Battle of Marj Dabiq

Early on 24 August 1516, north of Aleppo

The armies of Ottoman Sultan Selim I and Mamluk Sultan Qansuh al-Ghawri met early on 25 Rajab 922 — 24 August 1516 — on the plain of Marj Dabiq, north of Aleppo. The battle ended in a swift Ottoman victory.

Ottoman firearm superiority contributed to the result, as did the last-minute defection of units led by Khayrbak, the Mamluk governor of Aleppo.

A sultan who vanished

Al-Ghawri collapsed during the battle and disappeared in the rout. Because his body was never recovered, the competing accounts of his end — beheaded, poisoned, crushed, or by suicide — cannot be resolved.

The Ottomans captured the Cairo Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil III and several senior qadis, while most surviving Mamluk troops fled toward Damascus.

What was not settled that day

The victory left Aleppo exposed, and Ottoman forces entered the city four days later, on 28 August.

Egypt remained under Mamluk resistance until 1517, and Cairo went without an effective sultan until Tumanbay's investiture around 10 October 1516.

Published army strengths and casualty totals for the battle vary enormously, and scholars disagree over whether the captured caliph and qadis formally offered allegiance to Selim afterward.