Previously we have covered a number of battles fought by the Ottoman empire in the Balkans,
yet events that happened in Albania were omitted, as we decided to talk about them in a separate
video. The leader of the resistance against the Ottoman expansion in this region was a
legendary commander George Kastrioti Skanderbeg. His deeds would exalt him to the level of
the likes of Stephen the Great, John Hunyadi and Stefan Lazarevich.
George was born in 1405 to a formidable Albanian lord John Kastrioti. In 1415 he was sent as
a hostage to the Ottoman court and started receiving military education at Enderun. Not
much is known about this period in his life, but apparently, he quickly moved through the
ranks and the Sultan even granted him fiefs in Macedonia and Bulgaria. That is when he
probably gained the nickname Skanderbeg, which can be translated as “Lord Alexander”
from the Turkish. John Kastrioti rebelled against the Ottoman
rule twice between 1428 and 1436, and most of his lands were annexed, yet his son did
not join this cause and continued serving the Ottomans until 1443. Skanderbeg and his
300 men would desert the Ottomans either prior or during the battle of Nis, where Władysław
III defeated the forces of the Sultan. Providing the Governor of Kruje with a fake letter from
Murad, Skanderbeg took over the city. On March 2nd, 1444, he managed to unite the local Albanian
and Serbian lords in the League of Lezhe, thus forming a strong alliance against his
former masters. Meanwhile, a power struggle between Murad
II and Mehmed II created a power vacuum in the Ottoman empire, and although Murad managed
to defeat the Crusaders led by Wladyslaw and John Hunyadi at Varna in 1444, the situation
in Albania remained precarious. In the June of the same year, Murad sent one
of his best commanders Ali Pasha along with 30 thousand troops to crush the Albanian rebellion.
Skanderbeg moved to a field called Torvioll to block the Ottomans. Albanians had a total
of 15.000 men, 8000 cavalry and 7000 infantry facing the Ottoman army. Skanderbeg had picked
the battlefield beforehand and ensured his troops were paid and religious services were
taken care of. Realizing his numerical disadvantage he decided to use hit and run tactics and
ambushes to make up for this. During the night of 28th June, his soldiers were resting whereas
Ottoman troops, were celebrating sure of a victory the next day. The battle-field was
ideal for a defender with inferior numbers: it was only 4 kilometers wide and a large
army would have difficulty creating definitive battle formations.
The next morning, June 29th, 1444, Skanderbeg utilized an old but still relevant crescent
formation, which he learned during his days as an Ottoman captain, with infantry on his
flanks and footmen and archers in the center. He also hid at least 6 thousand horsemen behind
divided into two groups on the extreme left and right. Seeing that enemy infantry is not
supported by cavalry, Ottoman horsemen attacked Skanderbeg’s center. However, Albanian footmen
stood strong and managed to repulse the enemy cavalry. Skanderbeg knew that the Ottomans
often used the feigned retreats to dislodge the enemy, and so he stopped his troops from
chasing them. Seeing that, the whole Ottoman army attacked
the Albanians and the battle engaged along the whole line. As the valley was narrow,
less than half of the Ottoman troops participated in the battle, forming up a second and third
line. At Skanderbeg’s signal his hidden cavalry attacked from the right. However,
Ali Pasha managed to turn part of his third line to nullify this threat. Skander-beg then
ordered his hidden force on the left to charge into the rear of the forces engaged with the
Albanian right. This attack crushed the third line of the Ottomans and freed up all of the
Albanian cavalry, which turned and charged the rest of the Ottomans from the rear. The
Ottomans were now surrounded and according to various sources lost anywhere from 10 to
20 thousand in this massacre, while Skanderbeg's casualties were below 5 thousand. The defeat
at Torvioll was a massive blow to the Ottomans, yet they were not going to leave the rebellious
region in peace. Following the victory, Skanderbeg retreated
to the city of Kruje. The Ottomans were still focused on Hungary and John Hunyadi, so three
armies sent to Albania between 1445 and 1448 were relatively small and Skanderbeg defeated
them using the hit and run tactics. In the Spring of 1448, Sul-tan Murad moved against
Skanderbeg himself with an army of at least 50 thousand.
Although the Albanians employed the scorched earth tactics and continually attacked the
Ottomans, Murad managed to besiege the important fortress of Svetigrad in May. Skanderbeg attacked
the Ottoman camp, but wasn’t able to do much against the overwhelming Ottoman numbers
and in July Svetigrad’s garrison surrendered. Fortunately for Skanderbeg, Hunyadi crossed
into the Ottoman territory and that forced Murad to move against him. Hungarian and Ottoman
forces would engage in October at the second battle of Kosovo. Some sources claim that
Skanderbeg attempted to help Hunyadi, but wasn’t allowed to pass through the territory
held by the Serbian prince Durad Brankovic. Regardless, the Ottomans won and were able
to turn their attention against the Albanians yet again.
