Ankara, Battle of 1402

Battle of Angora, a battle below Ankara on July 20 (or 28) between the armies of the Middle Asian emir Tamerlane and the Turkish sultan Bayazid I. Tamerlane managed to penetrate the rear of the Turkish troops, who were taking defensive positions in the wooded mountains, and to seize Ankara. The attacks by the Turks, who had half as many men as their enemy, were repulsed; Tamerlane’s troops crushed the Turkish flanks and destroyed the center of their battle formation. The defection to Tamerlane of several Anatolian beys was a major cause of Bayazid’s defeat. His defeat led to the disintegration of Turkey, which was accompanied by an internecine struggle among Bayazid’s sons and a peasant war.