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Battle of Chaldiran: Difference between revisions

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Battle of Chaldiran
Monument commemorating the Battle of Chaldiran built on the site of battlefield
Date 23 August 1514 Location North-West Iran Result Ottoman victory
Belligerents
Ottoman Empire	Safavid Empire
Commanders and leaders
Sultan Selim I	Shah Ismail I
Strength
60,000[1] to 212,000 ,artillery and janissary musketeer[2][3]	12,000 to 40,000, armored heavy cavalry[3][2]
Casualties and losses
less than 2,000	approximately 5000 [4]

The Battle of Chaldiran (also Chaldoran or Çaldıran) occurred on 23 August 1514 and ended with a victory for the Ottoman Empire over the Safavid EmpireofPersia. As a result the Ottomans gained control over the north western part of Iran. The Ottomans had a larger, better equipped army numbering 60,000 to 200,000, while the Iranians numbered some 40,000. Shah Ismail I, who was wounded and almost captured in the battle, retired to his palace and withdrew from government administration^[5] after his wives were captured by Selim I^[6] with at least one married off to one of Selim's statesman.^[7] The Battle is one of major historical importance because it not only ruined the idea that the murshid of the Shia-Qizilbash is infallible;^[8] but it also fully defined the Ottoman-Safavid borders and led Kurdish chiefs to assert their authority and switch their allegiance from the Safavids to the Ottomans.^[9]

Background

After Selim I's successful struggle against his brothers for the throne of the Ottoman Empire, he was free to turn his attention to the internal unrest he believed was stirred up by the Shia Kizilbash, whom had sided with other members of the Dynasty against him and had been semi-officially supported by Bayezid II. Selim now feared that they would incite the population against his rule in favor of Shah Isma'il leader of the Shia Safavids, and by some of his supporters believed to be family of the Prophet. Selim secured a jurist opinion that described Isma'il and the Kizilbash as "unbelievers and heretics" enabling him to undertake extreme measures on his way eastward to pacify the country.^[10] In response, Shah Isma'il accused Sultan Selim of aggression against fellow Muslims, violating religious sexual rules and shedding innocent blood.^[11] Selim and Ismā'il continued to exchange a series of belligerent letters prior to the battle and in one letter to Selim, Ismail quipped:

Mən pirimi haq bilirəm,
Yoluna qurban oluram,
Dün doğdum bugün ölürəm,
Ölən gəlsin iştə meydan. I know the Truth as my supreme guide,
I would sacrifice myself in his way,
I was born yesterday, I will die today,
Come, whoever would die, here is the arena.

When Selim started his march east, the Safavids were invaded in the east by the Uzbek state recently brought to prominence by Abu 'I-Fath Muhammad who had fallen in battle against Isma'il only a few years before. To avoid the possibility of fighting a two front war, Isma'il employed a scorched earth policy against Selim in the west.^[12]

The terrain of eastern Anatolia and the Caucuses is extremely rough and combined with the difficulty in supplying the army in light of Isma'il's scorched earth campaign while marching against Muslims, Selim's army was discontented. The Janissaries even fired their muskets at the Sultan's tent in protest at one point. When Selim learned of the Safavid army forming at Chaldiran, he quickly moved to engage Isma'il in part to stifle the discontent of his army.^[13]

Battle

The Ottomans deployed heavy artillery and thousands of Janissaries equipped with gunpowder weapons behind a barrier of carts. Even though the Safavids had access to gunpowder technology, they chose not to use it because at that time, they believed it to be inhumane, and instead used cavalry to engage the Ottoman forces. The Safavids attacked the Ottoman wings in an effort to avoid the Ottoman artillery positioned at the center. However, the Ottoman artillery was highly maneuverable and the Safavids suffered disastrous losses.^[14] The advanced Ottoman weaponry was the deciding factor of the battle as the Safavid forces, who elected to use traditional weaponry, were decimated. The Safavids also used poor planning and relied on ill-disciplined troops unlike the Ottomans.^[15]

Aftermath

Following the victory Ottomans captured Tabriz, and Safavids did not threaten them again for nearly a century. It also brought an end to the Alevi uprisings in Ottoman Empire. After two of his wives were captured by Selim^[16] Ismail was heartbroken and resorted to drinking alcohol.^[17] Ismail did not participate in government affairs,^[18] as his aura of invincibility was shattered.

The Battle of Chaldiran demonstrated that firearms were a decisive factor in warfare. Prior to Chaldiran, the Safavid army refused to use firearms for they regarded this kind of warfare as cowardly and honorless. However, the Safavids made drastic domestic changes after the defeat at Chaldiran, as Ismail's son, Tahmasp I deployed cannons in subsequent battles.^[19] The outcome at Chaldiran had many consequences. Perhaps most significantly, it established the border between the two empires, which remains the border between Turkey and Iran today. With the establishment of that border, Tabriz became a frontier city, uncomfortably close to the Ottoman enemy. That consideration would be a major factor in the decision to move the Safavid capital to Qazvin, in the mid-16th century, and finally to Isfahan, in 1598.

The Battlefield Today

The site of the battle is near Jala Ashaqi village, around 6 km west of the town of Siyah Cheshmeh, south of Maku, north of Qareh Ziyaeddin. A large brick dome was built at the battlefield site in 2003 along with a statue of Seyid Sadraddin, one of the main Safavid commanders^[20].

Quotes

• After the battle, Selim referring to Ismail stated that his adversary:

  Always drunk to the point of losing his mind and totally neglectful of the affairs of the state.^[21]

• Selim is also quoted as saying:

  A carpet is large enough to accommodate two sufis, but the world is not large enough for two Kings.

See also

• Shi'a-Sunni relations

References