In 1449 their forces took over the fortress of Berat. A year later Murad arrived in Albania
and be-sieged Kruje. Skanderbeg had opted to take the bulk of his forces outside the
walls of the city and appointed Vrana Konti as the commander of the garrison. His plan
was to attack the massive Ottoman army numbering up to 100.000 from outside walls. He employed
this tactic: Whenever the Ottomans would get close to breaking in he would divert their
attention by attacking their rear. For nearly 5 months from May to November, Ottomans tried
to break through the fortifications including using cannons but eventually, this failed.
Trying to bribe the commandant did not work. Realizing numbers would not bring victory
and the arrival of winter, Murad decided to lift the siege and return to Edirne where
he would die and the throne would pass on to Mehmed II.
Constantinople was the priority for Mehmed, so he sent other commanders to attack Scanderbeg
in his stead, but they were defeated in 1452 at Modric and Meçad. It was obvious that
the Albanian problem was not going away easily. In the meantime, Skanderbeg recognized the
suzerainty of the Kingdom of Naples and Aragon Alfonso, thus gaining more funds and men.
In 1455 Scanderbeg attempted to take Berat from the Ottomans and besieged the city. Believing
that the small Ottoman garrison would be defeated soon, Skanderbeg decided to leave his forces
under the command of his subordinates. This was a mistake: for one, Skanderbeg's’ commanders
did not have his experience fighting in the Ottoman army. Also, a 20.000 strong Ottoman
reinforcements arrived under the command of Evrenos Isa Bey. Even though Skanderbeg rushed
back to the city and repulsed Evrenos’ troops, his army neither had the capacity nor the
morale to continue the siege and had to retreat. Although not a decisive victory, the Ottomans
saw the win at Berat as a sign that the war could be turned in their favor.
After the death of Hunyadi in 1456, the Ottomans gained a respite on the Hungarian front. It
became clear that the showdown between the Ottomans and Scanderbeg is fast approaching.
They mustered around 65.000 troops under Evrenos to crush the League of Lezhe once and for
all. As for the Albanian side, Skanderbeg had to deal with a perpetual problem that
always bothered him: relatives and allies turning against him. It should be noted that
the Ottomans, Venetians, rival Albanian nobles and even the royalty of Aragon tried to manipulate
Skanderbeg. Nevertheless, the prudent Albanian ruler managed
to form a 10 thousand strong army and prepared for battle against Evrenos. After centuries
of mobile warfare, the Ottomans needed formations, archers in the rear, cavalry on the flanks
and infantry providing the bulk at the centre. So, when Skanderbeg and his experienced men
stormed the Ottoman camp near Albulena on September 2nd, 1457 there was nothing the
Ottomans could do despite their numbers. More than 20,000 Ottoman troops were killed and
their invasion failed. Albulena became the greatest victory of the Albanian resistance
against the Ottomans. Between 1460 and 1462 Skanderbeg helped his
suzerain Ferdinand of Naples in Italy, both as a commander and a diplomat. New Ottoman
incursion forced him to return to the Balkans. In July of 1462, he defeated another army
sent against him at Mokra. In August Skanderbeg entered Macedonia and defeated 3 Ottoman armies
in quick succession. This forced the Ottoman Sultan to sign a peace deal in 1463.
Yet, when later that year the Pope Pius II called for a Crusade, Skanderbeg broke the
peace and entered the Ottoman territory in Macedonia and pillaged it. However, Pius passed
away before anyone else joined the Crusade, so Skanderbeg was left to fight alone with
a minimal Venetian assistance. Still, in September Skanderbeg and his 10 thousand approached
the Ottoman stronghold in the area – the city of Ohrid, which was defended by 15 thousand
under Sheremet bey. Skanderbeg did not have enough troops to assault the fortifications,
so he sent a small 500 strong detachment to lure the Ottomans out and this plan worked
perfectly, the Ottoman forces rode right into the Albanian ambush and were slaughtered,
more than 10 thousand Ottomans were killed in this ambush. Despite that, the remainder
of the Ottoman army managed to escape and then defended Ohrid against Skanderbeg.
Seeing that no Crusader support is arriving, Mehmed send another army commanded by Balaban
against Skanderbeg in 1465, but the Albanian leader was able to defeat his opponent yet
again. That was the last straw that forced Mehmed
to muster an army that had between 50 and 100 thou-sand troops and march against Skanderbeg
in May of 1466. Skanderbeg had less than 20 thousand and despite his pleas, he received
no assistance from Naples or Venice. Despite the heavy Albani-an resistance, Mehmed besieged
Kruje. Still, the fortress held on under the heavy Ottoman cannon fire and Mehmed decided
to retreat after pillaging the rest of the country and setting up an Otto-man administration
in the eastern part. He also ordered the construction of many fortresses, thus limiting Skanderbeg’s
ability to continue his resistance. Kruje was besieged again in 1467, but the results
were similar. In the beginning of 1468 Skanderbeg died of
Malaria. Venetians took over the defence of Albania and continued resisting for a decade.
Kruje would fell to Mehmed in 1478, which finally ended the three-decade long Ottoman-Albanian
war Still Skanderbeg left his mark on history
of the region and was declared the Champion of Christ, entering an elite company.
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