First Tank Battle in Anatolia: 1402 Battle of Ankara

According to most historians and political leaders, Timur is regarded as the greatest commander in Turkish history. Timur, who never lost a battle during his lifetime and was able to defeat even the Ottoman Empire, one of the largest political organisations of the era, in the Battle of Ankara, Timur's astonishing tactical ability lies in his commanding genius. When Emir Timur, who passed away at the age of 69 when the preparations for his Chinese expedition were about to be completed, died, the borders of his state covered a vast geography extending from Delhi to Bursa, from the Arabian Peninsula to the Irtysh River. This detail is important because; Timur, who fought against the great states in the East, which had much stronger armies than the Western states at that time, did not expand his borders by fighting weak rivals. On the contrary, he was able to dominate these vast territories by fighting with the states whose power was known to the whole world in his own time and which made the world tremble. 

Timur was a jihadist; he aimed to spread Islam. He was of Turkish descent, but he claimed that his wife was a Mongolian princess, which was true. He was a ruler who insisted that he was a descendant of Genghis Khan and therefore referred to himself with the titles of emir and kuregen (gürgan) son-in-law.

Timur's two great battles are cited as examples of his commanding genius: The Indian Campaign and the Battle of Ankara with the Ottomans are highlighted as Timur's battles that ended in decisive victory.

How did Timur conquer India?

The Indian campaign, one of Timur's greatest campaigns, shows exactly how great a commander he was. Timur, who marched with his armies from Samarkand to Delhi in the Indian peninsula, fought with other armies that stood in his way and wanted to prevent him from the Indian expedition and marched towards India. Timur travelled a total of 1,600 km with his army across the deserts and deserts and reached India. The biggest danger awaiting Timur on the battlefield was both the large size of the Indian army and the use of elephants, which Timur was not used to, as a means of warfare. Timur, who was not afraid of this new tool of warfare, brought a solution to disable the elephants, which took its place in history as a unique method in the battlefields. Firstly, he ensured that the camels in his army were chained to each other and materials to be ignited were placed on the camels. Timur gave the order to burn the camels close to the attack of the elephants and sent the burning camels to the attacking elephants. The camels, burning for their lives and running towards the elephants in chains, managed to frighten the elephants. The elephants, frightened by the fire, turned back and tried to escape, thus crushing most of the foot soldiers of the Indian army who were waiting behind them. Meanwhile, Timur, who ordered his army to attack, put the remaining confused and helpless Indian soldiers to the sword and won the great victory that led to the conquest of India. 

Battle of Ankara

There is a saying that all historians say: The Battle of Ankara was decided before it even took place! The reason for this is actually based on a tactic that Timur used before waiting for the Ottoman armies. When Yildirim Beyazit and his army reached Ankara, Timur preferred to divide his army into two columns. Part of Timur's army remained in Tokat, while a large part of Timur's army, led by Timur himself, was deployed in Kayseri. Timur, who knew Yildirim's warfare system in advance and had received intelligence about the Ottoman army, made this move in order to divide the Ottoman army into two under his control. 

While Yıldırım Beyazıt was waiting for Timur's armies to arrive in Ankara via Tokat, Timur landed in Ankara via Kayseri and laid siege to Ankara, which caused panic among Yıldırım and his soldiers. The Ottoman Army, which was already unable to make good use of the water resources in the region, had to march towards Ankara in the heat of July on Yıldırım's orders. The exhausted and outnumbered army forced the Ottomans to fight a defensive war. However, the fact that Timur arrived in Ankara earlier and laid siege to the city caused Yildirim to order an offensive to liberate the city from Timur's grasp. When both sides arrived at the Çubuk Plain, where the battle was to take place, Timur was on one side, using all the mistakes of Yıldırım, and Beyazıt was on the battlefield with his tired army on the other side. 

Timur, who had discovered elephants in his previous Indian Expedition, had brought elephants to his army. He also drove elephants against the Ottomans. During the war, the Ottoman army, perhaps for the first and last time, carried out an operation against elephants. The Ottoman Army, which was finally able to stop the attacks of the elephants, lost a large number of soldiers. During the war, all the army units except the Rumeli and Janissary troops went over to Timur's side, which was one of the reasons that left Yıldırım helpless. Of course, it was later revealed that Timur, who had made an agreement with these troops before the war, had a serious share in this. 

Timur, who knew how to win every war he entered with his preliminary preparations, had a good spy organisation. His disciplined and meticulous structure ensured that the battles were short. Yıldırım, who fought against Timur with Serbian and Janissary troops, was eventually captured. During the war, princes such as Isa Çelebi, Süleyman Çelebi, Mustafa Çelebi and Mehmet Çelebi managed to escape by breaking the siege. As it can be seen, Timur's genius, which won the war before it started, enabled the Battle of Ankara to be concluded in one day. On the other hand, one of the greatest positive features of Timur, who captured Izmir, which the Ottomans could not conquer, in a short time, was his ability to combine his military genius with his character as a man of science and culture!

After this war, the Ottoman Empire entered the Fetret Period, internal conflicts between the principalities began and continued for a long time. Fatih Sultan Mehmet Khan is the person who brought the Ottoman Empire back to its glorious days. Conquests and Ascension started again with him. Fatih learned important lessons from this Battle of Ankara, and was able to utilise the war tactics and techniques he learned from Timur during the conquest of Istanbul. 

Today, tanks have replaced elephants. Emir Timur, the ruler of Turkestan, died on 18 February 1405 while he was preparing for the Chinese Campaign. After the 1402 Battle of Ankara, Bayezid Khan, whom he captured, died soon after. Both the victor and the vanquished eventually succumbed to death.