Ottoman conquest of Bursa (1326)

Timeline

1. 1321–1325Around Bursa · BithyniaFollowing earlier victories such as the Battle of Bapheus, the Ottoman army gradually cut Bursa off from other Byzantine positions, besieging and steadily pressuring this core city of Bithynia. Byzantium, weakened by civil war and financial distress, could not organize an effective relief.
2. 1326Bursa · BithyniaAfter years of siege, Bursa's garrison ran out of supplies and relief and finally opened the gates and surrendered. Ottoman traditional chronicles record that Osman I may have died shortly before or after the city fell, and Orhan announced the victory before his father's coffin, a highly symbolic act.
3. 1326–1335Bursa · BithyniaOrhan made Bursa the center of the Ottoman polity, establishing administrative institutions and mosques there. Osman I was buried in the city, which long remained an important imperial capital until Edirne and Constantinople successively became capitals.