Selim the Terrible is not very popular among historians because of his hard temper. Therefore, he is in the shadow of his son Suleiman, who is often referred to as the most powerful of the Ottoman sultans. Nevertheless, he was a personality himself — and what a personality! Although his reign lasted only eight years, this monarch increased the territory of his power by 2.5 times. He annexed vast territories in Asia, shifting the demographic and cultural center of the empire dramatically to the east. He is also remembered as the first of the Ottoman caliphs, the nominal lord of all the faithful.
In fact, it is still not firmly established whether this portrait belongs to Selim or to his main enemy Ismail Sefevi
What kind of man was he?
Selim was born in Amasya in 1470, where his father, Shehzade Bayezid, served as sanjak bey, i.e. viceroy. His mother was Ayshe’s concubine Gulbahar Khatun, a Pontic Greek by birth. When Selim was ten years old, he and his brothers were summoned to Istanbul by his grandfather, Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror. It was the first and last time he saw his grandfather. A year later, his father ascended the throne after a small civil war, and the boy himself became one of the shehzade — tsarevitch.
The new Sultan Bayezid had eight sons by different women, and Selim became the sixth in seniority. Like all his rivals, he received a good education, and at the age of seventeen was appointed sanjak bey of Trabzon, where he was accompanied by his mother.
According to Ottoman tradition, the throne received that of the possible heirs, who after the death of his father first arrived in Istanbul. And since the shehzade was given a border town, this almost eliminated the possibility of his enthronement, reflecting the young man’s status at the time. But five of his brothers died during his father’s lifetime, and the sixth had no sons, so he was not respected. The only worthy rival was Shehzade Ahmed.
Young Selim catches wolves with the tails of crocodiles)))
But while before the struggle for the throne was far away, and Tsarevich Selim held the governor’s post for 23 years, having managed during this time from a boy to turn into a man. His main concern was to reduce the level of discontent of the Turkmens, who used to be the backbone of the state and formed the basis of its armed forces. But now they had ceded political power to the Janissaries and administrators who had gone through the devshirme system. As part of this tradition, the Turks converted boys from the Balkan Christian nations to Islam, after which the children received administrative or military education in palace schools and held positions according to their skills.
The Viceroy therefore carried out a series of campaigns against the Georgians without receiving permission from his pope to do so. His aim was to increase the loyalty of the nomadic clans through successful wars and booty. For a while it reduced the heat of passions, but later there were again unrest and rebellions, which Selim had to fight after he became sultan.
Also, he was forced to forcefully oppose the paramilitary religious order of Safaviye, which was expelled from Azerbaijan to Asia Minor by the Padishahs of Ak-Koyunlu. The sheikhs of this organization were not resigned and looked for an opportunity to conquer their own country for themselves.
The territory of the empire before Selim is the darkest tones in Europe and Asia and a tone a little lighter. Sanjak Trabzon in the red circle
As the years passed, the matured prince earned a good reputation in the Ottoman army and in his region. The neighboring lands were also grateful to him — the border was held on the swords of his soldiers. Nevertheless, in the 1510s, Shehzadeh Ahmed was more favored by the incumbent sultan and had the support of the officialdom. Bayezid then decided to appoint Ahmed as heir, and his younger brother started a rebellion — this was the first time in the history of the state that a prince started military action against his father.
However, the Sultan gave a little too much — appointing successors was not in the Ottoman tradition. He realized this when the Janissaries, who considered themselves the guardians of Fatih’s law, rebelled. This was the principle of succession to the throne introduced by Mehmed the Conqueror, according to which the throne would only be handed over in a military confrontation between Turkish princes so that the best would get it.
Then the much aged and tired Bayezid, who had, however, defeated his son’s army, voluntarily abdicated. Selim became Sultan, his father went into voluntary exile, and passed away soon after his arrival at the place fixed. It was rumored that poison was used, but Bayazid himself was once accused of the same. Besides, he was already very ill at that time.
Bayezid II
Anyway, after entering Istanbul, Selim gave orders to deal with the remaining brothers, nephews and even some sisters — although the latter was not at all according to Ottoman concepts. For this and a number of other similar acts, he was nicknamed Yavuz, which means “Evil” or “Ferocious” in Turkish. Although, by analogy with the Russian tsar, we traditionally translate this word as “Terrible”.
