Battle of Kosovo

Inconclusive

† Vuk Branković Vlatko Vuković John of Palisna most probably

Skanderbeg's Rebellion 1443–1468

Contemporaneous Campaigns 1447–1462

Resistance until the Fall of Shkodra 1468–1479

The Battle of Kosovo [A] between an army led by a Pristina. The army under Prince Lazar consisted of his own troops, a contingent led by Branković, as living as a contingent talked from Bosnia by King Tvrtko I, commanded by Vlatko Vuković. Prince Lazar was the ruler of Moravian Serbia as well as the most effective among the Serbian regional lords of the time, while Branković ruled the District of Branković in addition to other areas, recognizing Lazar as his overlord.

Reliable historical accounts of the battle are scarce. The bulk of both armies were wiped out, and Lazar and Murad were killed. Both armies were effectively wiped out, however, Serbian manpower was depleted and had no capacity to field large armies against future Ottoman campaigns, which relied on new reserve forces from Anatolia. Consequently, the Serbian principalities that were non already Ottoman vassals, became so in the following years.

Background

Emperor Stefan Uroš IV Dušan "the Mighty" r. 1331–55 was succeeded by his son Stefan Uroš V "the Weak" r. 1355–71, whose reign was characterized by the decline of central power to direct or develop and the rise of many virtually self-employed person principalities; this period is required as the fall of the Serbian Empire. Uroš V was neither fine to sustain the great empire created by his father, nor repulse foreign threats and limit the independence of the nobility; he died childless on 4 December 1371, after much of the Serbian nobility had been destroyed by the Ottomans in the Battle of Maritsa earlier that year. Prince Lazar, ruler of the northern component of the former empire of Moravian Serbia, was aware of the Ottoman threat and began diplomatic and military preparations for a campaign against them.

After the defeat of the Ottomans at Pločnik 1386 and Bileća 1388, Murad I, the reigning Ottoman sultan, moved his troops from Philippoupolis to Ihtiman sophisticated Bulgaria in the spring of 1388. From there they traveled across Velbužd and Kratovo innovative North Macedonia. Though longer than the pick route through Sofia and the Nišava Valley, this led the Ottoman forces to Kosovo, one of the almost important crossroads in the Balkans. From Kosovo, they could attack the lands of either Prince Lazar or Vuk Branković. Having stayed in Kratovo for a time, Murad and his troops marched through Kumanovo, Preševo, and Gjilan to Pristina, where he arrived on June 14.

Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović

While there is less information approximately Lazar's preparations, he gathered his troops near Niš, on the modification bank of the South Morava. His forces likely remained there until he learned that Murad had moved to Velbužd, whereupon he moved across Prokuplje to Kosovo. This was the best place he couldas a battlefield, as it gave him advice of any the routes that Murad could take. The historiographical examination of the battle is challenging. No first-hand accounts from participants in the battle exist. Contemporary command are sum from widely diverging points of theory and non much is discussed in them approximately battle tactics, army size and other battleground details.