Battle of Varna

The Battle of Varna took place between Ottoman troops and a Crusader army on November 10, 1444. The Ottomans under Sultan Murad II destroyed while the army of the Crusaders, which was commanded by Wladyslaw III. , King of Poland and Hungary, and John Hunyadi. King Wladyslaw fell in this battle.

Historical Context: The Last Crusade

Encouraged by their unsuccessful for the Turkish sieges of Belgrade in 1440 and Sibiu in 1442, the 1443 starting uprising of the Albanians under Prince Skanderbeg and backed by an alliance with Serbia and Wallachia, whose princes Đurađ Brankovic and Vlad II Dracul the Sultan refused allegiance, was 1443 a polish- Hungarian army of crusaders from Smederevo broken with the aim to prevent the imminent conquest of Constantinople by the Turks. In addition, in 1440 the Pope had already called for a Catholic-Orthodox Church Union at the Council of Florence in 1439 for a crusade. In fact it went, despite a preliminary victory in Sofia in 1443, hardly more than a defense of the Hungarian borders.

History of the Crusade

Military on the defensive, agreed Turks and Hungarians in 1444 negotiations initially a peace treaty. However, Cardinal Giuliano Cesarini gave birth to King Wladyslaw of his oath, which then continued the march to the Black Sea. Instead of the Serbs, who withdrew to Venice and Burgundy joined the alliance, with the Burgundians but did not take part in the crusade army, but the bulk of the initiated by the Pope and his nephew presented commanded crusade fleet.

After the conquest and destruction of the key fortress of Shumen, the further advance of the Crusaders continued the Sultan with his army on the European shore of the Bosphorus over and pulled the Crusaders against forced marches. The crusade fleet could not help being contradict the sources of the reasons for the translation of the Turkish army from Asia Minor. Supposedly a storm prevented the further advance of the Crusade fleet, the lack of coordination between the Army and Navy as well as supply problems but the same also likely to have played a not insignificant role for the inactivity of the fleet. Finally, it was also said that the Venetians and Genoese had even helped the Sultan against good pay when compiling his army because they could have no real interest in troubled diplomatic relations with the Ottoman Empire due to its trade interests in the eastern Mediterranean and have the crusade therefore at best half-hearted support should.

In the Polish- Hungarian army intensified since the rivalry between the Polish King Wladyslaw, as Ulaszlo I also King of Hungary, and his Hungarian- Transylvanian Deputy John Hunyadi, was the rumored to want to rule as regent prefer without a king. In the battle, set initially by the superior cavalry of the Crusaders and beat both Turkish skirmishers and the heavy cavalry of the Sipahi back. The Turks already turned to flee, as Wladyslaw, who was not yet satisfied with its achievements, one last just as foolhardy as risky and ill-advised cavalry charge began. The Janissaries, however, resisted the attack of the Hungarian cavalry, in which Wladyslaw horse fell and he was killed immediately after the fall. The resulting panic among the Crusaders led to their headless escape and the Ottoman forces finally sealing the victory. Hunyadi managed to escape with some difficulty from the battlefield, the papal cardinal legate Giuliano Cesarini, who had also participated in the battle, however, fell in the chaotic retreat of the Crusader army.

Follow

The Turks initially moved further south towards Greece, Hunyadi was able to prepare the continuation of the struggle. Along with Serbian troops withdrew the Hungarians to support the Albanians, but were again defeated in the second battle of Kosovo in 1448. The Turkish conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the rest of Serbia in 1459, Southern Greece ( Duchy of Athens in 1456, Despotat Morea 1460 ), the Romanian Wallachia as a vassal in 1462, Bosnia in 1463 and Albania in 1478 was opposed by nothing. Only the besieged Belgrade was again in 1456 to successfully defend Hunyadi, but was still conquered by the Turks in 1521 and fell to the Ottoman Empire.

Representation of the bay of Varna

Reception

In the history of painting in 1879 dealt with the Battle of Varna of the national romantic painter Jan Matejko and the Polish painter Stanislaw Chlebowski.

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