The siege of Golubac is a siege by the troops of the Hungarian-Wallachian-Lithuanian alliance occupied by the Ottomans of the Golubac fortress in 1428 . This siege was the first in Hungarian military history in which the Hungarian army used significant artillery. However, the Hungarians could not capture Golubats and were defeated by the Ottoman main army, led by Sultan Murad II . After the battle, most of Serbia and Bosnia was conquered by the Ottoman army.
| The siege of Golubac | |||
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| Main Conflict: Ottoman-Hungarian Wars | |||
 Golubatskaya fortress | |||
| date | May 1428 | ||
| A place | Goluback fortress , Serbian despot | ||
| Total | Ottoman victory, Serbia became a vassal of the Ottomans, the Ottomans invaded Bosnia | ||
| Opponents | |||
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| Commanders | |||
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| Forces of the parties | |||
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| Losses | |||
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Content
Background
At the end of the XIV century, the Ottoman Empire conquered most of the Balkans and came to the southern borders of the Kingdom of Hungary . After the battle on the Kosovo Field (1389), the Ottomans began to threaten Serbia as well . Therefore, in 1426, the Serbian despot Stefan Lazarevich concluded an agreement with the Hungarian king Sigismund of Luxembourg : the fortresses of Belgrade and Golubac were to be transferred to Hungary in exchange for the protection of Serbia and recognition by the Hungarians of George Brankovich as successor to Stefan.
After the death of Lazarevich in 1427, Sigismund demanded that Brankovich fulfill the agreement, but the Serbian despot tried to evade. Then Sigismund took power by force Belgrade, after which the Serbian commandant Golubac transferred the fortress to the Ottomans on behalf of Sigismund.
Siege
Due to the strategic location of the Goluback fortress, Sigismund did not want to put up with its transfer to the Turks. In the winter of 1427, he built the Laslovara fortress (now Colonini, Romania) on the opposite bank of the Danube from Golubac. This fortress became the basis for the campaign against the Ottomans. When the invasion began, Sigismund had about 15-20,000 soldiers. The army of Sigismund also included Lithuanian and Wallachian auxiliary regiments under the command of Zavisi the Black and Dan II of Wallachian .
In late April, Christian troops attacked Golubac. For the first time in Hungarian military history, the Hungarian army used artillery in a military conflict. Soldiers fired at the fortress from the guns of the Danube flotilla and from the walls of Laslovari. The Ottoman defenders of Golubac boldly fought back, but the shelling destroyed the walls. Sigismund planned an attack on the walls, but at that moment a significant Ottoman army came up, led personally by Murad II. Sigismund decided to avoid the battle and proposed a truce: Christians stopped their attacks and began a retreat.
However, when the Christian army began to cross the Danube, the Ottomans violated the ceasefire and staged a surprise attack. During the retreat, the commander of the personal guard of Sigismund, Istvan Rozgoni, and the commander of the Lithuanian contingent, Zavisha Cherny , who covered the withdrawal of the Hungarian and Wallachian troops, were killed.
Consequences
After the defeat of the Hungarians, Murad II organized an attack on Serbia, whose despot George Brankovich ultimately recognized himself as a vassal of the Ottoman Empire. Then the Ottomans invaded Bosnia and defeated Tvrtko II , capturing some of its most important fortresses.
Immediately after the battle, Sigismund began to organize a defense system against the Ottomans. He sent a significant army to Belgrade and transferred the protection of Banat to the Teutonic Knights. However, Murad II did not attack Hungary, but instead focused on the siege of Thessaloniki. In 1430, the parties reached a ceasefire, which lasted until 1432 .
Literature
- Benedek Elek: A magyarok története, Debrecen, 1994.