#Kosovo 1448

[warfantasy]

Campaigns of John Hunyadi

Introduction Kingdom of Hungary and Croatia had provided a continuous defense of Western Europe against Ottoman expansion from Battle of Nicopolis in 1396. until Battle of Mohacs in 1526. During this time, external assistance was received only infrequently. With Franco-Burgundian military incompetence causing a disaster at Nicopolis, and Western Europe busy with its own matters, Hungary was…

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 10.17 (before 1950)

690 – Empress Wu Zetian establishes the Zhou Dynasty of China. 1091 – London tornado of 1091: A tornado thought to be of strength T8/F4 strikes the heart of London. 1346 – The English capture King David II of Scotland at Neville's Cross and imprison him for eleven years. 1448 – An Ottoman army defeats a Hungarian army at the Second Battle of Kosovo. 1456 – The University of Greifswald is established as the second oldest university in northern Europe. 1534 – Anti-Catholic posters appear in Paris and other cities supporting Huldrych Zwingli's position on the Mass. 1558 – Poczta Polska, the Polish postal service, is founded. 1604 – Kepler's Supernova is observed in the constellation of Ophiuchus. 1610 – French king Louis XIII is crowned in Reims Cathedral. 1660 – The nine regicides who signed the death warrant of Charles I of England are hanged, drawn and quartered. 1662 – Charles II of England sells Dunkirk to Louis XIV of France for 40,000 pounds. 1713 – Great Northern War: Russia defeats Sweden in the Battle of Kostianvirta in Pälkäne. 1771 – Premiere in Milan of the opera Ascanio in Alba, composed by Mozart at age 15. 1777 – American Revolutionary War: British General John Burgoyne surrenders his army at Saratoga, New York. 1781 – American Revolutionary War: British General Charles, Earl Cornwallis surrenders at the Siege of Yorktown. 1800 – War of the Second Coalition: Britain takes control of the Dutch colony of Curaçao. 1806 – Former leader of the Haitian Revolution, Emperor Jacques I, is assassinated after an oppressive rule. 1811 – The silver deposits of Agua Amarga are discovered in Chile becoming in the following years instrumental for the Patriots to finance the Chilean War of Independence. 1814 – Eight people die in the London Beer Flood. 1850 – Riots start, which lead to a massacre in Aleppo. 1860 – First The Open Championship (referred to in North America as the British Open). 1861 – Aboriginal Australians kill nineteen Europeans in the Cullin-la-ringo massacre. 1907 – Marconi begins the first commercial transatlantic wireless service. 1912 – Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia declare war on the Ottoman Empire, joining Montenegro in the First Balkan War. 1919 – Leeds United F.C. founded at Salem Chapel, Holbeck after the winding up of Leeds City F.C. for making illegal payments to players during World War I. 1931 – Al Capone is convicted of income tax evasion. 1933 – Albert Einstein flees Nazi Germany and moves to the United States. 1940 – The body of Communist propagandist Willi Münzenberg is found in South France, starting a never-resolved mystery. 1941 – World War II: The USS Kearny becomes the first U.S. Navy vessel to be torpedoed by a U-boat. 1943 – The Burma Railway (Burma–Thailand Railway) is completed. 1943 – Nazi Holocaust in Poland: Sobibór extermination camp is closed. 1945 – A large demonstration in Buenos Aires, Argentina, demands Juan Perón's release.

[dragonkingancalagon]

Campaigns of John Hunyadi

Campaigns of John Hunyadi

Introduction

Kingdom of Hungary and Croatia had provided a continuous defense of Western Europe against Ottoman expansion from Battle of Nicopolis in 1396. until Battle of Mohacs in 1526. During this time, external assistance was received only infrequently. With Franco-Burgundian military incompetence causing a disaster at Nicopolis, and Western Europe busy with its own matters, Hungary was…

[abr]

Domande sensibili

Coloro che si sentono offesi da questa bandiera: 

conoscono l’origine di quest’altra? 

Un riflesso della luna che occulta una stella, apparve nelle pozze di sangue degli slavi massacrati durante la battaglia di Kosovo Polje del 1448. Secondo un'altra leggenda, la mezzaluna e la stella erano nel cielo la notte della caduta di Costantinopoli nelle mani del sultano Mehmet II nel 1453. Massacri, okkupazioni, deportazioni, schiavitù: su questi nessuno ha nulla da dire, nessuno si sente offeso: riguardano cristiani bianchi.. 

[cincinnatusvirtue]

Vlad III Dracula (1428/1431-1476/1477)  AKA Vlad the Impaler.  Voivode of Wallachia and real life inspiration for the modern popular conception of the vampire.

Some historical figures are steeped in more mythology and it can be hard to separate fact from fiction.  This could well be true of one especially seen to be viewed as the inspiration for one of the most popular monster figures of contemporary culture.  Let’s look in more detail at what we know of the real life, Dracula, Vlad III, Voivode of Wallachia...

-Vlad was born between the years 1428-1431 in what is the modern nation of Romania.  At the time Romania was divided among different provinces, Transylvania in the north, then part of the Kingdom of Hungary.  Moldavia in the east, a part of modern Romania and Moldovia and Wallachia in the south just north of the Danube river border with Bulgaria.  

-He was born in the town of Sighisoara in Transylvania, the town was largely a merchant town controlled by Transylvanian Saxons (Germans) burghers and located in the Kingdom of Hungary.  Transylvania was populated by Hungarians, German Saxons and Romanians (Vlachs/Wallachians).  

-Vlad was an ethnic Romanian with roots in the nobility of Wallachia & Moldavia.  His father was originally from the House of Basarab, but their branch became known as Draculesti.  Vlad’s father was Vlad II of Wallachia, also known as Vlad Dracul, due to his membership in a Christian military order sanctioned by the Catholic Church, the Order of the Dragon.  Their mission was to prevent the spread of Islam into Europe, namely from the threat of the Turkish Ottoman Empire that had conquered much of the Balkans in Southeastern Europe by then.

-The sobriquet Dracul was Medieval Romanian for “dragon” and Dracula as Vlad III would be called or Vlad Dracula meant “son of the dragon” as relates to his father.  In modern Romanian, Dracul means the “devil”.  

-Vlad’s mother is unknown, Vlad II’s first was unknown but some historians now believe his mother to have been Eupraxia of Moldavia, a relative of Alexander I of Moldavia.

-Vlad II Dracul would serve as voivode of Wallachia on more than one occasion, due to his family’s noble status.  The term voivode was used mostly in Southeastern Europe, taken from the Slavic languages to mean roughly warlord, or later as prince.  It mostly used in Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia & Croatia, Poland, Ukraine & Russia as well as Romania and Hungary.

-In 1436 his father came to power as voivode of Wallachia in the south of Romania following the death of his half-brother Alexander I Aldea.  At the time, Wallachia found itself caught in a power struggle between rival factions and interests internally as well as in the wider context of the rival ambitions of Moldavia, Hungary and the Ottomans.  Nominally, the voivode of Wallachia needed the blessing of the Hungarian King, Sigismund of Luxembourg, later Holy Roman Emperor or the Ottoman Sultan.

-Vlad II was made a member of the Order of the Dragon by Sigismund and given his blessing on the grounds, he protect Roman Catholicism, despite himself being a member of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

-Vlad was supported by the Hungarians whereas his brother had paid homage to the Ottoman Sultan.  However, in 1437 Sigismund died, followed by rebellion in Transylvania which weakened the Hungarian position.  In order to protect his own precarious position on the throne, he now chose to deal with the Ottomans and traveled to the then Ottoman capital in Adrianople, modern Edirne, Turkey.  In return for Ottoman patronage he agreed to annual monetary tribute and had to serve on military campaigns in support of the Turks.  Becoming their vassal.  The Sultan at the time was Murad II.

