Introduction
During 1509 and 1513, the Ottoman Empire went through a civil war that was fought between two brothers, Ahmed, and Selim I, sons of Bayezid II, as they wanted to get the ruling authority after their father. Both had a lust for power, and they led this civil war with the support of their followers and pushed the Ottoman Empire into social and political unrest.
The civil war caused loss of thousands of lives. It could, therefore, be argued that the civil war did not the purpose of fighting for the rights of people. In fact, it was initiated for the lust of title, ownership, and power and made two brothers enemies. After this war, no positive outcome for the public was achieved. They were pushed into a war that had nothing to do with their interests.
The Ottoman Empire had a tradition that whenever a Sultan (the leader of that time) dies, the one from his immediate family who arrived first in the capital, Istanbul would be considered as the new Sultan, who would take the throne and would have the power to control all state affairs. The candidates may be the sons of the present sultan or his nephews. This ritual is also the reason for several civil wars that became the reason for conflicts between brothers and other blood relations. The greed of power and throne was the main reason for their dispute and killing their sons, nephews, and relatives for the throne was common.
The Ottoman Interregnum war also sets an example for such type of differences between families. New Sultan’s position also depends on the decision and choice of the previous sultan and his followers, the way he treated and privileged his successors was also counted. Another important thing that played a significant role that determined the successor was the way and route between Sanjaks to Istanbul as it was said the one who reaches Istanbul first would be considered as the new sultan.
Even if someone reached first, the people used to refuse him, and his opponent candidates created a lot of trouble just to prevent him from becoming the new sultan. So the Ottoman Civil War that took place during the 16th century from the year 1509 till 1513 and it was the war to rule the whole Ottoman Empire alone. This war was between real brothers who fought in greed for the kingdom. They even killed their loved ones to achieve their target.
Bayezid II (1447 - 1512)
During the time when Bayezid II ruled, he joined the Ottoman Empire and let down the Safavid revolution soon before resigning and transferring his throne to his son., Selim I. Bayezid II was also murdered by his son in the greed of power. Bayezid II wanted his eldest son to be the next Sultan, but his younger son created a lot of issues for him.
Through the rule of the Sultan Bayezid II, his initial years of his reign were spent fighting with the European enemies. The other part of his rules had a very strong impact on the Ottoman Empire which led major political changes and developments. From which one of the dangerous outcome was Safavid dynasty of Iran (Safavid Persia).
Selim I (1470 - 1520)
Selim I was the son of Bayezid II who as famous for his strong and aggressive personality and was titled as ' the Fierce' by the people of that time. He was the youngest of his brothers and was very enthusiastic to become the sultan by any means. After being defeated by Safavids and their Qizilbash groups that were a big threat to the Ottoman Empire, Bayezid II left his throne and retired on April 24, 1512, and his son Selim I took over his throne and treated his enemies more cruelly with the help of his successors, who were known as Janissaries.
Selim I, vigorously deported Shi’as to another part of the Ottoman Empire, and approximately 40,000 were massacred. It was because Safavids of Iran were a huge threat to him and it was the main reason he succeeded over his brothers. When he heard that his father Bayezid II was sick due to age factor, he rushed towards Istanbul to save the throne for himself; he thought that his father would b dead any time; this misunderstanding took him to the capital Istanbul before his brothers. Selim I, was later on, succeeded by Suleiman the Magnificent.
Ahmed (1465 - 1513)
Ahmed was the oldest son of Bayezid II, and he was a prince of Ottoman. Ahmed was the one who fought to become sultan (leader) of the Ottoman Empire with his brother Selim I in the years 1512–13. Concerning the traditional custom of the Ottoman empire which is of reaching Istanbul first after the death of the Sultan. Ahmed was lucky as his Sanjak was very close to Istanbul, it is considered as his plus point.
