Siege of Belgrade (1456)

The Siege of Belgrade ( altungarisch Nándorfehérvár ) lasted from 4 to 22 July 1456. The the Kingdom of Hungary belongs city had come to the attention of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II after the conquest of Constantinople Opel and their property would undoubtedly have a good basis for the sold a further conquest of Hungarian territories.

The defenders of Belgrade led by John Hunyadi, who had already made a name at this time as " Turks fighters." The successful defense of the city preserved the Hungarian kingdom for now before further direct confrontation with one of the most powerful empires of the time.

The fortress of Belgrade

The fortress of Belgrade was located strategically at the southern border of Hungary and the Serbian Despotate under Đurađ Brankovic. From here, led the only way of Singidunum in the Great Hungarian Plain to Constantinople Opel, namely the so -called since late antiquity Via Militaris ( Military Road ). Along the Morava Nis and led on the one hand on Bulgaria to Thrace to the Bosphorus, and after the turn at Naissus over the Vardar to Macedonia.

The fortress of Belgrade had its origins 535 in the renewal of the legionary fortress, the castle of Belgrade as border defenses ( kastron ) on the Danube under Justinian I. After the complete abandonment of the Danube frontier in the 12th century by Emperor Manuel I as a strategic fort against Hungary built. But only returned after the Battle of Ankara, from the Stefan Lazarević as an ally of the defeated by Timur Ottoman Sultan Beyazit Yildirim under happy circumstances, the Serbs, the castle began as a center of the newly established Serbian Despotate by a ausnehmende construction, in which the parts of the old castle as a city palace of the despot served, spacious rebuild as a fortress. There was a completely new system with a structural separation of the upper and lower city, which was partially excellently protected by a double ring of walls and a deep moat. The system took advantage of military knowledge of the Byzantines and also benefited from the fortress architecture of the Crusaders and the Arabs. Belgrade was the strongest fortress of the Balkan Peninsula as within two decades.

Preparation

Once it became obvious that Mehmed II in 1453 its resources collected after the fall of Constantinople Opel to fight against Hungary, Hunyadi himself went after a public reconciliation with all his enemies to Belgrade in 1455 to equip the fort at their own cost and arm. When he had left her heavily fortified under the command of his brother- Mihály Szilágyi and his older son Ladislaus, he formed a relief army and a fleet of 200 galleys. He was supported by the Franciscan Giovanni da Capistrano, who preached the crusade so effective that Hunyadi's army could be reinforced by numerous crazed peasants. The core of the army consisted of mercenaries and noble horsemen.

Siege

On July 14, 1456 Hunyadi destroyed with his flotilla, the Turkish fleet. On 21 July, Szilágyi resisted a violent attack. On the same day Hunyadi pursued the Turks tangled up in their camp, which he captured after a desperate and violent collision. The wounded Mehmed then raised the siege and returned to Constantinople Opel. Thus, the independence of Hungary was secured for another 70 years.

Aftermath

The Magyars paid a high price for this victory, as Hunyadi three weeks later died of the plague in his camp. The victory of Belgrade stopped for the time being, the expansion of the Ottoman Empire to the west. The victory of Belgrade had saved for the time being convinced that it was felt that the fate of the Christians.

The Pope Calixtus III. established custom of ringing lunch recalls due to a historical mistake to today 's victory in the Christian countries.