The Battle of Kosovo is a major battle between the combined forces of Serbia and the Kingdom of Bosnia with Sultan Murad I and his Turkish army. It happened on June 15, 1389. Kosovo field is located near modern Pristina. They are separated by 5 kilometers. The battle brought heavy losses to both sides.
What came before
Sultan Murad I with troops, having won at Chernomen (1371) and Savra (1385), continued to advance on Serbian lands. The Ottoman Empire wanted to subjugate the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Europe. And they succeeded after a while. But the Serbs wanted to stop them at all costs.
A serious shortcoming of the Serbian kingdom was that it broke up into several small formations that were constantly at enmity with each other. Quite naturally, they were unable to repel enemy attacks. Serbian and Albanian princes, having formed a coalition led by Prince Lazar Khrebelyanovich, opposed the Ottoman troops in every possible way.
Kosovo was the central part of Serbian lands. It was a crossroads of important routes, which opened up a number of routes for the Turks to move further into Serbian lands. Here an important battle took place.
Murad I paved the way here through the lands of his vassals in Macedonia.
Side Forces
The Ottoman army numbered approximately 27-40 thousand people. These included Janissaries (2-5 thousand people), horsemen of the personal guard of the Sultan (2.5 thousand people), sipahis (6 thousand people), Azaps and akindzhi (20 thousand) and warriors of vassal states (8 thousand).
Prince Lazar Khrebelyanovich led an army of 12-33 thousand soldiers.
12-15 thousand people were directly subordinate to the prince. Vuk Brankovich led 5-10 thousand people. The same number of soldiers were under the command of the Bosnian nobleman Vlatko Vukovich. The Serbs were assisted by knights from Hungary and Poland. In addition, they came to the rescue of the hospitaliers - the knights of the Order of St. John. As a result, the Serbian army had detachments from Bosnia (sent by Tvrtko I), Wallachian, Bulgarian, Croatian and Albanian squads.
The weak point of the Serbian army was the lack of a central command. In addition, the army was not balanced in its composition. The infantry provided little cover for the heavily armored cavalry. The latter made up the bulk of the army.
The Serbs did not have the same military experience as the Turkish army, which has been victorious in battles for 30 years.
Fight
Kosovo field - a place that remembers the battle of June 15, 1389. On this day, the army, led by Prince Lazar Khrebelyanovich, opposed the army, which was much larger in number. Serbian songs indicate that the battle lasted for three days.
From the side of the Ottomans MuradI led the Turkish troops, Prince Bayazid took command of the right flank, and Prince Yakub took command of the left. Ahead of the formation on the flanks were 100 archers. The Janissaries occupied the central positions, behind which the Sultan was among the soldiers of the guard.
Prince Lazar commanded the center, the right flank was led by Vuk Brankovich, and Vlatko Vukovich - the left. The entire front of the Serbian army was occupied by heavy cavalry, horse archers were on the flanks.
To represent the course of events in Kosovo, a map can visually show the location of troops.
Unfortunately, Serbian and Turkish sources of information about the battle are so contradictory that historians cannot recreate the battle. It is known that the Serbs were the first to rush into battle, despite the numerical superiority of the enemy. The cavalry entered the Turkish positions like a wedge. At the same time, the shelling of Serbian positions by Turkish archers began. The Serbs managed to break through the left flank of the Ottoman army. The latter suffered heavy losses. But there were no such successes in the center and on the right flank. After some time, the Serbian army was able to somewhat push back the Turks in the center. The right flank of the Ottoman army under the command of Prince Bayezid quickly launched a counterattack, pushed back the Serbs, causing a serious blow to the infantry. After some time, the defense of the Serbian infantry was broken through, so they began to retreat.
The light Turkish cavalry soon struck a counterattack. The infantry went to the armored Serbian horsemen. The first to overturn the cavalry.
