Bayezid I (1354-1403) ascended the throne of the sultan after his father Murad I was assassinated by Christians during the Battle of Kosovo, and immediately executed his younger brother Yakub to ensure the stability of the throne. In revenge on the assassination of his father Murad I, Bayezid massacred a large number of Serbian prisoners of war. He then married the daughter of Serbian king Lazar Khrebelianovich, to form a alliance with Serbia. As a young man under 30 years old, Bayezid showed his iron fist, and later he won the nickname "Thunder".
Bayezid
Although Ottoman Türkiye has achieved great success in Europe, the Karaman behind Anatolia and other remaining Turkmen Emirs are still opposing the Ottomans. Therefore, Bayezid had to lead his army to travel back and forth on both sides of Europe and Anatolia. Bayezid even surpassed his father in terms of military militancy and was well aware of the principle that soldiers were of great speed, thus gaining the famous nickname of "Thunder". Although in the Empire was at its peak in the Balkans and was invincible, in the East, an opponent unexpectedly appeared. The once powerful Ir Khanate officially died in 1388 at the hands of the "lame" Emperor Timur . This newly-rise conqueror expanded his territory at an astonishing speed. By the winter of 1394, Timur had crossed the Tigris River and entered Mesopotamia, directly threatening the Mamluks of Syria and the Ottoman dynasty of Anatolia. The Turkmen princes who were defeated and exiled by Murad and Bayezid seized this opportunity and sent a request for assistance to Timur. This gave Timur an excellent excuse to interfere in Ottoman affairs, but although Timur agreed to their request, he temporarily turned his attention to the East and prepared to invade India. This gave the Ottoman Empire a chance to breathe, prioritizing the solution of Western worries to avoid repeating the mistakes of fighting on both sides. Therefore, in 1395, Bayezid officially launched the second siege on Constantinople, the capital of Byzantine. Given the military power of the Turkish , Byzantium seems to be doomed. Hungary King Sigismund understood the truth that his lips were dead and his teeth were cold, and he was determined to help the Byzantines, but his troops alone could not compete with Bayezed. So he sent a large number of envoys to ask for help from the Pope and European countries. Pope Bonifas IX kept his past grudges and publicly called for a new crusade. At that time, Britain and France were in the truce period of the Hundred Years' War, and the King of France and the princes under their command were also willing to return to tradition and respond to the holy war. As a result, Hungary, France, Burgundy (the princes of France), Germany, Italy, Poland, the Knights of the Hospital, Teutonic Knights , Venetian and Genoa all responded and formed a large army. Among them, there were about 2,000 French-Burgundian knights, and the nominal commander-in-chief was the "Fearless" John, son of the Duke of Burgundy.
Due to the complex sources, the strategic goals of this crusader are not unified. The Hungarian king was unable to maintain a huge army to continue his war, so he only wanted to carry out a short-term battle with limited goals, lift the siege of Constantinople, and try his best to attack the live power of the Ottomans. But the romantic French were determined to attack the Ottoman capital, like their ancestors of the First Crusade, and drive the Turks back to Anatolia, and even march into Jerusalem. At the end of July 1396, the Crusaders assembled in Budapest. With the help of the Venetian fleet, they crossed the Danube River and occupied the riverbank cities Widdin and Oryahovo, massacred and plundered the Muslims and Orthodox residents in the city, resulting in their notorious reputation. But Nicopolis Castle, the most important strategic hub and port in the lower Danube, is still under the control of the Ottomans. Due to the lack of siege equipment, the Crusaders' multiple sieges ended in failure.
The information that the Crusaders left Budapest came, and Bayezid had to lift the siege of Constantinople and headed north to meet the enemy.On the way, the Sipahi cavalry of each province, and the ally Serbian king Stephen met with his Kapikuru Central Army in turn, and finally reinforcements were still struggling to support Nicopolis on September 24. At this time, the total number of Ottoman troops was about 15,000, while the number of Crusaders was about 16,000, and their strength was almost equal.
