Tuman Bay's plan against Selim I was based on a kind of warfare.. the Ottoman army did not understand it and did not know how to counter it.. the first to use it against them was Vlad the Wallachian in 1462.. guerrilla warfare.

While he was crossing the desert from Syria to Egypt.. Tuman Bay sent small units of Mamluks.. to carry out limited skirmishes against the Ottoman army.. Tuman Bay also wanted to urge the Bedouins to attack the Ottomans and defend their lands.. but they refused.. and they only agreed when he told them.. that he would give them, for every Ottoman head, its weight in gold.. so they began raiding Selim's forces every so often along the whole route.

These skirmishes exhausted Selim severely, stirred his fury and cost him many soldiers and much equipment.. and they gave Tuman Bay the opportunity.. to send one of his commanders.. and fall with his army upon the Ottoman army on the edges of the Levant at Khan Yunis.. in the first of January, of the year 1517.

At Khan Yunis, Tuman Bay's envoy met the Mamluk forces led by Khayr Bey the Circassian, the new governor of Damascus.. under the command of the Grand Vizier Khadim Sinan Pasha.. and Khayr had been trained in the very same way as the Mamluks.. and knew the gaps in their forces and their weak points.. so he was able to defeat Tuman Bay's army and kill its commander.. and what remained of the latter's army withdrew beyond the natural borders of Syria.. and they took up their positions alongside Tuman Bay himself, at the head of the remaining forces in Egypt at Ridaniya.. in the Abbasiya desert, outside the borders of Cairo.

And at Ridaniya.. Tuman Bay dug a group of trenches on the front lines.. between him and the Ottoman forces.. and he set up his artillery, prepared his muskets and swords, readied his forces and waited.

And on the road to Cairo the Ottomans occupied Gaza.. then they entered Sinai and crossed the desert.. and this was intended and desired by Tuman Bay.. because he wanted to attack the Ottomans after they had passed through the Sinai desert on an arduous, exhausting journey.. and to fall upon them while they were worn out and tired.

And on 20 January 1517.. the Ottoman army encamped within Tuman Bay's sight at Ridaniya.. and he decided that this was his chance to fall upon the Ottomans after their long journey.. but he was surprised by something strange.

The Circassian Mamluk commanders.. appeared sluggish and unwilling to attack.. and they told him that the trenches they had dug with the artillery.. were enough if the army advanced.. the truth is that these Circassian Mamluk commanders were originally from Anatolia.. and Selim, to them, was a kinsman, not an enemy.. so they said, well, perhaps if Selim wins and knows that we did not fight him, he will reward us.. so they slackened in the fighting.. and Tuman Bay was forced to submit to their conduct.. because if he had punished them on the spot there would have been turmoil in the army.. so he stayed in position at Ridaniya.. while those Circassian Mamluk commanders.. stayed at Ridaniya by day.. so that Tuman Bay would see them.. and when night fell, they slipped away to Cairo and spent the night in the arms of their women.

Whatever the outcome.. if Selim the Turk won.. then we are Turks anyway.. and if he lost and Tuman Bay won.. then we are still Mamluks.

Embankments and anti-cavalry barriers and trenches, and 50,000 Mamluk soldiers and 200 cannons.. these fortifications were impregnable to the Ottoman army and it would never get past them until the Day of Resurrection.. but at that moment a man from the princes of the Mamluks of Syria reached Tuman Bay.. with a small army.. and told him that they had been defeated by the Ottomans in the Levant.. but had withdrawn.. and had come to support Tuman Bay in standing up to them.. and indeed Tuman Bay welcomed them and placed them beside him in the vanguard.. because he knew this commander.. and news of him had been cut off from him after the Ottoman attack.

And this prince was Khayr Bey the Circassian….!

And the Ottoman army moved under Selim's command.. pretending that they were heading for Ridaniya.. but quickly the forces turned and wheeled their cannons around.. and they were small, modern and light.. turning on their axis with ease.. and the Ottoman army set off, circling from the rear around the Muqattam hill.. and fell suddenly upon the Mamluks from behind.. that was the morning of 22 January.. of the year 1517.. the day history has preserved for us under the name of the “Battle of Ridaniya”.

Despite the surprise.. Tuman Bay attacked with his men.. but without the artillery arm now.. this artillery was very heavy and old, of an archaic model.. and to wheel it around and begin moving it required a whole day.. that was because of the fatwa that held the Mamluk state back from developing the artillery arm.. on the grounds that it was “killing by fire” and killing by fire is forbidden.. we spoke about this fatwa in episode 16 of this series.

