Battle of Kosovo field 1389 - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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End of Roman society, feudalism, rise of religious power, beginnings of the nation-state, renaissance (476 - 1492 CE).
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By Mehmet
#14472698
To this day, the effect of this medieval battle still holds an important place in the history and inter-relations of Balkan nations.
This is the most important battle in the history of Serbs.
And very dear victory for the Albanians.

In 1354, Islam invaded Europe. In that year, the armies of the Ottoman Turks moved west and conquered the Aegean port city of Gallipoli. By 1389, much of the Balkans (Bulgaria and Serbia) were vassal states of the Ottoman Empire (see the map at right from The Ottoman Empire: 1326-1699, Stephen Turnbull, Osprey, 2003).
The first counterattack was launched in 1363. Serbs, Bosnians, and Wallachians joined a Hungarian army (under the Hungarian king, Louis the Great) and marched to Edirne (formerly Adrianople). There they planned to attack Sultan Murad and the Turks. Disaster struck when the Christian force was ambushed by Turkish cavalry at the river Maritza. The Christians were routed and fall back in defeat.
Again, in 1371, the Serbs attacked the Turks, and again the Serbs were defeated. This second defeat came on 26 September 1371, at the battle of Cernomen. All the Serbian leaders were killed. This battle, also known as the second battle of the Maritza, is known in the Turkish chronicles as "Sirf sindigi" (the destruction of the Serbs).
The Turks could not be thrown back. In 1385, they captured Sofia and, the next year occupied the Serbian town of Nis.
In 1389, a Serbian leader, Lazar, raised an army to drive the Turks from the Balkans. Lazar raised contingents from Serbia (included forces led by his son-in-law, Vuk Brankovic), Bosnia, Wallachia, Albania, and Hungary.
This Christian force met the Turks at Kosovo Field (Kosovo Polje), the Field of Blackbirds, on St. Vitus's Day, 1389.

The battle and its aftermath:
The Kosovo battle resulted in heavy losses on both sides, but was a devastating loss for the Serbs. Most of the Christian leaders and nobility were killed or driven into exile. Sultan Murad was assassinated behind his lines by a Serbian knight, Milos Obilic, and Lazar was captured and beheaded by the Turks.
Serbian epic songs give two contradictory reasons for the Serbian defeat: the treachery of Vuk Brankovic-- which seems to have no basis in fact--and Lazar's decision before the battle to sacrifice his earthly kingdom for a heavenly kingdom, to lead his men into battle knowing what the tragic outcome was to be.
Complete Turkish domination of Serbia was achieved very slowly by Sultan Murad's successors. A second battle of Kosovo was fought in 1448. The final and conclusive battle was not fought until 1439 for the fortress at Smederevo on the Danube, Nonetheless, it is Kosovo which has lived in the Serbian tradition as the moment of annihilation and enslavement.


http://warchronicle.com/serbia/Battle_of_Kosovo.htm

Last edited by Mehmet on 06 Oct 2014 21:12, edited 1 time in total.
#14472704
Troop deployments of both armies in the field of Kosovo:

Image

Serbs had the advantage of their heavy-armored knight units.
That's why the Ottoman left flank led by Prince Yakub (meaning Jacob) retreated several hundreds of meters but did not break.
Sultan Murad kept firm in the center.
The victory came thanks to the counter attack by the Ottoman right flank led by Beyazid.

The Serbian army has been destroyed after its left flank fell.
Sultan Murad, victorious, has been killed by a wounded a Serb whilst walking among dead Serbian soldiers lying on the battlefield.
Beyazid the successor got his brother Yakub strangled to death in order to prevent any territorial or succession dispute within the Ottoman family.

So has been the death of the powerful medieval Serbian kingdom.
#14472754
Glory to Orthodox Serbia!

Teaching to embrace a Heavenly Kingdom better than an Earthly one, and yet the day will come when Serbia will rise victorious, when she remembers who she is and who her enemies are.

