Battle of Pločnik

Battle of Pločnik
Part of the Ottoman wars in Europe
Date 1386(1387[1])
Location Pločnik
Result Decisive Serbian victory[1]
The first serious defeat for Ottoman army in the Balkans [1]
Ottoman invasion temporarily slowed in Serbia until First Battle of Kosovo
Belligerents
Serbian Principality
Kingdom of Bosnia		 'Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Miloš Obilić
Lazar Hrebeljanović		 Şahin Paşa[1] (Kula Şahin Paşa)
Strength
30.000[1] 20.000[1]
Casualties and losses
few [1] very heavy at least 13.000[1]
Medieval Serbian-Turkish Wars

The Battle of Pločnik was fought in 1386[2] (or, according to other sources, in 1387[3]), at the village of Pločnik, near Prokuplje in today's southeastern Serbia, between the Serbian and Bosnian forces of prince Lazar Hrebeljanović and the invading Ottoman Turks of sultan Murad I.

It was the second clash between the Ottomans and forces commanded by Lazar, the first being the 1381 Battle of Dubravnica, and this battle would precede the ultimate Battle of Kosovo in 1389. King Tvrtko I of Bosnia sent auxiliary troops and the Bulgarian tsar Ivan Shishman joined the coalition, but he was unable to send troops.[4] The Serbian army used heavy knight cavalry charge with horse archers on the flanks. Miloš Obilić, who later became a hero in Serbian folklore about the Battle of Kosovo, was wounded by arrow in the battle.

The Serbian army emerged victorious, although details of the actual battle are sketchy. The Serbian victory temporarily slowed the Ottoman invasion of the Balkans, and set the stage for the Battle of Kosovo between the two armies in 1389.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Kemal,Namık -Osmanlı Tarihi Cilt:1 (History of Ottoman Empire-Volume I) Page:200,219,250(Turkish)
  2. ^ Velikonja, Mitja. Religious Separation and Political Intolerance in Bosnia-Herzegovina, (Texas A&M University Press, 2003), 48. ISBN 1585442267
  3. ^ Evans, Arthur. Through Bosnia and the Herzegóvina on Foot During the Insurrection, (Longmans, Green and Co, 1877), lxiv.
  4. ^ History of Bulgary in 14 volumes, vol. 3, 1982 (История на България в 14 тома, 1982, т. 3., С., изд-ние на БАН) pp. 358-362