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Colonel Alexandrov has been at the front for three months. He sends a telegram to his daughters in Moscow, inviting them to spend the rest of the summer at the dacha.

The eldest, eighteen-year-old Olga, goes there with her things, leaving thirteen-year-old Zhenya to clean the apartment. Olga is studying to become an engineer, plays music, sings, she is a strict, serious girl. At the dacha, Olga meets a young engineer Georgy Garayev. She waits until late for Zhenya, but her sister is still not there.

And at this time Zhenya, having arrived at the dacha village, in search of mail to send a telegram to his father, accidentally enters someone’s empty dacha, and the dog does not let her back out. Zhenya falls asleep. Waking up the next morning, he sees that the dog is gone, and next to him is an encouraging note from an unknown Timur. Having discovered a fake revolver, Zhenya plays with it. A blank shot that breaks a mirror frightens her; she runs, forgetting the key to her Moscow apartment and a telegram in the house. Zhenya comes to her sister and already anticipates her anger, but suddenly some girl brings her a key and a receipt for a telegram sent with a note from the same Timur.

Zhenya climbs into an old barn located in the depths of the garden. There she finds the steering wheel and begins to turn it. And there are rope wires coming from the steering wheel. Zhenya, without knowing it, is giving signals to someone! The barn is filled with many boys. They want to beat Zhenya, who unceremoniously invaded their headquarters. But the commander stops them. This is the same Timur (he is the nephew of Georgy Garayev). He invites Zhenya to stay and listen to what the guys are doing. It turns out that they help people, and especially take care of the families of Red Army soldiers. But they do all this in secret from adults. The boys decide to “take special care” of Mishka Kvakin and his gang, who climb into other people’s gardens and steal apples.

Olga thinks that Timur is a hooligan and forbids Zhenya to hang out with him. Zhenya cannot explain anything: this would mean divulging the secret.

Early in the morning, the guys from Timur’s team fill the old milkmaid’s barrel with water. Then they put firewood in the woodpile for another old woman - the grandmother of the lively girl Nyurka, and find her the missing goat. And Zhenya plays with the little daughter of Lieutenant Pavlov, who was recently killed at the border.

The Timurites draw up an ultimatum to Mishka Kvakin. They order him to appear with his assistant, the Figure, and bring a list of gang members. Geika and Kolya Kolokolchikov deliver an ultimatum. And when they come for an answer, the Kvakinians lock them in the old chapel.

Georgy Garayev gives Olga a ride on a motorcycle. He, like Olga, is engaged in singing: he plays an old partisan in the opera. His “severe and scary” makeup will frighten anyone, and the joker Georgy often uses this (he owned the fake revolver).

Timur's men manage to free Geika and Kolya and lock up the Figure in their place. They ambush the Kvakin gang, lock everyone in a booth on the market square and hang a poster on the booth that the “prisoners” are apple thieves.

There is a noisy celebration in the park. George was asked to sing. Olga agreed to accompany him on the accordion. After the performance, Olga runs into Timur and Zhenya walking in the park. The angry older sister accuses Timur of turning Zhenya against her, and she is also angry with George: why didn’t he admit earlier that Timur is his nephew? Georgy, in turn, forbids Timur to communicate with Zhenya.

Olga leaves for Moscow to teach Zhenya a lesson. There she receives a telegram: her father will be in Moscow at night. He only comes for three hours to see his daughters.

And an acquaintance, the widow of Lieutenant Pavlov, comes to Zhenya’s dacha. She urgently needs to go to Moscow to meet her mother, and she leaves her little daughter with Zhenya for the night. The girl falls asleep, and Zhenya goes off to play volleyball. Meanwhile, telegrams arrive from father and Olga. Zhenya notices the telegrams only late in the evening. But she has no one to leave the girl with, and the last train has already left. Then Zhenya sends a signal to Timur and tells him about his trouble. Timur instructs Kolya Kolokolchikov to guard the sleeping girl - to do this he has to tell Kolya’s grandfather everything. He approves of the boys' actions. Timur himself takes Zhenya to the city on a motorcycle (there is no one to ask permission, his uncle is in Moscow).

The father is upset that he never got to see Zhenya. And when it was already approaching three, Zhenya and Timur suddenly appeared. The minutes fly by quickly - Colonel Alexandrov needs to go to the front.

