Selim I the Terrible (Yavuz) (1467/68 or 1470-1520), Turkish Sultan from 1512. During the wars of conquest, he subjugated the East. Anatolia, Armenia, Kurdistan, North. Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Hijaz.
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Selim I (1470-1520) - Turkish conqueror sultan, nicknamed the Brave and Fierce. During the wars of conquest, he subjugated Eastern Anatolia, Armenia, Kurdistan, Northern Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and Hijaz. Mentioned by Gumilyov as “the ruthless Selim I” (“The End and the Beginning Again,” 259-260).
T.K. Shanbai
Quoted from: Lev Gumilyov. Encyclopedia. / Ch. ed. E.B. Sadykov, comp. T.K. Shanbai, - M., 2013, p. 537.
Selim was the son of the Turkish Sultan Bayezid II. When Sultan Bayezid II began to show clear preference for his second son, Ahmed, Selim feared for his future. The Balkan governor of the Ottoman Sultan rebelled and, at the head of a small army, bravely moved towards Istanbul. Most likely, Selim hoped for support from the rebels in the capital, but his calculations did not come true.
In the battle that took place, his father, Bayezid II, who stood at the head of a huge army, easily defeated Selim, and he had to flee to the Crimean Khanate, where it was difficult for the Sultan to reach him. In the Northern Black Sea region, among the Crimean Tatars, the fugitive decided to wait out the difficult time and again begin the fight for his father’s inheritance.
In 1512, Sultan Bayezid II made a rather rare decision among the monarchs of the world: he voluntarily abdicated the throne of the Sublime Porte and, in order to save it from military upheavals, transferred power to Selim.
The return of the fugitive from Crimea to Istanbul looked more like a military triumph. The new Sultan Selim I repaid his father's generosity by ordering the execution of all male relatives who could lay claim to his Sultan's throne. For this he received the nickname Yavuz, which translated from Turkish meant “Gloomy”.
Then Sultan Selim, as a devout Sunni, began to forcibly establish a single Muslim religion in the Ottoman Empire. By order of the Sultan, more than 40 thousand Shiites were killed in the country, and their property was plundered. Many Shiites began to seek salvation outside of Turkey.
The persecution of the Shiites inevitably led to a war between the Ottoman Empire and Persia.
In June 1515, Selim I, at the head of an army of 60,000, invaded Persia. Selim I had numerous and well-armed heavy cavalry, field, siege and fortress artillery. The infantrymen were armed with firearms, albeit rather primitive ones.
The invasion of Persia began from Sivas. The Turkish army reached the upper reaches of the Euphrates River through Erzurum. The Persians used the “scorched earth” tactic against her, which did not give the desired results, since the foraging service was competently organized in the army of Selim I. The Turks unhindered approached the city of Khoy, in the vicinity of which the Persian Shah assembled his thousands-strong, exclusively cavalry army of the eastern type.
On August 23, on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River near Haldiran, the Ottoman Turks fought a battle with a 50,000-strong Persian army, personally commanded by Shah Ismail.
Selim I rose to the occasion - having successfully maneuvered his troops on the battlefield, he won a landslide victory over the Persians. The hungry Turkish warriors received a Persian camp with huge reserves of provisions as their most valuable trophy.
The Persian army, having suffered heavy losses in the battle of Haldiran, scattered throughout the surrounding mountains. The defeated Shah Ismail, who was wounded during the battle, also had to flee. Sultan Selim I moved his army even further to the east and in September of the same 1515 captured the then capital of Persia, the city of Tabriz (now the main city of Iranian Azerbaijan, or, otherwise, South Azerbaijan).
From Tabriz, Selim intended to continue his military campaign. However, the Janissaries rebelled, and the Ottoman Timariot feudal lords also refused to go further. The Sultan, reluctantly, had to submit to the demands of his army. The consolation was the huge military booty taken in Tabriz, including the Shah's treasury. From the Persian capital, the Turks sent a thousand of the best artisans to Istanbul to serve the Sultan's court and nobility.
The Sultan did not have to repeat his victorious Persian campaign, although he intended to do it again. Having learned that the Arab countries of Egypt and Syria had entered into a military alliance with the Persian Shah, Selim I decided to forestall the joint offensive actions of the opponents of the Ottoman Porte.
