Chapter LXV: Tamerlane / Timour, and the Turks again
Read it here or here.
1) Good lines
There is an early cynical line about justification for violence: For every war, a motive of safety or revenge, of honour or zeal, of right or convenience, may be readily found in the jurisprudence of conquerors.
That ties in very neatly with the end of the chapter, which is a brilliant peroration on military technology and peace: The chymists of China or Europe had found, by casual or elaborate experiments, that a mixture of saltpetre, sulphur, and charcoal, produces, with a spark of fire, a tremendous explosion. It was soon observed, that if the expansive force were compressed in a strong tube, a ball of stone or iron might be expelled with irresistible and destructive velocity. The precise aera of the invention and application of gunpowder is involved in doubtful traditions and equivocal language; yet we may clearly discern, that it was known before the middle of the fourteenth century; and that before the end of the same, the use of artillery in battles and sieges, by sea and land, was familiar to the states of Germany, Italy, Spain, France, and England. The priority of nations is of small account; none could derive any exclusive benefit from their previous or superior knowledge; and in the common improvement, they stood on the same level of relative power and military science. Nor was it possible to circumscribe the secret within the pale of the church; it was disclosed to the Turks by the treachery of apostates and the selfish policy of rivals; and the sultans had sense to adopt, and wealth to reward, the talents of a Christian engineer. The Genoese, who transported [the Ottoman sultan] Amurath into Europe, must be accused as his preceptors; and it was probably by their hands that his cannon was cast and directed at the siege of Constantinople. The first attempt was indeed unsuccessful; but in the general warfare of the age, the advantage was on their side, who were most commonly the assailants: for a while the proportion of the attack and defence was suspended; and this thundering artillery was pointed against the walls and towers which had been erected only to resist the less potent engines of antiquity. By the Venetians, the use of gunpowder was communicated without reproach to the sultans of Egypt and Persia, their allies against the Ottoman power; the secret was soon propagated to the extremities of Asia; and the advantage of the European was confined to his easy victories over the savages of the new world. If we contrast the rapid progress of this mischievous discovery with the slow and laborious advances of reason, science, and the arts of peace, a philosopher, according to his temper, will laugh or weep at the folly of mankind.
Gibbon's doubt about Chinese priority in inventing gunpowder contains an element of racism (not to mention the "savages of the new world"), but it's otherwise difficult to argue with his sentiment.
2) Summary
Timour / Tamerlane leads a Central Asian army to victory in Persia, Georgia, Tartary, Russia, India, Syria, and Anatolia, capturing the Ottoman sultan Bajazet (Bayezid I). But his conquests disintegrate when he dies, and the Ottoman Turks rebuild their realm and besiege Constantinople (on this occasion, unsuccessfully).
3) Points arising
i) Timour killed by water
Not quite sure what to make of this line on Timour's death: Fatigue, and the indiscreet use of iced water, accelerated the progress of his fever; and the conqueror of Asia expired in the seventieth year of his age, thirty-five years after he had ascended the throne of Zagatai.
I suppose that the water was probably infected; but did Gibbon know that contaminated water carried disease? Why does the ice make a difference? And that use of the word 'indiscreet' is rather odd, suggesting that 'discreet' usage, whatever that may be, might not have been so dangerous.
ii) the sultan in an iron cage
Gibbon has a brilliant four pages of analysis of the story that Timour imprisoned Bajazet in an iron cage. He starts off with the sceptics: The iron cage in which Bajazet was imprisoned by Tamerlane, so long and so often repeated as a moral lesson, is now rejected as a fable by the modern writers, who smile at the vulgar credulity. 46
46 The scepticism of Voltaire (Essai sur l'Histoire Generale, c. 88) is ready on this, as on every occasion, to reject a popular tale, and to diminish the magnitude of vice and virtue; and on most occasions his incredulity is reasonable.
(One of these days I shall do a tally of references to Voltaire in Decline and Fall, and see how many of them are favourable.)
But Gibbon then takes us carefully through his sources, citing French, Italians, Arabs, Greeks and even Turks, to show that on a clear balance of probabilities the story is most likely true. It's a great example of the art of the historian.
iii) Timour as boardgame geek ...the amusement of his leisure hours was the game of chess, which he improved or corrupted with new refinements.67
67 His new system was multiplied from 32 pieces and 64 squares to 56 pieces and 110 or 130 squares; but, except in his court, the old game has been thought sufficiently elaborate. The Mogul emperor was rather pleased than hurt with the victory of a subject: a chess player will feel the value of this encomium!
