As a brief explanation, the inclusion of Anatolia in Timur's sphere of dominance, which extended from Anatolia to India, drove a wedge between him and the Ottomans who wanted to control the same region.
When the conditions were favorable, Timur captured Baghdad in 1399. This conquest caused Sultan Ahmed, the Jalayirli ruler, and Kara Yusuf, the Karakoyunlu Turkmen chief, to seek refuge with the Ottomans. These events gave Timur the right to intervene in the Ottoman Empire. However, the extradition request made by Timur was rejected by Bayezid. Afterwards, insulting letters were exchanged between the two rulers. In the meantime, the Emir of Erzincan, Mutahharten, who was obliged to pay taxes to the Ottomans, joined Timur's side, further driving a wedge between the two rulers. Bayezid sent a cease and desist letter for Mutahharten to pay taxes, which was rejected by Timur's letter full of advice and threats. After this letter, harsh letters were sent between the two rulers again. Upon Bayezid's last letter, Timur, guided by the Akkoyunlu Bey Karayülük Osman Bey and Mutahharten, marched on Sivas and laid siege to Sivas, which was defended by Malkoçoğlu Mustafa Bey. Sivas held out for eighteen days and surrendered on the promise that no blood would be spilled. However, after entering the city, Timur threw the defenders into a pit, buried them alive and then burned the city to the ground. Afterwards, Timur did not go any further as he did not have enough information about Bayezid's forces. Timur then moved through Elbistan and took first Malatya and then Behisni, and in 1401 he embarked on a campaign to Syria.
Although Bayezid could not intervene in Timur's siege because he was caught unprepared, he came to Kayseri against a possible attack. While Timur was busy with his Syrian campaign, he went to the eastern border to punish Mutahharten, who had helped Timur in Sivas, and took Erzincan and Kemah. However, Timur again did not consider his forces sufficient and did not intervene. Indeed, Timur's arrival in Arran caused Bayezid to move towards Sivas with his army against a possible attack. Timur then came to Nakhchivan. He sent a force under his grandson Shahrukh to stop Bayezid. However, even though an agreement was attempted between the two rulers with the mediation of Mutahharten and the insistence of the Ottoman statesmen, Timur, who wanted Kara Yusuf to be handed over to him, refused to agree. The reason behind the rejection of this agreement was most probably the fact that he wanted to solve the Anatolian problem, which was a big problem before his expedition to the East due to the death of the Chinese ruler, as soon as possible. As a result, Timur, who received reinforcements from his forces in Central Asia, sent an envoy to Bayezid on March 13, 1402 in order to blame the cause of the war on Bayezid and made some demands.
These demands included the return of Kemah to Mutahharten, the return of the lands taken from the Anatolian beys, the acceptance of one of his princes to be sent to his side and the acceptance of the cone and belt he would give as a sign of dependence, and the return of Kara Yusuf to him. When Bayezid flatly rejected these demands, Timur gathered his entire army and marched on Anatolia.
In the face of Timur's movement to Anatolia, Bayezid made an agreement with the Byzantine emperor, lifted the siege of Istanbul and moved towards Ankara. Timur, through his grandson Mirza Mehmed, took Kemah Castle and marched towards Sivas. Bayezid, whose army was mostly infantry, moved to the vicinity of Akdağmadeni and Kadışehri to take up positions in a mountainous area. Timur, who learned Bayezid's every move through his spies, came to Ankara via Kayseri-Kırşehir and besieged the castle upon the news that he would be met by Tokat. Bayezid, on the other hand, moved quickly and came to the village of Melikşah in Çubukova on the Kalecik-Ravlı road. When the Ottoman forces appeared unexpectedly, Timur was surprised, but Bayezid did not attack immediately, so he changed his position overnight and opened a new front.
The battle most probably took place on Friday, July 28, 1402. According to Timur's Conquest Book, Timur's army numbered 160,000 and the Ottoman army 90,000. In addition, Timur's army, consisting mostly of cavalry, also had around 30 elephants. The Serbian King was on the Ottoman side with a force of 20,000 men. Timur also attracted the Tatars to his side through his spies. Neşri also states that the soldiers of some Anatolian principalities joined Timur's side. As a result of all these, the war took place in Timur's favor and Bayezid was eventually captured by Timur. As a result of the war, the whole of Anatolia was overrun by Timur's emirs. After the war, Timur sent a triumphal decree to King Henry IV of England and King Charlemagne VII of France, stating that he had defeated his rivals whom he could not defeat.
The Battle of Ankara is one of the biggest battles between two Muslim states in Turkish history. After this defeat, the Turkish unity established in Anatolia over many years was broken and the conquest of Istanbul was suspended for a while. After the war, the Anatolian principalities regained power and the order established by Timur's plundering was disrupted. In addition, the struggle for the throne between the princes put the Ottoman Empire into the Period of Conquest, which was a very difficult process.
References
YUSUF HALAÇOĞLU, "ANKARA SAVAŞI", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/ankara-savasi (30.09.2024).
İsmail Hakkı Uzunçarşılı - Osmanlı Tarihi I. Cilt.
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