Chaldiran: The Battle That Changed Islam - Selim I Against Ismail I

[00:00:05]"Brothers, I still remember that morning on  the plain of Chaldiran back during the summer of 1514. I stood behind the chained cannons  with my Janissary comrades, matchlock in hand, as the sun rose over the hills. Before us waited  Shah Ismail and his wild Qizilbash riders, thousands of red-capped horsemen screaming  for battle, armed only with bows, lances, and swords. They thought their courage and  speed would carry the day. But Sultan Selim had prepared us well. Our cannons stood ready,  chained into the line. When the order came, the ground shook with thunder. Iron shot  tore through their charges again and again.

[00:00:45]We fired volley after volley while their  brave warriors crashed against our wagons like waves on a rock.” This episode covers  the troubled final years of Bayezid II, the dramatic rise of Selim I, and the decisive  Battle of Chaldiran against Safavid Iran.

[00:01:12]Rise of the Safavids (1494-1508): The year is 1502. It had been twenty-one years since Sultan Bayezid II, son of Mehmed  the Conqueror, had ascended to power. During his reign, the Ottoman Empire consolidated  the gains it had won under his father.

[00:02:00]Although the state had achieved some military  victories against Moldavia, Hungary, and Venice, Bayezid kept his realm at peace for the most  part during this period, as, unlike his father, he paid greater attention to domestic issues than  to waging wars. He improved tax collection and reduced corruption in the provinces, effectively  doubling the central state’s annual income. This was combined with the Sultan’s support for trade,  local industries, and domestic commerce within his realm, most famously seen through his policy of  welcoming skilled Jewish and Muslim refugees into the Empire after the Spanish Inquisition.  During his reign, Bayezid also invested in public works throughout the realm, including  mosques, bridges, and charitable complexes, thereby stimulating local economies in both the  Balkans and Anatolia. By maintaining the peace, the Sultan created conditions for agricultural  productivity and urban prosperity, leaving a more financially stable and administratively cohesive  empire. But by 1502, Bayezid, who was now in his mid-fifties, had begun slowly retiring from the  affairs of state, leaving much of the running of the state to his court officials. As a result,  he grew unaware of the great threats to his realm to the east. To the east, Iran had fallen  into anarchy following the collapse of the Aq Qoyunlu confederation, the Turcoman  dynasty that had long dominated the region.

[00:03:24]Amid this instability, the Safaviyya  movement gained momentum. Originally a Sunni Sufi brotherhood founded in Ardabil, the  movement transformed under successive leaders into something far more politically ambitious.  By the fifteenth century, under leaders such as Junayd Safavi and Haydar Safavi, the Safaviyya  order shifted away from its quietist Sunni roots toward a more activist and militant stance. This  transformation included a gradual adoption of Shia beliefs, particularly Twelver Shi‘ism, in which  Safavid leaders were viewed by their followers as messianic figures akin to the promised Mahdi,  believed to appear at the End Times to rid the earth of evil and injustice. Haydar had married  Halima Hatun, a daughter of Uzun Hasan himself, cementing the Safavids’ claim to regional  prestige. However, as the Aq Qoyunlu realm began fracturing by the 1490s, the Shia Safavids  began slowly turning on their Sunni overlords. As early as 1494, the two sides began fighting, with  the Aq Qoyunlu initially kicking the Safavids out of their capital of Ardabil. What followed was  a decade-long exile for the Safavids under their new leader, the seven-year-old Ismail, the  son of Haydar and Halima. During their exile, the Safavids regrouped and, in the following  years, recruited local Turcoman tribes in Azerbaijan into their cause. Years of political  turmoil across Iran had led many of these tribes to seek new leadership away from the  squabbling successors of Uzun Hasan, and the Safavid revolution now gave them the  opportunity to expand their power base. These followers were to be known as the Qizilbash, or  ‘Redheads’, due to their adoption of distinctive red headgear with twelve folds, commemorating the  twelve Shia imams, as their insignia. Fiercely loyal and united by a shared religious identity,  they viewed the charismatic Ismail not just as a political figure but as a spiritual guide with  divine authority. This fusion of religion and politics distinguished the Safavid movement from  its rivals and gave it a powerful mobilizing force. As the Aq Qoyunlu further weakened  due to civil war, the Qizilbash provided the Safavids with a new source of military strength. By the turn of the century, Ismail led his first military campaign, capturing the region of  Shirvan in a surprise invasion after years of gathering his strength in exile. This was  followed by a decisive victory in a great field battle over the Aq Qoyunlu at Sharur in 1501,  resulting in the capture of Tabriz shortly after. Upon marching into the former Aq Qoyunlu  capital, which he made into his own capital, the fourteen-year-old Safavid ruler declared  himself “Shahanshah” of Iran. To cheering crowds and rejuvenated religious fervor, the Safavid  Empire had just been born. Within only seven years, the rest of the Aq Qoyunlu would fall to  this new power, which looked poised to conquer the entirety of the Middle East with its tidal  wave of religious fervor and military might.

