Battle of angora

Military of the Ottoman Empire , besides irregular pieces heavy cavalry - sipahi and irregular infantry, nn and myusellem and volunteer units Delhi and voynukov (from the Balkan areas volunteers) includes a part of the regular guard Sultan - "Kapykulu" (Palace guard), part of which there was a janissary (infantry) corps, capy-gulu sipahileri (heavy cavalry).

In addition to the Ottoman troops themselves, the Janissaries and the reliable Serbs, Bayazid’s army included soldiers from small Beylik states, which it had abolished ten years before, and some detachments of Tatar riders who had been in Asia Minor since Mongolian times ^[2] .

Based on the rich experience of his predecessors, Timur managed to create a powerful and efficient army, which allowed him to achieve brilliant victories on the battlefields of his opponents. This army was a multinational and multi-religious association, the core of which was the Turks, nomadic warriors. The army of Tamerlan was divided into cavalry and infantry , whose role greatly increased at the turn of the XIV-XV centuries. Nevertheless, the main part of the army consisted of horse groups of nomads, the backbone of which consisted of elite units of heavily armed cavalry, as well as detachments of Tamerlane’s bodyguards. Infantry often played a supporting role, but was necessary during the siege of fortresses. The infantry was for the most part lightly armed and mainly consisted of archers, but the army was also heavily armed strike troops of infantry.

In addition to the main types of troops (heavy and light cavalry, as well as infantry), Tamerlane's army had troops of pontooners , workers, engineers and other specialists, as well as special infantry units specialized in combat operations in mountainous conditions (they were recruited from residents of mountain villages). The organization of Tamerlan’s army in general corresponded to Genghis Khan’s decimal organization, but a number of changes appeared (for example, units of 50 to 300 people called “Koshuns” appeared;

The main weapon of light cavalry, like infantry, was a bow. Light cavalrymen also used sabers or swords and axes. The heavily armed horsemen were clad in armor (the most popular armor was chain mail, often reinforced with metal plates), protected by helmets and fought with sabers or swords (besides bows and arrows, which were common everywhere). Simple infantrymen were armed with bows , warriors of heavy infantry fought with sabers , axes and maces and were protected by armor, helmets and shields .

During the 35 years of his reign ( 1370-1405 ), carried out in incessant military campaigns, Timur created a huge empire stretching from North India to Eastern Anatolia . Wishing to become the sole ruler of the Muslim world, he consistently removed all of his possible rivals. At the same time, Bayazid I managed to subdue all the Beyles of Asia Minor and become the sovereign master of Anatolia.

Moving west, Timur clashed with the state of Kara Koyunlu , the victory of Timur's troops forced the leader of the Turkmen Kara Yusuf to flee west to the Ottoman ruler Bayezid. After that, Kara Yusuf and Bayazid agreed on joint action against Timur. In order to finally deal with Sultan Kara Koyunlu, Timur strongly demanded that Bayazid extradite Kara Yusuf, but Bayazid’s refusal gave a formal reason to start a war against the Ottomans. In May 1402, Timur began a campaign in Asia Minor. His troops occupied the Turkish fortresses of Kemak and Sivas . Here, ambassadors of the Turkish Sultan Bayazid of Lightning came to Timur for negotiations. In the presence of ambassadors, Timur made a review of his troops, whose number reached 140 thousand people. The main part of the army was Timur cavalry. The view of the huge army made an oppressive impression on the ambassadors, and through them on the Turkish troops.

Bayazid managed to set up a half smaller army against Timur. Fearing an open battle, the Sultan placed his troops in a mountain-wooded area north of the city of Angora. Timur besieged Angora and with ingenious maneuvers lured Bayazid to the plain.

During his campaigns, Timur used the banner with the image of three rings. During the Indian campaign, a black banner with a silver dragon was used. There is a legend that before the battle of Ankara, Timur and Bayazid Lightning met on the battlefield. Looking at the banner of Timur, Bayazid said: “What a cheek to think that the whole world belongs to you!” In response, Timur, pointing to the banner of the Turk, said: “Even more audacity to think that the moon belongs to you”.

As soon as the Turks descended from the mountains, Timur lifted the siege of Angora and, having made a small transition, was in the way of the movement of the troops of Bayazid. Timur knew that the sultan had not given out his salary for a long time, that there were many dissatisfied people in his troops, especially among the Anatolian beys. He sent the scouts to the bays, trying to win over them.

Bayazid built an army behind the mountains with retreat routes on the flanks. In an effort to strengthen the center of the army, the Sultan weakened the flanks. The left flank of the Turkish troops were Serbs under the command of Stefan Lazarevich. On the right flank settled troops Anatolian bey. Timur, on the contrary, had strong flanks and a powerful reserve of 30 regiments of selected troops.