Georgy does not find either his nephew or a motorcycle at the dacha and decides to send Timur home to his mother, but then Timur comes, and with him Zhenya and Olga. They explain everything.

Georgy receives a summons. In the uniform of a captain of tank forces, he comes to Olga to say goodbye. Zhenya transmits “general call sign”, all the boys from Timurov’s team come running. Everyone goes together to see George off. Olga plays the accordion. Georgy is leaving. Olga says to the saddened Timur: “You always thought about people, and they will repay you in kind.”

Retold

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For three months now, the commander of the armored division, Colonel Alexandrov, has not been home. He was probably at the front.

In the middle of summer, he sent a telegram in which he invited his daughters Olga and Zhenya to spend the rest of the holidays near Moscow at the dacha.

Pushing her colored scarf to the back of her head and leaning on a brush stick, a frowning Zhenya stood in front of Olga, and she said to her:

– I went with my things, and you will clean the apartment. You don’t have to twitch your eyebrows or lick your lips. Then lock the door. Take the books to the library. Don’t visit your friends, but go straight to the station. From there, send this telegram to dad. Then get on the train and come to the dacha... Evgenia, you must listen to me. I'm your sister...

- And I'm yours too.

– Yes... but I’m older... and, in the end, that’s what dad ordered.

When a car drove away in the yard, Zhenya sighed and looked around. There was ruin and disorder all around. She walked up to the dusty mirror, which reflected the portrait of her father hanging on the wall.

Fine! Let Olga be older and for now you need to obey her. But she, Zhenya, has the same nose, mouth, and eyebrows as her father. And, probably, the character will be the same as his.

She tied her hair up tightly with a scarf. She kicked off her sandals. I took a rag. She pulled the tablecloth off the table, put a bucket under the tap and, grabbing a brush, dragged a pile of garbage to the threshold.

Soon the kerosene stove began to puff and the primus hummed.

The floor was flooded with water. Soap suds hissed and burst in the zinc washtub. And passers-by on the street looked in surprise at the barefoot girl in a red sundress, who, standing on the third floor window sill, boldly wiped the glass of the open windows.

The truck was speeding along a wide sunny road. With her feet on the suitcase and leaning on the soft bundle, Olga sat in a wicker chair. A red kitten lay on her lap and was fiddling with a bouquet of cornflowers with its paws.

At the thirty kilometer they were overtaken by a marching Red Army motorized column. Sitting on wooden benches in rows, the Red Army soldiers held their rifles pointed to the sky and sang together.

At the sound of this song, the windows and doors in the huts opened wider. Overjoyed children flew out from behind fences and gates. They waved their arms, threw still unripe apples to the Red Army soldiers, shouted “Hurray” after them, and immediately started fights, battles, cutting into the wormwood and nettles with swift cavalry attacks.

The truck turned into a holiday village and stopped in front of a small cottage covered with ivy.

The driver and assistant folded back the sides and began unloading things, and Olga opened the glassed-in terrace.

From here one could see a large neglected garden. At the bottom of the garden stood a clumsy two-story shed, and a small red flag fluttered above the roof of this shed.

Olga returned to the car. Here a lively old woman ran up to her - it was a neighbor, a thrush. She volunteered to clean the dacha, wash the windows, floors and walls.

While the neighbor was sorting out the basins and rags, Olga took the kitten and went into the garden.

Hot resin glistened on the trunks of cherry trees pecked by sparrows. There was a strong smell of currants, chamomile and wormwood. The mossy roof of the barn was full of holes, and from these holes some thin rope wires stretched across the top and disappeared into the foliage of the trees.

Olga made her way through the hazel tree and brushed the cobwebs from her face.

What's happened? The red flag was no longer over the roof, and only a stick stuck out there.

Then Olga heard a quick, alarming whisper. And suddenly, breaking dry branches, a heavy ladder - the one that was placed against the window of the attic of the barn - flew along the wall with a crash and, crushing burdocks, hit the ground loudly.

The rope wires above the roof began to tremble. Scratching his hands, the kitten tumbled into the nettles. Perplexed, Olga stopped, looked around, and listened. But neither among the greenery, nor behind someone else’s fence, nor in the black square of the barn window was anyone seen or heard.