[00:06:24]Ottoman-Safavid Cold War (1505-1510): While the mighty Safavids rose from the ashes of the Aq Qoyunlu, the Ottomans  watched in horror. Shah Ismail’s assertions of semi-divine status and his backing of Twelver  Shi‘ism directly challenged Sultan Bayezid II, the world’s foremost Sunni ruler. In  evaluating their Sunni neighbors to the west, the Safavids started using a strategy similar  to their earlier success against the Aq Qoyunlu, offering alliances to Shia, Sufi, and other  non-Sunni groups in Anatolia to weaken the Ottomans from within. Bayezid first tried to  stop this trend by closing the border with Iran, then by forcing Shia communities to resettle  across the Empire. From eastern Anatolia, these communities were relocated to the southwest  of the peninsula and the Morea to keep them as far from Ismail as possible. Despite trying to limit  the expansion of Safavid influence in his realm, Bayezid was unable to maintain peace with Tabriz.  As early as 1505, Ismail’s brother, Ibrahim Mirza, invaded Ottoman territory with the intent of  plundering and recruiting new soldiers in Anatolia for the Qizilbash cause. Yet such direct actions  were intended to provoke the governor of Trabzon, Bayezid’s thirty-five-year-old son, Şehzade  Selim. In a brief retaliatory military campaign, the vigorous Ottoman prince not only expelled  the invaders but also pursued them across the border to the town of Erzincan,  where many Safavids were killed, and their numerous arms and munitions were seized.  The confrontations between Selim and the Safavids underscored the significant disparity between his  philosophy and his father's. For several years, Selim had persistently requested military  reinforcements from Constantinople to secure the Empire’s eastern frontier; however, his requests  remained unfulfilled, much to his frustration.

[00:08:12]Following the 1505 campaign, Ismail sent an envoy  to protest Selim’s actions. Bayezid refused to return the seized weapons but received the envoy  with full ceremony and sent him home with gifts.

[00:08:24]Viewing his son as impulsive and considering  the Empire from a broad perspective, the Sultan preferred to adopt a course of nonaggression  and reconciliation with the Safavids. He instead anticipated imminent threats from the west and  south and showed little interest in engaging in conflict on the eastern frontier, which would  entail transporting large armies and supplies across extensive, challenging terrain. In 1507,  the Safavids again went on the offensive. This time, Ismail raided the Dulkadirid Beylik, passing  through Ottoman territory and recruiting from the local population, much to the Sublime Porte's  humiliation. Believing that a weak response would only encourage the Safavids to further encroach on  Ottoman lands, Selim wrote to his father about the urgency of the situation in the east. In one  letter, he grimly stated, “From day to day, Safavid properties are significantly increasing.  It is known that they are enemies of the Ottoman dynasty in both religion and nation. Great  disorder and sedition are expected from that faction. If they continue to be approached with  negligence and inattention, as was the case in the past, the disorder it causes may reach a  level beyond control. And these disorders and tumults may spread everywhere in the country.”  However, Bayezid, far away in Constantinople, rebuked his son’s demands, fearing that  such rhetoric would increase hostilities between his government and his Shia subjects. Bayezid's inaction did not stop Selim from going on the offensive. In 1508, the Ottoman prince  marched into Safavid-allied Georgia seeking to posture against Ismail that if his father would  not defend the honor of the Ottoman realm, he would. In only a few weeks, local Georgian forces  were shattered under the weight of immense Turkish gunpowder and cannons. Over 10,000 peasants were  dragged into slavery as the local countryside was put to the torch and plundered for spoils. Such  successes would continue two years later, when the Ottoman prince routed a Safavid army near the  gates of Erzincan in a surprise invasion. These military victories would help secure the praise  and support of the military class for Selim, as he was not only seen as an able military leader  but also as a defender of the faith. But such military actions would also further deteriorate  relations between members of the House of Osman.