Ahmed controlled a part of Anatolia in the initial few months of Selim I's rule. Then the forces of Selim I and Ahmed came in front of each other and fought for the throne on 24 April 1513 near Yenisehir, Bursa. The armed forces of Ahmed were defeated by the forces of Selim I, and he got arrested soon after which he was executed by his brother.
Korkut
Korkut was the third son of the Sultan Bayezid II, he also wanted to be the successor of his father. After the situation that his brothers Ahmed and Selim I are fighting like enemies for the succession, he stepped back from this race. But he still supported one of his brothers in this battle to remain the governor of one province at least after the death of his father. However, after all, he and his brother Selim I was undoubtedly mean in this race of ruling the Ottoman Empire. Selim I never wanted his brother Korkud to interfere in any issue related to the Ottoman Empire of Turkey. So, later on Selim I killed his brother Korkud after using him a little for his purposes.
The Safavids Of Iran
At that time, the Safavids were the one who combined military and religious demands to overcome Persia. They spread a message of religious deviation and political revolution, among common people like workers, farmers, etc.. The people of Ottoman began to show interest in this movement. Meanwhile, Bayezid II faced certain problems with his supporters (the Janissaries) who were the backbone of his rule. In such a situation Bayazid II wanted his son Ahmed to be his successor, but the Janissaries wanted Bayezid II to hand over the throne and his powers to Selim I, who was governor of Trebizond at that time.
According to the view of Janissaries, Bayazid II had a polite nature, and he took decisions politely, and Ahmed was much like his father, so the Janissaries, who themselves supported Bayazid II at the time of his governance, refused to agree with him. And they thought that Selim I resembles Muhammad II’s aggressive nature and will take all the decisions with great enthusiasm and will not hesitate to kill any of their enemies.
The War
After Bayezid II became very sick due to the age factor, it was getting very difficult for him to manage the issues and affairs of the Ottoman Empire and fight against the powerful groups of Qizilbash rebellions. During this time, his sons became very active in their desire of empowerment.
Bayezid II’s sons Korkud, Ahmed, and Selim I fought to become the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, in this situation Bayezid II played a vital role. Finally, Selim I who was the youngest of his brothers won the battle and forced his father Bayezid II to leave and step down from the throne. The credit of Selim I winning this battle of succession went to the Qizilbash rebellions. Selim I protected his position by killing his enemies for the throne in 1513.
After becoming the sultan, Selim I, in his initial years of rule took disadvantage of his powers and misused them. His aggressive nature, his way of rule, and his aggressive behaviour as the youngest son were the reasons which made Bayezid II and the people of Ottoman favour him the least among his brothers. However, on the other hand, his brother Ahmed had a more flexible nature and because of his nature, he had many supporters.
Bayezid II and his supporters had always thought the next Sultan should be Ahmed, and he was always favored by his father Bayezid II for his work. Another son of Bayezid II who also wanted to become Sultan after his father was Korkud, was thought to have no administrative skills, though, he was very much admired by the Ottoman historians of that time. During the rule of Bayezid II, all of his sons were the prince of a province of Turkey.
Korkud was the governor of Antalya, Selim I governed Trabzon, and Ahmed was governor of Amasya, which was nearest from Istanbul. Sehinsah, another son of Bayezid II, was the prince of Karaman and governed it. Bayezid II after becoming sultan made his sons responsible for different cities just to avoid any conflict between them, but they still wanted more than they were given. Sehinsah was the one who did not join and struggled with his brothers in the race of the succession.
Trabzon was very far away from the capital Istanbul that was a disadvantage for Selim I and because of this he had a few drawbacks like having less number of supporters in Istanbul. Therefore, it was thought that he would not be the first one to arrive if his father died. It would take a lot of time to him to reach Istanbul and claim to be the new Sultan.
