This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (April 2023) |
The Ottoman Civil War[dubious – discuss] was a war of succession in the Ottoman Empire from 1509 to 1513, during the reign of Bayezid II, between his sons Ahmed, Selim, and Korkut.
| Ottoman Civil War (1509–1513) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The Battle of Yenişehir in 1513, the last battle of the civil war | ||||||||
| ||||||||
| Belligerents | ||||||||
|
Army of Selim I Janissaries Supported by: Crimean Khanate[1] |
Army of Bayezid II (until his abdication) Army of Şehzade Ahmed Supported by: Safavid Iran[2] | Army of Şehzade Korkut | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | ||||||||
|
Selim I Bıyıklı Mehmed Pasha Hersekzade Ahmed Pasha |
Bayezid II  #Şehzade Ahmed  Şehzade Murad Hadım Ali Pasha † |
Şehzade Korkut | ||||||
| Strength | ||||||||
| 10,000–20,000 (Together with the Janissaries) |
Army of Bayezid II: 40,000 (until his abdication) Army of Şehzade Ahmed: 15,000–30,000 | 3,000–8,000 | ||||||
In 1509, Ahmed, the oldest claimant, won a battle against the Karaman Turks and their Safavid allies in Asia Minor and marched on Istanbul[3] to exploit his triumph. Fearing for his safety, Selim staged a revolt in Thrace but was defeated by Bayezid and forced to flee to Crimea in 1511.[citation needed]
Bayezid developed fears that Ahmed might then kill him to gain the throne, and refused to allow his son to enter Constantinople. However, some sources [citation needed] suggest that the Janissaries acted on their own in preventing Ahmed from entering the city due to their loyalty to Selim.
Selim returned from Crimea and, with support from the Janissaries, forced Bayezid to abdicate on 25 April 1512. Bayezid later died on his way to Demotika, only a month after his abdication, but fighting for the throne continued between the newly-crowned Sultan Selim I and Ahmed. After a series of civil disobediences, Ahmed was defeated and killed at the Battle of Yenişehir in April 1513. With Korkut having been executed shortly before, as Selim feared he might instigate a revolt against him, the civil war ended with Selim as the undisputed victor.
Popular culture
editThe conflict is dramatized in the alternate history video game Assassin's Creed Revelations (2011), in which it is one of the focal plotlines.
See also
editReferences
edit- ↑ When Selim failed in an initial uprising against his father, Bayezid II, in Tekirdağ in 1511, he fled to the Crimea. There, his father-in-law, Khan Meñli I Giray, placed a significant Crimean Tatar force at his disposal.
- ↑ The Safavid Shah Ismail I sympathized with Şehzade Ahmed, one of Bayezid's sons, and supported his bid to ascend the Ottoman throne. Ahmed viewed the Safavids as politically more favorable and accommodating.
- ↑ Finkel, Caroline, Osman's Dream, (Basic Books, 2005), 57; "Istanbul was only adopted as the city's official name in 1930...'".
Sources
edit- Finkel, Caroline, Osman's Dream, Basic Books, 2005.