Serbia is Kossovo, and Kossovo is Serbia, for the ground has been made holy and consecrated with the blood of her heroes and saints.
#14472781
Mehmet wrote:Too late. Ottomans gave Kosovo to the Albanian race.
Serbs are now a decading nation with negative birth rates.



It's ok, maybe someday your people will join what you fought against, and fight what you had once joined yourself to, miracles can and do happen, nothing is impossible with God.
#14472787
If you see one day Serbs taking back Kosovo, this wouldn't be because God loves Serbs, but most probably because Albanians are turning too sinful.

Anyway it has been +600 years and still alive in people's spirit.

Albanians like Murad I.
Last edited by Mehmet on 06 Oct 2014 23:58, edited 1 time in total.
#14472789
Mehmet wrote:Serbs are the scourge of God.
God sent them upon Balkan Muslim nations (Bosniaks and Kosovo Albanians) who were leaving Islam under Tito's Marxism. And their hearts which were hardened toward the religion of God has been softened.

If you see one day Serbs taking back Kosovo, this wouldn't be because God loves Serbs, but most probably because Albanians are turning too sinful.


In your head, you ignored my post, but your heart cannot; Turkey will have a glorious Orthodox future someday and a rather Ottoman one, at that.
#14472799
Mehmet wrote:Turkey is already Orthodox.
You know Sunni is Orthodox and Shia is Protestant


You know what I really mean Mehmet .But that's ok for now.

I always did like the Turks-real men and real women and tough as hell. I remember a story my grandpa told me when I was a young man, about how he fought in the Korean War. Koreans had a habit (not picking on Koreans here; I love Koreans too ) of stealing from American troops bigtime, sneaking into camp and taking off with no problems. Well, a Turkish engineering unit camped nearby and one of the locals tried stealing from them one night.... Next day, my Grandpa said they saw the local's head impaled on a stake outside the Turkish unit's base. Another Turkish unit put the fear in the Chicoms, the Chinese planned on ambushing them and were slaughtered to a man. I have other stories, some of which either my father or I experienced, but you get my point
#14472811
Mehemet likes to get boners over Islam's expansionist past. I would too if my present was full of a bunch of backwards barbarians that need to be conquered and shown their place. You are lucky we have been pacified by anti-colonialism else we would probably be retaking Constantinople right now and restoring the Hagia Sophia to its former glory.
#14472813
Ideational Ontarian wrote:Mehemet likes to get boners over Islam's expansionist past. I would too if my present was full of a bunch of backwards barbarians that need to be conquered and shown their place. You are lucky we have been pacified by anti-colonialism else we would probably be retaking Constantinople right now and restoring the Hagia Sophia to its former glory.


I see a day coming when the Turks themselves will restore the Church of Holy Wisdom to it's former glory; even now God is moving among them, Erdogan and his kind are just scared reactionaries of a dead and never to be returned past Islamic glory. Turkey will have her rightful glory when she gets the Right Glory. Then the Serbs and other Orthodox will embrace them as the brothers they are.
#14473008
Ideational Ontarian wrote:Mehemet likes to get boners over Islam's expansionist past. I would too if my present was full of a bunch of backwards barbarians that need to be conquered and shown their place. You are lucky we have been pacified by anti-colonialism else we would probably be retaking Constantinople right now and restoring the Hagia Sophia to its former glory.