[00:10:46]Civil War & Şahkulu Rebellion (1502-1513): By the start of the sixteenth century, the House of Osman had reached its height  in the number of male members it possessed, as Bayezid II had seven living sons and around  seventeen grandsons from whom his line would continue. The eldest of the Sultan’s sons was  Şehzade Ahmed, the governor of Amasya, who was known as an able administrator, like his father,  and favored policies of peace and consolidation.

[00:11:10]Although well-liked by the people and Bayezid,  he was bitterly opposed by the Janissaries due to his lack of martial prowess. The second  eldest son was Şehzade Korkud, the governor of Manisa and the main candidate of the ulema in  the imperial capital. The prince had grown up at the famous court of Mehmed the Conqueror and thus  naturally had an interest in the sciences, poetry, and music. However, like his older half-brother,  he had little military talent and thus lacked the support of the military class in government.  The third eldest son was Şehzade Şehinşah, the governor of Konya. Having Karamanid roots  from his mother’s side, the Ottoman prince ruled his local region with great difficulty for  many years. Since its annexation into the Empire, the province of Karaman had been unruly. It had  supported Cem Sultan’s rebellion back in 1481, been at the center of the disastrous Battle of  Ağaçayırı in 1488, and lastly, a failed Karamanid rebellion in 1501. Now the province was a hotbed  of Qizilbash activity and Safavid spies, a task that left Şehinşah distracted from the wider race  for the throne. The middle son was Şehzade Selim, the governor of Trabzon, who had already proven  himself an able and alert military leader through his victorious campaigns in eastern Anatolia and  Georgia. As a result of his exploits, the prince quickly became the Janissaries' candidate and the  candidate of the wider Ottoman military class.

[00:12:37]The Sultan's youngest sons were Şehzade Mahmud,  the governor of Kastamonu, Şehzade Mehmed, the governor of Caffa, and Şehzade Alemşah,  who was stationed alongside his father in Constantinople. Although the three princes were  the Sultan's younger sons, they still had their own loyal bases of support in their respective  regions and were thus major candidates for the throne. The seven sons of Bayezid II were  all in their mid-twenties to early forties and had held their governorships for many years,  making them the most experienced set of princes the Empire had seen to date. Nevertheless,  this would also lead to intense competition among the members of the House of Osman. For over a century, the governorship of Manisa was considered the de facto seat of  the sultan’s favored heir to the throne, owing to its proximity to the imperial capital  compared to other governorships in Anatolia.

[00:13:27]But due to the intense competition among his  sons and his desire to keep the peace within his imperial household, Bayezid frequently rotated  the governorship of the prestigious town among all his sons. The seat rotated between the brothers  across the following decades. Then sudden deaths began thinning the field: Alemşah in 1503,  Mehmed in 1504, Mahmud in 1507, each death removing a rival and leaving Manisa vacant. It  was widely believed that either Ahmed or Selim would now take control of Manisa, but to maintain  the balance of power among his remaining sons, Bayezid decided to leave the town vacant to  avoid declaring a favored heir. Regardless, this move by the Sultan would only stoke the  flames between his sons. The furious Korkud, newly appointed governor of Antalya, demanded to  be restored to his former seat in Manisa. But when Bayezid refused such a move, the Ottoman prince  fled to the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt in 1509, seeking military support. Nevertheless, a repeat  of Cem Sultan’s rebellion did not occur this time.

[00:14:31]After spending three years in Cairo, Korkud was  eventually pardoned by Bayezid in 1511 and soon returned to the Empire. Although peace had been  reestablished, the whole event indicated that Bayezid had lost political control over Anatolia,  as his sons now ruled the peninsula. This fact had not been lost on the Empire’s Shia subjects. In the spring of 1511, a significant Qizilbash rebellion broke out in the Teke region  of southwestern Anatolia, led by a local religious figure known as Şahkulu, or “Slave  of the Shah.” However, to Sunni Ottomans, he would be known as Şeytankulu or “Slave of  the Devil.” A follower of the Safavid order, Şahkulu presented himself not merely as  a rebel leader but as a messianic figure, gaining the military and political support of  various minority populations in Anatolia who felt long marginalized by the Ottoman government. In  normal circumstances, a rebellion of this nature could have been quickly brought under control by  local Ottoman authorities, but to the Sultan's great displeasure, it spread across Anatolia like  wildfire. This was because, instead of returning to his governorship of Antalya after his Egyptian  exile, Şehzade Korkud had filled the vacancy in Manisa without his father's jurisdiction and  thus was not present in Teke when the initial rebellion began. According to some rumors, the  Ottoman prince was mustering an army to march on the capital to seize the throne. As a result of  this intransigence, Şahkulu easily captured the regional capital of Antalya and declared himself  as ‘sultan’ in front of the town's populace.

