Battle of Kosovo (1448)

For the other Battles of Kosovo, see Battle of Kosovo (disambiguation)

Second Battle of Kosovo
Part of the Ottoman wars in Europe and Ottoman-Hungarian Wars
An Akıncı irregular defeating a Hungarian knight.
Date October 17 - October 20, 1448 (Julian calendar) Location Kosovo Polje, present-day Kosovo, Serbia (then Serbian Despotate, Ottoman vassal) Result Decisive Ottoman victory
Belligerents
Ottoman Empire	Kingdom of Hungary Walachia
Commanders and leaders
Murat II
Mehmed

John Hunyadi

Vladislav IIStrength ~ 40,000 to 60,000 24,000Casualties and losses ~34,000 17,000

The Second Battle of Kosovo (Hungarian: második rigómezei csata, Turkish: İkinci Kosova savaşı) (October 17–October 20, 1448) was fought at Kosovo Polje between a coalition of the Kingdom of Hungary and Wallachia lead by John Hunyadi, against an Ottoman-led coalition under Sultan Murad II.

Background

At 1448, John Hunyadi saw the right moment to lead a campaign against the Ottoman Empire. After the Defeat of Varna (1444), he raised another army to attack Ottomans. His strategy was based on an expected revolt of the Balkan people, a surprise attack, and destroying the main force of the Ottomans in a single battle. Hunyadi was totally immodest and led his forces without leaving any escort behind. The Albanian leader Skanderbeg and his troops moved to join the Hungarian coalition but they were intercepted and attacked by the Ottoman vassal Đurađ Branković of Serbia, and delayed from reaching the battlefield.

In September of 1448 Hunyadi led the Hungarian forces across the river of Danube and camped them in Serbia next to Kovin, just outside the Serbian capital of Smederevo. For a full month were the Hungarians camped in there awaiting the German crusaders, the Wallachian Duke and the Bohemians. The Serbian Despot Đurađ Branković reacted ambiguously at the trespassing and negotiated the term of joining the Crusade against the Ottomans over that period of time. Hunyadi had told Brankovic that he has brought 20,000 of his own men, awaiting additional reinforcements, and that he [Brankovic] with his light cavalry is the only ally necessary to make this a decisive victory. Brankovic was weary, having his realm restored after a full-scale Ottoman occupation only in 1444, and fully aware of the strength of the Ottoman military force, wanting to keep his throne. Despot Brankovic was also unwilling to set himself under Hunyadi's command under any condition, whom he personally disliked, considering him of lower stature.

The central point of the dispute between Hunyadi and Brankovic was their personal quarrel. After the Peace of Szeged in 1444 which restored the Serbian Despotate and Brankovic's reign in it, the Serbian despot had worked on achieving a peace in the region hoping to remove jeopardy from his country. This has included gifting Hunyadi the Serbian despot's possessions in the Hungarian Kingdom in favor of a pacifist approach. After Hunyadi eventually joined the warmongering side, Brankovic had asked for the return of his properties, which Hunyadi rejected. This has led to Brankovic's straining away from Hungary and getting into a more closer relationship with the Ottoman Empire, in an effort to protect his realm, as well as to a strong hostility towards Hunyadi and the negotiations ending as a failure.

The Serbian rejection and positioning as a neutral side had led to Hunyadi's fury and the Crusaders' decision to treat Serbia as hostile territory. At the end of the negotiations, Hunyadi had threatened to kill Brankovic in person after his country is occupied. In late September of 1448, Hunyadi had amassed 30,000 men and moved southwards. The Crusaders pillaged and burned across Serbia, but the Serb Despot gave an explicit order of rite of passage, refusing to mount a reaction. He has, however, not only informed Sultan Murat II of the Crusaders' advance, out of both personal interest of friendship with the sultan and anger towards Hunyadi, but also gave him tactical strategic advices regarding the best way to defeat the Crusaders, a plan which the Ottomans followed. The idea included letting the Europeans advance deep into domestic territory, far away from their homeland and then cut off their supply routes, effectively closing them in from all sides and trapping them.

The battle

The Crusaders arrived at the Kosovo Field, the same place the most famous battle in Kosovo, between Serbs and Ottomans, had occurred, facing an up to 60,000-strong Ottoman army. Sultan Murad commanded personally a large front of cannons and janissaries, while his son and successor Mehmed, who faced battle for the first time, led the Anadolian troops at the right wing. Positioned at the battle, Hunyadi commanded the center, while the Crusaders' right wing was under the Wallachians. The Hungarians had had long barrage cannons which had especially instilled fear amongst the Ottomans, so, it is believed, Murad had even attempted to bribe the Crusaders into retreating with a sizable sum, 100,000 ducats.

The next day the battle opened when Hunyadi attacked the Ottoman flanks with mixed cavalry (light and heavy). The Turkish flanks, consisting of soldiers from Rumelia and Anatolia, were losing until Turkish light cavalry arrived to reinforce them. The Christian flanks were subsequently routed and the survivors retreated back to Hunyadi's main force. When Hunyadi saw the defeat of his flanks, he attacked with his main force, composed of knights and light infantry. The janissary corps were not successful and the cavalry made progress through the Turkish center, but were stopped at the Turkish camp. When the main attack was halted, the Turkish infantry regrouped and successfully drove the Hungarian knights back. The light cavalry, who were now without the knights' support were also overcome. Hungarian forces retreated to their camp. During the retreat, the janissaries killed most of the Hungarian nobles and Hunyadi fled. However, Serbs later captured him. During the night, Turkish infantry fired missiles at the Hungarians who replied with cannons. On the next day, a final assault totally annihilated the remaining Hungarian army.

The two-day battle in Kosovo saw both sides taking heavy casualties and left the Ottoman force in command of the field at the end of second day. The Hungarians were supposed to be 24,000 and the Turkish around 40,000 to 60,000.

Aftermath

This battle demonstrated that the Janissary corps, even if their lines were broken through, would not run away from the field if defending the Sultan himself. Otherwise, one major defeat of the Turkish army could have caused only a short turmoil - it would have needed several defeats in a series to break the power of the Ottomans.

The Christian Balkan states were unable to resist the Ottomans after this defeat, eventually falling under control of the Ottoman Empire. Hunyadi successfully defended the Kingdom of Hungary against the Ottoman campaigns. Skanderbeg also successfully continued his resistance in Albania until his death in 1468, 12 years later the country fell to full Ottoman control.

References

• Stephen R. Turnbull, The Ottoman Empire 1326-1699, Osprey Publishing, 2003.
• Jean W. Sedlar, East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000-1500, University of Washington Press, 1994.
• Matthew Bennett, The Hutchinson Dictionary of Ancient & Medieval Warfare, Taylor & Francis, 1998.

External links

• Second Battle of Kosovo The Encyclopedia Britannica