She returned to the porch.

“It’s the kids who are making mischief in other people’s gardens,” the thrush explained to Olga. “Yesterday, two neighbors’ apple trees were shaken and a pear tree was broken. Such people went... hooligans. I, dear, sent my son to serve in the Red Army. And when I went, I didn’t drink any wine. “Goodbye,” he says, “Mom.” And he went and whistled, dear. Well, by the evening, as expected, I became sad and cried.

And at night I wake up and it seems to me that someone is darting around the yard, sneaking around. Well, I think I’m a lonely person now, there’s no one to intercede... How much do I, an old man, need? Hit my head with a brick and I’m ready. However, God had mercy - nothing was stolen. They sniffed, sniffed and left. There was a tub in my yard - it was made of oak, you couldn’t turn it over with two people - so they rolled it about twenty steps towards the gate. That's all. And what kind of people they were, what kind of people they were, is a dark matter.

At dusk, when the cleaning was finished, Olga went out onto the porch. Here, from a leather case, she carefully took out a white, sparkling mother-of-pearl accordion - a gift from her father, which he sent her for her birthday.

She put the accordion on her lap, threw the strap over her shoulder and began to match the music to the words of a song she had recently heard:

Oh, if only once

I still need to see you

Oh, if only... once...

And two... and three...

And you won't understand

On a fast plane

How I waited for you until the morning dawn.

Pilot pilots! Bombs-machine guns!

So they flew away on a long journey.

When will you be back?

I don't know how soon

Just come back...

at least someday.

Even while Olga was humming this song, several times she cast short, wary glances towards a dark bush that grew in the yard near the fence. Having finished playing, she quickly stood up and, turning to the bush, asked loudly:

- Listen! Why are you hiding and what do you want here?

A man in an ordinary white suit came out from behind a bush. He bowed his head and answered her politely:

- I am not hiding. I'm a bit of an artist myself. I didn't want to disturb you. And so I stood and listened.

– Yes, but you could stand and listen from the street. You climbed over the fence for some reason.

“Me?.. Over the fence?..” the man was offended. - Sorry, I'm not a cat. There, in the corner of the fence, boards were broken, and I entered from the street through this hole.

- It's clear! – Olga grinned. - But here is the gate. And be kind enough to sneak through it back onto the street.

The man was obedient. Without saying a word, he walked through the gate and locked the latch behind him, and Olga liked it.

- Wait! – Descending from the steps, she stopped him. - Who are you? Artist?

“No,” the man answered. – I am a mechanical engineer, but in my free time I play and sing in our factory opera.

“Listen,” Olga unexpectedly simply suggested to him. - Walk me to the station. I'm waiting for my little sister. It’s already dark, late, and she’s still not there. Understand, I'm not afraid of anyone, but I don't know the local streets yet. But wait, why are you opening the gate? You can wait for me at the fence.

She carried the accordion, threw a scarf over her shoulders and went out into the dark street that smelled of dew and flowers.

TIMUR, TAMERLANE, TIMURLENG (TIMUR-KHROMETS) 1336 - 1405

Central Asian conquering commander. Emir.

Timur, the son of a bek from the Turkified Mongolian Barlas tribe, was born in Kesh (modern Shakhrisabz, Uzbekistan), southwest of Bukhara. His father had a small ulus. The name of the Central Asian conqueror comes from the nickname Timur Leng (Lame Timur), which was associated with his lameness in his left leg. Since childhood, he persistently engaged in military exercises and at the age of 12 began going on hikes with his father. He was a zealous Mohammedan, which played a significant role in his fight against the Uzbeks.

Timur early showed his military abilities and ability not only to command people, but also to subjugate them to his will. In 1361, he entered the service of Khan Togluk, a direct descendant of Genghis Khan. He owned large territories in Central Asia. Quite soon, Timur became an adviser to the khan’s son Ilyas Khoja and the ruler (viceroy) of the Kashkadarya vilayet in the domain of Khan Togluk. By that time, the son of the bek from the Barlas tribe already had his own detachment of mounted warriors.