When looking at the situation of that time, Bayazid II was about to look as if he would abdicate in Ahmed’s favor, but his son Selim I sent an army to Adrianople and demanded that he should be he successor of his father instead of Ahmed. Bayazid II refused to fulfil Selim’s demands, and Selim I was defeated in battle which was gainst his father with the help of his faithful Janissaries who were very loyal to Bayazid II during his reign.
Selim I was sent back to Trebizond in 1509 as he lost the battle and didn’t have many supporters in the capital as his province was at a great distance from Istanbul and he didn’t know many people there. But again in 1512, Selim I returned with the help of Persian allies, and he defeated his brother Ahmed.
Selim I with the help of his Janissaries ordered his father to change his decision and made him the next sultan of the Ottoman empire, and at last with the help of many supporters who left his father Bayazid II and joined him. He succeeded in forcing his father to change his decision about making Ahmed the next sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
Soon after this Bayazid II and his son Kortud were found dead, it is said that they were poisoned. Selim I then chased his brother Ahmed, who was already defeated in the year 1513 in a battle with him for succession. Selim I, finally captured his brother Ahmed and prisoned him, soon after which he was hanged till death. It was such a brutal act by the younger brother Selim I to kill his brothers and father Bayazid II for the throne.
After killing his father and brothers, Selim I ordered to murder his seven nephews and four of his sons among five, just to secure and strengthen his position. He did not want any one in his era to claim the sultanate of the Ottoman empire and he wanted to rule the whole Turkey alone.
He brutely massacred around 40,000 Anatolian Shi’as to stop another Turkoman rebellion and deported the remaining away from the Turkey, so that with his secured position he will have fewer enemies who could be a big threat to his position in future. He then turned to a new way of governance in the Ottoman Empire. And enjoyed his rule until he was succeeded by Suleman the Magnificent.
Conclusion
Constantinople, the capital city of Ottoman empires, was destroyed as the result of a massive earthquake on the 14th of September 1509 that destroyed most parts of the city and the people living at the time were left without shelter and food. The situation led to falling out the Ottoman Empire. The Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Bayezid II in last stages of his life saw a huge battle between his sons Selim I and Ahmed for succession which he did not expect as he had already given all of his son's governance of different provinces of the Turkish empire during his reign.
There was an Ottoman city called Karaman which was taken over by Ahmed without any previous notice and started marching towards the Constantinople to utilize his triumph but failed to get attention from his supporters. Ahmed, who was the older of the two sons of Bayezid II, won the battle against the Turks of the Karaman city and their Safavid followers with the help of few of his followers who were his Janissaries.
Selim I felt insecure about his safety as he ha many enemies due to his aggressive nature, even his family did not support him much. So he planned a revolution in Thrace. However, he was defeated by the forces of his father Bayezid II and ordered Selim I to return to the city Crimean Peninsula in 1511.
Bayezid II had doubts that Ahmed in return might murder him for the power and position, so he did not grant him permission to come in the city of the Ottoman Empire, Constantinople. Meanwhile, Selim I, who was Bayezid II's youngest son, returned from Crimea and with the support of his new Janissaries he made his father resign from the position on the 25th of April 1512.
Bayezid II died after retirement from his position; his death is considered as the murder in the history of the Ottoman Empire, which was just after a month of his retirement, in Demotika that was his native land, on the 26th of May 1512, at Büyükçekmece before getting to his destination. He was buried beside the Bayezid Mosque in the capital of Turkey, Istanbul in 1512.
It can be concluded from the discussion provided above that in the race of power and position the most important thing was to get the throne by any means and no respecting values and relationships. Even the blood relations were considered as the obstacle in becoming the sultan for them. Although all the sons of Bayezid II were governing different provinces, they still wanted to rule over the Ottoman empire after their father.
Selim I was the only ruler who executed much of his family affairs only for securing his position and to rule the ottoman empire without any interference. Selim I became the successor of his father without his will by fighting with his brothers and father Bayezid II. Selim I was an aggressive ruler who did not care about other values and just wanted to maintain his rule over the ottoman empire after his father.
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