Battle on the Marchfeld

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Battle on the Marchfeld
Part of the Rudolph's effort to recognising his rule over the Empire
Date August 26, 1278 Location Dürnkrut or Jedenspeigen, Lower Austria, present-day Austria Result Habsburg-Hungarian victory
Belligerents
Holy Roman Empire Austrian lands Kingdom of Hungary (with Cumans) and mercenaries: Swabians, Swiss, Rhineans etc.	Kingdom of Bohemia and mercenaries: Brandenburgs, Meissens, Silesians, Poles etc.
Commanders
Rudolf von Habsburg IV. László	Přemysl II. Otakar †
Strength
30,000	25,000
Casualties and losses
Unknown	12,000 (?) dead

The Battle on the Marchfeld (Morava Field) at Dürnkrut and Jedenspeigen took place on August 26, 1278 and was a decisive event for the history of Central Europe for the following centuries.

The opponents were Czech army led by king Ottokar II of Bohemia and an imperial Army led by Rudolf I of Habsburg in alliance with the Hungarian King Ladislaus IV of Hungary. The Hungarian Army included Hungarian heavy cavalry as well as Cuman horse archers.

The Marchfeld (named after the Morava river) northeast of Vienna became the battlefield, as the armies consisting of knights could easily engage in battle on the flat terrain with hardly any forest. It is estimated that almost 55,000 men were involved (out of these 20,000 of Hungarians and Cumans, besides Pechenegs and Székely horsemens). Thus, it was one of the largest knight battles during the Middle Ages. On the other hand, this battle is also a good example of the aligned usage of heavy cavalry and horse archers.

In the late afternoon, Rudolf's forces finally could decide the battle in their favor. Ottokar did not die in battle, but was murdered during the retreat. It is suspected that he was the victim of a Carinthian knight's personal vendetta.

The victory allowed the Habsburgs to take control over the Duchies of Austria, Styria, Carinthia and Carniola for the centuries to come (until 1918) and to start growing into a serious power in German politics instead of being just a petty-princely caretaker administrator. The Premyslid dynasty, on the other hand, was prevented from expanding to the western, German-speaking lands and effectively competing for the imperial crown, instead turning their main interests eastward to kingdoms of Poland and Hungary. Only some fifty years later did it become possible for kings of Bohemia (a dynasty descended from Premyslids) to again have imperial designs over Germany. The heirs of the two protagonists united their dominions a first time in 1438, and again in 1526, after which several monarchs ruled Vienna from Prague, but usually a bigger number vice versa.

[edit] See also

• List of battles 601-1400