Battle of Chaldiran
The battle of 23 August 1514 in which the Ottoman Sultan Selim I, with superior artillery, defeated Shah Ismail I and stabilized the Ottoman–Safavid frontier.
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- Date
- 23 August 1514 CE
- Location
- Plain of Chaldiran, NW Iran
- Combatants
- Ottoman Selim I vs. Safavid Shah Ismail I
- Decisive factor
- Ottoman superiority in artillery and firearms
Detail
The Battle of Chaldiran was fought on 23 August 1514 CE between the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Selim I and the fledgling Safavid state under Shah Ismail I, on the plain of Chaldiran in northwestern Iran (modern Azerbaijan). The clash stemmed from the religious and political rivalry between the Sunni Ottomans and the Shi'a Safavids and Selim's alarm at the spread of Safavid influence in Anatolia. The decisive factor was the Ottomans' marked superiority in artillery and Janissary musketeers, whereas the Safavid Qizilbash army relied mainly on traditional cavalry and individual valor and lacked artillery. The Safavids suffered a heavy defeat, and the Ottomans even briefly occupied the capital, Tabriz. The defeat shattered the legend of Shah Ismail's invincibility and halted Safavid westward expansion. Chaldiran inaugurated more than two centuries of intermittent Ottoman-Safavid conflict and helped fix the approximate borders between Iran and the Ottomans.
Related entities
Sources
- Encyclopædia Iranica, "Čālderān"
- Britannica, "Battle of Chāldirān"
- Roger Savory, Iran under the Safavids