Ibn Iyas says that “the soldiers of Ibn Uthman came on like a swarm of locusts.. and the two armies met at the approaches of Ridaniya.. and between the two sides there was a monstrous battle and countless numbers of the Ottomans were killed”.. and the truth is that the Ottoman army was very poor when facing another strong army.. because Tuman Bay nearly won in fact.. had it not been that with Tuman Bay's wheeling around, the vanguard of his army became the rearguard.. and in it was “Khayin Bey the Circassian”.. who suddenly attacked Tuman Bay's army from behind with his men.

And Ibn Iyas continues at this point: “and the affairs of the Egyptian soldiery were thrown into confusion.. and life stirred in the Ottomans.. and they killed countless numbers of the Egyptian soldiery”.

Despite the betrayal and the surprise that left the Mamluks fighting on two fronts without artillery.. the battle went on for 8 straight hours.. 8 hours of face-to-face fighting.

And amid the dust and smoke and the clang of swords, Tuman Bay looked as far as his eye could reach and found a distinctive tent.. surrounded by guards.

The tent of Sultan Selim.

And at the head of a very small commando force.. of only a few horsemen.. Tuman Bay set off towards the tent.. if he killed Selim the battle would be over.

Armed only with a sword and a steed.. Tuman Bay fell upon the Ottoman forces.. and cut through them with his weapon.. to reach Selim's tent.. and kill him.. he was wounded and bled along the way.. and Ottoman artillery shells rained down around him.. and he was torn apart by dozens of shrapnel pieces.. but he was not prepared to give up the land of Egypt.. whatever the price.

And with true daring.. Tuman Bay reached the Sultan's own tent.. in the heart of the Ottoman army.

And in the tent Tuman Bay found a man in his forties with piercing eyes and stern features.. wearing a lavish uniform of the military uniforms.. adorned with ranks.. the highest ranks in the Ottoman army.. and the man drew his sword to face Tuman Bay.. but Tuman Bay got the better of him.. and killed him.

And unfortunately this was not Selim as Tuman Bay had thought.. had it been Selim the battle would have ended.. Selim was at the very rear of the army, betting on the traitor Khayr the Circassian.. while the one Tuman Bay killed was the Grand Vizier Khadim Sinan Pasha.

As Tuman Bay advanced on Selim's tent.. and disappeared from the eyes of the Mamluks in the heart of the Ottoman army.. the traitor Khayr Bey played the same game as Marj Dabiq.. and shouted that Tuman Bay had been killed.. and this was the last blow for the Mamluks.. in which their morale collapsed.. and they were completely defeated.. and a few thousand soldiers remained.. gathering around Tuman Bay once more.. but because courage does not mean foolishness.. the latter realised that continuing to fight meant he would sacrifice his last soldiers.. so Tuman Bay withdrew with a handful of men.. and the Ottoman army set off for Cairo.. and the words are still Ibn Iyas's, saying: “and the gate of Conquests and the gate of Victory and the gate of Sha'riyya and the gate of the Sea were closed.. and the markets were closed.. and the call to arms was raised”.

And the Ottomans stormed the gates of Cairo on the morning of Friday 23 January, 1517.. and marched through its streets with their horses and their muskets.. and ordinary men came out to face them.. traders and craftsmen and blacksmiths and tailors.. defending their sanctities and their homes.. so Selim unleashed the Janissary forces upon them.. slaughtering and killing them in a terrifying, horrifying massacre.. in which nearly 500 thousand men were martyred.. and they had the women to themselves and violated their honour.. and plundered the houses of whatever money and goods they held.

And Selim sent his men to the mosques.. and they seized its sheikhs and imams.. and ordered them to pray for the new sultan of the Muslims, Selim, from now on.. or else the penalty was death.. and indeed the first Friday prayer was held.. and in it supplication was made from the pulpits for Sultan Selim.. who sat upon the throne of Egypt.. and gave himself the title of “Commander of the Faithful” for the first time.. and he was the first person from the House of Osman to bear this title.

And because he knew well that if he brought down Egypt, he could with complete ease occupy the Peninsula.. he likewise gave himself for the first time the title of “Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques”.

And Selim asked about Tuman Bay.. and was told that he had been killed or had fled.. no one knew where he was.. and Selim sighed in relief.. and knew that from here he could set off and expand his ambitions.

But Tuman Bay had neither been killed nor fled.

He was preparing for a new round and a new encounter with Selim and his army.. the round in which Selim would see death in a way he had never seen it so close before in all his battles and conquests.

And the round of “Sultan al-Malik al-Ashraf Abu al-Nasr Tuman Bay” with Selim is a long story.. so we will continue talking about it later…

And there remains.. more to be said.

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Previous posts in the first comment.

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