| Battle of Ankara | |||||||
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| Part of theTimurid conquests and invasions and theOttoman wars in Asia | |||||||
%2c_355v_(right).jpg) Timur reviews his troops in the plain of Sivas in the battle of Ankara in mid-summer 1402.Zafarnama of 1436 | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Timurid Empire Aq Qoyunlu Germiyanids | Ottoman Sultanate Principality of Kastrioti Moravian Serbia District of Branković Anatolian beyliks andBlack Tatars[a] | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Timur Shah Rukh Khalil Sultan Miran Shah Sultan Husayn Tayichiud Muhammad Sultan Mirza Pir Muhammad Shah-i-Shahan Uthman Beg[1] Yakup II of Germiyan[2] | Bayezid I (POW) Süleyman Çelebi Mehmed Çelebi İsa Çelebi Musa Çelebi (POW) Mustafa Çelebi (POW) Stefan Lazarević Vuk Lazarević Đurađ Branković Gjon I Kastrioti Koja Zaharia Dhimitër Jonima | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 140,000[3] | 85,000[4]–120,000[5] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 15,000–40,000[6] | 40,000[6]–50,000[7] | ||||||
  Location within Turkey | |||||||
TheBattle of Ankara orAngora (Ottoman Turkish:آنقره محاربهسی,romanized: Anḳara Muḥârebesi) was fought on 28 July 1402,[b] at theÇubuk plain nearAnkara, between the forces of the Ottoman sultanBayezid I and the emir of the Timurid Empire,Timur. The battle was a major victory for Timur, and it led to theOttoman Interregnum.[14]
Timur, aTurco-Mongol fromTransoxiana (now Uzbekistan), had built an empire inCentral Asia over the years, and became the most powerful ruler in Central Asia sinceGenghis Khan.[15] He sought to rebuild the once great Mongol Empire.[16] In the 1380s and 1390s, he invaded and conquered parts of Persia (includingAzerbaijan andUpper Mesopotamia), ravaged southern Russia and Ukraine (1395–96), and sacked Delhi (1398).[17] Although there had been tensions between the Ottomans and Mongols, nothing would warrant a war, until Bayezid demanded tribute from an emir loyal to Timur, which he understood to be a personal affront and a reason for war.[18] In 1400–01 Timur tookSivas from the Ottomans, parts of Syria from theMamluks, and next directed towards Anatolia.[18]
Meanwhile, in 1402, the Ottomans had been campaigning in Europe. Bayezid broke off theblockade of Constantinople and marched to Ankara after Timur again moved his army to the southeast in the summer of 1402.[18]
It is estimated that the Timurid army counted 140,000,[4] mostly cavalry, and also 32 war elephants.[18] Bayezid's army numbered 85,000.[4][18] Historical sources exaggerated the number of troops to unrealistic proportions according to modern historians:Ahmad ibn Arabshah claimed 800,000 Timurid troops, while a German witness claimed 1.6 million, for instance.[19]
The Ottoman force included contingents under his sons,Ghazis,Janissaries, Anatolian Muslim vassals,[20] and various European (Balkan Christian)[20] vassals.[21] AmongSerbian vassals participating wereStefan Lazarević,Vuk Lazarević,Đurađ Branković and his brother Grgur Branković,[21] and amongAlbanian wereKoja Zaharia,Dhimitër Jonima,Gjon Kastrioti, and probablyTanush Dukagjini.[22] Christian vassals that did not participate include ZetanKonstantin Balšić.[22] A quarter of the Ottoman troops were recently conquered Tatars.[18]
Bayezid reluctantly withdrew his forces from the blockade of Constantinople and marched them through the midsummer heat. When they arrived, they were tired and thirsty, but were allowed no time to rest or recuperate. Bayezid was advised by his generals to take up defensive positions and, when Timur's forces pushed back the Ottomans, to withdraw into the mountains and force Timur to break ranks and attempt to hunt the Ottomans in their own terrain during the midsummer heat. Bayezid instead chose to take an offensive stance and marched eastward. Advancing Ottoman scouts found no traces of the Timurids, who secretly marched southwest, rested, and were situated to the rear of the Ottomans. The Timurids encamped in the same locations that the Ottomans had previously occupied, making use of abandoned tents and water sources.[23] The Ottoman army arrived near Ankara 28 July 1402[24][25][21][26] with Bayezid commanding the centre with Janissaries, his son Suleyman the left flank with the best troops, Stefan Lazarević the right with the Balkan troops, and his son Mehmed the rear guard.[18]
In the Timurid army, Timur commanded the centre, his sons Miran and Rukh the right and left, respectively, and his grandsons the vanguard.[18]
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The battle began with a large-scale attack from the Ottomans, countered by swarms of arrows from the Timuridhorse archers. Several thousand were killed and many surrendered to Timur. Stefan Lazarević and his knights successfully fought off the Timurid assaults and cut through the Mongol ranks three times. Each time Stefan advised Bayezid to break out with him, Bayezid declined to do so. But the Serbians managed to save one of Bayezid's sons and the treasury from the Mongols and made their way to Constantinople. The Serbian troops wore heavy black plate armour which was very effective against the Timurid arrows. Timur admired the Serbian troops who according to him "fight like lions". During the battle the main water supply of both armies, Çubuk creek, was diverted to an off-stream reservoir near the town ofÇubuk by Timur, which left the Ottoman army with no water. The final battle took place at Catal hill, dominating the Çubuk valley. The Ottoman army, both thirsty and tired, was defeated, though Bayezid managed to escape to the nearby mountains with a few hundred horsemen. However, Timur had the mountains surrounded and, heavily outnumbering Bayezid, soon captured him. He died in captivity three months later. Already heavily outnumbered, theOttoman army was further weakened by the desertion of theBlack Tatars and theSipahis from theAnatolian beyliks, who left Bayezid's side and joined Timur's forces.[6]
After the battle, Timur moved through western Anatolia to the Aegean coast, where hebesieged and took the city ofSmyrna, a stronghold of the ChristianKnights Hospitalers.[27][28]The battle was catastrophic for the Ottoman state, fracturing what remained and bringing almost total collapse of the empire. This resulted in acivil war among Bayezid's sons. The Ottoman civil war continued for another 11 years (1413) following the Battle of Ankara.
The battle is also significant in Ottoman history as being the only time a Sultan was captured in person.
[t]he sizes of the two armies are reliably estimated at 140,000 on Timur's side and no more than 85,000 under Sultan Bayezid I
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