56 pieces would suggest that each player starts with two rows of 14 pieces (seems more likely than giving each player four rows of seven, especially if you think of Timour trying to reproduce the battlefields of Central Asia), so the likely number of squares would have been 112 or 126. I wonder if the rules for this chess variant survive, or have been reconstructed?
iv) on good governance, and why it is not enough To maintain the harmony of authority and obedience, to chastise the proud, to protect the weak, to reward the deserving, to banish vice and idleness from his dominions, to secure the traveller and merchant, to restrain the depredations of the soldier, to cherish the labours of the husbandman, to encourage industry and learning, and, by an equal and moderate assessment, to increase the revenue, without increasing the taxes, are indeed the duties of a prince; but, in the discharge of these duties, he finds an ample and immediate recompense. Timour might boast, that, at his accession to the throne, Asia was the prey of anarchy and rapine, whilst under his prosperous monarchy a child, fearless and unhurt, might carry a purse of gold from the East to the West. Such was his confidence of merit, that from this reformation he derived an excuse for his victories, and a title to universal dominion.
Gibbon goes on to say that these achievements are more than counterbalanced by 1) the viciousness of his military campaigns, 2) the devastation of areas which defeated but did not integrate into his realm, 3) his failure to ensure good governance at home while he was campaigning abroad and 4) his failure to create lasting institutions. Lack of internal democracy does not figure on Gibbon's list; nor, rather more surprisingly, does liberty of the subjects of the realm.
v) on the fate of Timour's descendants The race of Timour would have been extinct, if a hero, his descendant in the fifth degree, had not fled before the Uzbek arms to the conquest of Hindostan. His successors (the great Moguls) extended their sway from the mountains of Cashmir to Cape Comorin, and from Candahar to the Gulf of Bengal. Since the reign of Aurungzebe, their empire had been dissolved; their treasures of Delhi have been rifled by a Persian robber; and the richest of their kingdoms is now possessed by a company of Christian merchants, of a remote island in the Northern Ocean.
This is far too dismissive of the achievements of the Moghul Emperors, implying that they came to power by accident and that they are yet another large but shortlived empire that failed quickly, when in fact there were more than 200 years from Babur's success to the 1739 Persian invasion and even then it limped on for almost seventy years after this was published.
4) Coming next
Chapter LXVI: The Eastern Empire and the Popes. Read it here or here. I'm on the road over the next two weekends so it will probably be in three weeks' time.
1) Good lines
There is an early cynical line about justification for violence: For every war, a motive of safety or revenge, of honour or zeal, of right or convenience, may be readily found in the jurisprudence of conquerors.
That ties in very neatly with the end of the chapter, which is a brilliant peroration on military technology and peace: The chymists of China or Europe had found, by casual or elaborate experiments, that a mixture of saltpetre, sulphur, and charcoal, produces, with a spark of fire, a tremendous explosion. It was soon observed, that if the expansive force were compressed in a strong tube, a ball of stone or iron might be expelled with irresistible and destructive velocity. The precise aera of the invention and application of gunpowder is involved in doubtful traditions and equivocal language; yet we may clearly discern, that it was known before the middle of the fourteenth century; and that before the end of the same, the use of artillery in battles and sieges, by sea and land, was familiar to the states of Germany, Italy, Spain, France, and England. The priority of nations is of small account; none could derive any exclusive benefit from their previous or superior knowledge; and in the common improvement, they stood on the same level of relative power and military science. Nor was it possible to circumscribe the secret within the pale of the church; it was disclosed to the Turks by the treachery of apostates and the selfish policy of rivals; and the sultans had sense to adopt, and wealth to reward, the talents of a Christian engineer. The Genoese, who transported [the Ottoman sultan] Amurath into Europe, must be accused as his preceptors; and it was probably by their hands that his cannon was cast and directed at the siege of Constantinople. The first attempt was indeed unsuccessful; but in the general warfare of the age, the advantage was on their side, who were most commonly the assailants: for a while the proportion of the attack and defence was suspended; and this thundering artillery was pointed against the walls and towers which had been erected only to resist the less potent engines of antiquity. By the Venetians, the use of gunpowder was communicated without reproach to the sultans of Egypt and Persia, their allies against the Ottoman power; the secret was soon propagated to the extremities of Asia; and the advantage of the European was confined to his easy victories over the savages of the new world. If we contrast the rapid progress of this mischievous discovery with the slow and laborious advances of reason, science, and the arts of peace, a philosopher, according to his temper, will laugh or weep at the folly of mankind.
Gibbon's doubt about Chinese priority in inventing gunpowder contains an element of racism (not to mention the "savages of the new world"), but it's otherwise difficult to argue with his sentiment.
