Battle of Kosovo


 * ''This page is about the Battle of Kosovo of 1389. For other battles, see Battle of Kosovo (disambiguation); for the 1989 film depicting the battle, see Battle of Kosovo (film)'

The Battle of Kosovo, also known as the Battle of Kosovo Field or the Battle of Blackbird's Field (Косовска битка, Бој на Косову; Kosovska bitka; Boj na Kosovu; Kosova Meydan Savaşı), took place on St. Vitus' Day, June 15, 1389, between the army led by Serbian Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović, and the invading army of the Ottoman Empire under the leadership of Sultan Murad I. The army under Prince Lazar consisted of his own troops, a contingent led by Serbian nobleman Vuk Branković, and a contingent sent from Bosnia by King Tvrtko I, commanded by Vlatko Vuković. Prince Lazar was the ruler of Moravian Serbia, and the most powerful among the Serbian regional lords of the time, while Vuk Branković ruled a part of Kosovo and other areas, recognizing Lazar as his overlord. The Battle of Kosovo took place in the Kosovo Polje, about 5 kilometers northwest of modern-day Pristina.

Reliable historical accounts of the battle are scarce; however, a critical comparison with historically contemporaneous battles (such as Angora or Nikopolis) enables reliable reconstruction. The bulk of both armies was wiped out in the battle; both Lazar and Murad lost their lives in it. Although Ottomans managed to annihilate the Serbian army, they also suffered high casualties which delayed their progress. Serbs were left with too few men to effectively defend their lands, while the Turks had many more troops in the east. Consequently, the Serbian principalities that were not already Ottoman vassals, one after the other became so in the following years.

The Battle of Kosovo is particularly important to Serbian history, tradition, and national identity.

Background
Emperor Stefan Uroš IV Dušan the Mighty (r. 1331-1355) was succeeded by his son Stefan Uroš V (r. 1355-1371) whose reign was characterized by decline of central power and rise of numerous virtually independent principalities; this period is known as the fall of the Serbian Empire. Uroš the Weak was not able to sustain the great empire created by his father nor to repulse the foreign threats and failed to limit the independence of the nobles. Uroš V died childless on 4 December 1371, after much of the Serbian nobility had been destroyed by the Turks in the Battle of Maritsa earlier that year. Prince Lazar, ruler of Moravian Serbia, aware of the Ottoman threat, began diplomatic and military preparations for a campaign against the Ottomans.

Army movement
After the defeat of the Ottomans at Pločnik (1386) and Bileća (1388), Murad I, the reigning Ottoman sultan, moved his troops from Philippoupolis (Plovdiv in modern Bulgaria) in the spring of 1389 to Ihtiman. From there, the party traveled across Velbužd (Kyustendil) and Kratovo (present-day Macedonia). Though longer than the alternative route through Sofia and the Nišava Valley, this route led the Ottoman party to Kosovo, one of the most important crossroads in the Balkans. From Kosovo, Murad's party could attack the lands of either Lazar of Serbia or Vuk Branković. Having stayed in Kratovo for a time, Murad and his troops marched through Kumanovo, Preševo and Gnjilane to Pristina, where he arrived on June 14.

While there is less information about Lazar's preparations, he gathered his troops near Niš, on the right bank of the South Morava River. His party likely remained there until he learned that Murad had moved to Velbužd, whereupon he moved across Prokuplje to Kosovo. This was the best place Lazar could choose as a battlefield, as it gave him control of all the routes that Murad could take.

Army composition


Murad's army numbered from 27,000 to 40,000 fighters. These 40,000 included no more than 2,000 Janissaries, 2,500 of Murad's cavalry guard, 6,000 sipahis, 20,000 azaps and akincis, and 8,000 troops from his vassals. Marko and Dragaš, although Ottoman vassals, did not participate in the battle.

Lazar's army numbered from 12,000 to 30,000. Out of approximately 30,000 fighters present, 12,000 to 15,000 were under Lazar's command, with 5,000 to 10,000 under Vuk Branković, a Serbian nobleman from Kosovo, and just as many under nobleman Vlatko Vuković. The latter troops were sent by Bosnian king Tvrtko I Kotromanic. Mixed with Vuković's army was a contingent of Knights Hospitallers, whom the Croatian knight John of Palisna had led from Vrana in Croatia. Several thousand were cavalry. Furthermore, there has been several anachronistical accounts which have mentioned that the "Christian army" of Lazar was far greater, and that it also included contingents of other nations, although these cannot be verified.