[00:16:09]With total disaster unfolding in his eastern  provinces, Bayezid ordered Karagöz Ahmed Pasha, the beylerbey of Anatolia, to put an end to the  rebellion once and for all. Mustering a small local army, Ahmed Pasha pursued Şahkulu out of  Teke and through western Anatolia. In numerous towns, he observed the destruction caused by  the rebels, such as the arson of Sunni mosques, burning of Qurans, and pillaging of farmlands.  After a few weeks' march, the Ottoman Pasha ultimately pursued Şahkulu to the town of  Kütahya. However, in a shocking series of events, his outnumbered forces were to be ambushed and  defeated. In a brutal scene of utter violence, the captured Karagöz Ahmed Pasha was  impaled in front of the walls of Kütahya, then beheaded, and then his remains cremated. While Şahkulu’s rebellion was engulfing Anatolia, Shah Ismail had nonetheless exploited the  ensuing chaos by sending his general Nur-Ali Khalifa to invade Ottoman territory. In a brutal  campaign, the town of Tokat was sacked, and much of the eastern provinces of the Empire were put  to the torch. Thousands of local Shias from the countryside, long displeased by Ottoman rule, also  joined the ranks of the Safavid general. To add to the chaos, Şehzade Şehinşah had also suddenly died  while mustering his troops in Konya. According to Ottoman chronicles, the prince was poisoned by  either Safavid agents or by the agents of his half-brother, Ahmed. With his eastern provinces  now on fire, Bayezid dispatched his Grand Vizier, Hadım Ali Pasha, to bring order to Anatolia.  Ali Pasha had long been a supporter of Şehzade Ahmed and saw an opportunity to secure a stunning  victory against the rebels alongside his favored prince to win the army's support. Under the heat  of summer, the Ottoman pasha chased Şahkulu and his rebel army all across Anatolia to the village  of Çubukova, located between Kayseri and Sivas, where he also met up with Ahmed and his newly  mustered forces. However, in the following bloody battle, both the Grand Vizier and the  rebel leader fell dead on the battlefield.

[00:18:16]Although Şahkulu’s rebellion was finally  suppressed, Ahmed had lost his biggest political supporter and his most vocal voice in  Constantinople. During the aftermath of the Battle of Çubukova, the panicking Ottoman prince demanded  an oath of allegiance from the Janissaries in his army and urged them to join him in his  march to Constantinople to seize the throne.

[00:18:36]Embarrassingly, the elite corps refused to do  so on the grounds that Ahmed had not personally led them into battle but had instead sat in  his tent throughout the military campaign.

[00:18:46]To make matters even worse for Ahmed, shortly  after the battle, his own son, Şehzade Murad, defected to Ismail in an attempt to seize the  Ottoman throne himself. Fleeing to the court of the Safavid ruler in Tabriz, Bayezid’s grandson  donned the distinctive red hat of the Qizilbash, much to the embarrassment of the Ottoman  state. These back-to-back humiliations had greatly hurt Ahmed’s ambitions for the throne,  as, in the eyes of many throughout the realm, it appeared he could not even impose his will  on his own army and son, let alone an empire.

[00:19:20]In the context of the domestic imperial  succession, Selim evidently gained an advantage from Şahkulu’s rebellion as it validated  his longstanding beliefs and assertions: that his father and his father’s administration  were feeble, and that his half-brothers were even more so. By the summer of 1511, the  sickly Bayezid, now in his mid-sixties, had lost all authority in Anatolia as all three  of his remaining sons were in open rebellion to replace him. While Korkud was mustering an army  in Manisa, Ahmed likewise mustered an army of his own in Amasya. Meanwhile, Selim from Trabzon  sailed across the Black Sea to meet Meñli I Giray and secure his military support. Sensing that  the days of Bayezid on the throne were short and seeking to gain the favor of a potential  future sultan, the opportunistic Crimean Khan eagerly lent Selim men and money for the war  to come. However, in return for his support, the Ottoman prince was obliged to marry the Khan’s  daughter, Ayşe Hatun, thus marking the event as the last time a member of the House of Osman  married into a foreign dynasty. By mid-summer, Selim decided to go on the offensive and  travel to the Balkans to gain the support of the region's notables. Before leaving Crimea,  Selim installed his only son, Şehzade Suleyman, as governor of Caffa. Landing in Akkerman,  Selim’s host of Crimean Tatars and Balkan peasant troops began spreading across the region  at great speed. The advance was so fast that it forced the beylerbey of Rumelia, Hasan Pasha,  into a hurried retreat south to Greece. By July, the Ottoman prince had captured the old capital  of Edirne, where he began negotiations with his father. But when such talks failed, the two sides  marched their armies for an inevitable clash.

