Tamerlane: Sword of Islam, Conqueror of the World

Tamerlane: Sword of Islam, Conqueror of the World

by Justin Marozzi

Harper Perennial, $160

Moscow feared Tamerlane, even though he'd been dead for more than 500 years. Worried about nationalist unrest in Central Asia, it sought to erase the nomadic warlord from the records. Uzbekistan, however, now hails him as a hero, although it soon becomes clear from Justin Marozzi's exciting Tamerlane: Sword of Islam, Conqueror of the World that he was more driven by ruthless militarism and annihilated all who stood in his way. His domain stretched beyond Central Asia to Russia and Ukraine, to Damascus and Baghdad, and Delhi. Riding across western China, he looted Peking. The Ming dynasty, which kicked out the Mongol Yuan dynasty of Kublai Khan, was only spared by Tamerlane's death in 1405. A hundred years later, little was left of Tamerlane, save some extraordinary architecture and Samarkan, which proceeded to sink into obscurity. Marozzi, a historian and political scientist, handles the absence of an actual physical empire of Tamerlane by writing a knowledgeable and pacey travelogue that puts the reader in the saddle of the conqueror.