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Relations with the Islamic World, 1480-1520
Mehmed's son and successor, Bayazid II, shifted the Empire's military focus from Christian Europe to the fellow Islamic empires in Egypt and Persia, thus eroding much of the gazi warrior foundations of waging war only on non-Muslims, on which the Ottoman Empire was built. In 1485, the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt was the oldest major dynasty in the Islamic world, and its leader was the most respected sovereign in that world. The Mamluks earned Bayazid's wrath, however, by siding with his brother, Cem, whom Bayazid defeated for the Ottoman crown. Although no significant battles would occur between the two empires until the reign of Bayazid's son, Selim (1512-20), the antagonism sparked during Bayazid's reign showcased the potential for animosity between Muslim empires.
A more significant development in the Islamic world during Bayazid's rule came in 1501, with the establishment of the Safavid Empire in Persia by Shah Ismail I. As a Shi'ite empire, the Safavids immediately declared their hostility towards the Sunni Ottomans, who retaliated just as vigorously. Bayazid's refusal to directly challenge the Safavids, however, in part led to his forced abdication by his son, Selim, in 1512.
Selim II receives the Safavid ambassador in 1567
Courtesy of Bilkent University's Department of History
www.bilkent.edu.tr/~history/ottoman/index.htm
Selim embarked on a fierce campaign against the Safavids, and he soon extended his animosity to the Mamluks as well. His mind for conquest earned him the name, Selim the Grim. Selim felt he needed to wage war with the Safavids not only because of their religious differences, but also because of the constant military threat of having an expansionist state on the Ottoman Empire's eastern frontier. The fact that both empires adhered to Islam, in one form or another, does not appear to have deterred either side from fighting each other. A parallel situation existed in Europe, where Christian states, despite sharing a religion, did not hesitate to go to war against each other for political reasons. Similarly, for as long as the Safavid state existed, which was a shorter period of time than the Ottoman, the two empires were often at war, for both political and religious reasons - since each believed that the other adhered to a heretical form of Islam. As they prepared for their first confrontation, Selim began a campaign against the Shi'ites in the Ottoman Empire, killing as many as 40,000 people by 1514. Later that year, Ottoman forces met the Safavids at the Battle of Chaldiran in eastern Asia Minor, where superior Ottoman artillery led them to victory over the Safavids. Selim even continued east to Tabriz, the Safavid capital, but the weary Janissaries forced him to return to Istanbul before winter set in.
Selim's next campaign was conducted against the Mamluks to the south. Although the Mamluks were Sunni Muslims, like the Ottomans, and although the Mamluks were not threatening expansion into Ottoman lands the way the Safavids were, Selim opted to invade anyway. The reason he gave for the invasion was that the Mamluks - weakened by the plague and a poor economy - were no longer strong enough to defend the Islamic world against the new threats it faced. Premier among these threats was the new naval capabilities of the Portuguese, who had succeeded in circumnavigating Africa under Vasco da Gama in 1498. The resulting Portuguese ability to trade in the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea threatened the Islamic lands bordering these bodies of water. The Ottomans argued that the Mamluks - lacking both a navy and modern firearms - were ill-equipped to defend Islamic lands from the Portuguese. Particularly worrisome for the Ottomans was the threat to the Mamluk-controlled holy cities of Mecca and Medina that the Portuguese posed in the Red Sea. For that reason, the Ottomans felt that they were the only Islamic empire sufficiently powerful to defend Islam's holiest cities from the Portuguese.
Selim began his Mamluk campaign in Syria, taking Aleppo, Damascus, and Jerusalem from the Mamluks in 1516. He then crossed the Sinai Peninsula into Egypt, killed the Mamluk sultan, and declared Egypt to be under Ottoman control. From there, the Ottomans moved south down the Arabian Peninsula to Mecca, but no battle was needed there. The Sherif of Mecca, a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, gave Selim the keys to the city for both Mecca and Medina. After he gained control of the holy cities, Selim added the title of caliph, or supreme leader of Islam, to the title carried by all Ottoman sultans. The Mamluk Sultanate thus came to an end after 250 years, and in absorbing its lands, the Ottoman Empire became the most powerful of the Islamic empires. Not only did it gain control of some of the wealthiest overland trade routes, through Cairo and Damascus, but its control of Mecca and Medina gave it s
Selim I (Selim the Grim) (sĕlĭm`), 1467–1520, Ottoman sultan (1512–20). He ascended the throne of the Ottoman Empire by forcing the abdication of his father, , and by killing his brothers. A religious controversy and Shiites and Persian support for his brother Ahmed led Selim, a Sunni, to attack Persia. In 1514 he defeated the Shiite conqueror of Persia, Shah Ismail, annexing Diyarbekir and Kurdistan. This began the enduring rivalry between Persians and Ottomans. Aided by his superior artillery, Selim defeated (1516–17) the Mamluks in Syria and Egypt, which he added to the Ottoman Empire. By assuming the caliphate , Selim made himself and his successors spiritual as well as temporal heads of the empire and gained control over the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Selim died while preparing the conquest of Rhodes. Under him the Ottoman Empire entered the period of its greatest power. His son, Sulayman I, succeeded him.
