Selim I

Selim seized the throne in 1512 and in a reign of only eight years transformed the empire. He crushed the Safavids at Chaldiran (1514) and conquered Mamluk Syria and Egypt (1516–17), gaining Mecca and Medina's protection and, by tradition, the caliphate. He died in 1520, leaving a vastly enlarged empire to his son Suleiman.

He came to power by deposing his father and eliminating rivals, and his reign was a race of relentless campaigning against the Safavids to the east and the Mamluks to the south, driven by rivalry with Shia Persia.

Remembered as stern, decisive, and severe — hence "Yavuz," the Grim — Selim was also a poet in Persian and a patron of the arts; his assumption of guardianship of the holy cities framed the Ottoman sultan as protector of Sunni Islam.

He won the decisive battle of Chaldiran (1514) against Shah Ismail's Safavids, then conquered the Mamluk Sultanate at Marj Dabiq (1516) and Ridaniya (1517), annexing Syria, Egypt, and the Hijaz.

His reign is debated for its harsh treatment of Anatolian Shia (Alevis) in the run-up to Chaldiran, and the tradition that he received the caliphate from the last Abbasid shadow-caliph in Cairo is questioned by historians. As a ruler he is assessed directly.

Selim I nearly tripled Ottoman territory and shifted the empire's center of gravity toward the Arab and Islamic heartlands, laying the foundation for the golden age of his son Suleiman. His conquest of Egypt made the Ottomans the leading power of the Muslim world.