The Mameluke Sultan Hansu al-Ghauri was preparing to invade Turkey from the city of Aleppo. He assembled a 30,000-strong cavalry army, positioning it 16 kilometers north of Aleppo near Merj Dabiq. About half of the cavalry were Mamelukes, the rest were Arab militias. Sultan Hansu al-Ghauri had neither artillery nor infantry. The army of Selim I numbered 40 thousand people, of which 15 thousand were mounted timariots, 8 thousand were Janissaries, 3 thousand were the Sultan's horse guard and 15 thousand foot militia.
In July 1516, Selim I, at the head of the Ottoman army, unexpectedly invaded Syria, passing from the Euphrates Valley past the Taurus Mountains. On August 24, 1516, a great battle took place in northern Syria near Merj Dabiq.
Selim I did not stay long in conquered Syria, but left strong Turkish garrisons in its fortresses. He again set out on a campaign of conquest, this time against Egypt, which at that time was one of the richest countries in the East. In October 1516, the Turks captured the fortified city of Gaza and thereby opened the way to the Nile and the Egyptian capital.
In January 1517, the Sultan's army of thousands with heavy siege artillery approached Cairo. This time the Ottoman Turks were opposed by the Egyptian Mamelukes and the remnants of the defeated Syrian army.
On January 22, a great battle took place under the walls of Cairo, which decided the fate of Egypt for several centuries.
Egypt was annexed to the Ottoman Empire. Thus, Turkish possessions appeared not only in Asia and the Balkans in Europe, but also in northern Africa. Now Shiite Persia, which had lost all its allies and had a large but weak army, could no longer resist neighboring Turkey. Its warlike Sultan Selim I, who annexed most of Asia Minor to his state in a short time, solemnly proclaimed himself also the Egyptian Sultan and Caliph.
After successful campaigns of conquest against Syria and Egypt, the Turkish Sultan traveled to the cities of Mecca and Medina, sacred to every devout Muslim. There he received great honors as a leader and protector of the Islamic world. This was recognition of his great military merits and no less great religious fanaticism as a Sunni Muslim.
Now Selim I was called not the Gloomy, but the Brave and Fierce. Under him, the Ottoman Porte became the recognized military leader of the Muslims of the East, and Turkey no longer faced strong armed confrontation here for many years.
In the last years of his life, Sultan Selim I dreamed most of all about moving west into the Mediterranean. In 1520, he entered into a military alliance with the famous Maghreb pirate admiral Barbarossa to prepare for the invasion of Spain by the Turkish army. The pirates of the Maghreb (modern Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia) were allies of the Ottoman Empire in its subsequent wars against European Christian states.
Subsequently, no one else in the Middle East challenged Sultan Selim I, except, of course, for the religious riots in Syria and Anatolia in 1518-1519, which the Sultan’s troops easily dealt with.
Selim the Brave and Fierce died at the age of fifty while preparing a military expedition to the island of Rhodes. He never managed to carry out many of his plans. His work was continued by the son and heir of the Sultan Suleiman, who received the nickname Magnificent in history. His father prepared him well to rule the country and a strong army.
Sultan Selim I is known in world history for initiating the rule of the Ottoman Empire in the East by crushing the military and political power of Persia. His aggressive policy largely predetermined Turkey's further military expansion to all four corners of the world.
Read further:
Historical figures of Turkey (biographical reference book).
Türkiye (chronological table)
Bayezid I the Lightning (Bayzit Yildirim) (1360 or 1354 - 1402) - Ottoman Sultan (1389-1402),
Selim was the son of Sultan Bayezid II. He became the Ottoman sultan's viceroy in the Balkans.
Fight for the throne
When his father, Bayezid II, began to show clear preference for his second son, Ahmed, Selim feared for his future.
He rebelled and, at the head of a small army, bravely moved towards Constantinople. Most likely, Selim hoped for support from the rebels in the capital, but his calculations did not come true.
In the battle that took place, Bayezid II, who stood at the head of a huge army, easily defeated Selim, and he had to flee to the Crimean Khanate, where it was difficult for the Sultan to reach him.
