Siege of Belgrade (1440)

1440 siege of the city of Belgrade by the Ottoman Empire

For other uses, see Siege of Belgrade.

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Siege of Belgrade (1440)

Part of the Ottoman wars in Europe and Serbian-Ottoman Wars
| Date| end of April 1440 – October 1440

|

Location|

Belgrade, Kingdom of Hungary

Result|  Hungarian victory[1][2]
Belligerents
Ottoman Empire|

* Kingdom of Hungary
* Serbian Despotate

Commanders and leaders
Murad II
Ali Bey Evrenosoğlu|  Ivan Talovac
Strength
35,000|  3,000–5,000
Casualties and losses
17,000 (early Christian sources)[3]|  unknown

* v
* t
* e

Hungarian–Ottoman Wars

Hungarian–Ottoman War (1366–67)
Hungarian–Ottoman War (1375–77)
Hungarian–Ottoman War (1389–96)

* (Nicopolis)

Hungarian–Ottoman War (1415–19)
War of the South Danube (1420–32)

* (Golubac)

Hungarian–Ottoman War (1437–42)

* (Belgrade
* Hermannstadt)

Crusade of Varna (1443–44)

* (Nish
* Zlatitsa
* Kunovica
* Várna)

* Kosovo (1448)
* Kruševac (1454)
* Belgrade (1456)
* Užice (1458)
* Smederevo (1459)
* Jajce (1464)
* Zvornik (1464)
* Vaslui (1475)
* Serbia Expedition (1477)
* Breadfield (1479)
* Otranto (1480–81)
* Krbava Field (1493)

Hungarian–Ottoman War (1521–26)

* Belgrade (1521)

Šabac (1521)
* Mohács (1526)

Ottoman–Habsburg wars

* v
* t
* e

Medieval Serbian–Ottoman Wars

* Stephaniana
* Demotika
* Sırpsındığı
* Samokov
* Maritsa
* Dubravnica
* Savra
* Pločnik
* Kosovo Field
* Tripolje
* Vitosha Pass
* Smederevo
* Belgrade
* 1st Novo Brdo
* Varna
* Niš
* Zlatica
* Kunovica
* Leskovac
* Kruševac
* Ostrovic
* Trepča
* 2nd Novo Brdo
* Belgrade
* Smederevo
* Breadfield

The siege of Belgrade was a long siege by the forces of the Ottoman Empire, lasted about six or seven months in 1440. Belgrade was 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. The siege ended with a dramatic final assault, the Ottomans were repelled, and after the failed assault the Turks gave up the siege and returned home.[4]

## Background

[edit]

The struggle over the throne of Hungary and Slavonia resulted in a civil war that provided the Ottomans with an opportunity for advancement. Seizing upon this opportunity, Sultan Murad II decided to capture Belgrade.[5]

## Forces

[edit]

The Belgrade castle was protected by the canons which were placed there during the period of Serbian Despot Stefan Lazarević.[6] The Ottoman Army, commanded by Sultan Murad II and Ali Beg Evrenosoglu, built a wall around the city and used it to hurl stones at its fortifications.[7] They also used cannons cast in Smederevo, the Despotate capital they had captured a year before.[8]

The strength of the Belgrade garrison is unknown.[9] Besides Talovac's banderij of around 500 men from Croatia, the garrison was enforced with Czech and Italian mercenary archers. The local Serb population also assisted defenders[10] Talovac's forces had significant advantage because some of them used rifles, which was the first usage of the rifles against the Ottomans.[11]

## Battle

[edit]

Murad II approached Belgrade with his forces at the end of April 1440.[12] Taloci was not immediately aware of the size of the Ottoman forces. He had initially intended to defeat them on the open battlefield, but when he realized his forces were heavily outnumbered, Taloci retreated to the city.[10] Murad II ordered building of mobile towers and cannons of different sizes, fortified his position and besieged the city.[10]

According to Konstantin Mihailović, the title of bey and a corresponding estate was promised to the Ottoman soldier who waved the Ottoman flag on the Belgrade walls. Although Evrenosoğlu already had the title of bey at that time, he decided to personally lead the assault on the walls of the Belgrade castle, in hopes of increasing his already great reputation.[13]

The battle of John Hunyadi in 1441 against the Ottomans who attacked Belgrade again after the Siege of Belgrade in 1440 (Chronica Hungarorum, 1488)

> And when the enemy tunnel had reached within the walls of the fortress, up to the tunnel excavated by the fortress’s inhabitants, and the noise of those digging it was heard by the guards, at once fire was brought to set alight all the explosives that had been arranged. And its fierce flames and the smoke were the cause of the sudden death of every living thing, man and beast, inside the tunnel. When the sultan himself saw that this device would not help him capture the fortress, he returned home in confusion, having lost, or so it is said, 17,000 of his people, and having devoted seven months to the siege.

