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: This article is about the 1456 siege of Nándorfehérvár or Belgrade, but the fort was also besieged in 1444, 1521, 1718 and in 1788. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Ottoman sultan Mehmed II was rallying his resources in order to subjugate the Kingdom of Hungary. His immediate objective was the border fort (Hungarian végvár) of the town of Belgrade (in old Hungarian Nándorfehérvár). John Hunyadi, a nobleman and warlord of Vlach lineage, who fought many battles against the Ottomans in the previous two decades, expected just such an attack. The siege eventually escalated into a major battle, during which Hunyadi led a sudden counterattack that overran the Turkish camp, ultimately compelling the wounded Sultan Mehmet II to lift the siege and retreat. The siege of Belgrade "decided the fate of Christendom". The noon bell ordered by Pope Callixtus III commemorates the victory throughout the Christian world to this day.
Preparations At the end of 1455, after a public reconciliation with all his enemies, Hunyadi began preparations. At his own expense he provisioned and armed the fortress, and leaving in it a strong garrison under the command of his brother-in-law Mihály Szilágyi and his own eldest son László, he proceeded to form a relief army and a fleet of two hundred corvettes. As no other baron was willing to help (fearing Hunyadi's growing power more than the Ottoman threat), he was left entirely to his own resources. His one ally was the Franciscan friar, Giovanni da Capistrano, who preached a crusade so effectively that the peasants and yeomanry, ill-armed (most of them had but slings and scythes) but full of enthusiasm, flocked to the standard of Hunyadi, the kernel of whose host consisted of a small band of seasoned mercenaries and a few banderia of noble horsemen. All in all, Hunyadi could build a force of 25-30,000 men. Siege
Battle The next day something unexpected happened. By some accounts, the peasant crusaders started a spontaneous action, and forced Capistrano and Hunyadi to make use of the situation. Despite Hunyadi's orders to the defenders not to try to loot the Turkish positions, some of the units crept out from demolished ramparts, took up positions across from the Turkish line, and began harassing enemy soldiers. Turkish spahis (provincial cavalry) tried without success to disperse the harassing force. At once more Christians joined those outside the wall. What began as an isolated incident quickly escalated into a full-scale battle. John of Capistrano at first tried to order his men back inside the walls, but soon found himself surrounded by about 2,000 Crusaders. He then began leading them toward the Ottoman lines, crying, "The Lord who made the beginning will take care of the finish!" Capistrano led his crusaders to the Turkish rear army across the Sava river. At the same time, Hunyadi started a desperate charge out of the fort to take the cannon positions in the Turkish camp. Taken by surprise at this strange turn of events and, as some chroniclers say, paralyzed by some inexplicable fear, the Turks took flight. The Sultan's bodyguard of about 5,000 Janissaries tried desperately to stop the panic and recapture the camp, but by that time Hunyadi's army had also joined the unplanned battle, and the Turkish efforts became hopeless. The Sultan himself advanced into the fight and killed a knight in single combat, but then took an arrow in the thigh and was rendered unconscious. After the battle, the Hungarian raiders were ordered to spend the night behind the walls of the fortress and to be on the alert for a possible renewal of the battle, but the Turkish counterattack never came. Under cover of darkness the Turks retreated in haste, bearing their wounded in 140 wagons. At the city of Sarona, the sultan regained consciousness. Upon learning that his army had been routed, most of his leaders killed and all his equipment abandoned, the 24-year-old ruler was barely prevented from committing suicide by taking poison. The surprise attacks caused heavy losses and much disarray. Thus, during the night a defeated Mehmed withdrew his remaining forces and returned to Constantinople. Aftermath The Hungarians had, however, to pay dearly for this victory, as plague broke out in the camp, in which John Hunyadi himself died three weeks later (August 11 1456). As the design of the fortress had showed well during the siege, some additional enforcements were made by the Hungarians. The weaker eastern walls, where the Ottomans breached through into the upper town were reinforced by the Zindan gate and the Heavy Nebojsa tower. This was the last of the great modifications to the fortress until 1521 when Sultan Süleyman eventually captured it. Follow Up The victory stopped the Ottoman Turkish advance towards Catholic Europe for 70 years, though they made other incursions such as the taking of Otranto in 1480-1481 and the raid of Croatia and Styria in 1493. Belgrade would continue to protect Hungary from Turkish attacks until the fort fell to the Ottomans in 1521. During the siege, Pope Callixtus III ordered the noon bell, to call believers to pray for the defenders - but as in many places the news of victory arrived earlier than the order, it transformed into the commemoration of the victory, and the Pope modified his the order to fit this interpretation. Hence the noon bell is still rung to this day for the memory of Hunyadi's victory. After the Siege of Belgrade stopped the advance of Mehmed II towards Central Europe, Serbia and Bosnia were absorbed into the Empire. Wallachia, the Tartar Khanate of Crimea, and eventually Moldavia were merely converted into vassal states thanks to strong military resistance to Mehmet's attempts at conquest. There were several reasons why the sultan did not directly attack Hungary and why he gave up the idea of advancing in that direction after his unsuccessful siege of Belgrade. The mishap at Belgrade indicated that the Empire could not expand further until Serbia and Bosnia were transformed into a secure base of operations. Furthermore, the significant political and military power of Hungary under Matthias Corvinus no doubt had something to do with this hesitation. Mehmet was also distracted by resistance from two semi-independent vassals to the north of the Danube, over whom he was attempting to exercise greater authority. In Dracula: Prince of Many Faces, by Raymond T. McNally and Radu Florescu, it is explained that Mehmet wanted to reconquer Belgrade in order to gain access to Hungary through the Danube River but was prevented from doing so by a humiliating defeat by Vlad III at The Night Attack. The sultan later came into conflict with Stephen III of Moldavia, resulting in an even worse defeat at Battle of Vaslui and later a pyrrhic victory at the The Battle of Valea Albă. Taking into account his aggressive ambition and statements suggesting he dreamed of world conquest, most historians agree that Mehmet (or Mehmed) the Conquerer was initially interested in occupying Hungary and expanding even further into Europe but was thwarted by the defeat at Belgrade and contained by Matthias' military strength as well as fierce resistance by Vlach vassals. As McNally and Florescu put it, the sultan "planned to strike at the pillars of European civilization and bring it tumbling down under his control." While Hunyadi's victory at Belgrade and the lasting legacy of his political decisions (Vlad Ţepeş and Stephen III both came to power under Hunyadi, and he went to great lengths to have his son Matthias placed on the throne) rendered the daunting Mehmet II far less of a threat to Christendom, his ultimate dream of a Christian reconquest of Constantinople would never be realized. Hunyadi had chosen to stay out of the Siege of Constantinople because he was militarily unprepared to fight Mehmet's mighty army at the time, and instead opted to protect Hungary and fortify the Balkans. Matthias did not share the concept of a great war against the Turks and was too embroiled in political disputes with the Holy Roman Empire to his West to be the aggressive warrior his father was, so his role was limited mostly to defending his own territory and letting the Balkan leaders bare the brunt of the struggle against the Ottoman Turks. While fierce resistance and Hunyadi's effective leadership ensured that the daring and ambitious Mehmed the Conquerer would only get as far into Europe as the Balkans, the sultan had already managed to transform the Ottoman Empire into what would be one of the most feared powers in Europe (as well as Asia) for centuries. Most of Hungary was eventually conquered in 1526 at the Battle of Mohacs. Ottoman expansion into Europe continued with menacing success until the Siege of Vienna in 1529, and Ottoman power in Europe remained strong and still threatening to Central Europe at times until the Battle of Vienna in 1683. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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