But after some time, having fallen into disgrace, Timur with his military detachment of 60 people fled across the Amu Darya River to the Badakhshan Mountains. There his squad was replenished. Khan Togluk sent a detachment of a thousand in pursuit of Timur, but he, having fallen into a well-arranged ambush, was almost completely exterminated in battle by Timur’s warriors.

Gathering his forces, Timur concluded a military alliance with the ruler of Balkh and Samarkand, Emir Hussein, and began a war with Khan Togluk and his son-heir Ilyas Khoja, whose army consisted mainly of Uzbek warriors. The Turkmen tribes sided with Timur, giving him numerous cavalry. Soon he declared war on his ally Samarkand Emir Hussein and defeated him.

Timur captured Samarkand, one of the largest cities in Central Asia, and intensified military operations against the son of Khan Togluk, whose army, according to exaggerated data, numbered about 100 thousand people, but 80 thousand of them formed garrisons of fortresses and almost did not participate in field battles. Timur's cavalry squad numbered only about 2 thousand people, but they were experienced warriors. In a series of battles, Timur defeated the Khan's troops, and by 1370 their remnants retreated across the Syr River.

After these successes, Timur resorted to military stratagem, which was a brilliant success. On behalf of the khan's son, who commanded Togluk's troops, he sent out an order to the commandants of the fortresses to leave the fortresses entrusted to them and to retreat beyond the Syr River with the garrison troops. So, with the help of military cunning, Timur cleared all the enemy fortresses of the khan’s troops.

In 1370, a kurultai was convened, at which the rich and noble Mongol owners elected a direct descendant of Genghis Khan, Kobul Shah Aglan, as khan. However, Timur soon removed him from his path. By that time, he had significantly replenished his military forces, primarily at the expense of the Mongols, and could now lay claim to independent khan power.

In the same 1370, Timur became emir in Transoxiana, a region between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, and ruled on behalf of the descendants of Genghis Khan, relying on the army, nomadic nobility and Muslim clergy. He made the city of Samarkand his capital.

Timur began preparing for large campaigns of conquest by organizing a strong army. At the same time, he was guided by the combat experience of the Mongols and the rules of the great conqueror Genghis Khan, which his descendants had completely forgotten by that time.

Timur began his struggle for power with a detachment of 313 soldiers loyal to him. They formed the backbone of the command staff of the army he created: 100 people began to command dozens of soldiers, 100 hundreds and the last 100 thousand. Timur's closest and most trusted associates received senior military positions.

He paid special attention to the selection of military leaders. In his army, the foremen were chosen by the dozen soldiers themselves, but Timur personally appointed the centurions, thousand and higher-ranking commanders. A boss whose power is weaker than a whip and stick is unworthy of the title, said the Central Asian conqueror.

His army, unlike the troops of Genghis Khan and Batu Khan, received a salary. An ordinary warrior received from two to four times the price of horses. The size of such a salary was determined by the service performance of the soldier. The foreman received the salary of his ten and therefore was personally interested in the proper performance of service by his subordinates. The centurion received the salary of six foremen and so on.

There was also a system of awards for military distinctions. This could be the praise of the emir himself, an increase in salary, valuable gifts, rewarding with expensive weapons, new ranks and honorary titles such as, for example, Brave or Bogatyr. The most common punishment was the withholding of a tenth of the salary for a specific disciplinary offense.

Timur's cavalry, which formed the basis of his army, was divided into light and heavy. Simple light-horse warriors were required to be armed with a bow, 18-20 arrows, 10 arrowheads, an axe, a saw, an awl, a needle, a lasso, a tursuk (water bag) and a horse. For 19 such warriors on a campaign, one wagon was relied upon. Selected Mongol warriors served in the heavy cavalry. Each of her warriors had a helmet, iron protective armor, a sword, a bow and two horses. For five such horsemen there was one wagon. In addition to the mandatory weapons, there were pikes, maces, sabers and other weapons. The Mongols carried everything they needed for camping on spare horses.

Light infantry appeared in the Mongol army under Timur. These were horse archers (carrying 30 arrows) who dismounted before the battle. Thanks to this, shooting accuracy increased. Such mounted riflemen were very effective in ambushes, during military operations in the mountains and during the siege of fortresses.

