Battles & Wars › Medieval wars › Timur (Tamerlane)
Battle of Ankara
July 20, 1402· Battle· Middle East & Africa
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
Timur crushed the Ottoman army and captured Sultan Bayezid I, nearly destroying the young Ottoman state.
See it on the Battles & Wars map →What happened
Sultan Bayezid I, called Yıldırım ('Thunderbolt'), was blockading Constantinople when Timur invaded Anatolia. Bayezid marched east in the summer heat. Near Ankara, Timur's army, probably larger, held the water sources. During the battle, Tatar cavalry and troops of recently conquered Anatolian princes switched sides; Bayezid's Serbian vassals fought hard but could not save him. Bayezid was captured and died in captivity in 1403.
Why it matters
The Ottoman state fell into an 11-year civil war among Bayezid's sons. Byzantium won a reprieve, and the Ottomans did not take Constantinople until 1453.
How we know
Ottoman, Timurid and Byzantine chronicles; Ibn Arabshah's hostile biography of Timur; and the Spanish envoy Clavijo, who passed through the region soon after.
Still debated
Army sizes are guesses, from tens of thousands to the hundreds of thousands. The tale that Timur kept Bayezid in an iron cage is likely legend.
Connections (2)
▸Timur (Tamerlane) captured Sultan Bayezid I at Battle of AnkaraWell documented
The connection
Timur and Bayezid I competed for the Anatolian principalities and traded insulting letters. Timur invaded in 1402, drew Bayezid into a hot, thirsty march, and won at Ankara when Bayezid's Tatar and Anatolian troops defected. Bayezid was captured and died a prisoner the next year.
When and how
Near Ankara, Anatolia, July 20, 1402; Timur against Sultan Bayezid I, whose Serbian vassals under Stefan Lazarević fought on his side.
How we know
Ottoman, Timurid, Byzantine and Western sources agree on Bayezid's capture, and the Ottoman succession crisis that followed is well documented.
Debates and open questions
How Bayezid was treated in captivity, and whether he took his own life, is uncertain; the iron cage story is likely legend.
▸Battle of Ankara delayed by half a century Fall of ConstantinopleMostly agreed
The connection
Bayezid I had been blockading Constantinople since 1394. Defeat at Ankara forced him to lift it and plunged the Ottomans into an 11-year civil war among his sons. Byzantium even regained some territory. Only under Mehmed II, 51 years later, did the Ottomans finally take the city.
When and how
Ankara, July 1402; Constantinople, blockaded 1394–1402 and taken May 29, 1453.
How sure are we?
Byzantine sources describe the lifted blockade and the reprieve; Ottoman sources record the civil war, known as the Interregnum (1402–1413).
Debates and open questions
Whether Constantinople would have fallen without Timur is debated: its walls had withstood eight years of blockade, and Ottoman siege guns were still weak.