Troop Deployment
The armies met at Kosovo Field. Murad headed the Ottoman army, with his sons Bayezid on his right and Yakub on his left. Around 1,000 archers were in the front line in the wings, backed up by azap and akinci; in the front center were janissaries, behind whom was Murad, surrounded by his cavalry guard; finally, the supply train at the rear was guarded by a small number of troops. One of the Ottoman commanders was Pasha Yiğit Bey.

The Serbian army had Prince Lazar at its center, Vuk on the right and Vlatko on the left. At the front of the Serbian army were the heavy cavalry and archer cavalry on the flanks, with the infantry to the rear. While parallel, the dispositions of the armies were not symmetrical, as the Serbian center had a broader front than the Ottoman center.

Start
Serbian and Turkish accounts of the battle differ, making it difficult to reconstruct the course of events. It is believed that the battle commenced with Ottoman archers shooting at Serbian cavalry, who then made for the attack. After positioning in a V-shaped formation, the Serbian cavalry managed to break through the Ottoman left wing, but were not as successful against the center and the right wing.



Ottoman counterattack
The Serbs had the initial advantage after their first charge, which significantly damaged the Turkish wing commanded by Yakub Celebi. When the knights' charge was finished, light Ottoman cavalry and light infantry counter-attacked and the Serbian heavy armour became a disadvantage. In the center, Serbian fighters managed to push back Ottoman forces, except for Bayezid's wing, which barely held off the forces commanded by Vlatko Vuković. Vuković thus inflicted disproportionately heavy losses on the Turks. The Ottomans, in a ferocious counter-attack led by Bayezid, pushed the Serbian forces back and then prevailed later in the day, routing the Serbian infantry. Both flanks still held, with Vuković's drifting toward the center to compensate for the heavy losses inflicted on the Serbian infantry.

Historic facts say that Vuk Branković had seen that there was no hope for victory, and fled to save as many men as he could. He fled after Lazar was captured, but in songs, it is said that he betrayed Lazar, and left him to death in middle of battle rather than after Lazar was captured and the center massacred.

Sometime after Branković's retreat from the battle, the remaining Bosnian and Serb forces yielded the field, believing that a victory was no longer possible.

Murad's death
As the battle turned against the Serbs, one of their noblemen, a knight named Miloš Obilić, pretended to desert to the Turkish forces. When he was brought before Murad, Obilić pulled out a hidden dagger and killed the Sultan by slashing him from belly to neck. The Sultan's bodyguards immediately hacked Miloš Obilić to pieces.

The earliest preserved record, a letter from the Florentine senate to King Tvrtko I of Bosnia dated 20 October 1389, says that Murad was killed during the battle. The killer is not named, but it was one of 12 Serbian noblemen who managed to break through the Ottoman lines:

Another Italian account, Mignanelli's 1416 work, asserted that it was Lazar who killed Ottoman sultan.

Succession of the Ottoman throne
Murad's son, Bayezid, was informed of the sultan's death before his older brother Yakub. Bayezid sent Yakub a false message, stating that their father had some new orders for them. When Yakub arrived, he was strangled to death, leaving Bayezid as the sole heir to the Ottoman throne.

Aftermath and legacy


The bulk of both armies were wiped out in the battle; both Lazar and Murad lost their lives, and the remnants of their armies eventually retreated from the battlefield. The Serbs were left with too few men to defend their lands effectively, while the Turks had many more troops in the east. Consequently, the Serbian principalities that were not already Ottoman vassals, one after the other became so in the following years. Furthermore, in response to Turkish pressure, some Serbian noblemen wed their daughters, including the daughter of Prince Lazar, to Bayezid. In the wake of these marriages, Stefan Lazarević became a loyal ally of Bayezid, going on to contribute significant forces to many of Bayezid's future military engagements, including the Battle of Nicopolis. Eventually, the Serbian Despotate would, on numerous occasions, attempt to defeat the Ottomans in conjunction with the Hungarians until its final defeat in 1459 and again in 1540.

The Battle of Kosovo came to be seen as a symbol of Serbian patriotism and desire for independence in the 19th century rise of nationalism under Ottoman rule, including the Kosovo curse, and its significance for Serbian nationalism returned to prominence during the breakup of Yugoslavia and the Kosovo War when Slobodan Milošević invoked it during an important speech.