Battle of Ridaniya

Overview

The Battle of Ridaniya or Battle of Ridanieh was fought on January 22, 1517, in Egypt. The Ottoman forces of Selim I defeated the Mamluk forces under Al-Ashraf Tuman bay II. The Turks marched into Cairo, and the severed head of Tuman bay II, Egypt’s last Mamluk Sultan, was hung over an entrance gate in the Al Ghourieh quarter of Cairo. Or, alternatively, he was hung from the gate and buried after three days. The Ottoman grand vizier, Hadım Sinan Pasha, was killed in action.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The Battle of Ridaniya, fought in Egypt on January 22, 1517, was the decisive engagement that ended the Mamluk Sultanate as an independent power and completed the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in the Ottoman–Mamluk War of 1516–17. Ottoman forces under Selim I defeated the Mamluk army commanded by Tuman Bay II, after which Ottoman troops marched into Cairo. Tuman Bay II, Egypt's last Mamluk Sultan, was subsequently executed — his severed head displayed over a gate in the Al Ghourieh quarter of Cairo — marking the formal extinction of Mamluk sovereignty. The battle cost the Ottomans their grand vizier, Hadım Sinan Pasha, who was killed in the fighting, a significant command-level loss despite the overall victory. The fall of Cairo and the elimination of the Mamluk sultanate brought Egypt, one of the wealthiest and strategically central territories of the medieval Islamic world, under direct Ottoman control, a consequence that reshaped the political and economic structure of the eastern Mediterranean and the broader region.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (5)