Who is Yıldırım Beyazıt?

Bayezid Khan, the fourth of the Ottoman Sultans, was born in 1360. His mother is Gülçiçek Hanım. Bayezid Khan, who received a good education since his childhood, spent his time as a prince in Kütahya. He participated in the Kosovo war with his father and took over the administration after his martyrdom. Sultan Bayezid spent the first years of his reign (1389-1392) struggling to control the principalities of Aydınoğulları, Saruhanoğulları, Germiyanoğulları, Menteşeoğulları and Hamidoğulları and appointing servants trained in his palace to govern these places. Then he turned to the Balkans, which had been neglected while he was dealing with Anatolia. It was not difficult to regain control over the local states in the Balkans, which were fighting among themselves. The struggle undertaken during this period ended with the defeat of the Crusader Army, consisting of the strongest knights in Europe, in Nicopolis in 1396. The Victory of Nicopolis not only reinforced the Ottomans' dominance in the Balkans, but also increased the reputation of Sultan Bayezid in the Islamic lands. After the victory, he began to be known as 'Sultan' in the Muslim geography. After this date, significant migrations began from geographies in turmoil such as Iran and Iraq to Anatolian lands to come under the rule of Sultan Bayezid.

Returning to Anatolia in 1399, Bayezid annexed the lands of Karaman and Kadı Burhaneddin and established a central empire extending from the Taurus Mountains to the Danube. Meanwhile, Timur (1335-1405), who established a powerful empire extending to Central Asia and Iran; Before entering Anatolian lands, Chagatai had eliminated the last heirs of dynasties such as Khwarazmshah and Ilkhanid.
For this reason, he saw himself as the natural heir of these dynasties. In 1400, he turned to Anatolian lands and captured Sivas, the capital of the Kadı Burhaneddin State. Seeing this, the Turkmen Beys immediately sided with Timur.

It was inevitable that Sultan Bayezid and Timur would meet. Although these two great rulers, who claimed to be the leaders of the Turkish world, had different goals, they were forced to fight each other.
In this situation, the armies of the two sides met in the Çubuk Plain near Ankara on August 27, 1402. Timur's army, which entered the war in a more advantageous position in terms of geography, was more crowded. Although he had the upper hand at the beginning of the war, Bayezid lost the war as a result of some Turkmen reserve forces and Serbian vassal forces switching to Timur's side. The Ottoman Army was defeated and Bayezid was captured. The Sultan, who was exiled to Akşehir with his two sons, Princes Musa and Mustafa, died on March 9, 1403.

When Sultan Bayezid came to the throne; He ascended to the throne with the support of the recruited elements against Prince Yakup, who was supported by the Turkmen lords. During his administration, the devshirme system was revived and Christian youth began to be trained not only as soldiers but also as Ottomans and administrators. In addition, his marriage to the daughter of the King of Serbia and his relatively good relations with European principalities caused him to be accused of being under the influence of recruited elements.
Sultan Bayezid's greatest aim was undoubtedly to conquer Istanbul. For this reason, he had the Anatolian Fortress built on the Bosphorus. Although he besieged Istanbul three times, threats from both the West and the East, technical inadequacies in overcoming the castles of Istanbul, and the influence of his foreign advisors deprived him of achieving this goal.

Expansion of the central treasury and important bureaucratic innovations in the field of organization are the developments of this period. The oldest records of the Tahrir system belong to this period. Many foundation properties under the control of the ulema were transferred to the state power during this period, and the servant system began to be widely implemented in the administration. There are even records in old records that Bayezid punished judges who abused their duties very severely. On the other hand, Sultan Bayezid was a very good administrator and soldier. He was given the nickname 'Lightning' because he acted extremely quickly in the decisions and maneuvers he took against the enemies surrounding him in the West and the East.