-Vlad II supported the invasion of Hungarian Transylvania serving as Murad’s guide and aided the Turks in capturing 30,000 slaves for them.  However, he also sought to placate the new Hungarian king, Albert of the House of Hapsburg by releasing some prisoners taken.  He hoped to maintain a balance between patrons, leaving both the king & sultan to be wary of his intentions.

-Albert died in 1439 and was replaced by the young King of Poland Wladyslaw III, now King of Hungary as well.  He appointed John Hunyadi, a Hungarian as Voivode of Transylvania in 1441.  Hunyadi asked Vlad join him on a renewed Crusade against the Turks.  He would meet Vlad in the Wallachian capital of Targoviste.

-Vlad II was accused of betraying Turks by their governor of Bulgaria following a Hungarian victory in 1442.  Murad ordered Vlad to Adrianople to prove his loyalty.  He named his eldest son, Mircea to serve in his stead, possibly suspecting danger.  He was indeed arrested by the Ottomans and held prisoner for a time.

-The Turks tried to invade and annex Wallachia proper in 1442 but were defeated again by the Hungarians under Hunyadi who placed Basarab, Vlad’s cousin the new voivode.

-The Turks realized working with Vlad once again, maybe in their interest.  In order to secure his throne once more, he made a new pledge to the Ottomans, to supply an annual blood tribute of 500 Wallachian boys to serve as janissaries in the Ottoman army (Christian boys forcibly converted to Islam and trained to be personal guard of the sultan).  He also had to leave two of his own sons as hostages in Adrianople for training in Turkish culture and the ways of Islam.  These two sons were Vlad (Dracula) & Radu.

-Vlad II was back to power in Wallachia in summer 1443 under unknown circumstances.  During the subsequent war between the Hungary and the Ottomans he was to remain neutral.  His sons were to be released if a peace deal with Hungary was signed.  However, the papal legate to Hungary prevented its signing and encouraged the war to continue with the disastrous Battle of Varna (1444) fought in Bulgaria which resulted in the Turks defeating a Christian coalition of several nations, Wladyslaw III was himself killed while charging the Ottoman sultan’s position, nearly succeeding only to be stopped and saved by his bodyguards. 

-The war between the Crusaders & Turks raged on over the next couple of years and gradually Vlad came out of his neutrality to fight against the Turks, meanwhile he may have believed his sons were murdered during their hostage stay in Turkey.

-In fact Murad had not killed Vlad’s sons, instead they were given an education in all matters, including Turkish warfare, military structure, governance, language, history and Turkish and greater Islamic culture.  Vlad Dracula was reported to have been far more resistant to the Turks attempts to earn his favor than his brother Radu who is believed to have become a potential lover of Murad II’s son the future sultan, Mehmed II.

-In 1446 he made peace with the Turks once more on his own, but his relations with Hungary and Hunyadi in particular was worsened, he still believed his sons had been murdered having not heard on their condition.  Meanwhile, Hunyadi wanting to make sure Wallachia remained a Hungarian and not Turkish vassal was prepared to now replace Vlad II once more, he had given shelter to another cousin of Vlad’s and pretender to the throne of Wallachia, named Vladislav or Dan.  He invaded in late November 1447, during this invasion Vlad II fled but was caught and killed along with his son Mircea, betrayed by the boyars (Romanian aristocracy) who were possibly paid off by Hunyadi and the Saxon burghers who saw Vlad and his back and forth with the Turks as harmful to their political and economic influence in the area.

-Vlad Dracula meanwhile now as eldest surviving son of Vlad II had a claim to the throne of Wallachia and the Turks wanted a client to continue their influence.  Taking advantage of his cousin Vladislav II ‘s absence from Wallachia to support Hunyadi in the Battle of Kosovo 1448, with Ottoman support he snuck back into Wallachia and was proclaimed voivode, becoming Vlad III, but his reign only lasted a month as his cousin returned with an army that he couldn’t compete with.  Dracula fled back to Turkey.

-His exile in Turkey soon transferred to Moldavia where he was taken in as a guest of his possible maternal uncle and brother in law of his father.  He travelled between Moldavia, Transylvania and Hungary during this time, at times conversing with Hunyadi in the hopes of restoring himself to the throne.  However, Hunyadi saw him as not as useful having concluded peace with the Turks in 1451 and denied the right of him settling in Brasov, a major center of Transylvanian Saxon mercantile power, crucial to Hunyadi’s power base.

-Nevertheless, Vlad procured some support from Hungary and in the late summer of 1456 invaded Wallachia to overthrow his cousin Vladislav II, who did indeed die in the invasion, some sources state by Dracula’s hand in one on one combat.

-What followed was the consolidation of his second and ultimately most lengthy and notable reign as voivode.  Vlad III set about settling old political scores and implementing reforms to his lands.

-First, he dealt with the boyars that had killed his father in conspiracy with the Saxons by purging them and killing hundred of them during a feast. Those not killed were put to slave labor towards building his castles and fortresses.  He also at this time sent a letter to the Transylvanian Saxons asking for mutual aid against the Turks, whose politicking he felt jeopardized his father’s rule and whose harsh treatment including beatings and whippings as a hostage made him resentful of them. 

-He also made land reforms and had some property from his victims (former boyars) confiscated to compensate his new supporters who in turn pledged loyalty to him.

-Dracula passed new laws as well which included punishment for crimes committed by nobility & commoners.  Criminals, beggars, transients & committers of adultery among his own people were punished, sometimes with death.  His preferred form of capital punishment was what became most associated with him, impalement.  Using wooden stakes hammered into the ground, his victims would be placed upon the stake which would pierce the body and leave the body in great agonizing pain and left for public display as a deterrent for others.  Impalement was often a slow form of execution and thought to take hours or days to complete death.  Blood loss and damage to the vital organs would ultimately be the cause of death, the impalements depicted in this time, could be done frontally or dorsally, some may have been vertical for the victim as well, but the contemporary artwork from the time only depict the frontal or dorsal aspects.  The frequent use of impalement earned him the moniker Vlad Tepes or Vlad the Impaler.

-Dracula during this time, continued his tribute to the Turks whose sultan sent 1451 was Mehmed II, the Conqueror.  So named because he at long last achieved the goal of his ancestors, the completed conquest of Constantinople, the capital city of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) in 1453.  This successful siege swept away the last remnants of ancient Rome and consolidated the links between Ottoman controlled Asia Minor and Southeastern Europe.  Mehmed had known Vlad during his childhood imprisonment and had probably become lovers with his brother Radu, known as Radu the Fair or Handsome.  Radu didn’t officially convert to Islam but he was more receptive to the Turkish education and attempts to control him than his older brother Vlad.

-Dracula used this time not only to reform his own land but to partake in a Hungarian civil war in Transylvania.  He invaded and sacked the villages around Brasov, killing Saxon families including women & children by impalement. His attack wasn’t for wanton cruelty so much as to secure his position since the Saxons were harboring another Wallachian pretender that could usurp his throne.  They agreed to peace and to hand over the pretender as well as have mutual trade for Saxon & Wallachian merchants in both Transylvania & Wallachia.  Vlad’s agreements with the Saxons would be off and on over the years, alternating between peace brief periods of war, usually consisting of raids.  Vlad laid claim to parts of Transylvania as well during this time.

-Hunyadi had died in 1456 and eventually a son of his Matthias Corvinus, in part aided by Dracula’s raids against the Saxons was elected King of Hungary in 1458.  Convinus would like his father and Dracula’s father before him also play politics siding both with and against one another.  Initially he had peace with Dracula but later supported a pretender, Dan III against him only to have Vlad defeat Dan’s ad hoc army in battle, killed Dan and then raided southern Transylvania once more, killing peasants in the surrounding area, both German & Romanian who had supported his ouster.  However, peace was concluded by 1460 with Corvinus & the Saxons.

