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Contents 1 Prelude 2 Forces 3 The battle 4 Aftermath

See also Siege of Varna

Battle of Varna
Part of the Ottoman-Hungarian Wars
Image:Varna 1444 Polski Kronika from 1564.jpg From:Kronika wszystkiego świata of Bielski, Marcin published in 1564
Date November 10, 1444 Location Near Varna, Bulgaria Result Ottoman victory
Combatants
Hungary, Poland and others	Ottoman Empire
Commanders
Władysław III of Poland † Janos Hunyadi	Murad II
Strength
~ 20,000 - 30,000	~ 60,000 (possibly up to 100,000?)
Casualties
~ 11,000	~ 8,000

Ottoman-Hungarian Wars
Nicopolis – Varna – Kosovo – Belgrade – Mohács

Crusades
First – People's – German – 1101 – Second – Third – Fourth – Albigensian – Children's – Fifth – Sixth – Seventh – Shepherds' – Eighth – Ninth – Aragonese – Alexandrian – Nicopolis – Northern – Hussite – Varna

The Battle of Varna took place on November 10, 1444 near Varna in eastern Bulgaria. In this battle the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Murad II defeated the Polish and Hungarian armies under Władysław III of Poland and Janos Hunyadi. It is often referred to as the crusade of Varna.

[edit] Prelude

After a failed expedition in 1441/1442 against Belgrade, the Ottoman sultan Murad II signed a ten-year truce with Hungary. After he had made peace with the Karaman Emirate in Anatolia in August 1444, he resigned the throne to his twelve year-old son Mehmed II.

Despite the peace treaty, Hungary co-operated with Venice and the pope, Eugene IV, to organize a new crusader army. On this news Murad was recalled to the throne by his son. Although Murad initially refused this summoning persistently on the grounds that he was not the sultan anymore, he was outwitted by his son who on the news of his refusal wrote to him: "If you are the sultan, lead your armies; but if I am the sultan, I hereby order you to come and lead my armies." Murad then had no choice but to reclaim the throne.

[edit] Forces

A mixed Christian army consisting mainly of Hungarian and of Polish forces, but with detachments of Czechs, papal knights, Bosnians, Croatians, Serbs, Bulgarians, Romanians and Ruthenians, met with a numerically superior force of Ottoman Turks. The Hungarians were ill-equipped, and promised support from Wallachia, Albania and Constantinople did not arrive. The Hungarian army was smaller and very imbalanced. It contained almost no infantry, except one hundred to three hundred Czech mercenary handgunners. There were also one hundred war wagons probably with crews, though none are mentioned. The rest of the army was heavy cavalry, mostly Royal and foreign mercenaries, with some Episcopal and Noble banners as well. They had promises from Venetians that their fleet would not allow Turkish army to cross the Bosphorus. There they would meet up with elements of the Papal fleet and move down the coast to Constantinople, pushing the Ottomans out of the Balkans as they went.

[edit] The battle

The 20,000 (or 30,000) Crusaders were overwhelmed by about 60,000 Turks. Over half of the soldiers from the united army perished. The king Władysław III was also killed in the battle (he fell in a trap and was beheaded) while launching an attack without waiting for Janos Hunyadi and his forces to join him.

[edit] Aftermath

The death of Władysław III in the battle left Hungary in the hands of the four-year-old Ladislaus Posthumous of Bohemia and Hungary. In an expression of gratitude, the Bulgarian people affectionately gave Władysław III the name 'Varnenchik' (Warneńczyk in Polish), after the city of Varna, where he fought and died.

The defeat ended any serious attempts to prevent the conquest of eastern Europe by Turks for several decades. It also set the stage for the fall of Constantinople in 1453.ar:معركة فارنا cs:Bitva u Varny de:Schlacht bei Warna el:Μάχη της Βάρνας eo:Batalo de Varna fr:Bataille de Varna he:קרב וארנה it:Battaglia di Varna pl:Bitwa pod Warną ro:Bătălia de la Varna sk:Bitka pri Varne tr:Varna Savaşı