Tamerlan Tsarnaev, hmm? Tamerlane (properly, Timur the Lame, 1336 -- 1405) just happens to be one of the most brutal conquerors in recorded history. Tamerlane was a 14th-century successor to the khans. He is noted -- if that's the word I'm groping for -- for the sheer viciousness and gratuitousness of his conquests, which put the actions of predecessors such as Genghis Khan in the shade, and remained unmatched until the 20th century. Over a period of 40 years, Tamerlane's armies roamed Central Asia annihilating everything they encountered. Tamerlane's specialty lay in executing the entire populations of captive cities. His path was marked with pillars and pyramids of the skulls of his victims. While the story that portrays him as riding up such a pyramid on horseback may be apocryphal, it provides a clear image of Tamerlane as he was. Tamerlane had no interest in governing or administration. What he conquered he destroyed, and what he destroyed remained destroyed. Thriving cultures...(Read Full Post)