CHAPTER XII
From the time of Tamerlane, to the Sixteenth Century. WE now revert to the East. In 1362 Tamerlane invaded Bukharia, which he reduced in five years. Proceeding from conquest to conquest, he successively subdued Persia, Armenia, Georgia, Karazim, and great part of Tartary. He then turned his course westward, and having subjugated all the countries to the Euphrates, next poured his hordes over the fertile plains of India, plundering Delhi, and pursuing the flying Indians to the banks of the Ganges. The cities of Asia Minor then felt his power; and among his cruelties may be numbered a general massacre of the inhabitants of Bagdad. In 1393 he invaded and reduced Syria. In 1402 he brought an army of 700,000 men against the Turks, under the sultan Bajazet, who with a force of 120,000 engaged him; but it ended in a total rout of the Turkish host, and the captivity of its leader. At length, while on his way to China, in 1405, the conquest of which empire he meditated, his progress was arrested by a sudden death; and most of the nations he had vanquished were able ere long to regain their independence, or had to submit to new masters.
The civil contentions that arose among the sons of Bajazet revived the hopes of the Greek emperor Manuel Paleologus; but they were speedily annihilated. Amurath II. after overcoming his competitors, took Thessalonica, and threatened Constantinople, which owed its salvation to the Hungarians under John Hunniades. Amurath having obtained a truce, immediately resigned the crown to his son Mahomet II., but an unexpected attack from Uladislaus, king of Hungary, induced him again to take the field. After the battle of Varna, in which the Christians were completely defeated, he finally abandoned his throne, A. D. 1444. In Mahomet II. were combined the scholar, the warrior, and the politician; and he proved the most determined as well as formidable enemy of Christendom. He, however, met with some signal reverses, particularly when engaged against the celebrated Scanderbeg, prince of Albania. After making immense preparations, Mahomet, in the full confidence of success, undertook the siege of Constantinople. The defence was obstinate; but having obtained possession of the harbor, by having, with the most indefatigable perseverence, drawn his fleet overland the distance of two leagues, the city surrendered ; and thus an end was put to the eastern empire.
Russia had long languished under the heavy yoke of the Tartars, when Demetrius Iwanowitz made a desperate effort to effect the deliverance of his country: and having defeated his oppressors, he assumed the title of grand duke of Russia. But the ferocious Tartars returned with an immense force, his troops were routed, and their gallant leader fell in the conflict. His death was, however, shortly after revenged by his son, Basilius Demetriwitz, who expelled the ferocious enemy, and conquered Bulgaria, A. D. 1450. Much confusion arose after his death; but Russia was saved from anarchy by John Basilowitz, whose sound policy, firmness, and singular boldness rendered him at once the conqueror and the deliverer of his country. Freed from every yoke, and considered as one of the most powerful princes in those regions, he disdained the title of duke, and assumed that of czar, which has since remained with his successors.