Hungarian–Ottoman Wars

Ottoman-Hungarian Wars
Part of the Ottoman Wars in Europe
Battle of Nándorfehérvár (now Belgrade, Serbia), Hungarian painting from the 19. century. In the middle Giovanni da Capistrano with the cross in his hand.
Date 1439 to 1526+ Location Balkans, Kingdom of Hungary Result Ottoman victory, Hungarian Kingdom partitioned
Belligerents
Kingdom of Hungary Hungarian allies: Croatia Wallachia Moldavia League of Lezhë	Ottoman Turks Various vassals (see Hungarian allies)
Commanders and leaders
King of Hungary	Ottoman Sultan
Strength
~20,000 - 60,000	Capable of raising 100,000 men

The Ottoman-Hungarian War refers to a series of battles between the Ottoman Empire and the Medieval Kingdom of Hungary. Following the Byzantine civil war, the Ottoman capture of Gallipoli and the decisive Battle of Kosovo, the Ottoman Empire seemed poised to conquer the whole of the Balkans. However, the Ottoman invasion of Serbia drove Hungary to war against the Ottomans, with the former having interests in the Balkans and competing for the vassalship of the Balkan states of Serbia, Bulgaria and Croatia.

Initial Hungarian success culminated in the Crusade of Varna, though without significant outside support the Hungarians were defeated. Nonetheless the Ottomans suffered more defeats at Belgrade, even after the conquest of Constantinople. In particular was the infamous Vlad the Impaler who with limited Hungarian help resisted Ottoman rule until the Ottomans were able to place his brother, a man less feared and less hated by the populace on the throne of Wallachia. Ottoman success was once again halted at Moldavia due to Hungarian intervention but the Turks emerged triumphant at last when Moldavia and then Belgrade fell to Bayezid II and Suleiman the Magnificent respectively. In 1526 the Ottomans crushed a poorly deployed Hungarian army at Mohacs with King Louis II of Hungary perishing along with 14,000 of his foot soldiers. Following this defeat, Hungary ceased as an independent power and served as an Ottoman tributary state, constantly at civil war with Royal Hungary. The war continued with the Habsburg Austrians now fighting Suleiman and his successors. The Kingdom of Hungary which at one point was one of the most powerful Christian Kingdoms in the East now suffered war on a regular basis.

Background

In c1290, the ghazi leader of the Turks in northwestern Anatolia was succeeded by a far-less peaceful orientated man by the name of Osman I. Osman greatly expanded his domain, defeating numerous abortive Byzantine efforts to displace him, including a diplomatic one whereby the Ilkhanate was courted by the Byzantines to attack Osman. By 1326, Osman had taken numerous villages and towns of the Byzantine Empire and in 1354 his successors crossed the Dardanelles into Europe. Ottoman advance remained unchecked until the power of Serbia was destroyed at Kosovo. Bulgaria, Wallachia, Croatia and Albania - all minor powers of the Ottomans easily outnumbered their Turkish adversaries but one on one the divided states were no match for the greatness of the Turks. Of great assistance was the Serbian vassal of the Ottomans, who continued to provide many troops to the Ottomans.

Timur and the Ottoman Interregnum

Despite these successes the Ottomans would have to start all over from near-scratch when in 1402 Timur the lame of the Chagatai Khanate captured the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid the Thunderbolt at Ankara, so named for the speed of his crushing victories against his Christian opponents, most notably at Nicopolis.

Campaigns of Murad II, 1421 - 1451

The Ottoman Empire seemed to have collapsed after 1402 but Murad II, the successor to Mehmed I proved to be a man of far greater ghazi skills then his peaceful predecessor whose appreciation of Byzantine assistance even made him go so far as to accept the Byzantine Emperor as his suzerain. Such an arrangement was out of all proportion to the powers of the two Empires, and in 1422 Murad II demonstrated how much of a "suzerain" the Emperor was to the Sultan when Constantinople narrowly escaped an Ottoman conquest

With Byzantium neutralized and terrified in servitude as a vassal, Murad II began his holy war against his Christian opponents, attacking Macedonia and capturing Thessalonika from the Venetians in 1430. Between 1435 and 1436 the Ottomans made a show of strength in Albania but the country survived total knock out when the Kingdom of Hungary, whose borders now neared those of the Ottoman realm intervened.

Hungary enters the war

Murad II capture of Smederevo in 1439 prompted the Despot of Serbia, George Brankovic to seek refuge in the Hungarian realm. John Hunyadi, Hungary's greatest general launched a surprise assault on the fort. Hunyadi then deployed his infantry to launch a direct assault against the Ottoman troops, tying them down whilst his heavy cavalry wheeled around and crushed them in a considerable Christian victory. As considerable as it was, it did not give the fort back to George of Serbia but nonetheless was pleased with the efforts, handing over the city of Belgrade to his mighty northern ally.