-Sources vary and aren’t conclusive but suggest Dracula’s problem with the Turks was renewed by 1461, due to his lack of paying tribute, some said he stopped paying tribute in 1459 others only in 1461.  This brought him into conflict with Mehmed.

-Finding out through spies that Dracula was negotiating with Corvinus, Mehmed sent emissaries to demand Dracula’s personal presence in audience with the sultan.  As the story goes, Vlad found out that he was to be arrested at the border on the Danube river like his father decades before.  While meeting with the emissaries, he had them executed.  Supposedly during an audience, Dracula asking them to take off their turbans as a sign of respect, when they refused on religious and political grounds, Dracula obliged them and instead had nails hammered into their skulls so that their turbans would never leave their head again.  He sent the executed envoys returned to the sultan, essentially an act of war.

-Dracula knowing Mehmed would now find reason to invade Wallachia, decided to preempt him and go to war.  Hoping a new Crusade would materialize with Hungarian support.  He first lead his troops to the fortress of Giurgiu, along the Danube river.  There disguised as a Turkish official and being fluent in Turkish deceived the garrison commander into opening the gates to let him in.  He and his guards overwhelmed a portion of the garrison and let in awaiting other troops to sack the city and kill the Turks.  

-From the sack of Girugiu, Dracula’s army crisscrossed Ottoman Bulgaria, along the Danube river, killing mostly Turkish soldiers and settlers but also some Bulgarians who were Christian as well, this may have been out of necessity if they had loyalty to their Turkish overlords.  By his own account in February of 1462, 23,000+ were killed by his troops.  Wallachian settlers in Bulgaria joined in his cause too, declaring themselves liberated.

-Dracula wrote to Corvinus of his actions in the hope of spurning an alliance with Hungary.  He wrote of the need to defend Christendom and protect Catholics, though he had been raised Eastern Orthodox, he had functionally become Catholic.

-Mehmed responded by raising an army, the size of which varied according to the sources, some suggest as big as 150,000 troops and others as small as 25,000-60,000.  Mehmed personally led this army and was accompanied by Radu, Dracula’s younger brother, who had become a Ottoman loyalist.  Mehmed sought to replace Vlad with the more receptive Radu at this point.

-The sultan and his army crossed the Danube in summer of 1462.  Realizing he was outnumbered, Dracula began an scorched earth policy, burning crops so the Turks could not live off the land.  Meanwhile, Vlad fled to Targoviste.

-Schooled in Turkish warfare, he knew their methods, strategy and structure and as such he hoped exploit any weakness he could.  The Turks encamped near Targoviste on June 17-18th 1462, Vlad would lead a daring charge into the Ottoman encampment with the goal of either abducting or killing Mehmed.  Knowing the loss of the sultan would demoralize the army, they would likely retreat in the chaos.  Nevertheless, the so called Night Attack did not succeed in its goal, as he attacked a subordinate commander’s tent and not the sultan’s.  It roused the Turks to action, despite their initial surprise.  Vlad managed to escape at dawn having fought his way back out of the camp.

-Vlad retreated to the Carpathians abandoning his capital to the inevitable.  However, Mehmed and his army came to a now famous and horrific sight at the abandoned Targoviste.  A field full of 20,000 impaled corpses, a mix of men women and children, including Turks impaled on stakes, creating a so called “forest of the impaled” it measured by some accounts larger than several stadium sized venues combined.  Mehmed was said to be alternately sick or impressed with the sight, either way astonished.  

-Vlad then hid at Castle Poernari located in the mountains near the Arges river valley northwest of Targoviste.  Here in the isolated mountaintop fortress with a commanding view Vlad awaited any movement from his enemies.  Nonetheless, Mehmed ordered Wallachia abandoned having suffered attrition through the scorched earth tactics with was causing starvation and thirst among his troops and no decisive action to boost morale.

-Dracula harassed the rearguard of the retreating Turks in guerilla warfare marked by ambush and hit and run tactics.  Nevertheless, his brother Radu was gathering support from the local boyars who were tired of warfare and Dracula’s strict criminal justice and authoritarian rule.  Not only did he gather boyars to defect to him, Radu promised the Transylvanian Saxons restored trade rights and lasting peace, all parties finding him more agreeable than his brother, they turned on Dracula, aside from a host of devoted loyalists.  Dracula was driven from power in late 1462, ending his seven year longest period of rule.

-Radu ended up accomplishing the goal of Mehmed by diplomacy and a show of force where the sultan had failed with show of force alone.  Radu would reign uninterrupted for the next 11 years and voivode of Wallachia.  Fulfilling, the promise of increased Turkish influence in the area at the expense of the Hungarians.  

-Radu’s reign was marked by some conflict with his future son in law, Stephen III of Moldavia.

-Dracula meanwhile fled to Hungary, hoping for help from Corvinus who did not intervene during the Turkish invasion of Wallachia.  Instead, Corvinus charged Dracula with trumped up charges of treason and imprisoned him first in Romania and then Hungary proper at the citadel in Visegrad.  Vlad would remain there for the next 14 years.

-Meanwhile, Radu ruled Wallachia until a dispute with the Ottoman in the 1470′s lead to his dethronement though he would be restored a few more times albeit briefly.

-Records of his life during imprisonment do not survive.  He was only released in 1476 when the Hungarians felt he could be of use once more to drive away the latest Ottoman puppet on the Wallachian throne.  He also had to officially convert to Catholicism, the brand of Christianity he and his father had agreed to defend while remaining Orthodox in affiliation. 

-The new Ottoman puppet was Basarab Laoita. Vlad had moved to Transylvania in 1475 but was called elsewhere by Corvinus to fight the Turks in Bosnia.  Meanwhile, the Turks invaded Moldavia but were countered by a Hungarian force consisting of Stephen Bathory & Dracula.

-The Hungarians launched a two pronged attack into Wallachia with the intent of forcing out Basarab and Ottoman influence and placing Vlad on the throne, this was confirmed in late November 1476.  Vlad once more had made peace with the Saxon merchants of Transylvania and was restored this third and final reign as voivode.  

-His reign was short lived, less than two months after regaining the throne Dracula was on the defensive against a renewed Ottoman invasion backing Basarab Laoita.  Dracula would be killed in battle with his retinue, fighting to the very end.

-The Turks hacked his body to pieces and sent his head to Mehmed in Constantinople as a confirmation that Vlad was at long last dead and no longer a threat.  The location of the burial for the rest of his body is not known but widely speculated to this day.

Epilogue:

-Vlad Dracula later most famously served as both the name and partial inspiration for Irish author Bram Stoker’s 1897 Victorian gothic horror novel, Dracula which in turned popularized the modern vampire myth, with its association in Transylvania etc.  Stoker never visited Romania but he did read up on its history and the folklore of the area which along with Slavic sources had plenty of vampire references.  He came across the name Dracula and made it the central character’s namesake but beyond the name and location of his characterization, little else from Vlad’s life was taken into account for the novel.

-In his own time, German and other sources note and portray Vlad as cruel, sadistic and authoritarian in his rule.  This is portrayed in both print and woodcut artwork of the 15th century and later.  Some portrayals going so far as to say he dined outdoors amid the forest of impaled victims and dipped his food in the blood of dead and dying, perhaps somewhat influencing the literary vampire connection.  These sources are mostly believed to be exaggerated propaganda from biased sources, especially the German ones given Dracula’s antagonistic relations with the Saxons.  Undoubtedly, he did engage in impalement and other forms of execution and torture, but realistically he was not the only ruler in that time period to engage in such cruelty.

-Some historians also tend to view his widespread capital punishment and strict justice system as a political means to an end, rather than for mere enjoyment or barbarism.  Vlad would have viewed it as a matter of political necessity to maintain a balance of power amid so many warring interests both internally and externally.  Given the warring influences, any such widespread torture and execution of the populace was likely to alienate enough factions and ultimately undermine his rule so as to guarantee it was short lived and he like many of his contemporaries and holders of his title held short reigns or multiple reigns for quick time periods.