Timur's army was distinguished by a well-thought-out organization and a strictly defined order of formation. Each warrior knew his place in the ten, ten in the hundred, hundred in the thousand. Individual units of the army differed in the color of their horses, the color of their clothes and banners, and their combat equipment. According to the laws of Genghis Khan, before the campaign, the soldiers were given a strict review.

During campaigns, Timur took care of reliable military guards in order to avoid a surprise attack by the enemy. On the way or at a stop, security detachments were separated from the main forces at a distance of up to five kilometers. From them, patrol posts were sent out even further, which, in turn, sent mounted sentries ahead.

Being an experienced commander, Timur chose flat terrain, with sources of water and vegetation, for the battles of his predominantly cavalry army. He lined up the troops for battle so that the sun did not shine in the eyes and thus did not blind the archers. He always had strong reserves and flanks to encircle the enemy drawn into battle.

Timur began the battle with light cavalry, which bombarded the enemy with a cloud of arrows. After this, horse attacks began, which followed one after another. When the opposing side began to weaken, a strong reserve consisting of heavy armored cavalry was brought into battle. Timur said: “..The ninth attack gives victory..” This was one of his main rules in war.

Timur began his campaigns of conquest beyond his original possessions in 1371. By 1380, he had made 9 military campaigns, and soon all neighboring regions inhabited by Uzbeks and most of the territory of modern Afghanistan came under his rule. Any resistance to the Mongol army was severely punished. Commander Timur left behind enormous destruction and erected pyramids from the heads of defeated enemy warriors.

In 1376, Emir Timur provided military assistance to the descendant of Genghis Khan, Tokhtamysh, as a result of which the latter became one of the khans of the Golden Horde. However, Tokhtamysh soon repaid his patron with black ingratitude.

The Emir's Palace in Samarkand was constantly replenished with treasures. It is believed that Timur brought to his capital up to 150 thousand of the best craftsmen from the conquered countries, who built numerous palaces for the emir, decorating them with paintings depicting the aggressive campaigns of the Mongol army.

In 1386, Emir Timur committed conquest to the Caucasus. Near Tiflis, the Mongol army fought with the Georgian army and won a complete victory. The capital of Georgia was destroyed. The defenders of the Vardzia fortress, the entrance to which led through the dungeon, put up brave resistance to the conquerors. Georgian soldiers repulsed all enemy attempts to break into the fortress through an underground passage. The Mongols managed to take Vardzia with the help of wooden platforms, which they lowered on ropes from the neighboring mountains. At the same time as Georgia, neighboring Armenia was conquered.

In 1388, after long resistance, Khorezm fell and its capital Urgench was destroyed. Now all the lands along the Jeyhun (Amu Darya) river from the Pamir Mountains to the Aral Sea became the possessions of Emir Timur.

In 1389, the cavalry army of the Samarkand emir made a campaign in the steppes to Lake Balkhash, in the territory of Semirechye? south of modern Kazakhstan.

When Timur fought in Persia, Tokhtamysh, who became the khan of the Golden Horde, attacked the emir's possessions and plundered their northern part. Timur hastily returned to Samarkand and began to carefully prepare for a great war with the Golden Horde. Timur's cavalry had to travel 2,500 kilometers across the arid steppes. Timur made three major campaigns in 1389, 1391 and 1394-1395. In the last campaign, the Samarkand emir went to the Golden Horde along the western coast of the Caspian Sea through Azerbaijan and the Derbent fortress.

In July 1391, the largest battle took place near Lake Kergel between the armies of Emir Timur and Khan Tokhtamysh. The forces of the parties were approximately equal to 300 thousand mounted warriors, but these figures in the sources are clearly overestimated. The battle began at dawn with mutual archery fire, followed by mounted charges against each other. By noon, the army of the Golden Horde was defeated and put to flight. The winners received the Khan's camp and numerous herds.

Timur successfully waged war against Tokhtamysh, but did not annex his possessions to himself. The Emir's Mongol troops plundered the Golden Horde capital of Sarai-Berke. Tokhtamysh with his troops and nomads more than once fled to the most remote corners of his possessions.

In the campaign of 1395, Timur’s army, after another pogrom of the Volga territories of the Golden Horde, reached the southern borders of the Russian land and besieged the border fortress town of Yelets. Its few defenders could not resist the enemy, and Yelets was burned. After this, Timur unexpectedly turned back.