Murad II was less than pleased to hear of such a victory. Transylvannia was next to feel the Ottoman war machine but at Sibui the Ottomans made little headway. Battle was given again by Hunyadi at a narrow pass known as the Iron gates. When the Jannisaries and Sipahis were engaged, Hunyadi engineered a false route, then turned upon his pursuers at his wagon line, inflicting yet another victory.

Varna

Murad II was unable to stop Hunyadi from calling in reinforcements from Western Europe. Few knights came, but those that did assisted in capturing Nis on November 3 1443, defeating another Turkish army as they crossed the Balkan Mountains and then taking another victory on Christmas day. Christmas or not, supplies for the Crusader army were low and Hunyadi concluded a 10-year peace treaty with Murad II, presumably on his terms for it was triumphant Hungarian that entered Buda in February of 1444. 10 years was the maximum time permitted by Islamic law for a treaty with an "infidel". Unfortunately for the Hungarians, no such time limit existed in the minds of the Papal legate, for if it did it would have been a very small one - Cardinal Cesarini incited the Hungarians to break the treaty and attack the Turks once more. It was a foolish move, for much of the Crusader armies' strength had been reduced due to the loss (by defection) of Serbia, Albania and the Byzantine Empire. Fanciful ideas had been discussed of Greeks making diversionary attacks in the Peloponnese. Even the recapture of Jerusalem was entertained.

It was a foolishly small Crusader army that attacked across the Danube. Sultan Murad II, upon hearing of the Christian breach of the treaty is said to have mounted the broken treaty on his standard and said the words, "Christ, if you are God as your followers claim, punish them for their perfidy". Accounts vary as to how many troops were present but the Crusaders may have been 30,000 whilst the Ottomans between two to three times larger. Nonetheless Hunyadi's successful defense wagons held the line until King Ladislas led a foolish glory-motivated charge to his death against the Turkish lines. His head was mounted on a spear and all the defeated Christians could see it, most likely before their death, for very few survived the battle. It was somewhat consoling for to the Hungarians that John Hunyadi lived to fight and win another day. For Murad II, the battle was a close call. His forces had suffered heavy casualties and the prisoners suffered death at the hands of his revenge.

After Varna

The Hungarians recovered their strength after Varna and John Hunyadi was able lead another expedition down the Danube. Turkish counter-attacks saw this "crusade" driven back. After Murad dealt with the Greeks at the Peloponesse and other traitors who fought him at Varna, he turned his attention to Albania, whose leader was once one of many Ottoman hostages was now a popular resistance leader. Hunyadi could not refuse an offer to fight the Turks and in 1448 an army of some 24,000 Hungarians marched south into Serbia to link up with his Albanian ally. At the Second Battle of Kosovo Murad scored another victory against the Hungarians and prevented their army from linking up with their Albanian allies. This time, Hunyadi had had enough and was unable to campaign against the Ottoman Sultan. Murad II passed on his powers to his successor, Mehmed II. Thanks to such victories, the Ottoman forces were able to capture Constantinople in 1453 with only the Italians able to offer minimal yet much-needed support.

Mehmed II, 1451 - 1481

With Constantinople under his belt and a great euphoria from the conquest, Mehmet II began making preparations for his next campaign against Belgrade. The city was a triple-walled fortress but was poorly manned. Nonetheless when Mehmed II tried to take the city, not only was he repulsed but a furious and suicidal counter-attack launched by the inexperienced and fanatical civilians drove the Turks from the field. Even so the Ottomans were able to campaign with greater success elsewhere. The Duchy of Athens, Trebizond and Albania was brought beneath the Sultan's boot in 1456, 1461 and 1468. Of equally great importance was the death of John Hunyadi to the Plague, depriving the Hungarians one of their most heroic generals.

Vlad the Impaler & war with Wallachia, 1456 - 1475

Mehmed II's post-Constantinople troubles escalated further when the Balkan principality of Wallachia under the dreaded Count Vlad Dracula rebelled against the Ottoman Empire and declared the King of Hungary as his suzerain. The main drive for these actions was Vlad's return to his homeland after being in exile, as a hostage of the Ottoman sultan. Five years after his return from exile, Vlad initiated war with the Turks when in 1461 he impaled the Turkish ambassadors demanding tribute from him and took the fortress of Giurgiu. Vlad then began leading a bloody assault across the Danube to the Black sea, destroying as much of the ports as he could lay his hands on to prevent Ottoman naval attacks. Ottoman attempts to subdue Vlad militarily proved a failure but his cruelty, which had given him the edge of striking terror into the hearts of his enemies proved to be his undoing. When Mehmed offered the populace the choice of Radu, Vlad's brother or the Impaler himself, the populace knew who to choose and soon Vlad was once again an exile on the run. An attempt to return a few years afterwards ended in his death in battle.

