Siege of Belgrade (1440)

Siege of Belgrade (1440)
Part of the Ottoman wars in Europe and Serbian-Ottoman Wars
Date end of April 1440 — October 1440 Location Belgrade, Serbian Despotate Result Hungarian victory
Belligerents
Ottoman Empire	Kingdom of Hungary Serbian Despotate
Commanders and leaders
Murad II Ali Bey Evrenosoglu	Jovan Talovac
Strength
unknown	20,000
Casualties and losses
17,000 (early Christian sources)[1]	unknown

The Siege of Belgrade was a siege of Belgrade, an important fortified town of the Serbian Despotate and the key fortress of the Hungarian defense line after the Ottoman subjugation of Serbia in 1439, by the forces of the Ottoman Empire, spanning over five months in 1440.^[2]

Background

The struggle the throne of Hungary and Slavonia resulted with civil war and served as an opportunity for advance of the Ottomans. Sultan Murad II seized this opportunity and decided to capture Belgrade.^[3]

Forces

Murad II and Ali Beg Evrenosoglu commanded the Ottoman Army. They built a wall around the city and used it to hurl stones.^[4] They also used cannons cast in Smederevo, captured a year before.^[5]

The strength of the Belgrade garrison is unknown.^[6] The Belgrade castle was protected by the canons which were placed there during the period of Serbian Despot Stefan Lazarević.^[7] Besides Talovac's banderij (around 500 men) from Croatia the garrison was enforced with Czech and Italian mercenaries who were archers. Local Serb population also assisted defenders^[8] Talovac's forces had significant advantage because some of them used rifles, which was the first usage of the rifles against the Ottomans.^[9]

Battle

Murad II approached Belgrade with his forces at the end of April 1440.^[8] Taloci was not immediately aware of the size of the Ottoman forces and initially had intention to defeat them on the open battlefield. When he went out of the castle and realized that his forces are heavily outnumbered by the Ottomans, he retreated to the city.^[8] Murad II besieged the city and fortified his forces around it. He ordered building of the mobile towers and canons of different sizes.^[8] According to Konstantin Mihailović, the title of bey and corresponding estate was promised to the Ottoman soldier who would wave the Ottoman flag on the Belgrade walls. Although, Evrenosoglu already had the title of bey at that time he decided to personally lead the assault to the walls of the Belgrade castle, in hopes of increase his already great reputation.^[10]

References

1. T͡Svetkova, Bistra Andreeva (1979). Pametna bitka na narodite: evropeĭskii͡a︡t i͡u︡goiztok i osmanskoto zavoevanie--krai͡a︡ na XIV i pŭrvata polovina na XV v (in Bulgarian). Kn-vo "Georgi Bakalov". p. 91. ...17 000 жертви в тия тежки сражения за овладяване
2. Jefferson 2012, pp. 236–240.
3. Magaš, Branka (2007). Croatia through history: the making of a European state. Saqi. p. 74.
4. Franz Babinger (1992). Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time. Princeton University Press. pp. 18–. ISBN 0-691-01078-1.
5. Parry, Vernon J.; Yapp, Malcolm (1975). War, technology and society in the Middle East. Oxford University Press. p. 185.
6. Šolajić, Dragutin (1954). Ratna prošlost Beograda. Beogradske novine. p. 50. Колика је била јачина београдске посаде није познато
7. Tasić, Nikola (1995). Istorija Beograda. Srpska akademija nauka i umetnosti, Balkanološki institut. p. 67. Град јс био снабдевен топовима који су били распорсђени још у времс деспота Стефана Лазаревића.
8. Klaić, Vjekoslav (1901). Povjest Hrvata: od najstarijih vremena do svršetka XIX. stoljeća. Tisak i naklada knjižare L. Hartmana (Kugli i Deutsch). p. 175.
9. Prosvjeta. Društvo hrvatskih književnika. 1908. p. 415. Tako je dakle Ivan Talovac mogao prvi upotiebiti puške u ratu s Turcima.
10. Jefferson 2012, pp. 240–244.

Sources

• Jefferson, John (17 August 2012). The Holy Wars of King Wladislas and Sultan Murad: The Ottoman-Christian Conflict from 1438-1444. BRILL. pp. 235–246. ISBN 90-04-21904-8.

Coordinates: 44°29′N 10°17′E / 44.49°N 10.28°E