Battle of Kosovo

This page is about the Battle of Kosovo of 1389; for other battles, see Battle of Kosovo (disambiguation); for the movie depicting the battle, see Boj na Kosovu (film)
Battle of Kosovo
Part of the Ottoman wars in Europe
Battle on Kosovo1389.jpg
Battle on Kosovo, by Adam Stefanovic, oil, 1870
Date June 15, 1389 (Julian calendar)
Location Kosovo, Serbia
Result costly Ottoman victory[1]
Belligerents
Flag of the Ottoman Sultanate (1299-1453).svg Ottoman Empire
 Lazarevic.jpg Serbia,
Grb kosaca.gif Bosnia,
Commanders
Murad I  †,
Bayezid I,
Yakub  †		 Lazar Hrebeljanovic  †,
Vuk Brankovic,
Vlatko Vukovic
Strength
~ 27,000-40,000[2][3][4]
 ~ 12,000-30,000[2][3][4][5]
Casualties and losses
Reasonably high; Sultan Murad I was assassinated by Milos Obilic (a Serbian nobleman taken to his tent as a prisoner). Reasonably high; most of the Serbian nobility including Tzar Lazar Hrebeljanovic were killed during the battle.

The Battle of Kosovo (Serbian: Kosovski boj, or Boj na Kosovu; Turkish: Kosova Meydan Muharebesi) was fought on St Vitus' Day (celebrated on June 15 according to the Julian calendar, June 28 by the Gregorian calendar) between Medieval Serbia and the Ottoman Empire, in a field about 5 kilometers northwest of Pristina. [1]

Reliable historical accounts of the battle are scarce. However a critical comparison with historically contemporaneous battles (such as the Battle of Angora or Nikopolis) enable reliable reconstruction.[6]

The Battle of Kosovo is particularly notable to Serbian concepts of history, heritage, tradition and national identity.

Contents

Preparations

Army movement

Prince Lazar of Serbia

After the Bosnians defeated the Ottomans at the Battle of Bileca and the Battle of Plocnik, Murad I, the reigning Ottoman sultan, gathered his troops in Philippoupolis (Plovdiv) in the spring of 1389, and arrived in Ihtiman after a three-day march. From there, the party travelled across Velbužd (Kyustendil) and Kratovo. Though longer than the alternate route through Sofia and the Nišava valley, which would have given them direct access to Prince Lazar's lands, the route taken led the Ottoman party to Kosovo, an area that was strategically important, one of the most important crossroads in the Balkans: from Kosovo, Murad's party could attack either Lazar's or Vuk's lands. Having stayed in Kratovo for a time, Murad and his troops passed across Kumanovo, Preševo and Gnjilane to Priština, where he arrived on June 14.[6]

While there is less information about Lazar's preparations, it can be assumed that he gathered his troops near Niš, possibly on the right bank of Južna Morava. His party likely remained there until he learned that Murad had moved to Velbužd, whereby he also moved probably across Prokuplje to Kosovo. This was Lazar's optimal choice for the battlefield as it meant having control of all the possible routes that Murad could take.[6]

Army composition

It is not certain how large the armies were, especially as later sources tended to exaggerate their size, even into the hundreds of thousands.[7]

Murad's army may have numbered 27,000-40,000.[2][3][4][6] If we take the estimate of 40,000, it probably included 2,000-5,000 Janissaries,[8] 2,500 of Murad's cavalry guard, 6,000 sipahis, 20,000 azaps and akincis and 8,000 of his vassals.[6] Lazar's army might have been 12,000-30,000.[2][3][4][5] If we take the estimate of 25,000, some 15,000 were under Lazar's command, with 5,000 under Serbian nobleman from Kosovo Vuk Brankovic, and as many under Bosnian vojvoda Vlatko Vukovic.[5] Of these, several thousand were cavalry, but perhaps only a few hundred were clad in full plate armour.[7]

Both armies included some foreign troops: for example, the Serbian force included a small number of troops from the Croatian ban Ivan Paližna, probably as part of the Bosnian contingent, while the Turkish army was helped by the Serbian noble Konstantin Dejanovic. This has led some analysts to describe the armies as coalitions.[7]

“ ...if all of us would now turn to salt, we couldn't even salt the Turk's lunch...[9] ”
Coat of arms of Serbia small.svg

