10 Amazing Coincidences From History

8. Tamerlane’s Curse

Robert Lincoln Feature
[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Tamerlane was a 14th Century Turko-Mongol military leader. He followed in the footsteps of Ghengis Khan, who reigned a century earlier. Tamerlane idolized Genghis Khan and used similar methods to build his empire. His wife, Saray Mulk Khanum, was a Chagatai princes and direct descendant of Genghis.

During his reign, Tamerlane’s armies killed seventeen million people, about 5% of the entire population of the globe.

In 1941, Russian archaeologists escavated Tamerlane’s tomb and found inscribed within were the words, “When I rise from the dead, the world shall tremble.” Another inscription on his coffin read, “Whoever opens my tomb shall unleash an invader more terrible than I.”

Within two days of the discovery, Hitler invaded the USSR. Spooky.

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Contributor

Writer of humorous novels; The Accidental Scoundrel, and Tripping the Night Fantastic. Find them on Amazon here - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Accidental-Scoundrel-Rochdale-Manor/dp/1499628226/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1522068925&sr=8-1&keywords=the+accidental+scoundrel