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The Bane of the Middle East, Timur Tamerlane

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History saw the rise of many, MANY, strong figures who turned the tide for nations, driven by their... well hubris, mostly. Unfortunately, many of these names have been lost, forgotten by history, because we focus so much of our attention on a select few. People like Amanirenas, Belisarius or even Baybar, deserve to stand beside Alexander, Nobunaga and Hannibal. This is why this posy will focus on the man who nearly brought down the Ottoman Empire, warlord turned emperor, Timur Tamerlane. Timur’s upbringing is worthy of an epic fantasy story. Born in Transoxania, a territory south-east of the Aral Sea and between the Jaxartes and Oxus River, fate really stacked things against our man. His people were a minor nomadic tribe in part of the Barlas Confederation, subject to the Chagatai Kanate. Living in poverty, a young Tomur lived on petty theft to sustain himself and his family until he was shot by a shepherd in the leg. This injury would permanently cripple him, leaving him with a limp...
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China's First Emperor, Qin Shi-Huang

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China’s history is long and rich, filled with figures, many real but some mythical, who made and broke history. After all with four thousand years of history, you get your fair share of stories to tell. This time, we will go over one of the most influential figures in Chinese history: Qin Shi-Huang, the first emperor. Starting from his earlier days, Qin Shin-Huang was, like a lot of figures at the time, not born under this name. Before becoming emperor, he was Ying Zheng, the son of the king of Qin Zhuangxiang during the Waring States Period. What, you thought the Three Kingdoms was the only time of warring states? There were many, MANY instances where the region was fragmented into smaller quarreling kingdoms before being gobbled back up into a single entity. In fact, every time one of the great dynasties of China collapsed was followed by a warring state period before the next one began. The only exception to this is the Yuan Dynasty, as they directly deposed the Song before they co...
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Krak des Chevaliers

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The crusades need little introduction, being a series of military conflicts waged by the Catholic powers of Europe against the Muslims in the Levant and Anatolia. These conflicts, although rarely successful for the Christians, left their mark on the region's history from the rise of the Ayyubid Dynasty to the destruction of the Sultanate of Rum. They also left many cultural traces in the region, such as the castles constructed by the various knightly orders that operated mainly during the earlier Crusades, like the Krak des Chevaliers located in modern-day Syria. The Castle was built between the cities of Tartus and Tripoli, on an elevated plateau, giving it a great defensive position. Constructed by the Mirdasids, it first served as a small fort and Kurdish settlement before it was taken over by the first Crusade by Raymond IV of Toulouse but was quickly abandoned as he followed the rest of the army to Jerusalem. Unfortunately, we have no record of what these early fortifications...
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