Battle of Al-Ridaniya 1517 And The Execution of Tuman Bay
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Battle of Al-Ridaniya 1517 And The Execution of Tuman Bay
The Battle of Ridaniya in 1517 was a significant event that marked the end of Mamluk rule and the beginning of Ottoman rule in Egypt, The battle took place between the forces of the Ottoman Empire led by Selim I and the Mamluk Sultanate led by Tuman Bay II, The Ottoman army, with superior weaponry and tactics, defeated the Mamluk army, which was weakened by internal conflicts and lacked adequate resources, This victory secured Ottoman control over Egypt, a vital strategic location with access to trade routes connecting Asia, Europe, and Africa. The defeat also ended the independence of the Mamluk state, which had been ruling Egypt for several centuries. The Battle of Ridaniya highlighted the importance of military strength and advanced technology in early modern warfare, paving the way for further territorial expansion by powerful empires like Ottomans in future years.
The events of that battle took place in Al-Ridaniya area near the city of Cairo and this area is attributed to Ridan al Siqilli cousin of Jawhar al Siqilli from the Fatimid era.
Sultan Selim I Messengers
After the battle of Marj Dabiq, and before heading to Egypt, the Ottoman Sultan Selim I managed to control the Levant and win several battles, the last of which was the victory achieved by Sinan Pasha over Janberdi al-Ghazali in Khan Yunis.
After that, the Sultan of the Ottomans sent a messenger to the Sultan of the Mamluks, Tuman Bay II, asking him to submit to him and obey the Ottoman Empire.
In his letter, Salim I also requested that he be mentioned in his Friday sermons every week.
He offered him to be the ruler of Egypt and Gaza, and he would be a ruler over it by the Ottoman Sultan, provided that he send him the annual abscess from Egypt and warned him not to fall into what his predecessor, qansuh Al-Ghouri.
Tuman Bay II seemed viable, especially with the loss of most of the army in the battle of Marj Dabiq, but his followers Burji dynasty ( Circassian Mamluks ) and some traitorous Mamluks who had an interest in the outbreak of war got angry and killed the messengers, forcing Tuman Bay II to fight the Ottomans.
Sultan Selim I decided to invade Egypt after the killing of the messengers by the Mamluks, so he headed with an army of about 150,000 soldiers, accompanied by a large number of mobile light cannons.
And he arrived in Al-Arish area on January 11, 1517 AD. At that time, Tuman Bay ordered his soldiers to gather to confront the Ottomans in Al-Raydaniyah after they crossed the desert, exhausted them, and ran out of food and water.
However, many people failed Tuman Bay, and some soldiers would stand in their places during the day and return at night to their homes in Cairo.
The Ottoman army was subjected to raids by the Bedouins, and Tuman Bay was urging the Bedouins to do this work, and he paid for every Turkish head its weight in gold, but the rains fell on the places of the campaign, which made it easier for the Ottoman army to cross the soft sandy desert, after the heavy rains made it coherent, making it easier to cross. And the Ottomans crossed the desert in five days.
Tuman Bay collected 200 fixed, non-moving, heavy-weight double cannon from Europe, ( He thought that these cannons were the latest and that he would surprise the Ottomans with them ) And set up soldiers from the Franks to strike with it in the battle. The strength of the army was 90 thousand soldiers, half of whom were from the people of Egypt and the other half from the Mamluk military.
Battle events
As we mentioned, Tuman Bay brought in 200 cannons with two artillerymen from the Franks and placed them in Al-Raydaniyah, with the aim of surprising the Ottomans when they passed by and pounced on them.
Trenches were dug and 100-cannon dungeons were erected, as well as anti-horse barriers, similar to what Selim I did in the battle of Marj Dabiq.
But the intelligence of the Ottomans managed to discover the plan of the Egyptian army, as the Mamluk governor of Aleppo Khayer Bey, who entered the service of the Ottomans, managed to secure the betrayal of his old friend Janberdi, who was at odds With Sultan Tuman Bay, who advised Sultan Selim I to circumvent the Mamluk army.
Tuman Bay learned of the betrayal too late and hesitated to punish him for fear of imbalance in the ranks of the soldiers.
The Ottoman army crawled through the Sinai until it reached the city of Al-Sharqiya, and here Tuman Bay wanted to meet Selim I and his soldiers before they rested from the trouble of the road, but the Mamluks were lazy about that and preferred to stay behind the forts.
The vanguard of the Ottoman military arrived at Berket al-Haj on the outskirts of Cairo, and the conditions of the Egyptian military were disturbed and Bab al-Futuh, Bab al-Nasr, Bab al-shaariya and Bab al-Bahr were closed.
The markets were closed, And the voices came cheering, and Sultan Tuman Bay became himself arranging the princes according to their positions, and calling for the soldiers to go out to fight, and the Ottoman soldiers came like spreading locusts.
The two armies converged at the beginning of Al-Raydaniyah, and there was a terrifying battle between the two teams, and countless Ottoman soldiers were killed.
The Ottoman sultan carried out a camouflage operation after discovering the Egyptian plan by showing himself walking towards Adiliyya on the road to Raydaniyah, but he quickly turned around the Mokattam Mountain and threw all his weight on the Mamluks in Raydaniyah from behind.
The fierce battle between the Ottomans and the Mamluks lasted between 7-8 hours and ended in the defeat of the Mamluks.
The Ottomans lost the best men, including Sinan Pasha al-Khadim, and he was killed by Tuman Bay, who led a commando group himself and stormed Selim I's camp, arrested his minister and killed him with his own hand, thinking that he was Selim I.