-Today, in Romania he is still revered as a folk hero by some.  With some people believing his methods were justified and others less so.  Those who support his memory positively, praise his defense of the country from the Turkish threat, the German economic influence and Hungarian meddling, they also praise his justice system that they view as ridding Wallachia of corrupting internal influences such as the boyars.  His detractors of course cite his methods as brutal, arbitrary and authoritarian.  Whatever view one takes, Vlad III Dracula’s name is one hard to forget nowadays and his memory lives on far beyond his own short life...

[historicalmeanderings]

Ghazavat-i Sultan Murad II or Ghazi Sultan Murad II, was an Ottoman Sultan from 1421-44 A.D and 1446-1451 A.D) of the Great Ottoman Sultanate. Sultan Murad II was born in 1404 to Sultan Mehmed I. He was brought up in Amasya. Murad II became Sultan in 1421 when he was 19 years old. After successfully dealing with other claimants to the throne, Sultan Murad II captured Salonika (Thessaloniki, Northern Greece) from the Venetians. Ghazi Sultan Murad also captured vast territories of the Balkans for the Ottoman Sultanate. In 1444, Sultan Murad II of Ottoman Sultanate and Wladyslaw III of Poland and Hungary signed the Treaty of Edirne and Peace of Szeged (10 year peace treaty) after which Sultan Murad II abdicated in favour of his 12 year old son Mehmed II, intending to enjoy a peaceful retirement. The peace treaty was broken by Wladylslaw of Hungary and John Hunyadi as they prepared for the crusade of Varna. After hearing of the breaking of truce by Wladyslaw, Sultan Murad II was called back to power by Sultan Mehmed II. Sultan Murad II won a decisive Ottoman victory against the crusader forces of Wladyslaw (who was killed in the Battle of Varna) and John Hunyadi. Murad II was also known as Great Murad for his successful campaigns. A Janissary revolt forced Murad II to return to the throne in 1446. In 1448, Sultan Murad II won a decisive victory against the crusader forces led by John Hunyadi at the Second Battle of Kosovo, ending the half-century-long Crusader threat. Ghazavat-i Sultan Murad II died from illness in 1451 A.D. Sultan Murad II is buried in Muradiye Complex, Bursa, Turkey. #sultanmurad #sultanmuradhanhazretleri #ottomansultan #osmanli #osmanlıtürkçesi #osman #ertugrul #ertuğrul #dirilişertuğrul #history #historia #historian #greekhistory #turk #turkye #turkey #ottomanempire #ottoman #wladyslaw #hunyadi #battleofvarna #battleofkosovo #europe #europeanhistory #europeanmuslimheritage #asia #asianhistory #civilization #culture #greece https://www.instagram.com/p/CEcrzQ7nu6D/?igshid=12dzu4qeubjl

[lets-sush]

One of the legends of the Turkish flag is that during the battle of Kosovo in 1448, a reflection of the moon and star appeared in the pools of blood.

[ottomanladies]

Mehmed II + harem and children

Gülbahar Hatun: she was a non-muslim slave who was converted after her arrival in the harem, since she was referred to as "Gülbahar Hatun binti Abdullah", which is how non-muslim concubines who were converted were called. In a document regarding the purchase of a place in Amasya, she’s called “the queen of queens, crown and praise of esteemed women, auspicious and benevolent Gülbahar Hatun binti Abdullah”. There is no agreement on her origins, Babinger says she was of lowly Slav origins; other historians think she was Albanian. She was the mother of Gevherhan Hatun and of the future Bayezid II. She signed her letters to her son as “Valide Hatun”, where she complained she didn’t see him enough. Bayezid II built a mosque in her honour in Edirne, which was destroyed in the 20th century. She died in 1492 and was buried in her mausoleum inside the Fatih Mosque.

Sitti Mükrime Hatun: she was the daughter of Dulkadiroğlu Süleyman Bey, the sixth ruler of Dulkadir State. After the second Kosovo victory, Murad II decided to establish an alliance with the Dulkadir State against the Karamanids. The wife of Hızır Ağa was sent to choose the bride and she decided on Mükrime, described as the most beautiful of Süleyman Bey’s daughters. The wedding celebrations lasted three months, no other wedding was celebrated for so long, but the marriage produced no children. Mehmed II and Sitti Hatun tranferred to Manisa, on Murad II’s orders. When Mehmed became sultan, they moved to Edirne and she continued to live there even after her husband had conquered Istanbul. After Mehmed’s death, she obtained permission from Bayezid II to build a mosque in Edirne. She died in September 1486 and was buried in a mausoleum built inside her mosque.

Çiçek Hatun: her origins are unknown. It is said she was Serbian, Greek, Venetian or even French. She was the mother of Ottoman claimant Sultan Cem, whom she gave birth to on 22 December 1459. It is not known the degree of influence she enjoyed during Mehmed II’s reign or if she was particularly favoured by him. She accompanied her son to Konya in 1474 and then to Cairo when he lost his battle for the throne against Bayezid II. Çiçek Hatun was her son’s most loyal ally and fought incessantly for him even during his captivity in Europe. She died in Cairo on 3 May 1498.

Gülşah Hatun: there is no information about her origins, she joined Mehmed’s harem when he was governor of Manisa. She gave birth to her only son Şehzade Mustafa in 1450 and followed him to Konya when he became governor of the province. The prince died on 25 December 1474 and she retired to Bursa afterwards, where she built a tomb for him. She died in 1487.

Anna Hatun: the daughter of Trabzon Greek emperor David Komnenos and Helena Kantakuzenos. Her father suggested the marriage but Mehmed II did not accept it. Nevertheless, when Trabzon was taken in 1461, Anna entered the harem and stayed there for two years, after which Mehmed II married her off to Zaganos Mehmed Pasha.

Helena Hatun: daughter of the Despot of Morea Demetrios Paleologos, Mehmed II asked for her after his campaign in Morea, having heard of her beauty. In the end he never bedded her because he was afraid she would poison him, and she died in Edirne before 1470.

Hatice Hatun: daughter of Zaganos Mehmed Pasha

Children:

Gevherhan Hatun: daughter of Gülbahar Hatun and thus full-sister of Bayezid II, she must have been born before 1448. She married Uğurlu Mehmed Mirza, son of Ak Koyunlu ruler Uzun Hasan Bey, in 1746, and had a son with him, Göde Ahmed Bey. Her husband was appointed governor of Sivas by Mehmed II but died only a year later, in 1477, assassinated. It is said that Sinan Paşa, who was very influential during Bayezid II’s reign, was married to the sultan’s own sister. It is possible that Gevherhan remarried after 1477 or that she had a sister. Her date of death is unknown but she died in Istanbul and was buried in the mausoleum of her mother.

Bayezid II (12.1447/1.1448 - 10.6.1512): son of Gülbahar Hatun, 8th sultan of the Ottoman Empire.

Şehzade Mustafa (1450 - 15.12.1474): son of Gülşah Hatun. Governor of Konya until his death. Had a son called Hali.

Şehzade (Sultan) Cem (22.12.1459 - 25.2.1495): son of Çiçek Hatun, governor to Konya after his brother Mustafa's death and claimant to the Ottoman throne after the death of Mehmed II. Father of Şehzade Murad, Şehzade Oğuz and a daughter who married firstly the Mameluke Sultan Nasir Mehmed and secondly Mustafa Bey (son of Sinan Paşa). Şehzade Murad and his two sons were executed by Süleyman I in 1522.

Ayşe Hatun: appears only in The Structure of the Ottoman Dynasty by Alderson.

Unnamed Princess: according to Alderson she married Hasan Bey, son of Candaroğlu İsmail Bey

Unnamed Princess: according to Alderson, she was Mehmed II's fourth daughter.