Without commanders in chief…
Vuk Brankovic, saving histroops left the Kosovo field. His actions have given rise to various interpretations. Some believe that Vuk saved his warriors. Others are convinced that he retreated, fearing to completely lose his army. But people believe that the prince betrayed Lazar, his father-in-law. Vlatko Vukovich led the rest of his units and Lazar's units.
Prince Lazar was captured and executed on the same day.
Serbian voivode Milos Obilic was able to infiltrate the camp of the Turks, declaring himself a defector. He was able to kill the Ottoman Sultan at the very beginning of the battle. Milos stabbed Murad with a knife, but the Sultan's guards did not let him leave.
Bayazid I now led the Turkish army. As soon as he learned about what had happened, the prince sent a messenger to his elder brother Yakub. The message said that Sultan Murad was giving new orders. Upon the arrival of Yakub to Bayezid, he was strangled. Now Prince Bayazid is Murad's sole heir.
No winners
The Battle of Kosovo in 1389 only formally brought victory to the Turks. But no one got the battlefield. Although the Serbs lost to an incredibly strong opponent, they showed desperate courage. This led to heavy losses among the Turks. They could no longer continue fighting, so they quickly returned to the East, not forgetting the Kosovo field.
The battle led to the birth of many legends. Many of them are related to the fact that the commanders of the troops were killed before the end of the battle. Therefore, none of them ever knew the outcome of the battle. The circumstances of their death quickly grewlegends.
For example, there are a number of versions about how Sultan Murad was killed. One of them claims that he died at the hands of a Serbian warrior who pretended to be dead. But more information can be found in the Serbian chronicles. The official version is that he was killed by Prince Milos Obilic. There is a legend that he headed the Order of St. George. This community had as its goal the assassination of the Sultan.
Aftermath of the Battle of Kosovo
Serbia was able to maintain its independence, but the losses after the battle were very high. And it took a long time to raise a new army. Some time later, the Ottoman army returned and conquered Serbia - in 1459. And then she went on, almost reached Vienna. The accession of Serbian lands to the Ottoman Empire stopped the political and economic development of the country. And the cultural development of the Serbs has finally turned upside down.
Prince Bayazid, who has now become a Sultan, was undoubtedly an excellent commander. He is better known as Bayazid the Lightning. At the same time, he pursued domestic politics in a completely different way than his father. The new sultan stopped forced assimilation in the conquered territories. Local authorities began to govern the provinces.
Losing is like winning
The history of Kosovo has shown that losing a war and losing troops can raise the national spirit and self-consciousness of the people. And even when the Turks owned Serbian lands for 300 years, the Serbs were able to maintain their national identity. Moreover, they managed to maintain Orthodoxy, while their Albanian neighbors converted to Islam almost en masse.
Somehistorians believe that if the Turks had won, it would have accelerated the conquest of the Balkans. And the death of Sultan Murad and the incredible resistance of the southern Slavs gave them the opportunity to preserve their nationalities and religion. Europe has not been subjected to what it could have been. Kosovo, Serbia as a whole, took a significant part of the blow.
Importance of the battle for Serbs
Despite the fact that the Serbs were defeated, the battle in 1389 was very important. Its importance lies in the unification of the existing Serbian principalities. In fact, Kosovo field is the place where the history of the united state of Serbia began. Many researchers claim that this battle is one of the most unknown and incomprehensible. Part claims that this story was created by legends and conjectures, confirmed by sources of the XIV century.
Serbian historians believe that there were originally a number of variations of the Battle of Kosovo. Over time, they merged into one.
Why did history become legend?
Perhaps the myth was created to influence generations of Serbs. The legend is based on a biblical story. Prince Lazar is often compared to Jesus Christ.
The religious motif also remains in the legend. The duration of the battle is 3 days, so you can draw a parallel with Golgotha. And the death of almost the entire Serbian army is a martyr.
Therefore, almost all folk songs and epics sing of warriors as martyrs. And the crown of martyrdom has become the highest value of Serbia, i.e., the emphasis is on the spiritual meaning of events, thereforeSerbs feel like winners. And this feeling gives life inspiration to a new generation.