Also, the Ottoman commanders and princes of the army lost due to the uninterrupted courage of the Mamluks, but they could not confront the Ottoman army for a long time. The Mamluks lost about 25,000 dead thanks to the Ottomans’ artillery and their extensive use of guns.
Tuman Bay fled from the battle and the Ottomans entered the Egyptian capital, and it took them a lot of time and men to complete their full control of Cairo.
After The Battle
The brave Sultan Tuman Bay did not surrender, he met with 7000 knights, and other battles with the Ottomans took place on the streets of Cairo, and the Arab tribes participated in attacking the Ottoman camps in Al-Ridaniya.
The fighting continued throughout the day, and Sultan Tuman Bay and his soldiers became valiant, and the fighting continued between the neighborhoods of Cairo. Sultan Tuman Bay fortified himself in Al-Saliba neighborhood, and he took the Sheikhoun Mosque as a center for resistance and dug trenches and established fortifications in the area at Ras Al-Salibah, Qanater Al-Sebaa,Ras Al-Rummila, and the Mosque of Ibn Tulun. He was truly a brave sultan despite the defeat.
But the Ottomans regained their strength and entered Cairo and carried out a terrible massacre in Cairo, which Ibn Iyas describes as The Great Misfortune ( Great Calamity ), killing a lot of commoners, including young and old people without guilt, so their bodies were dumped in the streets, the amount of those killed in this incident exceeded 10,000 people in just 4 days.
The Ottomans attacked the corner of Sheikh Imad al-Din in Nasiriyah and looted what was in it of lamps and mats, and burned the houses around it. They also looted the contents of the Sayyidah Nafisa Mosque.
As for the Sheikhoun Mosque, the center of the resistance, the Ottomans burned it, and they arrested about 800 Mamluks and beheaded them.
The End Of The Brave Sultan
Sultan Tuman Bay gathered 2,000 Mamluk cavalry and 7,000 Arabans near Atfih, and they met the Ottomans south of Giza in a major battle, during which Prince Shadi Bey managed to seize the boats of the Ottomans in the Nile, encircled them from behind, and besieged them between him and Tuman Bay.
And they exterminated the Ottoman force completely, leaving only the leader of the Janissaries Iyas Agha and Abu Hamza, one of the traitorous Mamluk princes who joined the Ottomans.
As soon as the news of the defeat reached Sultan Selim, he poured his anger on Khair Bey, who decorated him with the march on Egypt.
And Sultan Selim I said to Khair Bey, "you have seduced us and brought us into their country, and no one is easy to leave his country, I thought they were a few and humiliated clique, you seduced me and my greed to take this territory, so go and end this or I will cut off your head."
Sultan Selim decided to pacify Sultan Tuman Bay and decided to keep him on the country and get out of Egypt and waive all his conditions, and this is only in exchange for the recognition of Tuman Bay in the Ottoman state and said " May Allah guide him and keep him on his country ".
Sultan Tuman Bay actually agreed to make peace, but the hateful traitorous Mamluks killed the Ottoman delegation on the pretext that Selim I would not fulfill his promise.
As soon as Selim I heard about the murder of his messengers, he went mad and ordered to bring the Mamluk princes detained by him and ordered to beat their necks.
The Ottoman army met Prince Shadi Bey with 2000 of the finest horsemen, and despite the unequal number, the Ottomans retreated defeated despite the many dead from the ranks of Shadi Bey.
The Ottomans divided their forces into 4 divisions, the first under the command of Sultan Selim, the second under the command of Al-Ghazali, the third under the command of Yunus Pasha, and the fourth under the command of Iyas Pasha, the commander of the Janissary, and the Arabs of Ghazala helped them to apply to the forces of Sultan Tuman Bay from all sides, and the Mamluks were actually defeated.
The Mamluks Have No Reign
Tuman Bay took refuge with a man named Hasan ibn Mari and his cousin, who swore allegiance to him, but Hasan ibn Mari betrayed him to the Ottomans and the Ottomans captured him and led him to Sultan Selim I.
According to historians, a dialogue took place between the two and Tuman Bay said: " the souls that have been raised on Pride do not accept humiliation, and have you heard that the lion is subjugated to the wolf, you are not the most gallant of us and not the bravest ", Sultan Selim I was very impressed by the courage and bravery of Tuman Bay and Sultan Selim said: " God such a man does not kill ".
But the traitorous Mamluk Princes loyal to the Ottomans insisted on asking to kill Tuman Bay, the Princes Khayr Bey and Jan Bardi Al-Ghazali feared for themselves that Tuman Bay would remain alive and were able to convince Selim I that the Ottoman rule in this country would remain risky as long as Tuman Bay lived.
On Monday, April 23, 1517, Sultan Selim I ordered them to cross with Tuman Bay tied on a donkey to Cairo, the people in Cairo had come out to take a farewell look at the Sultan of Egypt.
Tuman Bay looked into the vault of the gate and saw a rope hanging down, and realized that its end had come.. He got down and walked on his feet.. He advanced towards Bab Zuweila at a steady pace.. Then he stopped and turned to the people who had gathered around Bab Zuweila.
He asked them to read The Fatiha From Holy Quran to him three times, and after he read it with them, he said to the executioner: " do your job " and they hanged him after his noose was cut twice,when he was hanged and his soul ascended to Heaven, people shouted a great cry at him and he was very sad and sorry.
On the third day, they took him down, brought him a coffin, washed him, then put him in the coffin, and then buried him, and that day was the darkest day for the people of the Kingdom, and the widows and orphans wept over him.
And this was the end of the great brave Sultan, the hero Al-Ashraf Tuman Bay II.
The next day, people went back to work as if nothing had happened.
