Doboj Fortress
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Doboj fortress "Gradina" is located in the city of Doboj, northern Bosnia & Herzegovina.
One of the most important defenses in the medieval bannate/dukedom of Usora, this massive stone structure has been built in the early 13th century on the site of earlier, clay and wood-based structure from 10th/11th century. In the first period of its existence, 1200-? until the end of 14th/beginning of 15th century (1415), the fortress has been built in the romanic style. After the reconstruction of 1415 Doboj fortress becomes a gothic structure and has its donjon reinforced with thick walls as well as addition of bastion/plateau with the six cannon on top of it. In early August of the same year, Bosnian nobility with its armies (under command of Hrvoje Vukcic) in the coalition with Ottoman Turks (under Isa-Beg) fought the Hungarians in the Battle of Doboj (1415). During this campaign Hungarians (under Johannes de Gara and Johannes Morovic) had had their main camp right under the fortress of Doboj and the main battle took place in the area of Makljenovac, 2 km away from the fortress itself. Hungarians were heavily defeated in this battle and were not to undertake any major offensive against Turks until the Second Battle of Kosovo in 1448. Turks had conquered the city of Doboj and its fortress in 1476 and had the fortress completely reconstructed and gave it new shape by adding the outer wall and additional structures. In the Austrian/Turkish war (1697) Doboj fortress had been sacked and burnt by Prince Eugene of Savoy and his Austrian armies on the march to Sarajevo. The fortress had been conquered and burnt by Austrians again in the summer of 1717. In 1740, Turks have added a torture chamber to the fortress's interior but its garrison at the time consists of only 40+ standing soldiers. Doboj fortress loses its military signifance in the late 18/early 19th century as the turkish borders shift dramatically in the Austrian/Turkish Wars, and later Napoleonic wars on Balkans and elsewhere. In 1878 Austro-Hungarian armies captured the fortress after the battle with a local population. At the beginning of 20th century, Doboj fortress had lost its military importance, but remains one of the most important medieval stuctures in Bosnia & Herzegovina and the best known symbol of modern city of Doboj.
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