[00:21:05]Selim’s quickly assembled army of 30,000  clashed with Bayezid’s army of 40,000 near Tekirdag. Outnumbered and outmatched  by his father’s elite kapikulu army, Selim was forced to retreat back to Crimea in  defeat. In a single battle, it seemed like Selim’s bid for the imperial throne was over. Luckily  for him, his father would blunder one last time.

[00:21:30]Returning to Constantinople, a confident Bayezid  thought that he had restored order to his realm and so, in a surprising move, sent word for Ahmed  to come to the capital as soon as possible. The elderly Sultan decided now was the time to  abdicate his throne and crown his favorite son and favored heir once and for all. This action  was to prove too much even for the Janissaries in Constantinople, who had a disdain for the Sultan’s  favored son, and so flooded the streets of the capital. Soon, all-out street warfare broke out  between the government's supporters and Selim's supporters. After a few weeks of bloodshed,  Bayezid capitulated. The Sultan now ordered Selim to the capital to restore order and appointed  him as commander-in-chief of the army. However, once he arrived in the capital in the spring of  1512, Selim swiftly deposed his father in a coup as he had completely lost the support of the army.  After thirty-one years on the throne, the reign of Sultan Bayezid II was brought to an end. Being  forced into exile in his birthtown of Demotika, the former Sultan farewelled the population of  Constantinople in a lavish ceremony. Nevertheless, en route to Demotika, he would suddenly die.  According to some sources, the broken-spirited Bayezid died a natural death, but according to  other sources, Selim had him poisoned, fearing that he still posed a threat and could muster an  army against him in the future. Whatever the case, the once mighty Sultan who had consolidated his  realm and brought it into an economic golden age was dead. His steady approach to diplomacy  with the Safavids and his inaction during a period of immense crisis in Anatolia proved  disastrous and ultimately led to his downfall.

[00:23:15]With his father removed from the picture, Sultan  Selim I began consolidating his power in the capital. New appointments to key posts were made,  the palace administration was filled with loyal followers, and the imperial army in the capital  was once more provisioned. However, while the new Sultan was in Constantinople, his half-brothers,  Ahmed and Korkud, fought one another to consolidate their own power in Anatolia. Ordering  his son Suleyman to the capital and declaring him as regent while he was gone, Selim marched into  the war-torn region of Anatolia at the head of a great host. His goal was to bring peace to  the peninsula, which had been the epicentre of much of the chaos of the last year. Korkud, who  had struggled in mustering an army to his cause, was taken by surprise from his base of Manisa  by Selim and took shelter in a nearby cave. Once found, Korkud was pardoned after he acknowledged  his younger half-brother's rule. Nevertheless, one year later, Selim chose to assess Kordud’s  loyalty by dispatching fabricated letters from various bureaucrats intended to persuade him  to participate in a rebellion against him.

[00:24:21]Failing the test by succumbing to the letters,  Korkud was promptly executed, a decision that Selim lamented for the remainder of his life. As another son of Bayezid was dealt with, a still vigorous Ahmed had captured the town  of Konya, declaring himself ‘sultan.’ Yet, knowing that he was outnumbered in manpower and  materials, Ahmed also began negotiations with Shah Ismail for a potential alliance. But before such  a development could take place, Selim challenged his army and met them near Yenişehir during the  spring of 1513. In a one-sided struggle, Ahmed’s host was defeated. He was captured after falling  from his horse during the rout. After the battle, Selim confronted his elder half-brother, who had  caused him great pain in the past for being their father’s favorite. Calling him a traitor and a  rabid dog, Selim ordered Ahmed’s execution, thus concluding the bloodshed of the last two years  that had cost the lives of over 50,000 Ottoman civilians. In total, the recent civil war had seen  the Selim execute two of his half-brothers and twelve of his half-nephews and great-half-nephews,  thus marking it as one of the bloodiest chapters for the members of the House of Osman. Yet, a new  war against the Safavids was now on the horizon.