Şehzade Nureddin: Alderson gave no information about him.

sources:

Alderson, The Structure of the Ottoman Dynasty

Necdet Sakaoğlu - Bu Mülkün Kadın Sultanları

M. Çağatay Uluçay - Padişahların Kadınları ve Kızları

[fatihdaily]

Mehmed Bir Cihan Fatihi episode 1 - summary

It is quite long, so I put it behind the cut.

The episode begins with a vision of little Mehmed accompanied by a voice-over of adult Mehmed. Mehmed recalls how he became a sultan before he turned 12, and how he always dreamed to prove himself on a battlefield, especially to his father (and to fight with his father on campaigns). He ends the monologue with stating that when his dream was about to be fulfilled, it didn’t happen as he had hoped…

Then we see the 2nd battle of Kosovo in 1448 in which Mehmed took part, and after the battle scene we see Sultan Murad II talking to his pashas. Murad is told by Çandarlı Halil Pasha that while they won the battle, their losses are huge (21,000 dead). Candarli blames everything on Mehmed’s recklessness. Lala Pasha (Mehmed’s teacher) defends Mehmed, stressing his bravery. Mehmed finally arrives to his father’s camp and explains that everything would have been different if they had finally conquered Constantinople. He then tries to explain his plans about how to conquer the city to his father and the pashas, while Murad tries to stop him. Ultimately, Çandarlı tells him not to speak anymore and says conquering Constatinople is impossible otherwise his father would have done it already. 

Next scene is set in 1451, in Edirne. Murad lies on his deathbed and Çandarlı is by his side. Murad warns Çandarlı that Mehmed’s dream about Constantinople may be disastrous for the Empire. Murad dies and Çandarlı forbids anyone to announce that the padishah died.

In Manisa, Mehmed sees Daye Hatun, who tells him that his son Bayezid misses his mother, Gülbahar. She pleads that  Gülbahar had no bad intentions, only defended Mehmed to Murad. Mehmed replies she shouldn’t have interfered in his relations with his father and that she must suffer her punishment (exile).

Back in Edirne, Çandarlı tells his daughter Melike he doesn’t want anyone to know about Murad’s death. He still however sends a messenger to Mehmed to Manisa, informing him about his father’s death. Ishak Pasha talks about this with Çandarlı, teling him that Mehmed must remember when the two of them dethroned him when he was a child sultan and as such may now take revenge and execute them. Ishak proposes crowning Şehzade Orhan, a hostage in Byzantium, instead, especially since Constantinople is closer to Edirne than Manisa. Çandarlı however replies that the state is more important than their heads, but they will still try to save their lives.

In Constantionople, Orhan is invited to Emperor Constantine because of a letter that came addressed to him from Edirne. When Orhan visits Contantine, the Emperior tells him that Çandarlı sent a message stating that Sultan Murad had died. Constantine wants to put Orhan on the Ottoman throne because he knows Orhan will continue Murad’s non-aggressive policy towards Byzantium. He gives Orhan his soldiers and also arranges a  political marriage between his Grand Duke Notaras’ daughter Eleni and Orhan.

Eleni is a well-educated young girl, interested in architecture, who has no plans of getting married. She’s angry and upset at the prospect of marrying Orhan also because she considers Ottomans to be barbarians. 

Mehmed and his people prepare for the journey to Edirne. Sahabettin Pasha suggests to Zaganos Pasha they may finally have revenge on Çandarlı, but Sahabettin rejects the idea. Mara Hatun comes to say goodbye to her stepson and Mehmed thanks her for everything and asks for her blessing. She tells him to remove doubts from his heart and that he’s always been worthy of his father and will always be.

Constantine goes to a witch to ask her who will ascend the Ottoman throne, Orhan or Mehmed. She however refuses to tell him anything until he “stops holding Orhan’s hand”.

Grand Duke Loukas Notaras is a leader of a secret anti-Ottoman group aiming to protect Byzantium. He asks one of the members to assassinate Mehmed on his way to Edirne and other members to protect and supportt Orhan. The person entrusted with the task asks for help a mysterious woman, Evdoksiya. Eleni begs her father not to sell her for Byzantium, but Notaras replies he would sacrifice a thousand of his children for Byzantium. Eleni curses her father and vows revenge on him. Constantine says he doesn’t trust Çandarlı and his brother Demetrios says he doesn’t trust Orhan because he may turn against Byzantium to prove himself. Theodora tells Constantine marrying Eleni to Orhan against her will may turn out to be a bad idea because she’s seen the despair, fire and anger in the girl’s’ eyes, and this anger may later be turned against them. It is revealed Theodora and Demetrios are in a relationship.

Meanwhile, Mehmed and his people find Evdoksiya on the route. She pretends to be hurt as a result of a bandit attack. Mehmed however correctly guesses that those are not bandits, but the Byzantines, who were informed about his father’s death by Çandarlı. Mehmed and his people come to face the Byzantines in the “trap” and defeat them. After the fight is over, one of Mehmed’s men thanks the unconscious Evdoksiya for winning some time for their cause. Delibaș tells Mehmed they should not abandon Evdoksiya in her condition. Later at night, Delibas says hopefully Evdoksiya will survive because Mehmed will likely want to reward her for warning him about the trap. When Delibaș and other Mehmed’s men leave sleeping Evdoksiya in a tent, she wakes up, takes a knife and approaches Mehmed’s tent. However, Mehmed unexpectedly orders his people to leave before the night is over. Delibaș notes Evdoksiya disappeared. Indeed, she took one of their horses and galloped away.

Orhan has nightmares in which he has flashbacks of himself as a young boy witnessing the execution of his father upon the order of Murad II. Eleni comes to the tent and scared Orhan awakens and attacks her. She explains she only came to fetch a blanket and he tells her to sleep in his tent instead and goes outside and sits by the fire, but painful flashbacks still haunt him.

Meanwhile, Byzantines get in touch with Ishak Pasha and promise him riches and the position of Grand Vizier if he supports Orhan in winning the throne. Ishak agrees and goes to see a janissary commander, Kurcu Dogan, whom he also bribes and promises money for all janissaries if they support Orhan. He confides in Kurcu Murad is dead and the new padishah should obey old rules and traditions, not be a dreamer. One of young recruits, Korkut, listens to the conversation, unnoticed by both men.

Çandarlı receives a Hungarian envoy, who informs him that if Mehmed ascends the throne, the Hungarian king will terminate the peace treaty.

Esleme, Çandarlı s younger daughter, meets Korkut and prompts him to ask for her hand. She says her mother was also commoner, yet her father married her anyway because he loved her. Korkut tells her what he heard in the janissary quarters and asks Esleme to tell her father what is happening behind his back. He also promises not to tell this to anyone else, hoping to win Çandarlı’s favour.

Melike tells Çandarlı Halil Pasha what Korkus overheard. Çandarlı states someone tries to play them and demands Melike to say who told her such things. Melike refuses to tell, and Çandarlı pushes her angrily at the door. Esleme appears and Candarli leaves. Melike says to Esleme she’s willing to sacrifice her own life for Mehmed’s sake and that their father won’t rest until he finds the pasha who bribed the janissaries into rebelling against Mehmed.

Evdoksiya arrives in harbour where she meets with her people, who are disappointed in her failure to kill Mehmed. She however informs them about Mehmed’s plan to cross the Dardanelles Strait.

When Mehmed and his people reach Dardanelles, they notice Byzantine soldiers waiting on a ship to prevent them from crossing. Mehmed’s pashas try to dissuade him from attempting to cross, but Mehmed is insistent. He looks at the full moon and prays to Allah to help him. Mehmend and Delibaș begin to swim cross the strait in a boat, others for the time being stay on the shore. When the Byzantine soldiers are ready to shoot their arrows, darkness covers everything… It’s eclipse of the moon! Byzantines cannot see anything, while Mehmed and Delibaș arrive safely on the other side and sent a signal to others.

