In Central Asia at the end of the fourteenth century, the army of the lame Timur was undoubtedly the most powerful military force in the region, and the army of the Timurid Empire followed the lord through countless major battles and almost did not suffer a single defeat. The reason why the army of the Timurid Empire was so strong was that in addition to having brave and good soldiers and sufficient logistics, Timur also used the "tiger skin" of the Mongol cavalry to make the enemy army fear the army of the Timurid Empire in the form of fox false tiger power.
The army of the Timurid Empire
During Tamerlane's lifelong conquests, his main opponents were some of his fellow states, all of which had been ravaged by Mongol cavalry in the thirteenth century, and Timur's wars against these countries had only expanded and repeated the Mongol Expedition. At the time tamerlane lived, the inhabitants of Central and Western Asia still remember the fierceness of the Mongol cavalry, and it was tamerlane who took advantage of the fear of the Mongols that timur decided to put on the "tiger skin" of the Mongols to deter his opponents.
However, by the fourteenth century, the Mongols of Central Asia had been assimilated by the locals, known as the Chagatai, and Timur himself was the representative of the Chagatai, while modern scholars called them TurkicIzed Mongols. It was because of this that Tamerlane's army did not have many pure-blooded Mongols, and even Timur himself could not technically call him Mongol, but in the history books of the countries conquered by Timur, Timur's army has always appeared as a Mongol.
Portrait of Tamerlane
The reason why those countries thought that the Timurid army was a Mongol army was from a regulation of the Timurid army.
According to historical records, Timur stipulated that the nomadic cavalry in the army must dress themselves as Mongols, whether these cavalrymen were Turkic or other nomadic peoples, had their hair braided like the Mongols, wore Mongol costumes, and followed Genghis Khan's code.
However, the Persian and Tajik warriors in timurid armies did not have to abide by this rule, perhaps because Timur distrusted the resident soldiers, who could still retain their own habits.
From some medieval manuscripts, we can see that the armies of the Timurid Empire did have the habit of braiding their hair, while modern painting ignores this important feature. In the era in which Tamerlane lived, people still used braided hair to distinguish between Mongols and other ethnic groups, as if only Mongols could braid their hair. For example, during Timur's expedition to Damascus, Timur's grandson Salat had rebelled against Timur, and when Salutan fled into Damascus, the local soldiers immediately cut off the braids of The Salletan to distinguish it from other Mongols.
Mongol warriors with pigtails
Some scholars once believed that Tamerlane's request for his soldiers to dress up as Mongols was a very clever act, because when Timur fought with the Dingju, many of the Dingju's armies did not dare to fight the Mongols, so when they faced Timur's "Mongol" cavalry, they would basically collapse.
Moreover, Tamerlane followed the example of the Mongols in slaughtering residents and prisoners of war, and he often made towers from the heads of slain soldiers or residents to make the enemy more afraid of the Timurid Empire's army.
And when Tamerlane faced turks of nomadic origin, the Mongol status could also bring him many benefits. For example, when Tamerlane fought against the Ottoman army, he actively co-opted the Ottoman army with Mongol blood before the war, and these people were also very willing to defect to their own people, and as a result, when the Ankara War broke out, these Mongol cavalry who had been loyal to the Ottoman Empire counterattacked on the battlefield and defeated the Ottoman army with Timur.
Other versions of Timur's portrait
However, Tamerlane's behavior also had many drawbacks, such as when Timur conquered the Turks in Khwarazm, the locals saw that Timur's envoys were dressed as Mongols, so they gave up their intention to surrender and resisted Timur with their leader Kushin. Because in their eyes, the Mongols have always had the habit of slaughtering the city, and in the end they are all dead, and it is better to fight with Timur's army to the death.
In addition, Tamerlane's behavior also made him a myriad of enemies, at that time almost all the countries of Western Asia opposed Timur, and Syrian scholars announced the expulsion of Timur and his subordinates. Because in the eyes of the West Asians at that time,
Tamerlane's wars against neighboring countries were no different from the Western Expeditions launched by the Mongols, so when Timur fought against the Mamluk dynasty of Egypt, the locals regarded the Mamluks as heroes in resisting the Mongols.