The battle of Ankara

Timur the Mongolian Khan got in to action to re-establish the Chengiz Empire. He invaded Persia and marched through India. The Emirs of Azerbaycan and Baghdat asked favour from Bayezid and they escaped to the Ottoman lands. Timur required the return of his prisoners but he was refused by the Ottoman Sultan and the relations between two rival empires had been ruined.

As Timur's anger was rousen he decided to raid Anatolia and he invaded Sivas. This was his first conquest above the Ottomans but not the last. He continued his campaigns. His army was consisted of superior soldiers and he was undoubtly was a military genius. He came across with the Ottoman Army in the Cubuk plain in Ankara. In this war, Kara Tartars in the Ottoman Army co-operated with Timur and the Ottoman Army had been defeated. Timur enslaved Bayezid. (July 20 1402).

This battle caused a break off in the history of the Ottoman Empire for 50 years. The community of Turks in Anatolia scattered, the Turkish states come into being again and they gained power. Disorder, chaos and confusion appeared in the lands of the Ottomans. Four different Ottoman States were declared by sehzades in four different zones. Bursa, Iznik, and Izmit were plundered and fired by Timur and Izmir was captured. This period of confusion and disorder, full of throne struggles, called as the Period of Fetret in the history (Interregnum).