安卡拉之战

The Battle of Ankara or Angora (Ottoman Turkish: آنقره محاربه‌سی, romanized: Anḳara Muḥârebesi) was fought on 28 July 1402, at the Çubuk plain near Ankara, between the forces of Timur and the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I. The battle was a major victory for Timur, leading to the Ottoman Interregnum.

Background

Timur, a Turco-Mongol from Transoxiana (now Uzbekistan), had built an empire in Central Asia over the years, and became the most powerful ruler in Central Asia since Genghis Khan. He sought to rebuild the once great Mongol Empire. In the 1380s and 1390s, he invaded and conquered parts of Persia (including Azerbaijan and Upper Mesopotamia), ravaged southern Russia and Ukraine (1395–96), and sacked Delhi (1398). 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 Timur understood to be a personal affront and a reason for war. In 1400–01 Timur took Sivas from the Ottomans, parts of Syria from the Mamluks, and next directed his forces towards Anatolia.

Troops

The sizes of the two armies are reliably estimated at 140,000 on Timur's side, mostly cavalry, along with 32 war elephants, and no more than 85,000 under Sultan Bayezid I. 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.

The Ottoman force included contingents under Bayezid's sons, Ghazis, Janissaries, Anatolian Muslim vassals, and various European (Balkan Christian) vassals. Among Serbian vassals participating were Stefan Lazarević, Vuk Lazarević, Đurađ Branković and his brother Grgur Branković, and among Albanian were Koja Zaharia, Dhimitër Jonima, Gjon Kastrioti, and probably Tanush Dukagjini.……

Battle positioning

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.……

Battle

The battle began with a large-scale attack from the Ottomans, countered by swarms of arrows from the Timurid horse 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".……

Aftermath

After the battle, Timur moved through western Anatolia to the Aegean coast, where he besieged and took the city of Smyrna, a stronghold of the Christian Knights Hospitalers.

The battle was catastrophic for the Ottoman state, fracturing what remained and bringing almost total collapse of the empire. This resulted in a civil 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.