Selim the Grim was "Selim I" an Ottoman Sultan of Turkey (1470-1520), nicknamed Yavuz, meaning 'the Grim.
One of the Great Ottoman Turks who lead Turks to further expansion of the Ottoman Empire.
Selim I (Ottoman Turkish: سليم اوّل, Modern Turkish: I.Selim), also known as "the Excellent," "the Brave" or the best translation "the Stern", Yavuz in Turkish, the long name is Yavuz Sultan Selim; October 10, 1465/1466/1470 – September 22, 1520) was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to 1520.[1] He was also the first Ottoman Sultan to assume the title of Caliph of Islam.
Selim carried the empire to the leadership of the Sunni branch of Islam by his conquest of the Middle East. He represents a sudden change in the expansion policy of the empire, which was working mostly against the West and the Beyliks before his reign.[2] On the eve of his death in 1520, the Ottoman empire spanned almost 1 billion acres (trebling during Selim's reign).
Life
Born in Amasya, Selim dethroned his father Bayezid II (1481–1512) in 1512. Bayezid's death followed immediately thereafter.[3] Like his grandfather Mehmed II (1451–81), Selim put his brothers and nephews to death upon his accession in order to eliminate potential pretenders to the throne. This fratricidal policy was motivated by bouts of civil strife that had been sparked by the antagonism between Selim's father Beyazid and his uncle Cem, and between Selim himself and his brother Ahmed.
He married Valide Sultan (1520) Aishe Hafsa Sultan or Hafsa Hatun Sultan, tr:Ayşe Hafsa Sultan, who died in 1534, mother of Suleiman I. Selim's mother was Ayşe Hatun, from Dulkadir. Selim was described as being tall, having very broad shoulders and a long mustache. He was skilled in politics and was said to be fond of fighting.[4]
[edit] Conquest of the Middle East
For Selim, one of the first challenges as the Sultan was the conflict between his empire and the powerful Safavid Empire. Shah Ismail was a patron of Shia Islam in the region, a situation which was a threat against the Sunni rulers of the Ottoman Empire. Selim had to eliminate the risk of a westward attack from Iran to Anatolia while he was attacking the Mamluks of Egypt. Therefore, Selim assembled his army and marched to Iran in 1514 and delivered a devastating blow to Safavids and Shah Ismail at the Battle of Chaldiran, a battle of historical significance. The Ottoman army thereafter paraded in the capital of the Safavid Empire, Tabriz.[5]
Then, Selim attacked and destroyed the Mamluk Sultanate first at the Battle of Marj Dabiq and then at the Battle of Ridanieh, which led to the annexation of Syria, Palestine and Egypt. He also extended Ottoman power to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Rather than style himself the Hakim ul Haremeyn, or The Ruler of The Two Holy Shrines, he accepted the more pious title Khadim ul Haremeyn, or The Servant of The Two Holy Shrines.[6][3]
After the conquest of Egypt and the Holy Cities in 1517, Selim induced the vanquished Al-Mutawakkil III (1509–17), the last ruler of the Mamluk Sultanate, to formally surrender the title of Caliph and its emblems, the sword and the mantle of Muhammad.[2] These are kept in the Topkapi Palace Museum at Istanbul, Turkey.
[edit] Death
After his return from his Egyptian campaign, Selim began to prepare for an expedition which is believed to be against Rhodes. This campaign was cut short when he was overwhelmed by sickness and subsequently died in the ninth year of his reign. He was about fifty-five years of age. It is said that Selim succumbed to sirpence, a skin infection which he developed during his long campaigns on horseback. (Sirpence was an anthrax infection sometimes seen among leatherworkers and others who worked with livestock). Some historians claim that he was poisoned by the doctor tending to his infection[1] and some historians claim that the disease he suffered from was