| Ottoman–Mamluk War (1485–1491) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theOttoman wars in the Near East | |||||||||
 Map of Asia Minor.Cilicia in light pink in southernAnatolia. | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
|
 Ramadanid Emirate[1] Karamanids (Until 1487)[2] | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
 Bayezid IICommanders
 Ala al-Dawla Bozkurt  Shah Budak (POW)Commanders |  QaitbayCommanders
Ömer Beg (POW)Gıyâseddîn Halil BeyCommanders
Turgutoğlu Mahmud BegAla al-Dawla BozkurtCommanders | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 120,000–180,000[5][6] | 30,000[7] | ||||||||
TheOttoman–Mamluk War of 1485–1491 took place when theOttoman Sultanate invaded theMamluk Sultanate's territories ofAnatolia andSyria. This war was an essential event in theOttoman struggle for the domination of the Middle-East. After multiple encounters, the war ended in a Mamluk victory and a peace treaty was signed in 1491, restoring thestatus quo ante bellum. It lasted until the Ottomans and the Mamluks againwent to war in 1516–17; in that war the Ottomans defeated and conquered the Mamluks.
Despite being twoSunni Muslim states, the relationship between the Ottomans and the Mamluks was adversarial: both states vied for control of thespice trade, and the Ottomans aspired to eventually take control of theHoly Cities ofIslam.[8] The two states however were separated by a buffer zone occupied byTurkmen states such asKaramanids,Aq Qoyunlu,Ramadanids, andDulkadirids, which regularly switched their allegiance from one power to the other. Nevertheless, both theVenetian historianDomenico Malipiero and the Ottoman chroniclerTursun Bey report that as early as 1468,Mehmed II planned to campaign against the Mamluks in Syria, which was only averted by the refusal ofUzun Hassan andKaramanids to cooperate, leading to the invasion and eventual annexation of the Karaman Beylik by Mehmed.[9][10]
WhenBayezid II ascended the Ottoman throne in 1481, his brotherCem Sultan, who enjoyed great support inAnatolia, rose up and contended with him for the throne. After he was defeated in battle, he sought refuge first in theRamadanids, and from there passed into Mamluk domains. Although the Mamluks declined to offer him any military support, this act aroused the hostility of Bayezid, which was further fanned when the Mamluks seized an Ottoman ambassador who was returning fromDeccan with an Indian ambassador and gifts for the Ottoman Sultan.[8][11]
The conflict began whenBozkurt of Dulkadir (also called Alaüddevle), ruler ofDulkadirids, attacked the Mamluk city ofMalatya, with the support of Bayezid. The Mamluks fought back and although they lost the first battle, they would eventually defeat Alaüddevle and his Ottoman allies.[12]
Bayezid launched a land and sea attack on the Mamluks in 1485.[8] Led by the new governor of Karaman, Karagöz Mehmed Pasha, the Ottoman forces, largely drawn from provincial troops, subdued the rebellious Turgudlu and Vasak tribes and captured many fortresses inCilicia. Karagöz Mehmed's army was defeated by the Mamluks in battle outside Adana on 9 February 1486. Reinforcements from Istanbul, includingJanissaries, were dispatched by Bayezid under his own son-in-lawHersekzade Ahmed Pasha, but the combined Ottoman army was again defeated before Adana on 15 March. Karagöz Mehmed fled the field, while Hersekzade Ahmed was taken captive, and Cilicia returned to Mamluk control.[13][14]
In 1487, the Ottomans again sent a major army consisting of a great number of regular army units and Janissaries, supported by the fleet and the forces of Dulkadir, and led by theGrand VizierKoca Davud Pasha. Davud Pasha however avoided operations against the Mamluks, instead focusing his troops in suppressing revolts by the Turgudlu and Vasak tribes, securing his rear.[13]
In 1488, the Ottomans launched a major attack, from both land and sea: the navy was led by Hersekzade Ahmed Pasha, released from captivity, and the army by the governor ofRumeli,Hadim Ali Pasha. On this occasion, the Ottomans requested of the Venetians the use ofFamagusta harbour to supply their troops by sea, but the Venetians rejected the request and even dispatched a fleet to Cyprus to guard against an Ottoman landing. The Mamluks also sought naval assistance from Italian powers, but were turned down as well.[13][15] The Ottoman fleet then moved toAlexandretta, hoping to intercept the Mamluk forces as they came up from Syria, while the Ottoman army, numbering some 60,000 men, secured control of Cilicia. Another great storm however destroyed the fleet, and the Mamluks were able to advance into Cilicia.[14][16][17] The two armiesmet at Ağaçarıyı near Adana on 26 August 1488. Initially, the Ottomans made good progress on their left, but their own right flank was driven back. When the Karaman soldiers fled the battlefield, the Ottomans were forced to retreat, conceding the field and the victory to the Mamluks.[17][18]