> — Johannes Thuróczy: Chronica Hungarorum[14]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Jefferson 2012, p. 235–246.
2. ^ Bánlaky, József. "Nándorfehérvár ostroma a törökök által 1440-ben" [Siege of Belgrade by the Turks in 1440]. A magyar nemzet hadtörténelme [The Military History of the Hungarian Nation] (in Hungarian). Budapest.
3. ^ 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"
4. ^ Jefferson 2012, pp. 236–246.
5. ^ Magaš, Branka (2007). Croatia through history: the making of a European state. Saqi. p. 74\. ISBN 9780863567759.
6. ^ Tasić, Nikola (1995). Istorija Beograda. Srpska akademija nauka i umetnosti, Balkanološki institut. p. 67\. ISBN 9788671790215. "Град јс био снабдевен топовима који су били распорсђени још у времс деспота Стефана Лазаревића."
7. ^ Franz Babinger (1992). Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time. Princeton University Press. pp. 18–. ISBN 0-691-01078-1.
8. ^ Parry, Vernon J.; Yapp, Malcolm (1975). War, technology and society in the Middle East. Oxford University Press. p. 185\. ISBN 978-0-19-713581-5.
9. ^ Šolajić, Dragutin (1954). Ratna prošlost Beograda. Beogradske novine. p. 50\. "Колика је била јачина београдске посаде није познато"
10. ^ a b c Klaić, Vjekoslav (1901). Povjest Hrvata: od najstarijih vremena do svršetka XIX. stoljeća. Tisak i naklada knjižare L. Hartmana (Kugli i Deutsch). p. 175.
11. ^ Prosvjeta. Društvo hrvatskih književnika. 1908. p. 415\. "Tako je dakle Ivan Talovac mogao prvi upotiebiti puške u ratu s Turcima."
12. ^ Klaić, Vjekoslav (1901). Povjest Hrvata: Dio 1. Treće dova: Vladanje kraljeva iz raznih porodica (1301-1526) 1. knj. Anžuvinci i Sigismund do gubitka Dalmacije (1301-1409). Tisak i naklada knjižare L. Hartmana. p. 175.
13. ^ Jefferson 2012, pp. 240–244.
14. ^ Thuróczy, János. A magyarok krónikája [Chronicle of the Hungarians] (in Hungarian). Translated by Horváth, János. Magyar Helikon.

## Sources

[edit]

* Jefferson, John (2012). The Holy Wars of King Wladislas and Sultan Murad: The Ottoman-Christian Conflict from 1438–1444. Leiden: Brill Publishers. ISBN 978-90-04-21904-5.

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Wars and battles involving Serbs

Medieval|

| Serbian–Bulgarian|

* Bulgar–Serb War (839–842)
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* Battle of Velbazhd

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Serbian–Ottoman|

* Early skirmishes
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* Battle of Dubravnica in 1381
* Battle of Savra in 1385
* Battle of Pločnik in 1386
* Battle of Kosovo in 1389
* Serbian Despotate
* Battle of Karanovasa
* Battle of Tripolje in 1402
* Siege of Novo Brdo in 1412
* Battle of Vitosha Pass in 1413
* Battle of Carmorlu
* First Scutari War
* Second Scutari War
* Ottoman invasion of Serbia in 1425
* Ottoman invasion of Serbia in 1427
* Ottoman invasion of Serbia in 1437
* Battle of Trnava (1430)
* Ottoman invasion of Serbia in 1438
* Ottoman invasion of Serbia (1439–1444)
* Crusade of Varna
* Battle of Nish (1443)
* Battle of Zlatitsa in 1443
* Battle of Kunovica in 1444
* Ottoman invasion of Serbia (1454–1455)
* Battle of Kruševac in 1454
* Battle of Leskovac in 1454
* Ottoman invasion of Serbia in 1456
* Siege of Belgrade
* Siege of Smederevo
* Ottoman invasion and conquest of Serbia in 1459
* Battle of Breadfield in 1479
* Ottoman conquest of Zeta in 1499

Serbian–Byzantine|

* Serb Uprising of 1038–1042
* Battle of Bar
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* Battle of Zvečan (1094)
* Battle of Haram
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* Battle of Tara (1150)
* Byzantine–Hungarian War (1149–1155)
* Siege of Braničevo (1154)
* Battle of Pantina
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* Serbian invasion of Macedonia led by Syrgiannes Palaiologos (1334)
* Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347

Other|

* Hungarian invasions of Europe
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Foreign rule|

| Habsburgs|

* Jovan Nenad's uprising
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* Battle of Szőlős
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* Battle of Lugos
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* Austro-Turkish War (1716–1718)
* Siege of Belgrade (1717)
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* Battle of Zsibó
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* Austro-Turkish War (1788–1791)

|

Ottomans|

* Long War (Ottoman wars) (1593–1606)
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* Uprising in Vučitrn
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* Battle of Lopate

Venice|

* Morean War
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* Battle on Vrtijeljka
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Russia|

* Serbian Hussar Regiment
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19th century|

| Serbian Revolution|

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* Montenegrin–Ottoman War (1852–1853)
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Other|

* Kumanovo uprising
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20th century|

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* Insurgency in Kosovo
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