Hunyadi’s Campaign of 1448 and the Second Battle of Kosovo Polje (October 17–20)

Abstract

The crusade of 1448, the last military offensive led by John Hunyadi to save Constantinople from Ottoman encirclement, has been neglected both by students of international relations in the fifteenth century and by specialists in crusading. This chapter pieces together the complex diplomatic context which occasioned the reopening of hostilities between Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, the military preparations and the campaign. Kosovo Polje holds a special place in European military history for several reasons: the high number of combatants fighting for four days; the massive use made of firearms and artillery; and the diversity of the troops whose tactical deployment revealed a synthesis of western and eastern military methods. The battle sealed the fate of Byzantium, which was conquered by Mehmed II in 1453.