Battle of Ankara 1402 Ottoman - Timurid War DOCUMENTARY

There is a tendency to show the expansion of the Muslim empires as a continuous march towards the west and the north. But there was as much infighting within the Islamic lands as there was outward movement. Many grandiose battles were forged between the Muslim states, but none was more significant in terms of numbers of participants and historical implications than the Battle of Ankara in 1402 between Sultan Bayezid I and Emir Timur. In 1396 the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I first defeated a abroad Alliance of European Crusaders led by the Burgundian lord Joan of Never and the King of Hungary Sigismund I at the Battle of Nicopolis. Seemingly very little was stopping Bayezid from taking Constantinople or invading Central Europe, however the Sultan knew that soon he would have to face a threat from the east. The Mongol domains declined in the 14th century: the Yuan Dynasty lost China, the Ilkhanate that previously controlled Iran, the Caucuses and part of Iraq was split between a number of dynasties and the Golden Horde that held domain over a third of modern Russia was stagnating. Central Asia was in turmoil due to the rapid dissolution of the Chagatai khanate and many warlords vied for power. One of them was Timur who was born in 1336 into the Turkified Mongolian Barlas tribe. He was a small-time raider, but a capable fighter in his youth, and by 1358 became the leader of his tribe. During this period Timur suffered an injury that crippled his leg and he received the nickname "leng" - lame or slow in Persian. That is why he is known as Tamerlane in the west. By 1370 Timur was ruling most of Central Asia and started planning his invasion. in 1378 he helped Tokhtamysh to rise to the throne of the Golden Horde. Timur then continued with the invasion of the rest of Central Asia and in 1381 started the conquest of Iran which was occupied by 1386. Most of the Caucasus came under his control in the next three years. Timur's invasions were based on terror: any city that tried to resist him was reduced to ashes and its population was massacred or enslaved. Towers made of skulls were erected to prevent any form of defiance. Taking the Caucasus meant that Timur's domain was neighbouring the Golden Horde and conflict with Tokhtamysh became inevitable. Between 1391 and 1395 Tokhtamysh was defeated twice and lost his realm. Meanwhile the situation to the West was changing rapidly: the Ottoman Sultan took control of small Turkic Beyliks in 1398 and 1399 the rulers of these lands left for the court of Timur, while some of the leaders dethroned by Timur in Iran and Iraq found refuge in the Ottoman capital. Bayezid's and Timur's domains were now bordering each other. Timur didn't want to start a war against a fellow Muslim superpower, hence a long letter correspondence between the two leaders began. One of Timur's letters said: Be wise and repent, avert our vengeance, you are nothing more than an ant, don't provoke the elephants or you will get trampled. And Bayezid answered: If I run from your armies may all my wives divorce me, but if you dare to run away from mine may all your wives belong to other men. This war of words was leading nowhere and Timur moved to the west yet again. Armenia and Georgia were conquered in 1400 and thousands were massacred. Timur was worried that the Mamluk Sultanate of Syria and Egypt might ally itself with the Ottomans, so in the next two years he sacked Damascus and Aleppo to take control of the land route between the two empires. By the end of 1401 Timur took Sivas from the Ottomans and turned it into his base. That was the beginning of the war. When Timur besieged Ankara, Bayezid lifted the siege of Constantinople and moved his troops to Anatolia reaching the city by June of 1402. Timur retreated to draw Bayezid away from his defensible position. The Ottoman sultan knew that Timur's forces would raid the lands to the east and that forced Bayezid to leave a small garrison and march his troops towards the enemy. The Ottoman army mounted a road between Sivas and Tokat as Bayezid hoped to use the dense forests of the area to diminish any advantage Timur's horse archers may give him. This maneuver meant that Timur would either have to fight at a location not suited to the strength of his forces or retreat from Anatolia. However Timur chose a third option. His huge army vanished and ottoman scouts failed to find it. Timur moved to the southwest and took Kayseri, while Bayezid was still sure that he would find his enemy to the north Timur continued towards Ankara and ended up behind the Ottoman forces. The Sultan learned about the brilliant maneuver of his enemy, when Ankara was besieged. Bayezid couldn't allow Timur to ransack his lands and so had no other choice but to force march his tired