XLVIII. and Anatolia, of the revolt of the Christians, and CHAP. the ambitious designs of sultan Bajazet. His vigour of mind and body was not impaired by sixty-three years, and innumerable fatigues; and after enjoying some tranquil months in the palace of Samarcand, he proclaimed a new expedition of seven years into the western countries of Asia *. Between two jealous and haughty neighbours, the motives of quarrel will seldom be wanting. The Mogul and Ottoman conquests now touched each other in the neighbourhood of Erzerum and the Euphrates; nor had the doubtful limit been ascertained by time and treaty. Each of these ambitious monarchs might accuse his rival of violating his territory; of threatening his vassals; and protecting his rebels: and, by the name of rebels, each understood the fugitive princes, whose kingdoms he had usurped, and whose life or liberty he implacably pursued. In his first expedition, Timour was satisfied with the siege and destruction of Siwas or Sebaste, a strong city on the borders of Anatolia ; and he revenged the indiscretion of the Ottoman, on a garrison of four thousand Armenians, who were buried alive for the brave and faithful discharge of their duty. As a Mussulman he seemed to respect the pious occupation of Bajazet, who was still engaged in Timour inthe blockade of Constantinople: and after this salutary vades Syria, lesson, the Mogul conqueror checked his pursuit, and turned aside to the invasion of Syria and Egypt. The military republic of the Mamalukes still reigned in those countries. The Syrian emirs were assembled at Aleppo to repel the invasion: they confided in the fame and discipline of the Mamalukes, in the temper of their swords and lances, of the purest steel of Damascus, in the strength of their walled cities, and in the populousness of sixty * See the Institutions, p. 151, to the end of the 1st book, and Sherefeddin (1. v. c. 1-16), to the entrance of Timour into Syria. A. D. 1400. XLVIII. Sacks A. D. 1400, CHAP. thousand villages: and instead of sustaining a siege, they threw open their gates, and arrayed their forces in the plain. But these forces were not cemented by virtue and union; and some powerful emirs had been seduced to desert or betray their more loyal companions. Timour's front was covered with a line of Indian elephants, whose turrets were filled with archers and Greek fire: the rapid evolutions of his cavalry completed the dismay and disorder; the Syrian crowds fell back on each other; many thousands were stifled or slaughtered in the entrance of the great street; the Moguls entered with the fugitives; and, after a short defence, the citadel, the impregnable citadel of Aleppo, was surrendered by cowardice or treachery: the streets of Aleppo streamed with blood, and re-echoed with the cries of mothers and children, with the shrieks of violated virgins. The rich plunder that was abandoned to his soldiers might stimulate their avarice: but their cruelty was enforced by the peremptory command of producing an adequate number of heads, which, according to his custom, were curiously piled in columns and pyramids. The Moguls celebrated the feast of victory, while the surviving Moslems passed the night in tears and in chains. I shall not dwell on the march of the destroyer from Aleppo to Damascus, where he was rudely encountered, and almost overthrown, by the armies of Egypt. A retrograde motion was imputed to his distress and despair: one of his nephews deserted to the enemy; and Syria rejoiced in the tale of his defeat, when the sultan was driven by the revolt of the Mamalukes to escape with precipitation and shame to his palace of Cairo. Abandoned by their prince, the inhabitants of Damascus still defended their walls; and Timour consented to raise the siege, if they would adorn his retreat with a gift or ransom; each article of nine XLVIII. A. D. 1401, pieces. But no sooner had he introduced himself CHAP. into the city, under colour of a truce, than he perfidiously violated the treaty; imposed a contribution Damascus. of ten millions of gold; and animated his troops to Jan. 23; chastise the posterity of those Syrians who had executed, or approved, the murder of the grandson of Mahomet. A family which had given honourable burial to the head of Hosein, and a colony of artificers whom he sent to labour at Samarcand, were alone reserved in the general massacre; and, after a period of seven centuries, Damascus was reduced to ashes, because a Tartar was moved by religious zeal to avenge the blood of an Arab. The losses and fatigues of the campaign obliged Timour to renounce the conquest of Palestine and Egypt; but in his return to the Euphrates, he delivered Aleppo to the flames; and justified his pious motive by the pardon and reward