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| Battle of Giurgiu (1595) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theLong Turkish War andOttoman–Wallachian wars | |||||||
 The battle as depicted byTheodor Aman | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Transylvania Wallachia Moldavia Holy Roman Empire Zaporozhian Cossacks[1] | Ottoman Empire | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Stephen Bocskay Michael the Brave Sigismund Báthory Ștefan Răzvan | Sinan Pasha | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
50,000–51,000[citation needed]
| c. 40,000 (October 1595) | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown, thousands | 5,000–10,000 killed, 2 ships sunk | ||||||
TheBattle of Giurgiu, also known as theBridge Disaster (Turkish:Köprü Faciası), took place on 27–30 October 1595.[7] It was part of theLong Turkish War (1593–1606), a border conflict between the Christian powers and theOttoman Empire overBalkan territories.[8]
The Ottoman army under the command of Grand VizierKoca Sinan Pasha went on a campaign in the summer of 1595 against the Wallachia, which rebelled shortly after the start of theLong Turkish War. The army, which crossed theDanube via on 20 August, was in a difficult situation in theBattle of Călugăreni on 23 August, but forced the Wallachian army to retreat with a counter-attack. The Ottoman army, which enteredBucharest on 28 August, built a wooden castle there, and then occupiedTârgoviște, the capital of the Wallachia, on 18 September, and also built a castle here.
However, with the arrival of the soldiers under the command of the Prince of TransylvaniaSigismund Báthory, the Wallachian army, which reached a strength of 30,000–40,000 soldiers and 53 cannons, counter-attacked and capturedTârgoviște on 17 October. besieged. When the Ottoman army retreated toBucharest to gather, the Wallachian army capturedTârgoviște on 18 October.
These latest developments (most of the soldiers were on their way back) increased the disorganization in the Ottoman army. Realizing this fact during the poll inBucharest,Koca Sinan Pasha gave the order to withdraw first to and then toRusçuk by crossingDanube. He removed the cannons and ammunition from theBucharest castle to ensure that it would not fall into the hands of the Wallachian army and had the castle destroyed. He left a rear guard inBucharest to secure the army's withdrawal and advanced towards. Sokolluzade Hasan Pasha joined the main army a day later with artillery and ammunition, and the rearguard inBucharest joined the main army four days later.
The army arrived around the castle and stayed here for three days by the order ofKoca Sinan Pasha. Sinan Pasha banned the passage from the bridge to the other side of the Danube and appointed an emin and a clerk to the bridgehead and collected the pencik tax for two days. During this process, a huge accumulation occurred at the beginning of the bridge due to the presence of more than 10,000 animals and thousands of prisoners along with the soldiers.[9] For this reason, some of the soldiers drove along theDanube andSvishtov, andRahova He crossed with ships fromNikopol.
The news that the Wallachian army was approaching further increased the disorder in the Ottoman army gathered at the bridgehead.Koca Sinan Pasha had hisKapıkulu soldiers crossed the bridge to theRusçuk side on the night of 26-27 October. He also had the big guns Shahi and ammunition transported at night. A large number of soldiers crossed to the other shore by ship without waiting in line at the bridge. After performing the morning prayer,Koca Sinan Pasha went to Danube. However, the bulk of the soldiers, the weights, the captives, and the beasts of burden remained on the side.
After the departure ofKoca Sinan Pasha, some of the remaining soldiers took shelter in Yergöğü Castle, while the rest attacked the bridge. At the beginning of the already narrow bridge, pack animals and soldiers created a huge stampede and some soldiers fell into the Danube and drowned. When the troops under the command of Sokolluzade Hasan Pasha, who were given the duty of Karakol (outpost), were dispersed in the conflict with the vanguards of the Wallachian army.
Then, the entire Wallachian army came to the region and infantrymen with rifles attacked the Ottoman soldiers waiting to cross. Simultaneously, Transylvanian artillery destroyed the bridge.Akinjis, andYörüks tried to resist by taking battle formations, but many of them died.Akinji Corps suffered heavy casualties that day, causing them to withdraw from the stage of history.
The Wallachian army, which almost destroyed what was left of the Ottoman army, then besieged and captured this castle on 27 October with the skill of Italian artillery (from the Grand Duchy of Tuscany) under the command of Silvio Piccolomini.