Bayezid did not directly attack the siege troops of the Crusaders. He learned that the opponent had a large number of the most elite knights in Western Europe, and this was his first opponent. Sudan carefully chose an open highland as a battlefield, built fortifications and trenches in advance, and placed a large number of resentment in the center. The archers were arranged at the front of the line, with the cavalry behind, the thickest in the middle of the entire formation, and the two wings were slightly thinner, like a crescent moon. According to tradition, the Rumilia and Balkan cavalry were on the right wing of the troops and the Anatolian cavalry were on the left wing. Some Ghanishari legions were arranged to join the ordinary Azanbu archers formation, rather than being with the Sultan's Imperial Guards. Ajinri light cavalry was also deployed in front of the Mama to lure the enemy into depth. Bayezid's combat plan was to lead the Crusader's offense to the central front, and when he fought with his own infantry troops, he sent cavalry to attack the opponent from both wings.
For the Crusaders, the right wing of the position is Transylvanian , the left wing is the Wallachians of Mirci, and the Lanci Burgundian coalition is deployed at the front line of the formation center. In fact, Sigismund originally planned to eliminate small groups of cavalry to reconnaise the enemy formation and then launch a general attack, but the French knights were arrogant and sarcastic, saying that Hungarians are as afraid of the enemy as a tiger. Due to the lofty status of the French knights, the Hungarian king finally had to make concessions and agreed to let them launch the first wave of attacks, which laid the groundwork for the subsequent failure. And behind them, the Hungarians, Germans, the Knights of the Hospital and a small number of Polish and Bohemia troops were arranged in huge rows.
In the early morning of September 25, the French and Burgundian knights took the lead in charge against the positions of Türkiye , despite Sigismund's opposition. Perhaps out of arrogance or underestimation, they did not inform the Hungarians of their attack in time. The French and Burgundy Knights were equipped with the best armor in Western Europe of that era, and had good defenses for Turkey's bows and arrows at medium and long distances (which also left a deep impression on the Turks). At the same time, in terms of individual combat qualities, they were indeed first-class. In the face of the powerful French charge, the Ajinri cavalry quickly fled in all directions. Then the knights encountered a large number of horses, and after the horses were rejected, there were Turkish archers (including some new army archers). But they gritted their teeth and continued to charge with amazing courage. It can be imagined that they have become living targets for Ottoman archers. The personal biography of Marshal Buschkot of France records: "The rain of arrows is denser than the water points of the stream and waterfall." But the officers led by Buschkot continued to inspire their subordinates to continue moving forward. They finally rushed to the top of the mountain under the surprise eyes of the Turkish soldiers.
At this time, although the knights suffered little casualties, the armor protection of the war horses was not that tight, so many war horses were shot and threw the rider off and ran back to the camp. The result is that many fallen riders choose to fight on foot. Under the blocking of Ottoman archers, the hiking knights tried their best to push down the horses for their comrades, so that the knights behind could pass. The Crusaders finally rushed past the horse and entered the Turkish infantry formation. Most of the Turkish infantry that were fighting at this time were ordinary Azanbu archers and even informal troops like Bashibazuk. Faced with the almost "invulnerable" crusade knights, they retreated to their wings. Even the cavalry troops behind the infantry phalanx could not resist and were washed away. The infantry phalanx fell so quickly, which was probably beyond Bayezid's expectations, and the Turks' battle situation reached its most critical moment. The French cavalry was only one step away from the central army of Bayezid, and it seemed that victory was right in front of us. However, after a long battle, the heavy armored Frenchman was almost exhausted. The last Turkish infantry they faced was an unprecedented group of tiger and wolf troops - the Ghanishari Legion.The latter successfully resisted the final charge of the Crusader's power, and at this moment, the Turkish Imperial Guard Cavalry suddenly shouted "God of Allah", and rushed out of the woods on both sides, completely surrounding the French. After a heroic battle, the French-Burgundian Knights found no hope of victory and most chose to surrender. Sigismund in the rear did not know that the French had been wiped out. When he saw the unmanned war horses ahead, he understood that the French must have encountered disaster. As the commander of the coalition, he could not sit idly by and watch the destruction of the French, so he had to bite the bullet and lead the other crusaders to attack, trying to save the fate of the French knights. But at this time, the Ottoman army that had just won had already emerged from the position in a fierce manner. The Wallachians and Transylvanians knew that they were powerless to turn things around. In order to preserve their strength, they chose to retreat on their own. Despite this, the Hungarians insisted on fighting. In the end, Bayezid threw his reserve team, the Serbian cavalry, into the battlefield, and the Hungarians could no longer support it and began a disorderly retreat. Bayezid's troops chased the Danube, where they were blocked by a small group of Italian crossbowmen, and the Venetian fleet also picked up and dropped off the defeated soldiers as much as possible. The Nicopolis Crusaders finally avoided the fate of the entire army being broken.