of two thousand sectaries of Ali, who were desirous to visit the tomb of his son. I have expatiated on the personal anecdotes which mark the character of the Mogul hero; but I shall briefly mention*, and Bagdad, that he erected on the ruins of Bagdad a pyramid of July 23. ninety thousand heads; again visited Georgia; encamped on the banks of Araxes; and proclaimed his resolution of marching against the Ottoman emperor. Conscious of the importance of the war, he collected his forces from every province: eight hundred thousand men were enrolled on his military list; but the splendid commands of five, and ten, thousand horse may be rather expressive of the rank and pension of the chiefs, than of the genuine number of effective soldiers. In the pillage of Syria, the Moguls had acquired immense riches: but the de *The marches and occupations of Timour between the Syrian and Ottoman wars are represented by Sherefeddin (1. v. c. 29-43), and Arabshah (tom. ii. c. 15-18). A. D. 1401, CHAP. livery of their pay and arrears for seven years more firmly attached them to the Imperial standard. XLVIII. Invades Anatolia, During this diversion of the Mogul arms, Bajazet A. D. 1402. had two years to collect his forces for a more serious encounter. They consisted of four hundred thousand horse and foot *, whose merit and fidelity were of an unequal complexion. We may discriminate the Janizaries who have been gradually raised to an establishment of forty thousand men; a national cavalry, the Spahis of modern times; twenty thousand cuirassiers of Europe, clad in black and impenetrable armour; the troops of Anatolia, whose princes had taken refuge in the camp of Timour, and a colony of Tartars, whom he had driven from Kipzak, and to whom Bajazet had assigned a settlement in the plains of Adrianople. The fearless confidence of the sultan urged him to meet his antagonist; and, as if he had chosen that spot for revenge, he displayed his banners near the ruins of the unfortunate Suvas. In the meanwhile, Timour moved from the Araxes through the countries of Armenia and Anatolia: his boldness was secured by the wisest precautions; his speed was guided by order and discipline; and the woods, the mountains, and the rivers, were diligently explored by the flying squadrons, who marked his road and preceded his standard. Firm in his plan of fighting in the heart of the Ottoman kingdom, he avoided their camp; dexterously inclined to the left; occupied Cæsarea; traversed the salt desert and the river Halys, and invested Angora: while the sultan, immovable and ignorant in his post, compared the Tartar swiftness *Timour himself fixes at 400,000 men the Ottoman army (Institutions, p. 253), which is reduced to 150,000 by Phranza (l. i. c. 29), and swelled by the German soldier to 1,400,000. It is evident that the Moguls were the more numerous, Angora, to the crawling of a snail: he returned on the wings CHAP. of indignation to the relief of Angora; and as both XLVIII. generals were alike impatient for action, the plains Battle of round that city were the scene of a memorable battle, A. D. 1402, which has immortalized the glory of Timour and the July 28. shame of Bajazet. For this signal victory, the Mogul emperor was indebted to himself, to the genius of the moment, and the discipline of thirty years. He had improved the tactics, without violating the manners, of his nation*, whose force still consisted in the missile weapons, and rapid evolutions, of a numerous cavalry. From a single troop to a great army, the mode of attack was the same; a foremost line first advanced to the charge, and was supported in a just order by the squadrons of the great vanguard. The general's eye watched over the field, and at his command the front and rear of the right and left wings successively moved forwards in their several divisions, and in a direct or oblique line: the enemy was pressed by eighteen or twenty attacks ; and each attack afforded a chance of victory. If they all proved fruitless or unsuccessful, the occasion was worthy of the emperor himself, who gave the signal of advancing to the standard and main body, which he led in person. But in the battle of Angora, the main body itself was supported, on the flanks, and in the rear, by the bravest squadrons of the reserve, commanded by the sons and grandsons of Timour. The conqueror of Hindostan ostentatiously showed a line of elephants, the trophies, rather than the instruments, of victory: the use of the Greek fire was familiar to the Moguls and Ottomans but had they borrowed from Europe the recent invention of gunpowder and cannon, the artificial thunder, in * See the Systems of Tactics in the Institutions, which the English editors have illustrated with elaborate plans (p. 373—407). |