Battle of Chaldiran The Battle of Chaldiran or Chaldoran ( , ) occurred on 23 August 1514 and ended with a victory for the Ottoman Empire over the Safavid Empire . As a result , the Ottomans gained immediate control over eastern Anatolia and northern Iraq . The battle , however , was just the beginning of 41 years of destructive war between the two empires that only ended in 1555 with the Treaty of Amasya . While the Ottomans often had the upper hand , the Persians for the most part held their ground . All Safavid losses in Shia - dominated metropolitan regions of Persia , such as Luristan and Kermanshah , proved temporary , being recovered from the Ottomans soon after each battle . An exception was Azerbaijan , which - though taken back from the Ottomans , would later be permanently lost to the Russian Empire . Iraq , as well as eastern Anatolia , would also be forever taken from traditional Iranian suzerainty . At Chaldiran , the Ottomans had a larger , better equipped army numbering 60 , 000 to 200 , 000 , while the Qizilbash Turcomans numbered some 40 , 000 to 80 , 000 . Shah Ismail I , who was wounded and almost captured in the battle , retired to his palace and withdrew from government administration after his wives were captured by Selim I , with at least one married off to one of Selim ' s statesmen . The battle is one of major historical importance because it not only negated the idea that the Murshid of the Shia - Qizilbash was infallible , but it also fully defined the Ottoman - Safavid borders and led Kurdish chiefs to assert their authority and switch their allegiance from the Safavids to the Ottomans . Background . After Selim I ' s successful struggle against his brothers for the throne of the Ottoman Empire , he was free to turn his attention to the internal unrest he believed was stirred up by the Shia Qizilbash , who had sided with other members of the Dynasty against him and had been semi - officially supported by Bayezid II . Selim now feared that they would incite the population against his rule in favor of Shah Isma ' il leader of the Shia Safavids , and by some of his supporters believed to be family of the Prophet . Selim secured a jurist opinion that described Isma ' il and the Qizilbash as " unbelievers and heretics " enabling him to undertake extreme measures on his way eastward to pacify the country . In response , Shah Isma ' il accused Sultan Selim of aggression against fellow Muslims , violating religious sexual rules and shedding innocent blood . When Selim started his march east , the Safavids were invaded in the east by the Uzbek state recently brought to prominence by Abu ' I - Fath Muhammad , who had fallen in battle against Isma ' il only a few years before . To avoid the prospect of fighting a war on two fronts , Isma ' il employed a scorched earth policy against Selim in the west . The terrain of eastern Anatolia and the Caucuses is extremely rough and combined with the difficulty in supplying the army in light of Isma ' il ' s scorched earth campaign while marching against Muslims , Selim ' s army was discontented . The Janissaries even fired their muskets at the Sultan ' s tent in protest at one point . When Selim learned of the Safavid army forming at Chaldiran , he quickly moved to engage Isma ' il in part to stifle the discontent of his army . Battle . The Ottomans deployed heavy artillery and thousands of Janissaries equipped with gunpowder weapons behind a barrier of carts . The Safavids used cavalry to engage the Ottoman forces . The Safavids attacked the Ottoman wings in an effort to avoid the Ottoman artillery positioned at the center . However , the Ottoman artillery was highly maneuverable and the Safavids suffered disastrous losses . The advanced Ottoman weaponry was the deciding factor of the battle as the Safavid forces , who only had traditional weaponry , were decimated . The Safavids also suffered from poor planning and ill - disciplined troops unlike the Ottomans . Aftermath . Following their victory the Ottomans temporarily captured the Safavid capital of Tabriz , which they evacuated quickly . The Shia defeat at Chaldiran brought an end to the Shia uprisings in Ottoman Empire . After two of his wives were captured by Selim Ismail was heartbroken and resorted to drinking alcohol . Ismail did not participate in government affairs , as his aura of invincibility was shattered . After the defeat at Chaldiran , however , the Safavids made drastic domestic changes . Ismail ' s son , Tahmasp I deployed cannons in subsequent battles . After the battle of Chaldiran , Selim I would then throw his forces southward to fight the Mamluk Sultanate in the Ottoman – Mamluk War ( 1516 – 1517 ) . Battlefield . The site of the battle is near Chala Ashaqi village , around 6 km west of the town of Siyah Cheshmeh , south of Maku , north of Qareh Ziyaeddin . A large brick dome was built at the battlefield site in 2003 along with a statue of Seyid Sadraddin , one of the main Safavid commanders . Quotes . After the battle , Selim referring to Ismail believed that his adversary was :