[00:25:37]Selim’s Safavid Campaign (1514): As the flames of war had settled in Anatolia, Selim now turned his eyes east toward the mighty  Safavid Empire. The new Sultan first concluded peace treaties with Hungary and Poland to secure  his western flank in the predictable war to come in the east. During the winter of 1513, Selim sent  out delegations demanding that Shah Ismail return the rebellious Şehzade Murad, son of the late  Şehzade Ahmed, but to no avail. With the war of letters quickly ending, Selim now began preparing  for a war of swords. The Sultan called on the entire might of his realm and began mustering  a great army poised to defeat what he saw as the Safavid heresy of the East. By the spring of  1514, all military preparations were completed, and an official fetwa, or religious decree, was  issued to declare war against a Muslim nation.

[00:26:29]After many years of build-up, Selim marched  out of his capital at the head of an army of approximately 100,000, though around a third  would be left to garrison eastern Anatolia, leaving him roughly 60,000 for the battle itself.  However, during this march, one of the largest domestic massacres in Ottoman history would take  place. In the months before the military campaign, the local governors of Anatolia had created  official registers documenting all Shias aged seven to seventy living in the towns of Tokat,  Sivas, Amasya, Samsun, and Yozgat, as well as their surrounding villages. As the imperial  army passed through Anatolia, the Sultan ordered the rounding up of these Shia populations to be  executed as he sought to get rid of a potential pro-Safavid fifth column in his Empire. In a  series of bloody massacres, up to 40,000 Shias, namely Alevis and other suspected pro-Safavid  sympathizers, were beheaded or stoned to death.

[00:27:25]In the eyes of Selim, the war to come was not  only over territorial gains but also a war over religion and the very soul of the nation itself. While such atrocities occurred, the Ottoman army arrived on the border and proceeded to cross  into Safavid territory. During this period, Selim unleashed a barrage of diplomatic and  religious warfare through letters toward Ismail.

[00:27:47]He styled himself as the Caliph of God, defender  of Sunni orthodoxy, and “slayer of the wicked and the infidel.” In elaborate Persian prose laced  with Quranic verses, he accused the Safavid ruler of heresy, oppression, and perverting the faith.  The Sultan also condemned Ismail for subjecting the “upright community of Muhammad” to his  “devious will,” unfurling the banner of oppression throughout the Middle East, and inciting his Shia  followers to unsanctified acts and bloodshed. Shah Ismail likewise replied with a single, defiant  letter. Far from cowed, he dismissed Selim’s threats with bold confidence and, according to  tradition, accompanied the response with a golden box of opium. The gesture mockingly implied that  the Ottoman sultan’s heated rhetoric resembled the ravings of an addict. The insulting reply  enraged Selim, who reportedly ordered the Persian envoy who had delivered him the Shah’s letter  executed. By early August 1514, Sultan Selim had successfully captured the towns of Erzincan and  Erzurum without resistance. Ismail had abandoned these towns, opting instead for scorched-earth  tactics, which resulted in the local countryside being stripped of all supplies. This had a  considerable impact on the already fatigued Ottoman army, which had been marching under the  hot summer sun for over four months. Nevertheless, news reached Selim in Erzurum that Ismail’s forces  had encamped on the Chaldiran plain, approximately 250 miles further to the southeast. Therefore,  rather than postponing their confrontation between Chaldiran and Erzurum, Selim decided to  force-march his army to engage the Safavids at Chaldiran directly. He aimed to secure a swift  and decisive victory in the open field before his adversary could retreat into the mountainous  Iranian plateau. As a result, the Sultan assembled his troops in preparation for this final push  to initiate the war they all eagerly desired.

[00:29:44]Despite Selim’s ambitions, it was during this  period that the Janissaries began to grow discontented with the army's poor conditions,  caused by the desolation of the local region by the Safavids. This had been the furthest east an  Ottoman army had traveled, and now the army was low on water and food. One day, when the army  was encamped, the Janissaries began revolting, and several arrows were even launched toward  the Sultan’s tent. Furious at his elite corps, Selim rode out on horseback and delivered a  famous speech to his army in an attempt to bolster morale: “We have not arrived at our intended  destination or even encountered our enemy. There is no possibility of retreating now, and even to  contemplate such a thing is a fantasy. Although the servants of the Shah have willingly sacrificed  themselves for their master, we have come all the way to these lands in order to correct their  ways. These zealots want us to turn back, but we will never do so! As for those with weak hearts  and those who make excuses during our march, let them answer to their own consciences. If  they turn back now, they have turned their back on our very own religion. If you are true men,  come along with me; yet, should it come to it, I shall proceed even alone. Is this, then, how  you intend to serve me? Those who want to return to their wives and children should leave us now,  but just know I did not come all the way out here just to retreat now. Let those who are cowards be  separated from those who take up swords to serve Islam! I will never go back on my decision. I did  not come here to retreat in shame!” According to Ottoman chronicles, not a single soldier left the  camp after the speech. Instead, the entire army erupted into a fervent chant for their Sultan and  began marching toward the enemy at a great pace.

