Ottoman–Mamluk War (1485–1491)

Ottoman-Mamluk War (1485–1491)
Part of Ottoman wars in the Near East
Mamluk heavy cavalry, c. 1550.
Date 1485-1491 Location Anatolia, Syria Result Stalemate; Ottoman incursions into Cilicia brought to a halt
Belligerents
Ottoman Empire	Mamluk Sultanate
Commanders and leaders
Bayezid II	Qaitbay
Strength
Around 60,000 men	Unknown, but less than the Ottoman Turks

An Ottoman-Mamluk war took place from 1485 to 1491, when the Ottoman Empire invaded the Mamluk Sultanate territories of Anatolia and Syria. This war was an essential event in the Ottoman struggle for the domination of the Middle-East. After multiple encounters, the war ended in a stalemate and a peace treaty was signed in 1491, restoring the status quo ante bellum. It lasted until the Ottomans and the Mamluks again went to war in 1516–17; in that war the Ottomans defeated and conquered the Mamluks.

The relationship between the Ottomans and the Mamluks was adversarial: both states vied for control of the spice trade, and the Ottomans aspired to eventually taking control of the Holy Cities of Islam. The two states however were separated by a buffer zone occupied by Turkmen states such as Karamanids, Aq Qoyunlu, Ramadanids and Dulkadirids, which regularly switched their allegiance from one power to the other. Nevertheless, both the Venetian historian Domenico Malipiero and the Ottoman chronicler Tursun Bey report that as early as 1468, Mehmed II planned to campaign against the Mamluks in Syria, which was only averted by the refusal of Uzun Hassan and Karamanids to cooperate, leading to the invasion and eventual annexation of his state by Mehmed.

When Bayezid II ascended the Ottoman throne in 1481, his brother Cem Sultan, who enjoyed great support in Anatolia, rose up and contended with him for the throne. After he was defeated in battle, he sought refuge first in the Ramadanids, and from there passed into Mamluk domains. Although the Mamluks declined to offer him any military support, this act aroused the hostility of Bayezid, which was further fanned when the Mamluks seized an Ottoman ambassador who was returning from Deccan with an Indian ambassador and gifts for the Ottoman Sultan.

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