That is the whole issue
When Europeans were colonizing and civilizing the rest of the world, the Ottomans colonized parts of Europe and Turk colonists brought a better civilization to the conquered folk.
#14474509
The Downfall of the Kingdom of Serbia

(translated from the Serbian by John Mattias and Vladeta Vuckovic)

Yes, and from Jerusalem, O from that holy place,
A great gray bird, a taloned falcon flew!
And in his beak he held a gentle swallow.
But wait! it's not a falcon, this gray bird,
It is a saint, Holy Saint Eliyah:
And he bears with him no gentle swallow
But a letter from the Blessed Mother.
He brings it to the Tsar at Kosovo
And places it upon his trembling knees.
And thus the letter itself speaks to the Tsar:
"Lazar! Lazar! Tsar of noble family,
Which kingdom is it that you long for most?
Will you choose a heavenly crown today?
Or will you choose an earthly crown?
If you choose the earth then saddle horses,
Tighten girths- have your knights put on
Their swords and make a dawn attack against
The Turks: your enemy will be destroyed.
But if you choose the skies then build a church-
O, not of stone but out of silk and velvet-
Gather up your forces take the bread and wine,
For all shall perish, perish utterly,
And you, O Tsar, shall perish with them."
And when the Tsar has heard those holy words
He meditates, thinks every kind of thought:
"O, Dearest God, what shall I do, and how?
Shall I choose the earth? Shall I choose
The skies? And if I choose the kingdom,
If I choose an earthly kingdom now,
Earthly kingdoms are such passing things-
A heavenly kingdom, raging in the dark, endures eternally."
And Lazarus chose heaven, not the earth,
And tailored there a church at Kosovo-
O not of stone but out of silk and velvet-
And he summoned there the Patriarch of Serbia,
Summoned there the lordly twelve high bishops:
And he gathered up his forces, had them
Take with him the saving bread and wine.
As soon as Lazarus has given out
His orders, then across the level plain
Of Kosovo pour all the Turks.
#14474583
Mehmet wrote:The Downfall of the Kingdom of Serbia

(translated from the Serbian by John Mattias and Vladeta Vuckovic)

Yes, and from Jerusalem, O from that holy place,
A great gray bird, a taloned falcon flew!
And in his beak he held a gentle swallow.
But wait! it's not a falcon, this gray bird,
It is a saint, Holy Saint Eliyah:
And he bears with him no gentle swallow
But a letter from the Blessed Mother.
He brings it to the Tsar at Kosovo
And places it upon his trembling knees.
And thus the letter itself speaks to the Tsar:
"Lazar! Lazar! Tsar of noble family,
Which kingdom is it that you long for most?
Will you choose a heavenly crown today?
Or will you choose an earthly crown?
If you choose the earth then saddle horses,
Tighten girths- have your knights put on
Their swords and make a dawn attack against
The Turks: your enemy will be destroyed.
But if you choose the skies then build a church-
O, not of stone but out of silk and velvet-
Gather up your forces take the bread and wine,
For all shall perish, perish utterly,
And you, O Tsar, shall perish with them."
And when the Tsar has heard those holy words
He meditates, thinks every kind of thought:
"O, Dearest God, what shall I do, and how?
Shall I choose the earth? Shall I choose
The skies? And if I choose the kingdom,
If I choose an earthly kingdom now,
Earthly kingdoms are such passing things-
A heavenly kingdom, raging in the dark, endures eternally."
And Lazarus chose heaven, not the earth,
And tailored there a church at Kosovo-
O not of stone but out of silk and velvet-
And he summoned there the Patriarch of Serbia,
Summoned there the lordly twelve high bishops:
And he gathered up his forces, had them
Take with him the saving bread and wine.
As soon as Lazarus has given out
His orders, then across the level plain
Of Kosovo pour all the Turks.


True words indeed, making all this earthly struggle and strife small vanity and foolish childlike pride. Thanks.
#15191718
They had an effective artillery corps, yes but I wouldn't say first or best. Certainly best in the region. My money for the era will be on Franco-Burgundian artillery. This is the period when France basically expelled England from the continent during the 100 years war. But you don't hear of any major battles in pop history like Cercy or Agnicourt because basically Franco-Burgundian forces conducted a lightning war where they just took castle after castle from English in days because of the effective use of artillery and relative backwardness of fortifications in the face of this new threat.

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