In the fateful autumn of 1444, Europe found itself at the brink of a cataclysmic clash
– the Battle of Varna.
The stage was set on November 9, when scouts under the command of Michael Szilagyi, a trusted
captain of Hungarian commander Janosh Hunyadi, discovered the formidable Ottoman army led
by Sultan Murad.
The Crusaders, under the youthful King Ladislas and his seasoned commanders, realized that
their escape routes were limited and unfavourable terrain forced their hand towards a decisive
engagement.
As dawn broke the next day, Murad's forces formed a crescent formation, their strategy
clear – to envelope the Crusaders.
With janissaries and elite infantry at the forefront, flanked by sipahi cavalry and azab
light infantry, the Ottomans stood ready.
In response, Hunyadi arranged his forces in a mirrored crescent formation, skillfully
placing Transylvanian troops along marshlands, veterans who had danced with the treacherous
Carpathian landscape.
The infantry, clad in sturdy armour, wielded halberds and swords, poised to fend off the
Ottoman assault.
Hunyadi's foresight aimed to funnel the enemy onto the open plain, a battleground where
his heavily armoured crusader cavalry could shine.
The numerical might of the Ottomans was to be countered by Hunyadi's strategic ingenuity,
as the fate of
nations hung in the balance.
[Political background]
[Text: “To escape is impossible, to surrender is unthinkable.
Let us fight with bravery and honour our arms!”
- Janosh Hunyadi at the Council of War]
It is the early 15th century, and the emerging Ottoman Empire was a growing power in the
Middle East and South-East Europe.
During this new contender’s arrival, Europe was in turmoil: the Byzantine Empire was weak,
England and France were engaged in the Hundred Years’ War, Italian city-states suffered
from infighting and greed, the Papacy was divided, and Balkan kingdoms struggled.
The Black Plague devastated Europe, further weakening it.
Christian Europe's response to the Ottoman threat was disorganized.
Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I targeted Hungary, leading to the failed Nicopolis Crusade in
1396.
The Crusaders behaved poorly, and their recklessness led to defeat.
Bayezid was later defeated by Tamerlane, causing internal strife in the Ottoman Empire.
However, Sultan Mehmed I restored order, rebuilt the military, and set the stage for further
conflicts with Christian Europe under his successor Murad II.
Murad, a stern and determined ruler, emerged as the needed leader after a period of disorder.
He was religious and called himself the Ghazi Sultan, dedicated to spreading Islam.
He besieged Constantinople, obtaining a peace deal that surrendered much land.
He aimed to reclaim Balkan territories, subduing the Venetians and confronting the capable
soldier and voivode of Transylvania, Janosh Hunyadi.
Hunyadi, skilled and adaptable, achieved numerous triumphs, earning the moniker "White Knight
of Transylvania."
After reigning over Hungary for nearly 50 years, King Sigismund died.
Following a complex succession, he was succeeded by the 19-year-old Ladislas of Poland and
Hungary.
The young King sought to secure the southern frontier against the Ottomans, relying on
Hunyadi’s expertise.
Initially, Hunyadi achieved several victories in Transylvania and Wallachia.
In March 1442, he defeated an Ottoman army under Mezid Bey at Hermannstadt.
His international prestige skyrocketed.
Pope Eugenius sent Cardinal Cesarini to negotiate peace between the Habsburg and Ladislas parties
to join forces.
Successfully so, and Hunyadi invested his funds to hire mercenaries and trek deep into
the Balkans.
They captured Krusevac, Nis and even Sofia.
Due to the harsh winter, they had to return to Belgrade and could not expel the Ottomans
from Europe as had been their goal.
Meanwhile, Sultan Murad II suffered trouble in the Anatolian peninsula, mainly the revolt
of the Karaman emirate.
As such, he was eager to make peace with the marauding Christians in the western part of
his territories.
However, Ladislas, driven by youth, glory, and Christian chivalry ideals, believed the
Ottomans could be expelled from Europe.
Ladislas was influenced by Cardinal Cesarini who shared this perspective and envisioned
uniting Christian branches through freeing Balkan Orthodox peoples.
Amid peace talks with the Ottomans, Ladislas pledged a crusade.
Durad Brankovich, the Serbian despot doubling as the Sultan’s son-in-law, arranged the
Peace of Szeged, supposed to last for ten years.
They restored Brankovich’s throne in Serbia, Hungary gained a few new territories and castles
and the Sultan agreed to pay indemnities.
