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Battle of Maritsa

Coordinates: 41°43′N 26°13′E / 41.717°N 26.217°E / 41.717; 26.217
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(Redirected from Battle of Marica)
Battle of Maritsa
Part of the Ottoman wars in Europe and the Serbian-Ottoman Wars

Balkans in September of 1371
Date26 September 1371
Location
Maritsa River (near Chernomen; present-day Ormenio, Greece)
Result Ottoman victory[1]
Belligerents
 Serbian Empire Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Serbian Empire Vukašin Mrnjavčević †
Serbian Empire Uglješa Mrnjavčević †
Serbian Empire Alexander Komnenos Asen †		 Lala Shahin Pasha
Evrenuz
Strength
7,000-12,000[2][3][4][5][6] 27,000-31,000
Casualties and losses
Mid-Heavy combat losses[7]
[8]		 19,373

The Battle of Maritsa or Battle of Chernomen (Serbian: Marička bitka / Маричка битка; Turkish: Çirmen Muharebesi, İkinci Meriç Muharebesi in tr. Second Battle of Maritsa) took place at the Maritsa River near the village of Chernomen (present-day Ormenio, Greece) on 26 September 1371 between Ottoman forces commanded by Lala Şahin Pasha and Evrenos, and Serbian forces commanded by King Vukašin Mrnjavčević and his brother Despot Jovan Uglješa.[9][10][11][12]

Background[edit]

In 1354, the Ottomans acquired Gallipoli. From there, they expanded into Thrace, taking the important city of Adrianople in 1369. They reached the borders of Uglješa's lands. Uglješa tried to create a coalition against them, but failed to secure support from the Byzantines and the Bulgarians. Most of the Serbian lords were occupied fighting each other and the only Serbian lord who supported Uglješa's ideas was his brother Vukašin.

In the summer of 1371, Vukašin marched to Zeta, to support his relative Đurađ Balšić in his war against Nikola Altomanović. His army was in Skadar, waiting for naval support from the Republic of Ragusa. Uglješa received information that the majority of Ottoman forces left Europe and marched to Anatolia. He decided it was a good time to execute his offensive plans and asked Vukašin for help. Vukašin left Skadar with his army and joined Uglješa. They marched against Adrianople.[10]

Battle[edit]

The Serbian army numbered between 7,0000[2] and 12,000[2][3][4][5][6] men. Despot Uglješa wanted to make a surprise attack on the Ottomans in their capital city, Edirne, while Murad I was in Asia Minor. The Ottoman army was much bigger,[13] Byzantine Greek scholar Laonikos Chalkokondyles[2] and different sources[14] give the number of 27,000 up to 31,000 men.[15] Due to most of the Serbian soldiers becoming intoxicated, Şâhin Paşha conducted a night raid on the Serbian camp, slaughtering a large part of the Serbian Army, killing King Vukašin and despot Uglješa. Thousands of Serbs were killed, and it went downhill for the Serbs the entire time. However, even when it went so bad, the Serbs still inflicted heavy blows on the ottomans. The heaviest blow of the entire battle was when several Ottoman wings attacked King Vukašin at once. Instead of losing hope and surrendering, what he did was switch from the left wing and unexpectedly charging at the right wing, which was then the most important one. This action shocked the ottomans, so much so the Byzantine scholars called it a massacre. It was so heavy that even most of the ottoman cavalry on that wing refused to charge furthermore into battle. However, this decisive charge led to unexpected attacks on Vukašin's units from all other sides, where he later perished with them. In late battle, the Ottomans had an even bigger advantage, and this led for many Serbs to drown in the Maritsa River. After the battle, it was said, the Maritsa ran scarlet with blood.[8][16]

Aftermath[edit]

South Serbia fell under Ottoman power after this battle. The battle was a part of the Ottoman campaign to conquer the Balkans and was preceded by the Ottoman capturing of Sozopol (today in Bulgaria) in 1353 and succeeded by the capture of the cities of Drama, Kavala, and Serrai (today in Greece) in the 1380s. The battle also preceded the later 1389 Battle of Kosovo, and was one of many in the Serbian–Turkish wars.

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Sedlar, Jean W., East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000–1500, (University of Washington Press, 1994), 385.
  2. ^ a b c d Boskovic, Vladislav (2009). King Vukasin and the disastrous Battle of Marica. GRIN Verlag. p. 11. ISBN 978-3-640-49264-0.
  3. ^ a b The New Encyclopædia Britannica: Micropaedia. Encyclopædia Britannica. 1993. p. 855. ISBN 978-0-85229-571-7.
  4. ^ a b Grumeza, Ion (2010). The Roots of Balkanization: Eastern Europe C.E. 500–1500. University Press of America. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-7618-5134-9.
  5. ^ a b DeVos, Julius Emil. Fifteen hundred years of Europe. O'Donnell Press, 1924, p. 110.
  6. ^ a b Kaemmel, Otto. Spamer's Illustrierte Weltgeschichte: mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Kulturgeschichte, O. Spamer, 1902, p. 740 (in German)
  7. ^ Rossos, Andrew, Macedonia and the Macedonians. Hoover Institution Press Publications, 2008. p. 40.
  8. ^ a b Hertzberg, Gustav Friedrich. Geschichte Griechenlands: Th. Vom lateinischen Kreuzzuge bis zur Vollendung der osmanischen Eroberung (1204–1740). F.A. Perthes, 1877, p. 323 (in German)
  9. ^ Jirecek, Konstantin. History of the Bulgarians, p. 382
  10. ^ a b Fine, J. V. A. The Late Mediaeval Balkan's, p. 379
  11. ^ Stavrianos, L. S., The Balkans since 1453, p. 44
  12. ^ Jirecek, Konstantin. Geschichte der Serben, pp. 437–438
  13. ^ The New Encyclopædia Britannica: Micropaedia. Encyclopædia Britannica. 1993. p. 855. ISBN 978-0-85229-571-7.
  14. ^ (missing name), (missing first name) (1971). "(missing essay title)". In Veiter, Theodor (ed.). Volkstum zwischen Moldau, Etsch und Donau: Festschrift für Franz Hieronymus Riedl: Dargeboten zum 65. Lebensjahr. W. Braumüller. p. 294. ISBN 978-3-7003-0007-6.
  15. ^ Donald MacGillivray Nicol, The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261–1453; Hart-Davis, 1972, p. 286.
  16. ^ Temperley, Harold William Vazeille. History of Serbia, H. Fertig, 1917, p. 97.

References[edit]

  • Rossos, Andrew, Macedonia and the Macedonians, Hoover Institution Press Publications, 2008.
  • Sedlar, Jean W., East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000–1500, University of Washington Press, 1994.
  • Stavrianos, L. S. The Balkans Since 1453, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2000.
  • Turnbull, Stephen R. The Ottoman Empire 1326–1699, Osprey Publishing, 2003.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

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41°43′N 26°13′E / 41.717°N 26.217°E / 41.717; 26.217

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