Delibaș tells Mehmed it was God’s miracle. He didn’t believe some saying earlier that Mehmed had God’s favour, but the year Mehmed was born was a very good one, with many children  being born and cows giving a lot of milk, so perhaps it wasn’t a coincidence after all. Mehmed shows Delibaș his drawings and informs his loyal soldier he predicted the eclipse and that’s why he was so insistent on crossing Dardanells.

Mehmed then prays for his father to reunite with his beloved son and Mehmed’s elder brothre, Alaeddin. There is a flashback in which we see a young Mehmed constantly ignored by his father and scoffed at for dreaming about conquering Byzantium, while Alaeddin was called his father’s shadow on Earth and future great Sultan. We also see young Mehmed asking Çandarlı what will happen to him once Ali ascends the throne,to which Candarli replies: “what tradition dictates”. Then we see Murad mourning the dead Ali, with Mehmed watching. Mehmed’s voice-over tells us that he knew then that his father would have rather seen him dead, not Ali. Murad requested to be buried next to Ali. Mehmed says his biggest wish was not to become a sultan, but to be buried next to his father.

Adult Mehmed then talks to little Mehmed. Little Mehmed asks him what his first step as a sultan will be: pursuing his dream or taking revenge?

We see Çandarlı confronting Ishak Pasha about telling someone of their plans. It is revealed Çandarlı co-operates with Ishak and the Byzantines and had known everything before Melike told him.

Demetrios comes to Constantine to inform him that Mehmed crossed the Dardanelles safely.

Çandarlı  confronts Kurcu and pretends he hasn’t been involved in the plot against Mehmed and threatens the janissary commander. Kurcu then goes to the quarters and announces Murad’s death. He tells his janissaries they demand a new sultan and their due pay. Everyone in the quarters shouts the same. The janissaries then marched out of their quarters.

Melike comes to her father to enquire whether he did everything about she had told him. Çandarlı only tells her that janissaries obey commands, not play games. Melike is insistent: will the unworthy Orhan get the throne or Mehmed, who deserves it? Çandarlı i only tells her to pray for herself, her father and their ruler.

Janissaries meet Çandarlı and then go together with him outside the city, where they encounter Mehmed. Orhan arrives a bit later and stays behind. Çandarlı and Mehmed look at each other… suddenly Mara appears with people who support Mehmed. Çandarlı and the janissaries finally bow to Mehmed and he rides on his horse into the city.

[azharniaz]

AAJ Today in History October - 17

Today in History 1-1448 – An Ottoman army defeats a Hungarian army at the Second Battle of Kosovo. 2-1907 – Marconi begins the first commercial transatlantic wireless service. 1979 – Mother Teresa is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. 3-1817 – Death Anniversary Syed Ahmad Khan, Indian philosopher and scholar (d. 1898) 4-1998 –Death Anniversary Hakim Saeed, Pakistani scholar and politician, 20th Governor of Sindh (b. 1920) 5-International Day for the Eradication of Poverty Voice and written by Azhar Niaz Producer  Azhar Niaz #azharniaz

[historyandclassicactors]

The Assassination That Set off WWI

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI. One of would imagine that the year would have been full with celebrations, memorials, and other ways to honor those who served and those who never came home. But just how much have we heard about WWI this year? Outside of threats to tear down memorials to those who died in the War to End All Wars . . . Not much.

It is our goal, then, to spend the time between now and November 11, recounting the events of WWI. We’d also like to hear stories of WWI heroes, if anyone is willing to offer some up.

The war was set off by one of the most infamous assassinations in all of history. On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungary throne, and his pregnant wife, Sophie, were shot. “Taking place against a backdrop of escalating tensions in the Balkans, the assassination set off a chain of events that would lead to the start of World War I barely one month later” (Source). The event was planned out by a group of Serbian terrorists, The Black Hand, and executed by Bosnian Gavrilo Princip.

At the time, Ferdinand and his wife had been reviewing his uncle’s imperial armed forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosnia and Herzegovina had formerly been Ottoman territories, but were annexed by Austria-Hungary in 1908 “to the indignation of Serbian nationalists, who believed they should become part of the newly independent and ambitious Serbian nation” (Source). S0, although Serbia had benefited greatly from the two Balkan Wars, Serbian nationalists wanted to “liberate” the South Slavs in Austria-Hungary. At the head of the Serbian military intelligence was a man named Col. Dragutin Dimitrijević. Dimitrijević was also the head of the secret society Union or Death, which “pledged to the pursuit of this pan-Serbian ambition” (Source).

Union or Death or Black Hand, was founded in 1911 by army officers and government officials with the sole intent of liberating the Serbs “outside Serbia from Habsburg or Ottoman rule” through the use of terrorist methods (Source). They were instrumental in the planning of the assassination of archduke Ferdinand.

It just so happened that June 28 was not only the Archduke Ferdinand’s anniversary, but also the anniversary of the First Battle of Kosovo in 1389. And, although Serbs did not actually lose it’s independence until the Second Battle of Kosovo in 1448, the day was of great significance to Serbian nationalists, “and one on which could be expected to take exception to a demonstration of Austrian imperial strength in Bosnia” (Source).

Princip was actually the second assassination attempt that day. Black Hand’s first attempt backfired. Earlier, Archduke Ferdinand and Sophie had been riding in an open car, “with surprisingly little security, when Serbian nationalist Nedjelko Cabrinovic threw a bomb at their car; it rolled off the back of the vehicle and wounded an officer and some bystanders” (Source). Later in the day, the couple was going to visit the injured officer, when their driver took a wrong turn. Princip happened to be loitering there and decided to take a chance. He was successful.

An unfortunate scene followed: the crowd was so focused on Princip that Archduke Ferdinand and Sophie “lay fatally wounded in their limousine as it rushed to seek their help; they both died within the hour” (Source).

[Below: The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand]

With the assassination, Austria-Hungary obviously blamed the Serbian government and wanted to declare war. They figured that now was as good a time as any to settle the question of Slav nationalism.

However, prior to this, a number of defense alliances had been set up all around Europe. These basically stated that should one country declare wars, the other countries would have to come to its aid. For example, Britain, France, Ireland, and Russia had all signed a treaty called the Triple Entente. Meanwhile, Germany and Austria-Hungary had formed an alliance known as the Central Powers.

Russia was quick to support Serbia (the aggressors), and were ready to make a declaration of war. But before Austria-Hungary could declare war on Serbia, they needed the reassurance that Germany would support them in war.

July 23rd saw the beginning of “Black Week.” Austria-Hungary set Serbia a list of demands, but Serbia’s response wasn’t satisfactory. So, on July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. The tenuous peace amongst Europe’s great powers had finally collapsed. The next day, “Austro-Hungarian forces began to shell the Serbian capital of Belgrade, and Russia, Serbia’s ally, ordered a troop mobilization against Austria-Hungary” (Source). By the 1st of August, France, too, had begun to mobilize it’s troop; it supported Russia. Meanwhile, Germany had declared war on Russia. On August 3rd, Germany and France had declared war on each other. That very night, Germany crossed into neutral Luxembourg, invading them. This prompted Britain to declare war on Germany. Europe was at war.

