conquer new territories. He turned his attention to the newly established Ming dynasty in China. Timur assembled a huge army and entered a formal alliance with the Mongols. Timur returned to Samarkand (1404), but he fell during China's invasion and died in February 1405. He was buried in a sumptuous tomb in his beloved Samarkand. Before his death and in accordance with Central Asian customs, he divided his lands among his sons.<ref> Martin, p. 213</ref> This led to a series of civil wars after his death, and his sons were not able to hold onto much of his vast domain. After years of internecine struggles, many of Timur’s lands were reunited by his youngest son. The Timurid Dynasty ruled much of Central Asia and eastern Iran for several generations. It eventually disintegrated into several petty kingdoms. Timur's descendants conquered India in the 16th and 17th century and established the Mughal Dynasty.
====Conclusion====
Timur was one of the last great world conquerors. He carved out a huge Empire and established the Timurid Dynasty. He was a contradictory figure. Timur did untold damage to many great civilizations such as the Persian and India, yet he was also partly responsible for a Golden Age in Central Asia. A cruel tyrant who used terror as a weapon; he was also a cultured man whose patronage led to some of the greatest Islamic art and architecture achievements. Yet, he also destroyed countless great works of art and architecture. Timur’s conquest led to important religious changes, and he reinforced the position of Islam in Central Asia. His reign of terror witnessed the virtual end of the Nestorian Church in the East. It could be argued that Christianity has been in decline ever since Timur. The nomad conqueror also changed the geopolitics of Asia. He caused at least two dynasties to collapse and weakened others, and this changed the future of major regions such as Russia and India. Timur undoubtedly changed the history of a significant portion of Eurasia. <youtube>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y95sYUkQJuA</youtube>
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