The Mongol conquests of Persia and neighboring Transcaucasia lasted from 1392 to 1398. The decisive battle between the army of Emir Timur and the Persian army of Shah Mansur took place near Patila in 1394. The Persians energetically attacked the enemy center and almost broke its resistance. Having assessed the situation, Timur reinforced his reserve of heavy armored cavalry with troops that had not yet joined the battle, and he himself led a counterattack, which was victorious. The Persian army was completely defeated at the Battle of Patil. This victory allowed Timur to completely subjugate Persia.

When an anti-Mongol uprising broke out in a number of cities and regions of Persia, Timur again set out on a campaign there at the head of his army. All the cities that rebelled against him were destroyed, and their inhabitants were mercilessly exterminated. In the same way, the Samarkand ruler suppressed indignation against Mongol rule and in other countries he conquered.

In 1398, the great conqueror invades India. In the same year, Timur's army besieged the fortified city of Merath, which the Indians themselves considered impregnable. Having examined the city fortifications, the emir ordered digging. However, underground work progressed very slowly, and then the besiegers took the city by storm with the help of ladders. Having burst into Merath, the Mongols killed all its inhabitants. After this, Timur ordered the destruction of the Merath fortress walls.

One of the battles took place on the Ganges River. Here the Mongol cavalry fought with military flotilla Indians, consisting of 48 large river ships. The Mongol warriors rushed with their horses into the Ganges and swam to attack enemy ships, hitting their crews with well-aimed archery.

At the end of 1398, Timur's army approached the city of Delhi. Under its walls, on December 17, a battle took place between the Mongol army and the army of Delhi Muslims under the command of Mahmud Tughlaq. The battle began when Timur with a detachment of 700 horsemen, having crossed the Jamma River to reconnoiter the city fortifications, was attacked by the 5,000-strong cavalry of Mahmud Tughlaq. Timur repelled the first attack, and soon the main forces of the Mongol army entered the battle, and the Delhi Muslims were driven behind the city walls.

Timur captured Delhi in battle, subjecting this numerous and rich Indian city to plunder and its inhabitants to massacre. The conquerors left Delhi, burdened with enormous booty. Everything that could not be taken to Samarkand, Timur ordered to be destroyed or completely destroyed. It took a century for Delhi to recover from the Mongol pogrom.

About Timur's cruelty Indian soil The following fact best demonstrates this. After the battle of Panipat in 1398, he ordered the killing of 100 thousand Indian soldiers who surrendered to him.

In 1400, Timur began a campaign of conquest in Syria, moving there through Mesopotamia, which he had previously conquered. Near the city of Aleppo (modern Aleppo) on November 11, a battle took place between the Mongol army and Turkish troops commanded by Syrian emirs. They did not want to sit under siege behind the fortress walls and went out to battle in the open field. The Mongols inflicted a crushing defeat on their opponents, and they retreated to Aleppo, losing several thousand people killed. After this, Timur took and plundered the city, taking its citadel by storm.

The Mongol conquerors behaved in Syria in the same way as in other conquered countries. All the most valuable things were to be sent to Samarkand. In the Syrian capital of Damascus, which was captured on January 25, 1401, the Mongols killed 20 thousand inhabitants.

After the conquest of Syria, a war began against the Turkish Sultan Bayazid I. The Mongols captured the border fortress of Kemak and the city of Sivas. When the Sultan's ambassadors arrived there, Timur, to intimidate them, reviewed his huge, according to some information, 800 thousand army. After this, he ordered the capture of crossings across the Kizil-Irmak River and besieged the Ottoman capital Ankara. This forced the Turkish army to accept a general battle with the Mongols near the camps of Ankara, which took place on June 20, 1402.

According to eastern sources, the Mongol army numbered from 250 to 350 thousand soldiers and 32 war elephants brought to Anatolia from India. The Sultan's army, consisting of Ottoman Turks, mercenary Crimean Tatars, Serbs and other peoples of the Ottoman Empire, numbered 120-200 thousand people.

Timur won victory largely thanks to the successful actions of his cavalry on the flanks and the bribery of 18 thousand mounted Crimean Tatars to his side. In the Turkish army, the Serbs who were on the left flank held out most steadfastly. Sultan Bayazid I was captured, and the encircled infantrymen - the Janissaries - were completely killed. Those who fled were pursued by the emir's 30 thousand light cavalry.

