Battle of Ankara

The Battle of Ankara took place in 1402 near the city of Ankara in central Anatolia. It was fought between the forces of the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Bayezid I and the forces of Timur, known in the West as Tamerlane, who ruled over the Middle East and Central Asia from his capital at Samarkand.

The battle ended in defeat for the Ottomans. Bayezid I was captured and died in captivity shortly thereafter. The outcome led to a period of fragmentation in the Ottoman state that historians call the Interregnum (Fetret Devri), during which Bayezid's sons fought each other for the throne.

Origins of the conflict

The two sides held overlapping claims to eastern Anatolia. Bayezid I had conquered small Turkish principalities (beylik) in Anatolia, some of whose rulers sought protection from Timur. For his part, Timur sought to defend his power in Iran and Iraq and feared Ottoman expansion by hostile rivals. Hostile correspondence passed between the two rulers, after which Timur dispatched his forces into Anatolia.

Course of the battle

Timur employed a strategic withdrawal to draw Bayezid's forces away from their defensive positions, forcing the Ottoman army to undertake a long march that left them exhausted before the armies met. The control of water sources by Timur's forces affected Ottoman military capacity. During the battle, some soldiers from the small Anatolian principalities deserted to Timur's side, weakening Ottoman ranks. The Serbian cavalry accompanying the Ottomans is recorded as having fought stubbornly.

Consequences

Timur did not retain Anatolia; he restored some of the small principalities that the Ottomans had conquered and then withdrew eastward. The Ottoman state lost much of its Anatolian territory but retained lands in the Balkans. After the battle, there followed years of internal civil conflict, after which the state was reunited under single leadership and eventually reached its greatest extent centuries later.

Another reported consequence is that the battle delayed Ottoman attacks on Constantinople, which the city continued to hold for a considerable time before 1453. For this reason, the Battle of Ankara is considered one of the pivotal events in the history of the region.