Amir Timur

Sultan Bayezid had become Sultan of the Ottoman Sultanate after killing his brother Yaqoob. The Ottoman Empire had expanded up to Europe. After this, Sultan Bayezid came out with an army against the Karamid Sultanate and inflicted a crushing defeat on Aladdin Bey. In this situation, the complete downfall of the Karamid Empire was peeking certain. But abruptly, a storm appeared from present-day Uzbekistan and threatened the survival of the Ottoman Sultanate. It was Amir Timur or Timur-e-lung, who came out like a revolution. Amir Timur was a great combatant who through his terrific war strategy had captured present-day Uzbekistan. He invaded land up to present-day Uzbekistan, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Russia, Syria, and Turkey. Timur proved his war acumen by establishing a tremendous Sultanate. He also earned the stature of a brutal commander.

Timurid Sultanate

By 1399, the boundaries of the Timurid Sultanate had touched the land of the Ottoman Empire. The Timurids and Ottomans were predicting their imminent clash as both. The leaders were swayed by pride and tremendous arrogance. This fact was also reflected by the content of the letters they wrote to each other. What obliged them to write letters? It happened when Timur was attacking and occupying the Muslim lands. In the attacks, he turned Baghdad into rubbles and captured Iraq after massacring thousands of people. During that attacks, Prince Tahir of Baghdad reached the Ottoman Empire for asylum and it was given. Similarly, the rulers of areas of Anatolia. Which were occupied by the Ottomans reached Timur and got asylum. It was not tolerable for both sultans that their rivals got asylum by the averse. Hence, they secretly planned to teach lessons to each other in vengeance.

World Superpower

Amir Timur sent a letter to Sultan Bayezid through his messenger. This letter was an open threat to the world superpower of the time. As no one could dear address the ruler of the Ottoman Empire like this, Sultan Bayezid got greatly angry by this insulting letter. So, he also paid Timur in the same coin. This showed that Bayezid was not afraid of anyone. Further before the two could enter into actual combat.

Bayezid learned that Amir Timur was preparing to attack the Ottomans with the help of the Mamluks. So, Sultan Bayezid wrote a letter to show his stern anger. Timur received this letter and now there was no way to avoid the war.

The Christians who were at that point battling the Ottomans declared. Their help to Amir Timur.The Byzantine Empire also secretly appended its support to Amir Timur.

Powerful Empire

After mustering much support, Amir Timur along with his army moved towards the Ottoman Empire. And in 1401, the Timurids entrenched Sivas that was the part of Ottoman Empire. Timur killed Bayezid’s son and other Turk’s notables. Timur captured the castle, entered the city of Sivas, and occupied it. When Bayezid came to know about his son’s death, there was no way to take a step back from war. At that time, the Bayezid army had besieged Constantinople.

Victories of Amir Timur

But it was inalienable for Bayezid to ignore the victories of Amir Timur and the loss of the city Sivas. So, leading an army of 90,000, Bayezid came out to combat Timur and his forces. Amir Timur, with the impeccable strategy of war field, taking a long way route had reached behind Ottomans in Ankara and finally besieged the city. Despite all the matters, both sultans knew that their fight would be between the two largest powers of the world. Because at that time no powerful empire existed on the earth except the Ottomans and the Timurids.

Timurids Won

In the center of Turkey, Ankara saw 150,000 Timurids and 70,000 Ottoman troops face-to-face. The Timurid army spread over the Ottomans as the war progressed. The Timurids won the battle, apprehended Sultan Bayezid. It was the worst debacle for the Ottomans.

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