July 20, 1402 · Anatolia (Ottoman Empire) Theater
July 20, 1402
The climactic battle of Timur's career pitted the two greatest military powers of the Islamic world against each other on the plains near Ankara. Bayezid I, the Ottoman 'Thunderbolt' who had crushed the Crusaders at Nicopolis in 1396, marched east to confront Timur with an army of perhaps 85,000. But Timur, with superior numbers and intelligence, had seized the water supply and positioned his army advantageously. During the battle, several Turkish and Tatar contingents in Bayezid's army — whose former lords Timur had restored — defected to the Timurid side. The Ottoman army collapsed, and Bayezid himself was captured, becoming the only Ottoman sultan ever taken prisoner in battle.
Commanders