Battle of Kosovo (1448) - Battle

Battle

The Crusaders arrived at the Kosovo Field, the same place the most famous battle in Kosovo, between Serbs and Ottomans, had occurred, facing an Ottoman army of up to 60,000. Sultan Murad personally commanded a large section of cannons and janissaries, while his son and successor Mehmed, who faced battle for the first time, led the Anatolian troops at the right wing. Hunyadi commanded the center of his army at the battle, while the Crusaders right wing was under the Wallachians. The Hungarians had long barrage cannons.

The next day the battle opened when Hunyadi attacked the Ottoman flanks with mixed cavalry (light and heavy). The Turkish flanks, consisting of soldiers from Rumelia and Anatolia, were losing until Turkish light cavalry arrived to reinforce them. The Christian flanks were subsequently routed and the survivors retreated back to Hunyadi's main force. When Hunyadi saw the defeat of his flanks, he attacked with his main force, composed of knights and light infantry. The janissary corps were not successful and the cavalry made progress through the Turkish center, but were stopped at the Turkish camp. When the main attack was halted, the Turkish infantry regrouped and successfully drove the Hungarian knights back. The light cavalry, who were now without the knights' support were also overcome. Hungarian forces retreated to their camp. During the retreat, the janissaries killed most of the Hungarian nobles and Hunyadi fled. However, Serbs later captured him. During the night, Turkish infantry fired missiles at the Hungarians who replied with cannons. On the next day, a final assault totally annihilated the remaining Hungarian army.

The two-day battle in Kosovo saw both sides take heavy casualties but left the Ottomanforce in command of the field at the end of the second day. The Hungarians' army possibly amounted to 24,000 and the Turkish between 40,000 and 60,000.