[16] In the 1380s and 1390s, he invaded and conquered parts of Persia (including Azerbaijan and Upper Mesopotamia), ravaged southern Russia and Ukraine (1395–96), and sacked Delhi (1398).

The Timurids encamped in the same locations that the Ottomans had previously occupied, making use of abandoned tents and water sources.

[18] In the Timurid army, Timur commanded the centre, his sons Miran and Rukh the right and left, respectively, and his grandsons the vanguard.

[18] The battle began with a large-scale attack from the Ottomans, countered by swarms of arrows from the Timurid horse archers.

Stefan Lazarević and his knights successfully fought off the Timurid assaults and cut through the Mongol ranks three times.

The Ottoman army, both thirsty and tired, was defeated, though Bayezid managed to escape to the nearby mountains with a few hundred horsemen.

Already heavily outnumbered, the Ottoman army was further weakened by the desertion of the Black Tatars and the Sipahis from the Anatolian beyliks, who left Bayezid's side and joined Timur's forces.

[6] After the battle, Timur moved through western Anatolia to the Aegean coast, where he besieged and took the city of Smyrna, a stronghold of the Christian Knights Hospitalers.