Stephen the Great & war against Moldavia, 1475 - 1476

Mehmed's army seems to have spent itself in Wallachia for the campaign against the Moldavians was shorter and yielded poorer results still. In 1475 Mehmed ordered an invasion of Moldavia. Again, the Ottomans often took possession of the field but Moldavian hit & run tactics proved effective against the Turks. Poor roads slowed the Ottomans further still until Stephen was able to concentrate his forces at Vaslui. An Ottoman offensive was held in check and then finally driven from the field on 10 January 1475.

The Ottomans returned in 1476, this time assisted by their allies from Crimea, the Tartars and their newly-conquered Vassal of Wallachia. Stephen knew that he did not have the resources to defend his people and evacuated them to the mountains. After a failed attack on the Ottoman vanguard Stephen seemed on the brink of defeat when King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary offered assistance against the Sultan. The Ottomans withdrew when the Hungarians began moving in and fighting did not resume until 1484

Bayezid II, 1481 - 1512

Bayezid's early reign was cursed with a small civil war against his brother Jem, who escaped to the west. There European leaders entertained ideas of installing a pro-Western Sultan whilst Crusading their way to the Balkans. Consequently Bayezid II did not incite any serious wars with his Christian opponents until his brother's death in 1495. In the meantime Bayezid signed a ten-year peace with Hungary in 1484 although this did not prevent a defeat of an Ottoman army at Villach in 1493. Between 1484 and 1486 Bayezid campaigned annually against Moldavia in an attempt to subdue it and link up with Crimea, his Muslim vassal and ally. Despite two defeats in 1485 and 1486 Moldavia was subjugated. As Bayezid's reign drew to a close he was entangled in a civil war between his sons Ahmed and Selim. Eventually Selim took the throne in 1512 and for the next 8 years continued minor conquests in the west - although his main achievement was the conquest of the Mamluke Sultanate. It would be Selim's successor, Suleiman who would continue the war against Hungary.

Suleiman the Magnificent, 1520 - 1566

Suleiman resumed the war against Hungary by attacking the city of Belgrade, the same settlement that had defied Mehmed II over half a century ago. Despite reminiscent heroic resistance, the city fell to Suleiman. In 1522 Suleiman took his army to a strategically successful siege of Rhodes, allowing the Knights Hospital to evacuate for the fort. Even so the Hungarians should not have wasted the small reprieve in weakening their state.

Mohacs: the Fall of the Kingdom and ascendancy of the Sultanate

When Suleiman launched an invasion in 1526 the Grand vizier was able to construct a great bridge ahead of the Sultan allowing his army to march into Hungary. Despite 80 days of marching and taking 5 days to cross the Danube River the Ottomans met no resistance against the Hungarians. The original plan set out by King Louis II was to send a vanguard to hold the Danube where the Ottomans were expected to cross, yet the nobles of the Kingdom refused to follow the King's deputy in battle, claiming that they did so out of zealous allegiance to the King (and would therefore only follow him). Consequently when King Louis II took the field his army of 26,000 men seemed to be doomed to fail against the Ottomans' 100,000. At Mohacs the plains of Hungary allowed the Heavier Christian Knights to launch an effective charge. However, the Sultan placed his Jannisaries and cannon chained up as an effective last line of defense. As the Hungarian knights brushed aside first the Akinjis and then the heavier Sipahis, the Ottoman cavalry regrouped and flanked the knights. With the Cavalry annihilated, the Infantry suffered immense casualties as the weight of numbers of the Ottomans and their skill in battle took their toll. When Suleiman the Magnificent found the body of the dead Louis II he is said to have been disappointed at cutting down the youth, who had no heirs.

Aftermath of Mohacs

John Zapolyai, who had been instructed by Louis II to raid the enemy's supply lines arrived at the battle too late and fled the scene. Suleiman however was not ready to annex the Kingdom completely into the Ottoman realm and so John Zapolyai was installed as the vassal King of Hungary. Meanwhile at the diet of Bratislava Archduke Ferdinand of Austria was declared King of Hungary. The surviving nobles of Hungary now had to choose between a native vassal of Suleiman and a Christian "foreigner" to pledge allegiance to.

Suleiman's victory at Mohacs is considered a great and decisive battle for the Ottomans. However, even though the Kingdom of Hungary was knocked out of the war Austria now took on the Ottoman enemy. This is not to say that Austria alone could bear the full might of the Ottoman Empire, nor was Ottoman rule in most of Hungary seriously contested beyond the city of Buda. Nonetheless Mohacs simply enlarged the borders of the Ottoman realm thereby increasing exposure to attack, bringing the empire into later conflict with Poland, Russia, the Cossacks and the Habsburgs.