Subsequently, Murad withdrew his army to address rebellious vassals, astonishingly abdicating
in favour of his 12-year-old son.
The Ottoman Empire appeared to be waning in power.
Cesarini voided the truce due to the Ottomans' status as infidels, and Ladislas declared
his intention to expel them.
A bold plan emerged: a Christian army, led by Ladislas and Hunyadi, would lead a crusade
along the Danube into Ottoman-held Bulgaria, joining a Venetian fleet at the Black Sea.
This endeavour aimed to isolate the Ottomans and spark Balkan uprisings, facilitated by
the Venetians' blockade.
The Christians embarked with an army of 16,000, composed of Hungarians, Poles, and Papal troops,
bolstered by diverse ethnic contingents from Central and Eastern Europe.
Prince Vlad II of Wallachia contributed a 4000 strong force of horsemen, led by his
son Mircea II.
However, doubts loomed.
Vlad cautioned Ladislas about the sultan's overwhelming numbers, while Hunyadi and Brankovic
expressed concerns, advocating for diplomacy.
Undeterred, Ladislas led his forces into Ottoman land on September 18, 1444.
Initial progress was positive, marked by the capture of Ottoman strongholds and support
from local Christians.
The belief that the new Sultan was distant, contained by the Venetian fleet, offered some
solace amid these challenges.
However, when the young, inexperienced Sultan learned of the invasion, he forced his father
to take up command of the army once more to expel the Crusaders.
But this belief was wrong.
Venice’s rivals, the Genoese, transported Murad and his army across the straits for
a high fee.
In mid-October, while the Crusaders struggled along the Danube, Murad entered Europe, gathering
a force of 60,000 men to confront the exhausted Crusaders near Varna.
[Text: If you are the Sultan, come and lead the armies.
If I am the Sultan, I order you to come and lead the armies.
- Sultan Mehmed to his father]
On November 9, 1444, scouts led by Michael Szilagyi, Hunyadi’s trusted captain, spotted
the Ottoman army, led by Murad, assembling in battle formation near Varna.
They emerged in the Crusader’s rear, blocking any reasonable road of retreat.
Ladislas and his commanders concluded that it was time to engage in battle due to unfavourable
terrain and a lack of escape options.
The following day, Murad's forces took up a crescent position, planning to envelop the
Crusaders.
With his janissaries and elite infantry stationed in the centre, Murad deployed Rumelian and
Anatolian troops on his flanks, mainly consisting of sipahi cavalry and azab light infantry.
The Ottoman left was composed of the sultan’s Rumelian troops who were more seasoned in
fighting Christian armies.
Hunyadi, aware of the strategy, positioned his forces in a mirrored crescent formation
near Varna, aiming to nullify the Ottomans' numerical advantage.
Hunyadi's strategic deployment placed the Papal contingent led by Cesarini, Wallachian
horsemen under Mircea II, and Hungarian heavy infantry on the crusader right, intending
to prevent Ottoman flanking from high ground.
In the centre, 4,000 troops commanded by Stephen Bathory, the Palatine of Hungary, held the
crusader banner of St. George, featuring the elite bodyguard of the king composed of heavily
armoured knights from prominent Eastern European families.
Behind the main force, a defensive line of war wagons crewed by Czech mercenaries offered
additional protection and psychological reassurance.
Hunyadi positioned his Transylvanian forces along the marshlands, including experienced
cavalry veterans familiar with the challenging Carpathian terrain.
The infantry were well-protected and armed with halberds and swords.
Hunyadi anticipated the Ottoman strategy, intending to channel their forces onto the
plain where his heavily armoured crusader cavalry could excel.
He hoped this would negate the numerical disadvantage.
After hours of deployment observation, despite initial concerns, Murad ordered the Ottoman
attack.
The first to charge were the azab irregulars.
Responding to the provocations, the Saxon knights broke formation and clashed with the
Ottoman forces.
Their charge pierced through the azabs but met resistance from well-trained sipahi cavalry.
The Saxons' heavy armour proved impervious to the cavalry's sabres, allowing them to
inflict heavy losses on the Ottoman horsemen.
Trapped against the Black Sea coast, the Crusaders faced an urgent need to fight, even if it
meant perilous charges.
Szilagyi led an attempt to aid the Saxons, yet their outnumbered forces were soon in
danger of being surrounded.
Hunyadi intervened by sending Mircea to rescue them; the Wallachians fiercely charged to
turn the tide to the left.
Mircea’s rescue operation weakened the right wing.