2) Summary
Timour / Tamerlane leads a Central Asian army to victory in Persia, Georgia, Tartary, Russia, India, Syria, and Anatolia, capturing the Ottoman sultan Bajazet (Bayezid I). But his conquests disintegrate when he dies, and the Ottoman Turks rebuild their realm and besiege Constantinople (on this occasion, unsuccessfully).
3) Points arising
i) Timour killed by water
Not quite sure what to make of this line on Timour's death: Fatigue, and the indiscreet use of iced water, accelerated the progress of his fever; and the conqueror of Asia expired in the seventieth year of his age, thirty-five years after he had ascended the throne of Zagatai.
I suppose that the water was probably infected; but did Gibbon know that contaminated water carried disease? Why does the ice make a difference? And that use of the word 'indiscreet' is rather odd, suggesting that 'discreet' usage, whatever that may be, might not have been so dangerous.
ii) the sultan in an iron cage
Gibbon has a brilliant four pages of analysis of the story that Timour imprisoned Bajazet in an iron cage. He starts off with the sceptics: The iron cage in which Bajazet was imprisoned by Tamerlane, so long and so often repeated as a moral lesson, is now rejected as a fable by the modern writers, who smile at the vulgar credulity. 46
46 The scepticism of Voltaire (Essai sur l'Histoire Generale, c. 88) is ready on this, as on every occasion, to reject a popular tale, and to diminish the magnitude of vice and virtue; and on most occasions his incredulity is reasonable.
(One of these days I shall do a tally of references to Voltaire in Decline and Fall, and see how many of them are favourable.)
But Gibbon then takes us carefully through his sources, citing French, Italians, Arabs, Greeks and even Turks, to show that on a clear balance of probabilities the story is most likely true. It's a great example of the art of the historian.
iii) Timour as boardgame geek ...the amusement of his leisure hours was the game of chess, which he improved or corrupted with new refinements.67
67 His new system was multiplied from 32 pieces and 64 squares to 56 pieces and 110 or 130 squares; but, except in his court, the old game has been thought sufficiently elaborate. The Mogul emperor was rather pleased than hurt with the victory of a subject: a chess player will feel the value of this encomium!
56 pieces would suggest that each player starts with two rows of 14 pieces (seems more likely than giving each player four rows of seven, especially if you think of Timour trying to reproduce the battlefields of Central Asia), so the likely number of squares would have been 112 or 126. I wonder if the rules for this chess variant survive, or have been reconstructed?
iv) on good governance, and why it is not enough To maintain the harmony of authority and obedience, to chastise the proud, to protect the weak, to reward the deserving, to banish vice and idleness from his dominions, to secure the traveller and merchant, to restrain the depredations of the soldier, to cherish the labours of the husbandman, to encourage industry and learning, and, by an equal and moderate assessment, to increase the revenue, without increasing the taxes, are indeed the duties of a prince; but, in the discharge of these duties, he finds an ample and immediate recompense. Timour might boast, that, at his accession to the throne, Asia was the prey of anarchy and rapine, whilst under his prosperous monarchy a child, fearless and unhurt, might carry a purse of gold from the East to the West. Such was his confidence of merit, that from this reformation he derived an excuse for his victories, and a title to universal dominion.
Gibbon goes on to say that these achievements are more than counterbalanced by 1) the viciousness of his military campaigns, 2) the devastation of areas which defeated but did not integrate into his realm, 3) his failure to ensure good governance at home while he was campaigning abroad and 4) his failure to create lasting institutions. Lack of internal democracy does not figure on Gibbon's list; nor, rather more surprisingly, does liberty of the subjects of the realm.
v) on the fate of Timour's descendants The race of Timour would have been extinct, if a hero, his descendant in the fifth degree, had not fled before the Uzbek arms to the conquest of Hindostan. His successors (the great Moguls) extended their sway from the mountains of Cashmir to Cape Comorin, and from Candahar to the Gulf of Bengal. Since the reign of Aurungzebe, their empire had been dissolved; their treasures of Delhi have been rifled by a Persian robber; and the richest of their kingdoms is now possessed by a company of Christian merchants, of a remote island in the Northern Ocean.
This is far too dismissive of the achievements of the Moghul Emperors, implying that they came to power by accident and that they are yet another large but shortlived empire that failed quickly, when in fact there were more than 200 years from Babur's success to the 1739 Persian invasion and even then it limped on for almost seventy years after this was published.
4) Coming next
Chapter LXVI: The Eastern Empire and the Popes. Read it here or here. I'm on the road over the next two weekends so it will probably be in three weeks' time.