This article is part of the series on the
History of Serbia
Medieval Serbia
Rascia
Zeta
Doclea
Zachlumia, Travunia
Serbian Empire
Moravian Serbia
Battle of Kosovo
Serbian Despotate
Ottoman/Habsburg Serbia
First Habsburg Serbia
Second Habsburg Serbia
Revolutionary Serbia
Modern Serbia
Principality of Serbia
Kingdom of Serbia
Serbian Campaign (World War I)
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Serbia (1941-1944)
Republic of Užice
Socialist Republic of Serbia
(as part of SFR Yugoslavia)
FR Yugoslavia
Serbia and Montenegro
Republic of Serbia

The battle

Kosovo Field with probable disposition of troops before the battle

Troop disposition

The armies met at Kosovo Field. The Ottoman army was headed by Murad, with his son Bayezid on his right, and his son Yakub on his left. Around 1,000 archers were in the front line in the wings, backed up by azap and akinci; in the front centre were janissary, behind whom was Murad, surrounded by his cavalry guard; finally, the supply train at the rear was guarded by a small number of troops.[7]

The Serbian army had prince Lazar at its center, Vuk on the right and Vlatko on the left. At the front of the Serbian army was placed the heavy cavalry and archer cavalry on the flanks, with the infantry to the rear. While parallel, the dispositions of the armies were not symmetric, as the Serbian center overlapped the Ottoman center.[7]

“ When torrent a of arrows landed on Serbian armsmen,
who until then stood motionless like mountains of iron,
they rode forward, rolling and thundering like the sea[10]		 ”

Start

The battle commenced with Ottoman archers firing at Serbian cavalry, who then made for the attack. After positioning in a "V" shaped formation, the Serbian cavalry managed to break through the Ottoman left wing, but were not as successful against the center and the right wing.[7]

Turkish counterattack

The Serbs had the initial advantage after their first charge, which significantly damaged the Turkish wing commanded by Yakub Celebi.[2] When the knights' charge was finished, light Ottoman cavalry and light infantry counter-attacked and the Serbian heavy armour became a disadvantage. In the centre, Serbian fighters managed to push back Ottoman forces with only Bayezid's wing holding off the forces commanded by Vlatko Vukovic. The Ottomans, in a counter-attack, pushed the Serbian forces back and then prevailed later in the day, through the help of treachery in the Serbian camp. It is said that Vuk Brankovic , one of the great lords, to whom was entrusted one wing of the Serbian army, had long been jealous of his sovereign. Some historians state that he had arranged with Sultan Amourath to betray his master, in return for the promise of the imperial crown of Serbia, subject to the Sultan's overlord-ship. At a critical moment in the battle, the traitor turned his horse and fled from the field, followed by 12,000 of his troops, who believed this to be a stratagem intended to deceive the Turks. Bayezid I, who would become the Ottoman sultan after the battle, gained his nickname "the thunderbolt" here, after leading the decisive counter-attack.

Murad's death

Bayezid I, oil on canvas by Haydar Hatemi (1999)
Miloš Obilić

Based on Turkish historical records, it is believed that Sultan Murad I was killed by Milos Obilic who, pretending to be dead, killed Murad while he walked on the battlefield after the fighting had finished. In contrast, Serbian sources allege that he was assassinated by Obilic, who went into the Turkish camp on the pretext of being a deserter and, just prior to kneeling before the Sultan, stabbed him in the stomach and killed him. Obilic was immediately "slashed to pieces" by the Sultan's bodyguards.[11] Murad was the only Ottoman sultan who died in battle. Murad's son, Bayezid, was immediately informed of the Sultan's death and, while the battle was still raging, called his brother Yakub and informed him that their father had some new orders for them. When Yakub arrived he was strangled to death, his demise leaving Bayezid as the sole heir to the throne.

However, according to the earliest preserved record, a letter from the Florentine senate to the King Tvrtko I of Bosnia, dated 20 October 1389, Murad was killed during the battle. The killer is not named but it was one of 12 Serbian noblemen who managed to break through the Ottoman ranks, probably during the initial charge of Serbian knights:

“ Fortunate, most fortunate are those hands of the twelve loyal lords who, having opened their way with the sword and having penetrated the enemy lines and the circle of chained camels, heroically reached the tent of Amurat himself. Fortunate above all is that one who so forcefully killed such a strong vojvoda by stabbing him with a sword in the throat and belly. And blessed are all those who gave their lives and blood through the glorious manner of martyrdom as victims of the dead leader over his ugly corpse. [12] ”

The Sultan's tomb remains to this day, in a corner of the battlefield. While it is not in good condition, it has not been vandalized or destroyed - this despite centuries of hostilities between Turks and Serbs.