[Below: Newspaper article at the outbreak of the war]

Up Next: The Battle of Mons (1914)

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 10.17 (before 1950)

690 – Empress Wu Zetian establishes the Zhou Dynasty of China. 1091 – London tornado of 1091: A tornado thought to be of strength T8/F4 strikes the heart of London. 1346 – The English capture King David II of Scotland at Neville's Cross and imprison him for eleven years. 1448 – An Ottoman army defeats a Hungarian army at the Second Battle of Kosovo. 1456 – The University of Greifswald is established as the second oldest university in northern Europe. 1534 – Anti-Catholic posters appear in Paris and other cities supporting Huldrych Zwingli's position on the Mass. 1558 – Poczta Polska, the Polish postal service, is founded. 1604 – Kepler's Supernova is observed in the constellation of Ophiuchus. 1610 – French king Louis XIII is crowned in Reims Cathedral. 1660 – The nine regicides who signed the death warrant of Charles I of England are hanged, drawn and quartered. 1662 – Charles II of England sells Dunkirk to Louis XIV of France for 40,000 pounds. 1713 – Great Northern War: Russia defeats Sweden in the Battle of Kostianvirta in Pälkäne. 1771 – Premiere in Milan of the opera Ascanio in Alba, composed by Mozart at age 15. 1777 – American Revolutionary War: British General John Burgoyne surrenders his army at Saratoga, New York. 1781 – American Revolutionary War: British General Charles, Earl Cornwallis surrenders at the Siege of Yorktown. 1800 – War of the Second Coalition: Britain takes control of the Dutch colony of Curaçao. 1806 – Former leader of the Haitian Revolution, Emperor Jacques I, is assassinated after an oppressive rule. 1811 – The silver deposits of Agua Amarga are discovered in Chile becoming in the following years instrumental for the Patriots to finance the Chilean War of Independence. 1814 – Eight people die in the London Beer Flood. 1850 – Riots start, which lead to a massacre in Aleppo. 1860 – First The Open Championship (referred to in North America as the British Open). 1861 – Aboriginal Australians kill nineteen Europeans in the Cullin-la-ringo massacre. 1907 – Marconi begins the first commercial transatlantic wireless service. 1912 – Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia declare war on the Ottoman Empire, joining Montenegro in the First Balkan War. 1919 – Leeds United F.C. founded at Salem Chapel, Holbeck after the winding up of Leeds City F.C. for making illegal payments to players during World War I. 1931 – Al Capone is convicted of income tax evasion. 1933 – Albert Einstein flees Nazi Germany and moves to the United States. 1940 – The body of Communist propagandist Willi Münzenberg is found in South France, starting a never-resolved mystery. 1941 – World War II: The USS Kearny becomes the first U.S. Navy vessel to be torpedoed by a U-boat. 1943 – The Burma Railway (Burma–Thailand Railway) is completed. 1943 – Nazi Holocaust in Poland: Sobibór extermination camp is closed. 1945 – A large demonstration in Buenos Aires, Argentina, demands Juan Perón's release.

[draculachronicle]

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While Christian forces led by #JohnHunyadi fought the Turks at #Kosovo in 1448, #Dracula seized the throne of #Wallachia for the first time in an effort to avenge his father and brother who were killed by the Transylvanian governor the year before! Draculachronicle.com

[weepinggalaxynightmare]

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[afishtrap]

The mass adoption of firearms as a tool of warfare dramatically changed the nature of military conflict from the mid fifteenth century onward, prompting historians of early modern Europe to describe the changes as a “gunpowder revolution” or “Military Revolution”—a thesis that provoked a spirited scholarly debate in the 1990s. Although the original concept, as set forth by Michael Roberts in 1955, did not single out firearms technology, in the influential elaboration of the thesis by Geoffrey Parker (1988), firearms and artillery fortifications (trace italienne, which were developed in response to artillery firepower) became the main building blocks of the thesis. According to the thesis, the new fortresses required much larger armies to successfully besiege them, leading to a dramatic increase in the size of European armies. To build and main-tain artillery fortifications, large artillery trains, and ever-larger armies in turn required a more centralized government. Thus, the introduction of firearms led to the rise of centralized states in Europe—and, on a global scale, to the “rise of the West.”

Ágoston, G. "Firearms and Military Adaptation: The Ottomans and the European Military Revolution, 1450–1800." Journal of World History, vol. 25 no. 1, 2014, pp. 85-124.

By the 1380s, the Ottomans were acquainted with gunpowder weapons, most likely via the Balkans, where firearms had been known from the 1350s onward.9 Ottoman registers of timar prebends or military fiefs mentioned gunners (sing. topçu) remunerated with timars from the 1390s.10 Sieges and defenses where Ottoman troops are known to have employed cannons include those of Byzantine Constantinople (between 1394 and 1402, 1422, 1453), Salonica (1422, 1430), Antalya (1424), Novo Brdo (1427, 1441), Smederevo (1439), Belgrade (1440), and the Hexamilion (“six-mile-wall”) fortified wall across the Gulf of Corinth that guarded the only land route between mainland Greece and the Peloponnese peninsula. Considering that cannons became common in European sieges only from the 1420s on, the above examples suggest that the Ottomans were on par with developments occurring elsewhere in Europe. By 1444, the Ottomans were using cannons in their Balkan castles, aboard their river flotillas on the Danube and its tributaries, and in field battles. They employed cannons against both fixed and moving targets—such as castles and enemy ships. By this time, they also used matchlock arquebuses (tüfek).

The Ottoman-Hungarian wars of the 1443–1444 and the Crusade of Varna (1444) were crucial in the proliferation of firearms among the Ottomans. A contemporaneous anonymous Ottoman chronicler of the Hungarian-Ottoman wars of 1443–1444 noted that the Ottoman defenders of Vidin had cannon, mangonels, and arquebus at their disposal, as did those in the castles of Niğbolu (Nicopol), Şumlu (Shumen), and Pravadi.12 Extant survey registers from the mid fifteenth century on listed cannon and arquebus in Ottoman castles in the Balkans, though the Ottomans must have inherited many of the pieces from the Christians.13

[...]

During the Hungarian-Ottoman wars of the 1440s the Ottomans acquainted themselves with the Hussite Wagenburg tactic. The Wagenburg, or wagon fortress, perfected by the Hussites in Bohemia during the Hussite wars (1419–1436), was a defensive arrangement of war wagons chained together. The Hussites manned their wagons with some twenty crossbowmen and gunners per wagon, and also protected them against cavalry assault by heavy wooden shielding and light artillery. The Ottomans first encountered the Wagenburg in their fight against János Hunyadi’s troops in 1442. Hunyadi had learned the use of war wagons during his wars against the Hussites in Bohemia, where he served as a commander for Sigismund of Luxemburg, king of Hungary (1387–1437). When Hunyadi was preparing against the Ottomans in March 1443, he relied on the well-developed industry of the Saxon towns of Transylvania, his home base, which he governed in the name of the king. Hunyadi ordered the artisans of the Saxon town of Kronstadt (Braşov in modern Rumania) to send “war wagons furnished with guns, arquebuses and other war-machines,” made according to the instructions of a certain Bohemian artisan whom Hunyadi had sent to the town to supervise the construction of war wagons. Hunyadi also spent a great amount of his own money on the construction of war carts, and his Czech mercenaries brought additional war wagons to his camp. In the end, some six hundred taborite war carts were deployed during the winter campaign of 1443–1444, although Hunyadi had difficulty manning them with the required number of infantry. In the 1444 Varna campaign, sources put the number of wagons in the crusaders’ camp at two thousand.18

The Ottomans quickly realized the usefulness of the wagon laager and also determined how to overcome it—namely, by surrounding the laager out of range of the guns and forcing the enemy to give up its positions, a tactic they successfully employed at the battles of Varna (1444) and Kosovo (1448).19 The battle of Varna demonstrated that the Wagenburg alone could not win the war, and that other factors were also important. In the case of Varna, Ottoman numerical superiority, discipline, and the young king’s reckless charge (which he launched toward the end of the fight despite Hunyadi’s advice to the contrary) against the sultan’s well-protected position led to disaster.20 In the battle, the Ottomans captured the crusaders’ war wagons and firearms. It is possible that the two hundred huffnitzbugschen (according to another source, 140 pixides) that Sultan Mehmed II (1444–1446, 1451–1481) deployed and, after his failed siege, abandoned at Belgrade in 1456 were the ones that the Ottomans had captured at Varna in 1444.21 Both terms were used for smaller guns in the mid fifteenth century, but the former specifically referred to the guns (haufnice) that the Hussites of Jan Žižka and Hunyadi’s Czech mercenaries used on their wagons.