The Ottomans exploited this, manoeuvring onto high ground before pressing down.
Sipahi’s and Azabs overwhelmed this wing.
Panic ensued, with fleeing men crashing into their comrades.
In some places, the sipahis even managed to break through the line entirely and reach
the war wagons The Ottoman forces displayed skilful adaptation, using maces and war hammers
against the heavily armoured Crusaders.
Cesarini rallied 200 men, forming a determined defensive formation, defiantly deflecting
enemy attacks.
At one point, 3,000 Ottomans bore down on them, but still, they held their position.
Hunyadi led the King’s bodyguard to Cesarini’s position in an attempt to relieve the pressure.
As Hunyadi struggled to restore order on the right, the situation on the left shifted in
favour of the Crusaders, with Transylvanian veterans thwarting encirclement attempts and
Beylerbey Karaca charging to rally his wavering troops.
The Rumelian Bey, Karaca’s charge was courageous but ultimately led to a Crusader knight killing
the Bey.
Seeing their commander slain, the Anatolian troops began to flee.
Hunyadi shifted troops to his right wing, where fierce combat resumed.
Ladislas and Hunyadi's combined charge forced the Ottomans back up to the high ground.
It was late afternoon, both sides were exhausted.
A temporary lull followed as both sides assessed the situation.
The battlefield was grim, strewn with bodies, discarded weaponry, and the wounded's cries.
Behind the wagon camp, Hunyadi advised Ladislas to regroup, hold firm, and wait for Murad's
next move, knowing that the Ottoman attacks would falter under steadfast defence.
Such a strategy had succeeded in the past.
Meanwhile, a disheartened Murad was considering withdrawing.
However, driven by vanity and misguided advice, Ladislas and his bodyguard chose to launch
another attack on Murad's position, seeking to claim victory and undermine Hunyadi's leadership.
Despite Hunyadi's pleas, Ladislas was determined to lead a bold charge with his bodyguard,
though outnumbered, to seize glory on the battlefield.
Ladislas and the Crusader army deployed on the plain, while the situation in the Ottoman
camp was tense.
Watching from a fortified hill, Murad was both terrified and shocked by Ladislas's audacity.
Despite attempting to flee, he was stopped by one of his janissaries holding the reins,
leading Murad to regain his resolve.
As King Ladislas led the charge, the Crusaders galloped with thundering hooves towards Murad's
position.
They crashed into the Ottoman forces, mowing down the irregulars and pushing through a
stake-lined trench.
Facing the elite janissaries, the knights fought fiercely, but the janissaries displayed
their renowned combat skills.
Hunyadi, watching this charge unfold from afar, tried to save Ladislas but was thwarted
by Ottoman troops.
Amid the chaotic battle, Ladislas charged towards Murad, but another janissary intervened,
hamstringing Ladislas's horse and delivering a fatal blow.
The janissary then beheaded Ladislas and presented the head to Murad.
The Crusaders kept up the fight until sunset, but understanding the gravity of Ladislas’
death, Hunyadi ended up retreating to the north.
He rallied scattered crusader groups, while the victorious Ottomans pursued and massacred
stragglers.
Many of the Crusaders assumed victory after seeing Ladislas and his bodyguard charge towards
the sultan.
However, the next day, they were shocked to find the entire Ottoman army with Ladislas's
head in their possession.
The Ottomans quickly overwhelmed the Crusader defenders, ending the crusade.
Notably, crusader leaders like Cesarini and Bathory were killed, while Mircea and Szilagyi
managed to escape and reunite with Hunyadi.
In a symbolic gesture, Murad entered Ladislas' tent, drove his sword into the king's throne,
and knelt in prayer as an expression of triumph.
In total, the Crusaders lost between 10 and 15,000 troops.
The Ottomans suffered heavy casualties as well, although no exact figure has been established.
Some sources mention up to 30,000 deaths.
[Aftermath]
The battle of Varna was the last major effort by the Christian powers to expel the Ottoman
Turks from Europe, and their defeat had enormous consequences for the peoples of the Balkans.
Nine years after the battle, Constantinople fell to Murad’s son Mehmed, who also overran
Serbia and Wallachia.
Mehmed probably would have driven into Hungary as well were it not for his defeat at the
hands of Hunyadi at the Battle of Belgrade in July 1456.
Hunyadi died of plague the following month, but the resulting peace finally stabilized
the frontier and ensured peace between Hungary and
the Ottoman Empire for
the next 70 years.