Aftermath

Kosovo Maiden by Uroš Predić

The battle of Kosovo is generally seen as a victory for the Ottomans.[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] From the military viewpoint however, the battle could be considered as a draw: both sides' leaders were killed, both sides withdrew from the battlefield, and Ottomans did not sack Kosovo, where the battle took place.

However, while losses were substantial on both sides, heavy losses suffered by Serbia resulted in its reduction to a virtual vassal state with Serbian nobles paying tribute and supplying soldiers to the Ottomans.[3] Furthermore, in response to Turkish pressure,[21] some Serbian noblemen wed their daughters, including the daughter of Prince Lazar, to Bayezid.[22][23] In the wake of these marriages, Stefan Lazarevic became a loyal ally of Bayezid, going on to contribute significant forces to many of Bayezid's future military engagements including the Battle of Nicopolis which marked the last large scale Crusade in the Middle Ages

The Battle of Kosovo came to be seen as a symbol of Serbian patriotism and desire for independence in the 19th century rise of nationalism under Ottoman rule. The Battle of Kosovo, and its meaning in the Serbian national perspective, continues to be relevant, as evidenced during the Kosovo War.

References

  1. ↑ See Aftermath
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Sedlar, Jean W.. East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000-1500. University of Washington Press. pp. 244. "Nearly the entire Christian fighting force (between 12,000 and 20,000 men) had been present at Kosovo, while the Ottomans (with 27,000 to 30,000 on the battlefield) retained numerous reserves in Anatolia.". 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Cox, John K.. The History of Serbia. Greenwood Press. pp. 30. "The Ottoman army probably numbered between 30,000 and 40,000. They faced something like 15,000 to 25,000 Eastern Orthodox soldiers.". 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Cowley, Robert; Geoffrey Parker. The Reader's Companion to Military History. Houghton Mifflin Books. pp. 249. "On June 28, 1389, an Ottoman army of between thirty thousand and forty thousand under the command of Sultan Murad I defeated an army of Balkan allies numbering twenty-five thousand to thirty thousand under the command of Prince Lazar of Serbia at Kosovo Polje (Blackbird's Field) in the central Balkans.". 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Kosovska bitka" (in Serbo-Croatian). Vojna Enciklopedija. Belgrade: Vojnoizdavacki zavod. 1972. pp. 659-660. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 "Kosovska bitka" (in Serbo-Croatian). Vojna Enciklopedija. Belgrade: Vojnoizdavacki zavod. 1972. pp. 659. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 "Kosovska bitka" (in Serbo-Croatian). Vojna Enciklopedija. Belgrade: Vojnoizdavacki zavod. 1972. pp. 660. 
  8. ↑ Hans-Henning Kortüm, Transcultural Wars from the Middle Ages to the 21st Century, Akademie Verlag, 231. "But having been established under Murad I (1362-1389), essentially as a bodyguard, the Janissaries cannot have been present in large numbers at Nicopolis (there were no more than 2,000 at Kosovo in 1389)."
  9. ↑ Kosancic Ivan, Serbian epic poetry
  10. ↑ Mehmet Nesri
  11. ↑ The Desperate Act: The Assassination of Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo By Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht, pg. 22
  12. ↑ Wayne S. Vuchinich & Thomas A. Emmert, Kosovo: Legacy of a Medieval Battle, University of Minnesota. 1991.
  13. ↑ Battle of Kosovo, Encyclopedia Britannica
  14. ↑ Kosovo Field, Columbia Encyclopedia
  15. ↑ Kosovo, Battle of, Encarta Encyclopedia
  16. ↑ Historical Dictionary Of Kosova By Robert Elsie, pg.95
  17. ↑ The Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged By Peter N. Stearns, William Leonard Langer, pg. 125
  18. ↑ Global Terrorism By James M Lutz, Brenda J Lutz, pg. 103
  19. ↑ Parliaments and Politics During the Cromwellian Protectorate By David L. Smith, Patrick Little, pg. 124
  20. ↑ Genocide: a critical bibliographic review By Israel W. Charny, Alan L. Berger, pg. 56
  21. ↑ Bloodlines: From Ethnic Pride to Ethnic Terrorism By Vamik D. Volkan, pg. 61
  22. ↑ The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922 By Donald Quataert, pg. 26
  23. ↑ History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey By Stanford Jay Shaw, Ezel Kural Shaw, pg. 24

External links