[00:31:32]After one gruelling week of non-stop marching, the  Ottoman army was closing in on Chaldiran. However, just on the eve of meeting the Safavid army,  Selim’s host encountered an auspicious solar eclipse that filled the sky. This recalled the  lunar eclipse that had filled the sky during the final days of the Siege of Constantinople in  1453, bolstering the spirits of many in the army.

[00:31:56]Perhaps another great victory for the House of  Osman was just around the corner. On August 22nd, almost five months after marching out of  Constantinople, Selim’s grand host arrived at Chaldiran and began making camp on a hill at  the entrance of the plain and making preparations for the battle to come. Two prominent Safavid  commanders, Mohammad Khan Ustajlu and Nur-Ali Khalifa, both experienced in combat against  the Ottomans, advised their monarch to launch an immediate attack before the enemy could  deploy and position its cannons. However, the confident Ismail saw such a pre-emptive attack  as cowardly. After all, he had been the victor of over a dozen military campaigns spanning from  Georgia to Khorasan and was undefeated in battle, all at the age of twenty-six. Styling himself  in the tradition of Alexander the Great, Ismail believed that his cause and the religious  fervor of his followers would win him the day, and not tricks and games. As both armies settled  for the night, a sense of anticipation filled the plain, with the bloody conflict of the last  decade between the Ottoman and Safavid states finally poised for a violent conclusion. Come  morning, one of the most consequential battles in the history of the Middle East would take  place. The Battle of Chaldrian had just begun.

[00:33:11]The Ottoman army under its monarch was larger  than its foe, numbering approximately 60,000; however, after marching over 1,500 miles to reach  Chaldiran, it was exhausted. At the center of the army stood elite kapıkulu units, comprising  Kapıkulu Sipahi cavalry and elite Janissary infantry armed with firearms, bows, and melee  weapons. They were led by Sultan Selim and his grand vizier, Hersekzade Ahmed Pasha. Meanwhile,  the Rumelian army, led by Beylerbey Hasan Pasha, was stationed on the left wing, while the  Anatolian army, led by Beylerbey Sinan Pasha, was stationed on the right wing. Both wings  were composed of Timarlı Sipahi cavalry, while the entire army was screened by Azab light  infantry. However, behind the Azabs, at the center of the army, were stationed over 200 cannons,  chained together in a defensive line to prevent enemy cavalry from passing through the gaps. These  war machines were to be the decisive factor in the upcoming battle. The Safavid army under Shah  Ismail I was smaller than its foe, numbering approximately 40,000, and was far better rested  and provisioned. The army was organized into two wings and a reserve, almost entirely composed of  Qizilbash Turcoman cavalry trained to fight in the traditional nomadic style. Ismail himself led  the right wing while Mohammad Khan Ustajlu led the left wing. The reserve was led by Nur-Ali Khalifa  and the Safavid grand vizier, Mir Abdulbaki.

[00:34:38]Although slightly outnumbered and lacking  gunpowder weapons, the undefeated Safavid army remained energetic and confident in its ability  to win another great victory for their Shah.

[00:34:51]As the morning sun rose on August 23rd,  the battle opened with a thunderous Ottoman artillery barrage, sending rounds  arcing across the plain. The quakes of war machines alone panicked the thousands of war  horses of the Safavid army, causing momentary confusion and awe for their riders. Rather than  charging the fortified Ottoman center head-on, where the guns were most concentrated, Ismail  directed his forces to strike the wings, seeking to outflank the artillery and roll up the Ottoman  line from the sides. The Safavid right wing, under Ismail’s personal leadership, surged toward the  Ottoman left flank commanded by Hasan Pasha. In a fierce melee of lances and swords, the Qizilbash  broke through initial resistance, cutting down Rumelian beylerbey himself amid the swirling  dust and arrow volleys. The Ottoman left wing wavered under the pressure but held firm under  the discipline of its officers. Simultaneously, Safavid left-wing squadrons probed the Ottoman  right, where Sinan Pasha held command. Here, too, the Qizilbash achieved temporary breakthroughs,  routing some units, but the Ottoman artillery's maneuverability from the center would prove too  lethal. Crews wheeled cannons into new positions along the flanks, delivering enfilading fire that  tore through charging horsemen at ranges of 200 to 300 yards. Musket volleys from the Janissaries  followed, with disciplined ranks firing in coordinated salvos, front ranks kneeling to  reload while rear ranks stepped forward to shoot.

