How Important Was Tamerlane?

I've been thinking about doing a TL where Tamerlane dies early, so I wanted to first get an idea of how much he matters to history beyond several cities not getting sacked by his armies.
 
Well the Nestorian Church will still be a major branch of Christianity and there will be far less Turkic cultural influence across the Middle East.

Unlike Genghis Khan, Timur never really seemed to have any long-term goals besides conquest and the accumulation of wealth for its own sake. Without him the Islamic world is likely more divided culturally but overall stronger and wealthier.
 
Well, the Golden Horde (ruined during the Toqtamysh-Timur war) might have lasted a little longer and when Russia would be in position to complete the expansion south they wouldn't be occupying practically empty territory.

Not to mention that Kazan might never have arisen to predominance. Hard to guess where these changes might lead but it would certainly be different.
 
Well, his descendants ended up being the Mughals, right? That is a pretty big deal, I would say.
 
Last edited:
Well Timur styled himself as a Mongol conquered and engaged in his fair share of sacking. We can possibly see a faster conquest of Constantinople, as Timur basically set the Ottomans back at Ankara. You still could see the remnants of the Illkhanate fight it out for Persia. No Mughals is another, although this all depends on when Timur dies.
 

Deleted member 82118

I've been thinking about doing a TL where Tamerlane dies early, so I wanted to first get an idea of how much he matters to history beyond several cities not getting sacked by his armies.

Constantinople would fell 50 years earlier. With Bayazid I on the throne, Ottomans can attack and conqer Hungary in1415-1420.
About th Golden Horde - there is two variants, becourse at the begining Timur helped Tokhtamysh Khan to unite West and East part of the country. But latter, Timur burned GH to the ground
Without being defeated by Timur, Tokhtamysh can save his Empire... for 50 years or longer.
Without Tokhtamysh, Hotrde might collapse after Dmitry Doskoy defeat Mamay at Kulikovo Pole. And Dmitry's plan to marry his daugher to the Jagello and unite Moscow and Lithuania could work
Without the Timur's extermination of the most Tatar sities, Tatar states - no only Kazan - might be stronger.
No Mughals, and, possibly, India never united
 
The Ottomans are likely to go stampeding through Europe a lot sooner, and there's nobody in a real position to stop them. If you were to write an Ottoman-wank, that's like the very first bullet point on the list of things to change.
 
The Delhi Sultanate may see religious syncretism. I read somewhere that if it was not for Timur giving Muslims a bad name and destroying Delhi, syncretism like what happened in the Mughal Empire may have occurred.
 
Last edited:
Iran would definitly be back on its feet two as Timur pretty much destroyed a lot of infastructure and killed a lot of people. On the otherhand the Turks might not be Persianized in the East due to his influences in Samarkand. Central Asia may not have become such a center of art and learning as it did in OTL but other areas which he invaded would.
 
I recommend anyone interested in Tamerlane, or Timur Bek to read the journal of the diplomat Ruy Gonzalez de Clavij, a Spanish diplomat who meet with him in Samarkand.

In the journal he describes first hand the total destruction Tamerlane's forces imposed upon the Middle East. His descriptions of the skull pyramids are chilling.

In many books I have read on the subject of Tamerlane, many historians believe that the modern Middle East is founded on the destruction he wrought on it.

Interestingly the journal also describes Constantinople in the last years of it's existence, it is a very good read.
 
Top