In the Northern Black Sea region, among the Crimean Tatars, the fugitive decided to wait out the difficult time and again begin the fight for his father’s inheritance.
In 1512, Sultan Bayezid II made a rather rare decision among the monarchs of the world: he voluntarily abdicated the throne of the Sublime Porte and, in order to save it from military upheavals, transferred power to Selim.
The return of the fugitive from Crimea to Constantinople looked more like a military triumph.
Yavuz
The new Sultan Selim I repaid his father's generosity by ordering the execution of all male relatives who could lay claim to his Sultan's throne. For this he received the nickname Yavuz, which translated from Turkish meant “Gloomy”.
Beginning of conquest
During the reign of Selim I, a large period of conquests began, to a certain extent prepared by the activities of his predecessors.
The rulers of Eastern Europe feared him, Western monarchs defeated him on paper and divided his possessions. However, under Selim there were almost no wars against Christians.
During this period, the power of the Safavid Shah Ismail I, who captured Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Central Asia, was very great, but Selim without hesitation decided to measure his strength against him.
In 1513, Selim carried out a brutal massacre of Shiite “heretics” in Anatolia, exterminating 40-45 thousand people aged 7 to 70 years - probably to clear the border areas of Shiites (in general, 4/5 of the population of Asia Minor were Shiites and sympathized with the Safavids).
In May 1514, Selim's army set out on a campaign to the east, passed Sivas, Erzurum and invaded the possessions of Ismail; The Qizilbash avoided battle, hoping to exhaust the enemy army, and retreated deeper into the country, destroying everything that could be useful to the Turks.
On August 23, 1514, in the Battle of Chaldiran, the Sultan defeated the Shah, who miraculously survived during the flight (Selim had 120-200 thousand, Ismail 30-60 thousand; the Turks had an advantage in firearms, the Qizilbash had infantry and artillery was practically absent).
Two weeks later, Selim entered the Safavid capital of Tabriz; He stayed here for several days, but the Janissaries, fearing a hungry winter, demanded to be led back.
Selim left through Yerevan, Kars, Erzurum, Sivas and Amasya, capturing the treasury and harem of the Shah and taking about a thousand skilled artisans to Istanbul.
After Chaldiran, Diyarbakir, Bitlis, Gosankeyfa, Miyafarikin, Nejti submitted to the Turks; but when Selim left, Ismail conquered most of southeastern Anatolia and besieged the Turkish garrison in Diyarbakir for a whole year.
In 1515, Selim I destroyed the Dhu-l-Ghadir dynasty, which ruled in the buffer state of Elbistan (Abulustein), beheaded Sultan Ala ad-Din and began preparing a campaign against Egypt.
The Turks liberated Diyarbakir from the siege and again defeated the Safavids at the Battle of Kochhisar.
Kurdistan
Kurd Idris, who received the right to conquer Kurdistan for his services to the Sultan, took Mardin after a long siege, captured Diyarbakir, Sinjar, and conquered all of Mesopotamia; Ismail I did not try to take revenge over the Turks until his death.
The Mamluk Sultan Kansukh Ghuri tried to interfere with the conquest of Kurdistan; Selim I maintained his hope for a peaceful resolution of the conflict for a long time, until he prepared a blow.
Battle of the Plain of Marj Dabik
Back in July 1516, the Ottoman embassy visited Cairo to discuss the purchase of Egyptian sugar, and on August 5 the Turks invaded the possessions of the Circassian Mamluks.
On August 24, 1516, a battle took place between the Turks and the Mamluks on the plain of Marj Dabiq near Aleppo.
The outcome of the battle was again decided by Turkish artillery - the best in the world at that time. The Circassians despised artillery, and the Mamluk cavalry was much better than the Turkish, but Selim hid his guns behind tied carts and wooden barricades, and the Circassians were completely defeated.
Sultan Guri died in the battle and was succeeded by Ashraf Tuman Bey, who continued the war.
On August 29, 1516, Selim accepted the title “Servant of both holy cities,” that is, Mecca and Medina, which were still subordinate to Egypt.
