This is the story of Tamerlane, the cruelest of the commanders known to the world. His thirst for power blazed in his heart and strengthened his determination to subject everyone and everything to his will; no one could expect clemency. The great warrior, nicknamed Timurl the Lame, was a powerful politician not only on the battlefields. In his capital, Samarkand, he was a shrewd merchant and a talented city planner. Within the gold-embroidered tents lived a wise father and grandfather among the intrigue-filled lives of numerous heirs. “All the space of the World must belong to only one king”—so sounded the rule of his life and the fundamental law of the legendary empire of Tamerlane.