[00:36:16]The effect was catastrophic as Qizilbash riders  and horses fell in droves, their traditional armor offering little protection against lead shot and  cannonballs. Despite these losses, Ismail refused to disengage. He led repeated personal charges  toward the Ottoman center, his elite guard hacking at the chained cannons in desperate attempts to  breach the barrier. Some chains snapped under the onslaught, and small groups of Safavid cavalry  momentarily penetrated the outer line, forcing Janissaries to fight hand-to-hand with swords and  axes. But each incursion was met with point-blank musket fire and mortar blasts, decimating the  attackers before they could exploit the gaps.

[00:36:59]By mid-morning, the battle had settled into a grim  pattern of Safavid assault and Ottoman repulsion.

[00:37:05]Shah Ismail, wounded but still fighting,  rallied his warriors for yet another push, his presence inspiring fanatical bravery even as  tribal commanders fell. Mohammad Ustajlu Khan, one of his most trusted lieutenants, was killed during  these exchanges, further eroding Safavid cohesion.

[00:37:22]Selim, observing from his hill, recognized the  moment to counterattack. He ordered Sinan Pasha to lead a powerful sortie from the Ottoman right  flank, utilizing fresh Rumelian troops supported by repositioned artillery. This counterstrike  crashed into the exposed Safavid left and center, scattering contingents and driving deep toward  Ismail’s own camp. Ottoman horsemen seized plunder, including one of the Shah’s wives, and  the momentum shifted irreversibly. The Safavid lines began to disintegrate under the unrelenting  pressure. Cannon and musket fire had inflicted thousands of casualties, turning the plain into  a killing ground littered with fallen banners, riderless horses, and broken lances. Ismail,  realizing the futility of further charges, sounded a retreat signal, legendarily using his  personal karney flute from a nearby hill to rally survivors. Only a few hundred Qizilbash managed  to regroup around him as the army dissolved into a rout. Ottoman forces pursued selectively but did  not overextend, content to hold the field as the Safavids withdrew in disarray. After several hours  of intense warfare, the Battle of Chaldiran was over, ending in a decisive victory for Sultan  Selim I. While Ottoman casualties amounted to between 2,000 and 5,000 men, Safavid  casualties had reached as high as 10,000.

[00:38:40]The Battle of Chaldiran left a profound and  enduring legacy not only on Ottoman history but also on the Middle East. It delivered  a decisive Ottoman victory through superior artillery and disciplined firepower, halting Shia  westward expansion and securing Ottoman control over Anatolia. The defeat shattered Shah Ismail’s  aura of invincibility, prompting him to withdraw from active military leadership, and never again  would a Safavid Shah ever meet an Ottoman host in battle. After a decade of ceaseless fighting  against the Qizilbash movement in Anatolia, Sultan Selim I entered the Safavid capital  of Tabriz in triumph and full pomp a few weeks after his great victory. Shah Ismail had  entered the city in triumph thirteen years prior to declare the birth of his new Shia empire, but  now, fast-forward to the present, Friday sermons in the city's mosques were being delivered  in the name of the Ottoman sultan. It seemed like all the struggles Selim had faced from the  Qizilbash and his own family were now behind him, and a new age of conquest awaited the Ottoman  armies. Although the Safavid war would continue on for another three years, Chaldiran had sealed  its fate in an Ottoman victory. The charismatic but grim Sultan Selim had begun his reign  with decisive zeal and great triumph. However, even greater conquests were yet to come. In the next episode in our series on Ottoman history, we will look at the Sultan’s new  war against the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt, so make sure you are subscribed and have pressed  the bell button to see it. Please consider liking, subscribing, commenting, and sharing, it  helps immensely. Our patrons and YouTube members can watch more than 300 exclusive  videos, join their ranks via the link in the description or by pressing the join button  under the video to watch these weekly videos, learn about our schedule, get early access  to our videos, access our private Discord, and much more. This is the Kings and Generals  channel, and we will catch you on the next one.