Shortly after receiving the throne, the Sultan suppressed the Alevi rebellion in the eastern and central regions of the country with his heavy hand. The Janissaries then sent at least 40,000 rebels to heaven. But the next year rebelled Turkmen, whom he tried to pacify when he was king. They were closely related to the Safaviye Order and its followers culturally, ethnically and even religiously. And they received support from Sheikh Ismail, who managed to seize the kingdom for himself, becoming the ruler of the Caucasus, Iran and Central Asia.
Therefore, in 1514 the Sultan’s army went on a campaign, and on the way to Azerbaijan hanged all male Shiites aged from 7 to 70 years old, which they managed to catch. But before this the two monarchs exchanged a series of letters of great interest, as was the custom of the Turkic rulers. Selim compared himself in verse to Alexander the Great, and called his rival “the Darius of our days.” Ismail at first participated in this “correspondence boxing”, and with his last message he handed over a box of opium, hinting that the sultan was not himself. And attributed that his poems resembled the poetry of a hashishin who dreams of a new dose.
Nevertheless, the Ottomans had a more modern and superior army. Therefore, the Iranians first lost the famous battle of Chaldiran, and the next year they left their capital to the Turks. Ismail was forced to wage a war of attrition, and this tactic justified itself: the Sipahis were not at all eager to fight against their Turk brothers, and the Janissaries were afraid to winter in a devastated country. Unknown men even shot at Selim’s tent with rifles, and he preferred to retreat. Apparently, it was not such a strong fear he aroused in his subjects.
Two years later, the Sultan attacked Egypt, an ally of the Safavids, although the latter preferred the Shiite branch of Islam. In two years Palestine and Syria, Western Arabia with Mecca and Medina were conquered, and after a short resistance fell and the country of the pyramids itself. Again the organizational superiority of the Ottoman army, its powerful infantry with rifles and numerous artillery fleets played a role.
Instead of adopting the traditional title of Lord of the Two Holy Cities, Selim, out of modesty, began to call himself their Servant. The ruler of the Ottoman Empire also did not claim the position of caliph. However, the nominal spiritual head of Muslims from the old Abbasid dynasty was taken to Istanbul, where he lived, though in luxury, but in confinement. Only after a couple of centuries there was a legend that the latter nevertheless handed over his post to Selim. And the following sultans were considered its owners by default.
The winner of the Mamluks and Safavids planned a large campaign in the west, prepared and trained troops, but he was not destined to fight in Europe. He passed away in his capital at the beginning of the ninth year of his reign at the age of 49. According to the official version it happened because of a poorly treated carbuncle, but at the time chattered all sorts of things. He was succeeded by his twenty-five-year-old son Suleiman, later nicknamed the Magnificent. Since he did not have enough adult brothers, it happened without any resistance.
Selim went down in the history of his dynasty as a tough and determined man, whom nothing will stop on the way to the goal. It was he who, in very little time, prepared the Ottoman Empire for the truly brilliant era of his son. As a man, he had a hard character, though he possessed a kind of grim humor.
The number of grand and minor viziers he sent to the scaffold is incalculable. During his time, there was a popular curse that Turks used to say to those they hated: “May you be Selim’s vizier” (meaning “may you die”). One of the holders of this position once jokingly asked his lord that if he wanted to take his life, he should warn him in advance, so that the condemned man would have time to say goodbye to his family and finish his business. Selim laughed in response and said that he had indeed thought about it more than once, but had not found anyone to take his place.
Selim’s Conquests. Sanjak Trabzon at the very top right
Besides this, Selim filled the state treasury to the brim, although under his father Bayezid there were mice scrabbling around in there. The door of the treasury was sealed, and the sultan’s will stated: “Whichever of my descendants can fill the same room, let him take this one for himself.” His will was carried out, and since none of his successors could accomplish the same feat, the treasury was closed for 400 years. Only shortly before the fall of the Ottoman Empire was it opened when the country declared bankruptcy.