Syria and Palestine
In September, the Turks occupied Syria without a fight, entered Damascus on October 9, and by the end of November the Turks completed the conquest of Palestine by capturing Gaza.
Tuman Bey gathered a new army, which was defeated on December 25, 1516 at Beisan, in Palestine. The Mamluks killed Selim's ambassadors, which gave him a reason for revenge.
Egypt
Entering Egypt in January 1517, Selim destroyed the fortifications of Cairo with artillery and forced Tuman Bey to flee the city.
However, a few days later, Tuman Bey with a small detachment burst into the city at night; A fierce massacre took place on the streets; in the general chaos, about 50 thousand Cairo residents were killed.
After this, Selim I ordered the beheading of 800 Mamluk beys.
Tuman Bey tried to fight the Turks for another two months: he retreated to the Delta, where he could have resisted for a very long time, rejected surrender with contempt (Selim thought to save his life and use his courage), but was extradited as a result of treason by the Egyptian Bedouins, for whom The Mamluks were strangers and oppressors, and on April 13, 1517, he was hanged under the arch of the gates of Cairo.
Hijaz and Venice
In April 1517, Selim was sent the keys to Medina and Mecca, and the entire Hijaz became an Ottoman possession.
Venice began to pay tribute to the Turks for Cyprus, which it had previously paid to Egypt; even the Mamluk detachment, which had conquered Yemen shortly before, submitted to the Sultan.
Thus, in four years, Selim doubled the territory of the Ottoman Empire.
Hungary and Algeria
In 1518, the victorious Sultan made peace with Hungary, and in 1519, the later famous corsair Khair ad-Din Barbarossa, who had just captured the city of Algeria, recognized himself as his vassal (however, a year later he lost Algeria and fought for the city for several years and for domination over the country).
In the Middle East, no one else dared to challenge Selim I, except for the religious revolts in Syria and Anatolia in 1518-19, which the Sultan's troops easily dealt with.
Death
Selim the Brave and Fierce died at the age of 54 from the plague in the city of Chorlu, preparing expeditions to the island of Rhodes and India: he did not have time to implement many of his plans.
His work was continued by the son and heir of the Sultan Suleiman, who received the nickname Magnificent in history. His father prepared him well to rule the country and a strong army.
-). In total, Selim I increased the size of the Ottoman Empire by 70%, and at the time of his death its area was 1.494 million km².
| سليم اول - Selîm-i evvel | ||||||
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| Predecessor | Bayezid II | |||||
| Successor | Suleiman I | |||||
| Birth |
October 10
(1465-10-10
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Amasya , Ottoman Empire |
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| Death |
September 22
(1520-09-22
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(54 years old) Edirne , Ottoman Empire |
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| Burial place |
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| Genus | Ottomans | |||||
| Father | Bayezid II | |||||
| Mother | Gulbahar-khatun | |||||
| Spouse | Aishe Khatun And Hafsa Sultan | |||||
| Children | Suleiman the Magnificent | |||||
| Religion | Islam | |||||
| Autograph |
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| Selim I at Wikimedia Commons | ||||||
Biography
In May 1514, Selim's army set out on a campaign to the east, passed Sivas , Erzurum and invaded the domain of Ismail; qizilbashi They avoided battle, hoping to exhaust the enemy’s army, and retreated deeper into the country, destroying everything that could be useful to the Turks. August 23 1514 V Battle of Chaldiran the sultan defeated the shah (Selim had 120-200 thousand, Ismail 30-60 thousand; the Turks had an advantage in firearms, the Qizilbash had practically no infantry and artillery).
Two weeks later, Selim entered the Safavid capital Tabriz; he stayed here for several days, but Janissaries, fearing a hungry winter, demanded to lead them back. Selim left through Yerevan , Kars , Erzurum , Sivas And Amasyu, seizing the treasury and harem Shah, and taking about a thousand skilled artisans to Istanbul. After Chaldiran the Turks submitted Diyarbakir , Bitlis , Hasankeyf, Miyafarikin, Nejti; but when Selim left, Ismail conquered most of the Southeast Anatolia and besieged the Turkish garrison for a whole year Diyarbakır.
