Tamerlane invasion of Europe

Griffith

Banned
Considering all the phrase the Tamerlane fucking get as a military genius who created a superpower that encompassed many of the territory the Mongols had OTL along with the fact Tamerlane had a Mongol-style army with a bit more advanced weaponry, I'm quite surprised practically no thread exists about him attempting to do what the Mongols never completely tried to do seriously. About the only thread involving invading European civilization I saw deals with the already decaying Byzantines.

Since he crushed the Ottomans (who would later be the Muslim empire that was the greatest threat to the Catholic Church even moreso than the early Arab conquests), I am genuinely surprised he didn't try to at least explore Europe. Not even sending a scouting party into Eastern Europe like Subotai did OTL.

How does Europe do against a fully committed invasion? Is Europe so well-organized and developed enough in military science at this point that repeating Subotai's raid impossible?

If Europe is too strong, could Tamerlane at least finish of the Byzantine empire earlier than the Mongols did, perhaps conquering mainland Greece?

How about an repeat of the conquest of Russia? Is Russia too strong at this point for Tamerlane to conquer?
 
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Timur while the most talented and dangerous individual of the 1300s, was far too old to launch an invasion into Europe. He also did not have ships to battle the Venetians which formed a tentative alliance with both the Burji Mamluks and Ottoman remnants to keep the Timurids stuck in Asia.

Not to mention the fact Timur at even his advanced age, had serious political threats from China in the Ming dynasty, regarding their encroachment upon old Chagatayid land as well as the fall of the allied Yuan dynasty. There is no way to get such an elderly person with danger from his east to pick up and invade Europe. At best you could have a Timurid sponsoring of Genoa against Venice.

Timur was a person unlike any other, he wasn't nobility and had no rank (he never truly had an empire, his state was essentially the Chagatayid with a khan from that line, with him as the "advisor") he rose from the literal bottom to the top of the world, he did wonders with what he had, much more than an outright conquest of the Levant, better administration or a successful campaign pushing the Ming out of Central Asia is all that can be added.

- Russia is ruled by the Golden Horde who after Tokhtamush was defeated by Timur, was more or less subjugated. Anything further north is too far and again is under the jurisdiction of Golden Horde. Timur actually respected old Mongol-Turkic traditions, surprisingly, he is an exception in terms of great conquerors in how he legitimately respected traditions of rule hence why despite his ability to do so, never claimed the title of Khagan, Caliph, Shahansah, etc...

-Byzantium is likely to be negotiated with in this scenario and made a vassal, similar to how Trebizond was. Byzantium's life is likely greatly expanded with a surviving Timurid state, as it becomes a vassal state of the Timurids who begin to create Saljuq remant states (his reason for invading Anatolia). Byzantium would likely flourish once more, this time as a city state. Interesting scenario, indeed.
 
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I guess that his life's work was dedicated to the conquest of Asia as a whole. This shows his interest towards Anatolia and India, and the fact that his ultimate last campaign was directed against Ming China, as John7755 pointed above... all of this indicates that Europe was a tertiary target at least.

Given some more years of life, I suspect that he would focus his energy in China. Which, in itself, is an even more fascinating scenario than an invasion of Europe, if you ask me. Perhaps an attempt of outright conquering Egypt (even if this might not last long, if the Ottomans experience an eventual ressurgence like they did IOTL).
 
I guess that his life's work was dedicated to the conquest of Asia as a whole. This shows his interest towards Anatolia and India, and the fact that his ultimate last campaign was directed against Ming China, as John7755 pointed above... all of this indicates that Europe was a tertiary target at least.

Given some more years of life, I suspect that he would focus his energy in China. Which, in itself, is an even more fascinating scenario than an invasion of Europe, if you ask me. Perhaps an attempt of outright conquering Egypt (even if this might not last long, if the Ottomans experience an eventual ressurgence like they did IOTL).

He did fight Egypt through the Burji where he fought the Burji through Syria. The end result was the Mamluks paid tribute to Timur and accepted his lordship over Iraq, which the Mamluks previously claimed via their Abbasid caliph that they held as a puppet.

Timur was content with the Burji remaining lords of Egypt as these lands were one never part of the Mongol empire and such an invasion would incur the wrath of the Islamic ulema which Timur had sought to gain favor of, which he did by signing peace with the Burji, the peace was brokered by the Islamic ulema of Syria who gave legitimacy to Timur in exchange for peace with the Burji.
 
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