Tamerlane was a Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in Central Asia and Persia in the 14th century. On June 19, 1941, a team of Soviet anthropologists Mikhail M. Gerasimov, Lev V. Oshanin and V. Ia. Zezenkova, with the intentions of exhuming his body, arrived at his burial tomb in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. As they opened the doors, they found his tomb and casket inscribed with the words, "When I rise from the dead, the world shall tremble" and “Whomsoever opens my tomb shall unleash an invader more terrible than I," respectively. Rumour has it that within three days of the excavation by Soviet archaeologists, Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in an unprovoked attack during World War II. On learning about the curse, Joseph Stalin ordered the reburial of the exhumed body with full Islamic rituals. Within days, Soviet forces claimed a historic victory against the German forces when they liberated the city of Stalingrad. Since then, it is believed that anyone who disturbs the grave will face the curse of Tamerlane.