Battle of Algami Canal

Part of Timurid Invasion of Iraq

Location	Algami Canal, midway between Hillah and Baghdad (modern Iraq)
Result	Timurid Empire victory

Belligerents

Commanders and leaders

The Battle of Algami Canal was fought between Kara Koyunlu under their Bey, Qara Yusuf and the Timurid Empire under the leadership of Timur's grandson Abu Bakr bin Miran Shah for control of Baghdad and therefore Iraq in late 1402.

When the Ilkhanate collapsed into rival Mongol tribes namely the Chopanids, Jalayirids, Muzaffarids and Injuids, their internal conflicts coupled with external invasions had rendered them weak and ideal targets for an invasion by Timur the Lame in 1393. He overran Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, and sacked portions of eastern Anatolia then returned to Samarkand by 1396. In this campaign he extinguished the Muzaffarids of Iran. But he could not manage to erase the Jalayirids under Sultan Ahmed Jalayir and their subordinate Turkmen clan of Kara Koyunlu under Qara Muhammad Turemish and his son Qara Yusuf.

Eventually he embarked on a campaign against the fugitives Sultan Ahmed Jalayir and Qara Yusuf. But the Ottoman Empire gave them refuge. Meanwhile, The Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt under Nasir-ad-Din Faraj too became his enemy for the unlawful detention of Timur's envoy. Timur the Lame now directed his campaign against these two powers before concentrating on Sultan Ahmed Jalayir and Qara Yusuf. He first took Syria from the Mamluks and then turned his attention back to Iraq. He besieged Baghdad on June 20, 1401 and took the city by storm. He then turned towards Georgia and on July 20, 1402 he defeated Sultan Bayezid I of the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Ankara.