The Ottoman army withdrew to Karaman to regroup, suffering more casualties to attacks by the Turkmen tribes. Most of its provincial commanders were recalled to Constantinople and imprisoned in theRumeli Hisar. In the meantime, the Mamluks laid siege to Adana, which fell after three months. Hersekzade Ahmed Pasha was able to achieve a minor victory in destroying a Mamluk detachment, but Cilicia was securely in Mamluk hands. More importantly, the Ottomans' Turkmen allies began to turn to the Mamluks, including Alaüddevle, thus restoring a line of Mamluk-oriented buffer states along the border.[16][17][19]
In 1490, the Mamluks would again return to the offensive, advancing into Karaman and laying siege toKayseri. As soon as Hersekzade Ahmed Pasha marched against them with a relief army however, they raised the siege and returned to Cilicia. By this time the Mamluks were weary of the war and its heavy financial burden, while the Ottomans grew concerned over a possibleCrusade directed against them. Thus both powers were eager to settle the inconclusive conflict. A treaty was signed which fixed their mutual border at theGülek Pass in theTaurus Mountains, leaving the Cilician plain to the Mamluks.[17]
The Ottomans were able to prevail on the Mamluks at sea, but on land the Mamluks successfully resisted the Ottomans, thanks to their string of fortresses inAnatolia andSyria, and the buffer principalities ofBeylik of Dulkadir, led byBozkurt of Dulkadir centered onElbistan andMaras.[8] The Ottomans were a stronger military power, but were weakened by internal dissensions and the lack of a strong centralized leadership by the Sultan Bayezid, who remained inConstantinople.[19]
Throughout the conflict, the Mamluk army was characterized by the usage of brilliant nomadic cavalry in addition to a conventional army, whereas the Ottomans relied on a conventional army only, with light cavalry combining with infantry units.[19]
TheNasrid Dynasty ofGranada sought Ottoman assistance against theSpanish, but Sultan Bayezid could only send limited support due to his involvement in the Ottoman-Mamluk conflict.Nasrid–Ottoman relations were established, and a fleet underKemal Reis was nevertheless dispatched to the coasts of Spain. Ottoman support ended up being insufficient, in part leading to theFall of Granada in 1492.
With famine and plague spreading, a peace treaty was eventually sealed in May 1491, with theMamluks remaining a powerful entity against theOttomans, although they were financially exhausted. The boundaries between the two powers remained essentially unchanged.[8][10][16]
The opposition between the Ottomans and the Mamluks remained in stalemate during the beginning of the 16th century, until Mamluk power was dramatically challenged by the incursion of thePortuguese in theIndian Ocean from 1505, thereby threatening Mamluk traditional trade routes and a major source of revenue, and leading to the catastrophicPortuguese-Mamluk War.[20] The Ottoman Empire would ultimately take over the Mamluk Sultanate in 1517, following theOttoman–Mamluk War of 1516–1517.
This was followed by open war between the two sultanates from 1483 to 1491.The Mamluk victory was very hard won; at the cost of the internal stability of the state, it once again halted the progress of the Ottomans.
For the first time in four generations a Bayezid came to the throne and challenged the Mamluks on the battlefield, and he toofailed to gain a complete victory against them.
In truthQaitbay's victory was a pyrrhic one, it had left the state exhausted, if victorious, and he needed peace perhaps even more than Bayezid did.
Войну 1485–1491 гг. османы проиграли — после третьего крупного сражения в Каир в цепях был доставлен их главнокомандующий хорватский князь Ахмад-бей Харсак-оглу. (The Ottomans lost the war of 1485–1491 — after the third major battle, their commander-in-chief, the Croatian prince Ahmad-bey Harsak-oglu, was delivered to Cairo in chains.)
