LEADERS AFTER GENGHIS
TIMUR THE LAME
1336 CE-1405 CE
The warlord hailing from Samarkand embellished his reputation by claiming descent from Genghis Khan. This remains debatable, if not utterly false, but Timur did come from a clan of Turkic nomads who once served in the Khan’s armies.
Timur’s determination and ruthlessness allowed him to cobble together an empire spanning present-day Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran and Iraq. A particular low point was the butchery and plunder of Delhi in 1399. Always seeking lands to subdue, in 1405 he rallied his men and launched an expedition to China, but died from a mysterious illness.
Some 200 years later, another upstart named Zahiruddin Babur, who claimed descent from both Timur and Chagatay Khan, conquered India and founded