It is not known when the Ottomans first used their wagon laager (tabur). Whereas at the second battle of Kosovo (1448) Hunyadi had some two thousand carts and used them as Wagenburg, it was not yet the Hungarian-style wagon laager that the Ottomans employed. Rather, it was the type of defensive embankment that had served the Ottomans so well at Varna in 1444: a deep trench and a dirt embankment strengthened with iron stakes and large shields, behind which stood janissary archers, arquebusiers, cannons, and camels laden with rich baggage.22 The combined use of artillery, arquebus, and tabur is usually cited as a decisive factor in the Ottomans’ victory against the Akkoyunlu forces of Uzun Hasan (1457–1478) at the battle of Bashkent in 1473.23

[...]

While the Ottomans’ quick adoption of firearms and the Wagenburg tactic is notable, their main advantage lay in their early integration of gunpowder weapons into their standing forces. From the 1390s on, preceding their rivals by centuries, the Ottomans established a corps of permanent salaried troops who specialized in the manufacturing and handling of firearms. As mentioned above, in the time of Sultan Bayezid I they had artillery gunners paid with military fiefs, and a generation later began to employ salaried cannoneers. From the midfifteenth century onward there was a separate unit of armorers (sing. cebeci) within the sultan’s household troops, who looked after and carried the infantry janissaries’ weapons. Beginning in the second half of the same century the army had its own gun carriage drivers (sing. top arabacı) whose job was to manufacture, repair, and operate war wagons in campaigns, including the setting up of the tabur. The corps of bombardiers (sing. humbaracı) was established in the late fifteenth century. All this was in sharp contrast to most of the Ottomans’ European adversaries, in whose realms the gunner remained a master craftsman who had special relationship to his weapon. In Europe, individual pieces had their names, and cannons were elaborately decorated.24 While European sources mention the Mahometa, Mehmed II’s giant cannon manufactured by the Hungarian renegade Orban before the siege of Constantinople (1453), such specialized names for artillery pieces are absent from Ottoman chronicles and fortress inventories. This also suggests that the business of the Ottoman gunner was more mundane, and while his profession required specialized knowledge and brought him prestige, he was first and foremost a professional soldier of the sultan’s standing household forces, known as kapukulu or “slavesservitors of the [sultan’s] gate.”25

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 10.17

690 – Empress Wu Zetian establishes the Zhou Dynasty of China. 1091 – London tornado of 1091: A tornado thought to be of strength T8/F4 strikes the heart of London. 1346 – The English capture King David II of Scotland at Neville's Cross and imprison him for eleven years. 1448 – An Ottoman army defeats a Hungarian army at the Second Battle of Kosovo. 1456 – The University of Greifswald is established as the second oldest university in northern Europe. 1534 – Anti-Catholic posters appear in Paris and other cities supporting Huldrych Zwingli's position on the Mass. 1558 – Poczta Polska, the Polish postal service, is founded. 1604 – Kepler's Supernova is observed in the constellation of Ophiuchus. 1610 – French king Louis XIII is crowned in Reims Cathedral. 1660 – The nine regicides who signed the death warrant of Charles I of England are hanged, drawn and quartered. 1662 – Charles II of England sells Dunkirk to Louis XIV of France for 40,000 pounds. 1713 – Great Northern War: Russia defeated Sweden in the Battle of Kostianvirta in Pälkäne. 1771 – Premiere in Milan of the opera Ascanio in Alba, composed by Mozart at age 15. 1777 – American Revolutionary War: British General John Burgoyne surrenders his army at Saratoga, New York. 1781 – American Revolutionary War: British General Charles, Earl Cornwallis surrenders at the Siege of Yorktown. 1800 – War of the Second Coalition: Britain takes control of the Dutch colony of Curaçao. 1806 – Former leader of the Haitian Revolution, Emperor Jacques I, is assassinated after an oppressive rule. 1811 – The silver deposits of Agua Amarga are discovered in Chile becoming in the following years instrumental for the Patriots to finance the Chilean War of Independence. 1814 – Eight people die in the London Beer Flood. 1860 – First The Open Championship (referred to in North America as the British Open). 1861 – Aboriginal Australians kill nineteen Europeans in the Cullin-la-ringo massacre. 1907 – Marconi begins the first commercial transatlantic wireless service. 1912 – Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia declare war on the Ottoman Empire, joining Montenegro in the First Balkan War. 1919 – Leeds United F.C. founded at Salem Chapel, Holbeck after the winding up of Leeds City F.C. for making illegal payments to players during World War I 1931 – Al Capone is convicted of income tax evasion. 1933 – Albert Einstein flees Nazi Germany and moves to the United States. 1940 – The body of Communist propagandist Willi Münzenberg is found in South France, starting a never-resolved mystery. 1941 – World War II: The USS Kearny becomes the first U.S. Navy vessel to be torpedoed by a U-boat. 1943 – The Burma Railway (Burma–Thailand Railway) is completed. 1943 – Nazi Holocaust in Poland: Sobibór extermination camp is closed. 1945 – A massive demonstration in Buenos Aires, Argentina, demands Juan Perón's release. 1952 – Indonesian Army elements surrounded the Merdeka Palace demanding President Sukarno disband the Provisional People's Representative Council. 1956 – The first commercial nuclear power station is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in Sellafield, England. 1961 – Directed by their chief Maurice Papon, Paris police massacre scores of Algerian protesters. 1961 – The first attempt of the apartheid analogy, by Ahmad Shukeiri,[6][7][8] it was on Oct 17, 1961. 1965 – The 1964–65 New York World's Fair closes after two years and more than 51 million attendees. 1966 – The 23rd Street Fire in New York City kills 12 firefighters. 1969 – The Caravaggio painting Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence is stolen from the Oratory of Saint Lawrence in Palermo. 1970 – FLQ terrorists murder Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte. 1973 – OPEC imposes an oil embargo against countries they deem to have helped Israel in the Yom Kippur War. 1977 – The hijacked Lufthansa Flight 181 lands in Mogadishu. The remaining hostages are later rescued. 1979 – Mother Teresa is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. 1979 – The Department of Education Organization Act creates the U.S. Department of Education. 1980 – As part of the Holy See–United Kingdom relations a British monarch makes the first state visit to the Vatican. 1988 – Uganda Airlines Flight 775 crashes at Rome–Fiumicino International Airport, in Rome, Italy, killing 33 people. 1989 – The 6.9 Mw Loma Prieta earthquake shakes the San Francisco Bay Area and the Central Coast, killing 63. 1989 – The East German Politburo votes to remove Erich Honecker from his role as General Secretary. 1991 – 1991 Rudrapur bombings by Sikh separatists, who explode two bombs, during a Ramlila Hindu celebration in Rudrapur, Uttarakhand, killing 41 people. 1992 – Having gone to the wrong house, Japanese student Yoshihiro Hattori is killed by the homeowner in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 1994 – Russian journalist Dmitry Kholodov is assassinated while investigating corruption in the armed forces. 2000 – The Hatfield rail crash leads to the collapse of Railtrack. 2001 – Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Ze'evi becomes the first Israeli minister to be assassinated in a terrorist attack. 2003 – Taipei 101, a 101-floor skyscraper in Taipei, becomes the world's tallest high-rise. 2017 – Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) capture the last foothold of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Raqqa, marking the end of the Battle of Raqqa. 2018 – The recreational use of cannabis is legalized in Canada. 2018 – Kerch Polytechnic College attack in Crimea. 2019 – Drug dealers in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico force the government to back down on an arrest. 2019 – The 17 October Revolution starts in Lebanon.