Kosovo is a field. The Battle of Kosovo on June 15, 1389

The battle in Kosovo is a major battle between the combined forces of Serbia and the Bosnian kingdom with the sultan Murad I and his Turkish army. It happened on June 15, 1389. The Kosovo field is not far from modern Pristina. They are separated by 5 kilometers. The battle brought great losses to both sides.

What preceded

Sultan Murad I with the troops, having won at Chernomene (1371) and at Savr (1385), continued to advance on the Serbian lands. The Ottoman Empire wanted to subdue the Middle East, North Africa and South-Eastern Europe. And they succeeded in some time. But the Serbs wanted to prevent them at all costs.

A serious defect of the Serbian kingdom was that it broke up into several small entities that were constantly at odds with each other. It is only natural that they were unable to repel enemy attacks. Serbian and Albanian princes, forming a coalition under the leadership of Prince Lazar Khrebelyanovich, in every possible way resisted the Ottoman troops.

Kosovo was the central part of the Serbian lands. This was a crossroads of important routes, which opened a number of routes for the Turks to move further to the Serbian lands. Here an important battle took place.

Murad I paved the way here through the lands of his vassals in Macedonia.

The forces of the parties

The Ottoman army numbered approximately 27-40 thousand people. These included Janissaries (2-5 thousand people), riders of the personal guard of the Sultan (2,5 thousand people), sipahs (6 thousand people), azapy and akynji (20 thousand) and soldiers of vassal states ( 8 thousand).

Prince Lazar Khrebelyanovich headed an army of 12-33 thousand soldiers.

Directly the prince was subordinate to 12-15 thousand people. Vuk Brankovic led 5-10 thousand people. The same number of soldiers was under the command of the Bosnian grandee Vlatko Vukovich. The Serbs were assisted by knights from Hungary and Poland. In addition, they came to the aid of the Hospitallers - Knights of the Order of St. John. As a result, the Serbian army had detachments from Bosnia (sent Tvrtko I), Wallachian, Bulgarian, Croatian and Albanian squads.

The weak point of the Serbian army was the absence of a central command. In addition, the army was not balanced in its composition. Infantry slightly covered the heavy cavalry in armor. The latter constituted the bulk of the army.

Serbs did not have such military experience as the Turkish army, which has won victories in battles for 30 years.

Battle

The Kosovo field is a place that remembers the battle on June 15, 1389. On this day, the army under the leadership of Prince Lazar Khrebelyanovich opposed the army, which greatly exceeded in number. In the songs of Serbia it is pointed out that the battle lasted for three days.

From the Ottomans Murad I led Turkish troops, Prince Bayazid took command of the right flank, and Prince Yakub - left. Ahead of the construction on the flanks were 100 archers. The Janissaries occupied the central positions, behind which among the soldiers of the Guard was the Sultan.

Prince Lazar commanded the center, the right flank led Vuk Brankovic, and Vlatko Vukovich - left. The entire front of the Serbian army was occupied by a heavy cavalry, mounted archers were on the flanks.

To represent the course of events in Kosovo, the map can clearly show the location of troops.

Unfortunately, in Serbian and Turkish sources, the data on the battle are so contradictory that historians can not recreate the battle. It is known that the Serbs rushed into the battle first, despite the numerical superiority of the enemy. Cavalry wedge entered the Turkish positions. 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 a while, the Serbian army was able to push the Turks back in the center. The right flank of the Ottoman army, under the command of Prince Bayezid, quickly turned into a counterattack, ousted the Serbs, inflicting a serious blow to the infantry. After a while, the defense of the Serbian infantry was breached, so she began to retreat.

Light Turkish cavalry shortly struck a counterattack. The infantry went to the Serbian horsemen, encircled in armor. The first managed to overthrow the cavalry.

Without commander-in-chief ...

Vuk Brankovich, saving his troops, left the field of Kosovo. His actions gave rise to various interpretations. Some believe that Vuk saved his soldiers. Others are convinced that he retreated, afraid of completely losing his army. But the people believe that the prince betrayed Lazarus, his father-in-law. Vlatko Vukovich took away the remains of his detachments and Lazar's detachments.

Prince Lazar was taken prisoner and executed that same day.

Serbian governor Milos Obilic was able to penetrate the camp of the Turks, declaring himself a defector. He was able to kill the Ottoman Sultan at the very beginning of the battle. Milosz stabbed Murad with a knife, but the Sultan's guard did not let him leave.

Bayazid I now headed the Turkish army. As soon as he found out about the incident, the prince sent a messenger to his elder brother, Yakub. The message said that the sultan Murad gives new orders. Upon arrival of Yakub to Bayezid he was strangled. Now Prince Bayezid is the only heir of Murad.

There are no winners

The battle on the Kosovo Field in 1389 only formally brought victory to the Turks. But the battlefield is not got to anyone. Although the Serbs and lost an incredibly strong opponent, but they showed a desperate courage. This led to great losses among the Turks. They could no longer continue fighting, so they quickly returned to the East, not forgetting about 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 did not know the outcome of the battle. The circumstances of their death quickly grew legends.

For example, there are a number of versions of 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 in the Serbian chronicles you can find more information. The official version is that he was killed by Prince Miloš Obilic. There is a tradition that he headed the Order of St. George. This community set out to assassinate the Sultan.

Consequences of the Battle of Kosovo

Serbia was able to maintain its independence, but the losses after the battle were very great. And it took a long time to build a new army. After a while, the Ottoman army returned and conquered Serbia - in 1459. And then she went on, almost reached Vienna. The accession of the Serb lands to the Ottoman Empire stopped the political and economic development of the country. And the cultural development of the Serbs finally turned upside down.

Prince Bayezid, who now became the Sultan, was undoubtedly an excellent commander. He is better known as Bayazid the Lightning fast. At the same time, he did not conduct an internal policy in the same way as his father. The new sultan stopped violent assimilation on the conquered territories. Local authorities began to manage the provinces.

Loss as a victory

The history of Kosovo has shown that a loss in the war and loss of troops can raise the national spirit and the people's self-awareness. And even when the Turks owned the Serb lands for 300 years, the Serbs were able to preserve their national identity. Moreover, they succeeded in preserving Orthodoxy, while their Albanian neighbors almost universally adopted Islam.

Some historians believe that if the Turks won, it would accelerate 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 exposed to what it could. Kosovo, Serbia as a whole, took upon themselves a significant part of the blow.

The Importance of the Battle for the Serbs

Despite the fact that the Serbs were defeated, the battle in 1389 was very important. Its importance is to unite the existing Serbian principalities. In fact, the Kosovo field is the place where the history of the unified state of Serbia began. Many researchers argue that this battle is one of the most unknown and incomprehensible. Part claims that this story was created by legends and speculation, confirmed by the sources of the XIV century.

Serb historians believe that initially there were a number of variations of the Kosovo battle. Over time, they merged into one.

Why did history turn into a legend?

It is possible that the myth was created in order to influence generations of Serbs. The basis of the legend is the biblical story. Prince Lazarus is often compared with Jesus Christ.

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 martyred.

Therefore, almost all folk songs and epics sing of warriors as martyrs. And the highest value of Serbia was the crown of martyrdom, that is, the emphasis is on the spiritual meaning of events, so the Serbs feel themselves winners. And this feeling gives inspiration to a new generation.