Sykes' History of Persia Vol 2 (pdf) - Heritage Institute

. A,. MX TAMERLANE 197
This act caused a revolt, which was headed by an Amir
l
named Bayan Selduz and by Haji Barlas, of Kesh (the
modern Shahr-i-Sabz, to the south of Samarcand), and the
united forces of the Amirs defeated Abdulla, who fled
across the Oxus and disappeared from the scene. The
government was now administered by the victors, but the
incapacity of Bayan Selduz, who was a hopeless drunkard,
broke up the empire into a number of petty states, and
Haji Barlas was not able to do more than maintain himself
at Kesh.
The Governor of Mongolia, or Jatah, at this period was
Tughluk Timur Khan, who, on seeing the state of anarchy
into which Transoxiana had fallen, determined to annex
it. He started on an expedition for this purpose in A.H.
761 (1360) and marched on Kesh ; Haji Barlas, deeming
the odds too great, attempted no defence and fled
to Khorasan, where he was afterwards killed by brigands.
The Fame of Tamerlane. Tamerlane has impressed
Europe more than any other Asiatic conqueror. Chengiz
Khan, a century and a half earlier, was not brought into
direct contact with the Near East or with Europe, but conquered
lands remote from the ken of the West, and it
was not until after his death that his descendants subdued
Russia to the north and Mesopotamia
to the south.
Tamerlane, on the other hand, overran Persia and Mesopotamia,
and subsequently entered Russia and attacked
the Kipchaks of the lower Volga valley he also plundered
;
Moscow. He then turned his eyes towards India, the
reputed treasure-house of the world, which he invaded.
Here he passed the limits both of Alexander the Great
and of Chengiz Khan, the former having halted on the
Beas, while the latter barely crossed the Indus. Westwards,
too, he took Damascus and weakened the power
of the Mamelukes, and finally defeated and captured
Sultan Bayazid
I. of Turkey on the field of Angora.
No Asiatic conqueror in historical times has performed
such feats of arms as these, and consequently none is
entitled to the fame of Tamerlane.
1
Haji signifies a man who has performed the pilgrimage to Mecca : it is a title of
honour in the Moslem world.