troops to Ankara. The Battle of Ankara took place on July 28th 1402. Timur's army was a traditional Mongol-Tatar force with a significant number of horse archers. He also had a few dozen armored elephants captured during his invasion of India. Meanwhile the Ottoman army was a mix of old Seljuq irregular forces, Tatar mercenaries, a small professional army corps created by the earlier Sultan's and Eastern European Knights led by a Serbian vassal of Bayezid Stefan Lazarevich. At the beginning of the campaign Timur and Bayezid had similar numbers with more than 100,000 troops, but it is said that the Ottoman Sultan lost at least 20,000 during the forced march from Sivas to Ankara. Timur divided his horse archers into four groups with one in the center, two on the flanks and one more in reserve, while his elephants were positioned in the vanguard. Bayezid had a strong center with archers in front, janissaries in the second line and sipahi cavalry in reserve. On the left he placed the Serbian cavalry of Stefan, while his right was manned by the troops from Anatolia and Tatar mercenaries. Bayezid hoped that his flanks, who had a defensible position would hold so that he would be able to counter-attack with his center. The accounts of the battle are very different between sources so we present the one that made the most sense to us. Timur moved his wings forward, while his center lag behind. The battle started on the Ottoman left, as their Serbian troops were attacked by the enemy cavalry, but they managed to stop them and inflict substantial damage. One more wave was sent against the Serbs. This time an attempt to outflank them was made, but Stefan's forces stood their ground. Meanwhile Timur's left flank attacked the Ottoman right commanded by prince Suleiman. Timur also sent his center forward to tie down Bayezid's Janissaries. Something unexpected for Bayezid happened on his right flank, as all eighteen thousand of his tartar mercenaries changed sides and joined Timur's attack on the Ottoman right. Suleiman was encircled and Bayezid had to send his reserve to help. On the left flank Serbian units were now attacked by even more enemies, but despite increasing casualties held them off. Sources claimed that Stefan sent a messenger to the Sultan suggesting a retreat, while it was still possible but Bayezid rejected it. At this point Prince Suleiman was ordered to withdraw to save his life, while Stefan was told to hold the flank with a portion of his forces and cover the retreat with the rest. Timur sent his reserve on a deep flanking maneuver and both the right and left flank of the Ottoman army were overrun by their foes. Still the Serbian forces managed to use their advantage in armor to break out of the encirclement and join Suleiman in his retreat. The remainder of the Ottoman center was slowly pushed towards a hill called Cataltepe. It is said that Bayezid along with his sipahis and janissaries was able to hold off the enemy for hours, despite being severely outnumbered. Later he was able to break the encirclement with his bodyguards, but an arrow killed his horse and for the first time in history an Ottoman Sultan was imprisoned. Although both armies lost a significant number of warriors, it was a decisive victory for Timur. There are conflicting theories on what happened with Bayezid once he was in captivity, but in any case he died a few months later. In 1404 Timur started an invasion of China, but he would die in early 1405. The Ottomans entered an extended period of internal war between the sons of Bayezid, but these events, the fates of Stefan, the Timurids and the Byzantines and the battles of Varna and Kosovo will be covered in our next video in this series. Thanks for watching our documentary on the Battle of Ankara. We would like to express our gratitude to our patreon supporters who make the creation of these videos possible. Also patreon is the best way to suggest a new video, learn about our schedule and so much more. This video was narrated by me Officially Devin - don't forget to stop by my channel for some narrative Let's Plays. This is the Kings and Generals channel and we will catch you on the next one.

Channel: Kings and Generals

Views: 2,783,312

Keywords: full documentary, documentary film, animated documentary, war - topic, history, historical, invicta, bazbattles, epic history tv, rome, ancient battle, top 10, strategy, tactic, total war rome, kings and generals, lesson, study, educational, history lesson, world history, extra credits history, timur, tamerlane, bayezid, kosovo, nicopolis, lazar, stefan, constantinople, ottomans, timurids, battle of ankara (military conflict), 1402, battle, documentary, queen victoria, channel, battle of ankara, ottoman

Id: Nc4MCFrPiUg

Length: 11min 24sec (684 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 29 2017