In culture
Appears in one of the final scenes of the game Assassin's Creed: Revelations, where he personally throws his brother, Shehzade Akhmet, into the abyss.
In 1996-2003 Ukrainian TV series " Roksolana" Performed the role of Sultan Selim Konstantin Stepankov.
Appears in the memories of the son of Suleiman I in the television series " Magnificent Century" The role of the Sultan was played by Turkish actor Muharrem Gülmez.
"To subsequent generations, Selim is known as "Yavuz", i.e. "The Terrible": he came to power through violence, and violence marked his entire reign. He died on the way from Edirne to Istanbul on the night of September 21-22, 1520 , leaving only one son, Suleiman, who ascended the throne without a fight. Before his death, he ordered the main clerics of the country to extend the duration of the agreement authorizing the war against Ismail."
Caroline Finkel. "History of the Ottoman Empire. Osman's Vision"
“In Tabriz, on one of the five city hills, there is a mosque. This mosque was built by Sultan Suleiman the First the Magnificent in memory of his father Selim the First, nicknamed Yavuz. Translated, it means “gloomy” or “formidable.”
This nickname suits the legendary ruler perfectly...
Census of the Dead
The Sultan carefully planned all his military and political actions. He looked for gaps in the conclusions of his enemies and easily destroyed their plans. He himself knew that all the actions and actions of the enemies were aimed at the destruction of Turkey. And he wanted to become famous as a great conqueror.
His eight-year reign is the implementation of a plan to transform small Turkey into a world power of the time. He resolved this issue in a unique way - by destroying part of his own population on the border with Persia, where Shah Ishmael, who professed Shiite Islam, then ruled.
When domestic Shiites became more active in cities in the east, the Sultan ordered his Qizilbash to conduct a kind of census. And then, exactly according to the lists, all Shiites between the ages of seven and seventy were liquidated.
Historians estimate the number of those killed at 45-50 thousand people and justify the murderer’s actions as a preemptive maneuver. Allegedly, he put the unfortunate people to death so that they would not unexpectedly become a fifth column during the war with Ishmael! This was followed by military operations on the territory of the Shah.
Ishmael hoped to stop the enemy by using scorched earth tactics - that is, devastating the areas through which Selim had to move. But the tactic didn't work. The Turks easily passed through the dead lands and gave battle to the Shah. There were much more Turks, and they had excellent artillery. Ishmael was defeated, and Tabriz went to Turkey along with the Shah's treasury and various talented craftsmen. The masters were immediately taken to Istanbul.
Selim reacted in a similar way to the strife between Syria and Egypt. In Egypt at that time, the Circassian Mamluk dynasty established itself on the throne. The head of Egypt also bore the title of Sultan of Islam, that is, he was considered the head of all devout Muslims. But the Sultan of Islam could not protect the pilgrims going to the Muslim shrines in Mecca and Medina. They were constantly intercepted and captured by the Portuguese crusaders.
In 1506, the pilgrimage throughout the history of Islam was suspended! Selim decided to take advantage of the moment. Unexpectedly for the enemy, he entered Kurdistan and expelled the Persians from there to mountainous Iran, and then in 1516 captured Syria. In 1517, the Sultan marched on Cairo. The Mamluks lost the Battle of Mount Mukkatam, and Egypt passed into the hands of Selim. Automatically he received the title belonging to the ruler of Egypt - ruler of the two holy cities. Selim took with him to Istanbul a huge indemnity - “a thousand camels loaded with gold and silver, and this is not counting the booty, which consisted of weapons, porcelain, bronze, horses, mules, camels and other things, not to mention magnificent marble.”
Selim the Terrible at the walls of Damascus. Miniature from the Selim-name manuscript. 1597-1598
But the most important catch was Caliph al-Mutawakkil the Fourth, whom the Sultan also added to the trophies. In Istanbul, the caliph was forced to renounce his title and rights to power. The title of caliph passed to Selim. Turkey's territory rapidly expanded and now ranged from Egypt to Central Asia, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean. Turkish fortresses sprang up everywhere along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Selim planned the next step - the gradual capture of Europe. But in 1520, while preparing an expedition to the island of Rhodes, the Sultan died of the plague. His actions were continued by his son