e Ottoman defeat at the Battle of Ankara (1402) constitutes one of the breaking points in Ottoman history. is defeat stopped the Ottoman expansion in Anatolia and the Balkans and drove the empire into chaos in such a way that it would take half a century for the empire to recover. is situation that put the state on the verge of collapse traumatized early Ottoman histories and the vanquished of the battle, Bayezid I, the “underbolt,” became the first Sultan to have been criticized on account of his wrong strategy. e Sultan’s swift implementation of reforms created a large number of discontented people and the negative light in which he was depicted by contemporary historians seems to have been affected by the post-1402 trauma. It was not only the Ottoman historians, but also their non-Ottoman colleagues that depicted a different Bayezid I. It appears that his actions that provoked resentment were not driven by personal ambition; but rather he followed an imperial strategy that would later be implemented by his successor, Mehmed II
Bayezid “the underbolt ” Battle of Ankara Tamerlane Ottoman chronicles the image of Bayezid I
Primary Language | Turkish |
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Journal Section | Articles |
Authors | |
Publication Date | June 1, 2014 |
Published in Issue | Year 2014 Volume: 43 Issue: 43 |