At the end of this battle, about 6,000 Crusaders were killed, and more than 3,000 were captured (the French nobles accounted for a considerable proportion). After witnessing the crime of killing Muslim prisoners before the Crusaders, Bayezid, in a rage, also retaliatedly executed one-fifth of the prisoners of war. French prisoners of war were later sent to Asia Minor's Bursa , and were kept under strict supervision and lived like a year. When the bad news of Nicopolis reached Paris, the French government set this day as a national mourning day. Many French nobles had their relatives and friends captured or died. It is said that "the funeral was held from morning to evening." In the end, the French collected a huge sum of 200,000 Florin gold coins as ransom, and finally returned the freedom of the noble captives such as John in Burgundy.
Turks executed prisoners of war
Bayzid collects ransom
Nicopolis' victory greatly improved Bayezid I's prestige in the Islamic world. The Turkish New Army and the Kapikuru Cavalry won a complete victory in the showdown against Europe's best knights. As mentioned above, although the French knights have the advantage in protection and their personal qualities are not inferior to the New Army, their fatal flaw is lack of discipline, rigid tactics, and personal heroism prevails - while the New Army has laughed to the end with stronger mobility, flexibility and collectivism. This crushing defeat was deeply stimulating to the French nobles. Later, King François I took the blame for the world and openly formed an alliance with Türkiye. Nicopolis' crushing defeat in the early years was probably also an important factor. However, although Türkiye's threat to the West has been lifted, the East's problems still exist. Karaman Emil Aladdin Ali took advantage of Bayezid's busy European affairs and tried to recover lost territory, reoccupies Ankara 2, the capital of Anatolian province, and advances towards Bursa. Bayezid quickly mobilized his army, defeated Aladdin Ali in the Aqsai Plain in 1397 (but the Crusader invasion and this episode objectively helped Constantinople to clear the siege, causing the Byzantine Empire to survive for another half a century), and executed him. The Sudan was determined to destroy Karaman and other Turkmenistan countries once and for all, and expand the empire's territory eastward. But this aroused the fear of the "lame" Timur, who decided to march into Anatolia to "seek justice" for the Turkmen princes.
Temur went to fight Egypt . Persian painter Kamāl ud-Dīn Behzād, 1515.
In the spring of 1400, Timur resumed his rule in Azerbaijan and Eastern Iraq. At this time, Bayezid seized Erzinjan and Kemah, both of which had accepted Timur's sovereignty, so the conflict between the two powers was inevitable. On August 27, in revenge, Timur captured Sivas and Erkinga, and then advanced southward to Syria under the rule of Mamluk . By October, he had occupied Malatia, Aitap and Aleppo, and in December, Damascus.Bayezid took advantage of Timur's journey south and returned to eastern Anatolia and once again regained Sivas and Erkina, hoping to accumulate strategic advantages before the decisive battle. In the spring of 1402, Timur summoned a huge new army in Georgia. In June of that year, Timur entered Anatolia from Erzurum and Kemach, and marched towards Ankara via Kaiseri. While conquering the city and land, Timur returned the land to the original Turkmen Bey, thus winning the hearts of most Turkmen tribes. Although the Ottoman army seemed to be waiting for it in Ankara, Timur seized the northern access with abundant water and grass, and Bayezid could only find water sources and supplies from the barren south, so the strategic advantages of Ottoman Turkey were greatly weakened.