The battle was tied to light cavalry, and then the vanguard of the right wing of Timur’s army unsuccessfully attacked a few Serbian knights . Timur threw all the forces of his right wing into the battle, but the Serbs continued to resist stubbornly, which caused Timur's admiration. The avant-garde of the left wing was immediately successful, detachments of the Anatolian beys and 18 thousand Tatar mercenaries went over to the side of the enemy. After that, Timur brought into battle part of the second line, trying to cut off the Serbs from the main forces, but they managed to break through and join up with the rest of Bayazid’s army.

Having defeated the flanks, Timur threw a reserve into the attack and surrounded the main forces of the Turks. The advantage of Timur's troops was overwhelming. The Janissaries were killed, and Bayazid himself was captured.

The dating of the battle is controversial. The earliest information about the time of the battle contradict each other:

• A contemporary of events, Hafiz Ebru (d. 1430), did not name the exact day, indicating only the month “Zul-Hija 804” (July 1402) ^[3] .

Three more contemporaries, two of whom are the authors of Tamerlane’s early biographies, called different dates and different days of the week:

• Ibn Arabshah (d. 1450): “It happened one mile from the city of Ankara on Wednesday, the twenty-seventh day of the month of Dhu Lijija 804 AH ” ^[4]
• Sharafaddin Yazdi (d. 1454): "This victory happened on Friday of the nineteenth Dzul-gizhzhi eight hundred and fourth year" ^[5] .
• Badr al-Din al-Aini (1360-1451): 5 Muharram 805 (August 5, 1402) ^[3] .

The next generation of historiographers also were not unanimous:

• Ashik Pasha-zade (1393-1484) and Ali: 804 (1401-1402) ^[3] .
• George Sfrandzi (1401 — after 1478): “on the 28th day of the month of July of the tenth year, Sultan Bayazid was killed by Timur” ^[6] .
• Ibn Tagriberdi (1409 / 10-1470): 27 Su-al-Hija 804 (July 28, 1402) ^[3] .

In the future, the range of opinions increased:

• Behishti (1450-after 1511): “three days before entering the year 804”, that is, on day 26-27 Zul-Hija 803 (August 7-8, 1401) ^[3]
• Mehmed Neshri (1450-1520): “It happened three days before the 804 anniversary of the Hijra” ^[7] .
• Ruhi елelebi (died 1522) and Idris Bidlisi (1455-1520): 13 Muharrem 805 (August 13, 1402) ^[3] .
• Saad-ed-din (1536/7–1599): 19 Zu'l- Hija 804 (July 20, 1402) ^[3] .

At the same time, when translating the dates of the 19th of 1955, the 80.4 year does not give July 20th. This is July 28th. 27 Zu-al-Hija also does not give July 28, this is August 5, 1402.

After the battle, all of Asia Minor was captured by the troops of Timur. The defeat led to the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, which was accompanied by civil strife between the sons of Bayazid and the peasant war led by Mustafa Berklyudzhe (Mustafa Börklüce, 1408-1417). The defeat of the Turks, which lost practically all its territory of Byzantium, gave a half-century delay. Taking advantage of the defeat of Bayazid, Emperor John VII Palaeologus conquered the European coast of the Sea of ​​Marmara and Thessalonica from his heirs. Stefan Lazarevich , on his return to Serbia with the remaining soldiers, in Constantinople from the hands of the emperor received the title of despot (second in importance after the king). After the victory of Timur, the kings of England, France and Castile congratulated him. Ambassador of Castile Rui Gonzalez de Clavijo made a long trip to the capital of the state of Timur Samarkand and described it in detail later in Europe .

Byzantine Empire

According to the widespread version of modern historical literature, it was due to the defeat of Bayazid’s army that Byzantine statehood existed for another half a century (until 1453 ). However, this is not quite true. On the eve of the invasion, the Turkmen tribes, surging into Asia Minor under the pressure of the advancing Mongols, advanced to the Aegean Sea and finally deprived the Greek Christians of a demographic superiority in the region. Moreover, on the eve of the battle, the Turks and their herds began to move to Europe in panic through Gallipoli controlled by the Ottomans (from 1352 ), further settling the Maritsa valley and Thrace ^[8] . Many sought refuge in the Ottoman capital located here - the city of Edirne (since 1365 ). Thus, Timur's invasion rather accelerated the Turkization and Muslimization of Balkan Thrace, isolating the Greek Constantinople from the array of neighboring Christian peoples and, despite the delay, it actually left him no chance of preserving independence, since Constantinople was now surrounded on all sides by the predominantly Turkish population. On the other hand, the flow of Turkish settlers decreased after the transfer of the coast of the Sea of ​​Marmara to Byzantium as a result of the temporary weakening and fragmentation of the Ottoman state.

• Megaencyclopedia of Cyril and Methodius (inaccessible link)
• Battle of Ankara 1402 // Great Soviet Encyclopedia ( 3rd edition ). - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978.