Battle of Marj Dabiq

Battle of Marj Dabiq
Part of Ottoman–Mamluk War (1516–17)
Battle of Marj Dabiq (Syria)
Date 24 August 1516 Location Dabiq, near Aleppo, Mamluk Sultanate (modern Syria) Result Decisive Ottoman victory Ottoman annexation of Syria
Belligerents
Ottoman Empire	Mamluk Sultanate
Commanders and leaders
Selim I	Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri †
Strength
65,000 soldiers, 50 cannons	80,000
Casualties and losses
13,000	72,000

Coordinates: 36°32′33″N 37°16′22″E / 36.542398°N 37.272908°E / 36.542398; 37.272908

The Battle of Marj Dābiq (Arabic: مرج دابق‎‎, meaning "the meadow of Dābiq"; Turkish: Mercidabık Muharebesi) was a decisive military engagement in Middle Eastern history, fought on 24 August 1516, near the town of Dabiq, 44 km north of Aleppo (modern Syria). The battle was part of the 1516–17 war between the Ottoman Empire and the Mamluk Sultanate, which ended in an Ottoman victory and conquest of much of the Middle East, bringing about the destruction of the Mamluk Sultanate. The Ottoman victory in this battle gave Selim's armies control of the entire region of Syria and opened the door to the conquest of Egypt.

Sultan Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri spent the winter of 1515 and the spring of 1516 preparing an army he proposed leading to the disturbed confines of Asia Minor. Before beginning the march, an embassy arrived from Selim I promising in friendly terms to agree to Mamluk requests to appoint an Egyptian vassal to the Beylik of Dulkadir – a long-standing buffer state between Mamluks and Ottomans – and to reopen the frontier to the traffic of goods and slaves. On 18 May 1516 Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri set out from Cairo with a large force (reportedly 20,000 knights), appointed well in all respects but artillery.