On July 27, 1402, the decisive battle between the Ottoman Empire and the Timur Empire finally began. Timur knew that Bayezid was not an ordinary person. He had all his elite troops in this battle and invested a total of up to 140,000 troops, mainly archers and cavalrymen. The total number of Ottoman Türkiye is about 85,000. The Turkish New Army in the center, the Sipahi troops, and the Azanbu infantry (several princes and Alipasha were also in the formation), the left wing was the European legion led by Prince Suleiman, and the right wing was the Anatolian legion commanded by King Stephen of Serbia. The troops on both wings were also mixed with a large number of Tatar and Turkmen princely troops. Bayezid originally intended to use the territory of Ankara to defeat his opponents with defensive wars, but the army of Timur detours from the south and surrounded Ankara City. The Ottoman Turkish army had to give up the preset position in the eastern mountainous area of the city and actively faced Timur on the Chibuk Plain north of Ankara. Bayezid spread his troops along the Kizchakoi River, leaning against several low hills, and facing the Chibuk River in the east. The Timur army took the lead in launching the first wave of offensive against Tipahhi of the left-wing Rumilia. The Tipahhis consolidated their positions and sought help from the Sudan. Stephen's Serbian cavalry on the second line of the right wing soon arrived to support. The Serbian charge successfully disrupted the Timur cavalry. They were greatly inspired and spontaneously pursued the remaining enemies, but revealed flaws on the entire front. At this time, the Tatar light cavalry suddenly turned against each other (they were the same language as Timur), and launched a side impact on the reassembled left wing, and the Sipahis began to shake again. Although the reserve team composed of the Sultan's Kapikuru cavalry came from the rear in time to repel the rebellious Tatars, the left-wing front was broken. Then, the Turkmen cavalry found that the situation was unfavorable and turned to Timur. The morale of the Timur army was greatly boosted and they began to attack in full swing. The tenacious New Army Corps and the Azab infantry were still struggling to defend the defense line on both wings, but the situation was hopeless. Unexpectedly, Stephen's Christian Serbian cavalry did not betray the Sultan. They persisted until almost the last moment and eventually led the Sultan's eldest son Suleiman out of the siege. Bayejide had a lifetime of war and knew that the defeat was decided. He ordered some of the Kapikuru cavalry to protect his sons to retreat first, and he personally led the remaining troops to retreat to the hill behind the formation to hold on to the hill behind the formation to buy time for the retreat. New Army soldiers were loyally accompanied around the Sultan, and Timur's army surrounded the hills heavily, but were repelled several attacks. The battle lasted for 14 hours. After nightfall, Bayezid led 300 guard cavalry to successfully break out from the east. However, during the escape, the Sultan's horse unfortunately fell down. Bayezid was eventually captured, and almost all the new army units he had worked hard to build were killed.
Türkiye's Sultan, who was locked in a prison van,
Timur (left) examined his captive Bayezid I. Drawn by Stanisław Chlebowski, 1878.
After the Battle of Ankara, Timur stayed in Anatolia for eight months, and he was content to restore the original state of the Turkmen Emirates and did not further conquer the European part of the Ottoman Empire (of course, he also lacked a navy). In March 1403, Timur returned to the East to prepare for his new expedition, this time his goal was China. But before the journey could be completed, the conqueror died of illness on February 18, 1405.The prisoner, Bayezid I, died on March 9, 1403 in Aksehir (some say suicide), and his death marked the end of the early years of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. Anatolia returned to the situation where he was divided before his conquest. What's more serious is that the surviving sons of Bayezid fought for power and profit each other, causing Ottoman Türkiye to fall into a era of large vacancy for more than ten years.