After a convincing victory at Ankara, Timur besieged the large coastal city of Smyrna and, after a two-week siege, captured and plundered it. Then the Mongol army turned back to Central Asia, once again plundering Georgia along the way.

After these events, even those neighboring countries, who managed to avoid the aggressive campaigns of Timur the Lame, recognized his power and began to pay him tribute, just to avoid the invasion of his troops. In 1404 he received a large tribute from the Egyptian Sultan and the Byzantine Emperor John.

By the end of Timur's reign, his vast state included Transoxiana, Khorezm, Transcaucasia, Persia (Iran), Punjab and other lands. All of them were united together artificially, through the strong military power of the conquering ruler.

Timur as a conqueror and great commander reached the heights of power thanks to the skillful organization of his large army, built according to the decimal system and continuing the traditions of the military organization of Genghis Khan.

According to the will of Timur, who died in 1405 and was preparing a great campaign of conquest in China, his power was divided between his sons and grandsons. They immediately began a bloody internecine war and in 1420 Sharuk, the only one remaining among Timur’s heirs, received power over his father’s domains and the emir’s throne in Samarkand.

About a group of boys who absolutely selflessly did good deeds for the relatives of Red Army soldiers who went to war.

Reference

Author: Arkady Petrovich Gaidar
Full title: "Timur and his team"
Original language: Russian
Genre: story
Year of publication: 1940
Number of pages (A4): 30

Brief summary of the story "Timur and his team" by Arkady Gaidar

Main actors Gaidar's story "Timur and His Team" is a group of boys and 2 daughters of a Soviet military leader, Zhenya and Olga. They move to a holiday village, where the youngest Zhenya discovers that on their site in an abandoned barn there is a meeting place for the boys of the village, whose activities are well organized by the leader Timur Garayev. It turned out that they were not engaged in the usual entertainment for boys, hooliganism, but were helping the relatives of those who were drafted into the Red Army.

Zhenya gets involved in the activities of the “organization”. Her older sister Olga believes that she got involved with hooligans and in every possible way forbids Zhenya to communicate with Timur and his team. Olga, meanwhile, begins to befriend the “engineer” Georgy, who in fact turned out to be a tanker and Timur’s uncle.

Timurites provide assistance to the relatives of those who served in the army, protecting their gardens from thieves, carrying water, and searching for missing pets. They decide to give a decisive battle to a gang of hooligans who are robbing residents' gardens. Attempts to resolve the issue peacefully were unsuccessful and Timur’s men defeated the hooligans in hand-to-hand combat. The hooligans were captured and locked in a booth in the central square of the village.

The story “Timur and His Team” ends with Timur taking Zhenya to meet his father on his uncle’s motorcycle. Olga understands that Timur is not a hooligan at all, and Zhenya is also doing useful things.

Meaning

The guys from A. Gaidar’s book “Timur and His Team” do good deeds without expecting gratitude and often secretly. Their goal is to replace relatives who have left for the army and to make life easier for those remaining in the village. Selfless service to society without expectation of praise or reward is the main meaning of Arkady Gaidar's story.

Of course, children cannot cope with all “adult” problems. In addition, it is not clear what the story would be like if it described the events not of the late thirties of the last century, but of our time, when the robbery of gardens is not something unusual, and instead of looking for pets, people are preoccupied with looking for work, you can meet on the streets an alcoholic, a homeless person, a drug addict, a criminal, a gang of aggressive youth, migrant workers, officials in cars with flashing lights, etc.

But in any case, selfless service to other people is a blessing and, in fact, the only thing that distinguishes society from a bunch of individuals/egoists. Maybe that’s why the actions of Timur and his team would be very relevant now.

Conclusion

It is unlikely that there are many people who have not heard anything about the story “Timur and His Team” by Gaidar; many probably read it at school. Nevertheless. It’s worth re-reading this short work by Gaidar. This mini-annotation will help you. I highly recommend it!

Reviews of books by Arkady Gaidar:

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I also recommend reading book reviews (and the books themselves, of course):

1. - most popular post
2. - once the most popular post ;
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