| Battle of Nish | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theCrusade of Varna | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Kingdom of HungaryKingdom of Croatia  Kingdom of Poland Serbian Despotate |  Ottoman Empire | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| John Hunyadi Đurađ Branković | Kasım Pasha Turahan Bey Ishak Bey Skanderbeg  Hamza Kastrioti | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 12,000 cavalry[2] | 12,000sipahi cavalry under direct command of Kasım Beg[3] Frontier army of unknown number | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 500[4] | 6,000: | ||||||
TheBattle of Nish (early November 1443) was fought between theCrusaders led byJohn Hunyadi andĐurađ Branković and theOttoman Empire led byKasım Pasha. It saw the Crusaders capture the Ottoman stronghold ofNish (Niš) inSerbia, and defeat twoarmies of the Ottoman Empire.[6][7] The Battle of Nish was part of Hunyadi's expedition known as thelong campaign. Hunyadi, at the head of the vanguard, crossed theBalkans through theGate of Trajan, captured Nish, defeated three Ottomanpashas, and after takingSofia from the Ottomans, united with the royal army and defeatedSultanMurad II atSnaim (Kustinitza). The impatience of the king and the severity of the winter then compelled him (in February 1444) to return home.
In 1440John Hunyadi became the trusted adviser and most highly regarded soldier of kingWładysław III of Poland. Hunyadi was rewarded with the captaincy of the fortress ofBelgrade and was put in charge of military operations against the Ottomans. King Władysław recognized Hunyadi's merits by granting him estates in Eastern Hungary. Hunyadi soon showed and displayed an extraordinary capacity to marshal his defences with the limited resources at his disposal. He was victorious in Semendria overIshak-Beg in 1441. Not far from Nagyszeben in Transylvania he annihilated an Ottoman force and recovered for Hungary the suzerainty ofWallachia.[8] The Crusader army consisted of 25,000 or more troops and 600war wagons.[9][10][11] Hunyadi took 12,000 cavalry to locate and defeatKasım Pasha.[12] Władysław and Brankovic were left in camp with the war wagons.[12]
The battle for Nish was not one, but five different battles. The first engagement was a battle against a small garrison in Nish and the Crusaders captured, pillaged, and burned the town.[13] This was followed by three battles against three different Ottoman armies advancing on Nish. Finally there was one against the remnants of the three Ottoman armies.
The last battle took place on the plain betweenBolvan andNish on 3 November 1443.[14] Ottoman forces were led byKasım Pasha, thebeglerbeg ofRumelia,Turahan Beg andIshak-Beg.[15] After the Ottoman defeat, the retreating forces of Kasım Pasha and Turahan Beg burned all of the villages between Nish andSofia.[16] The Ottoman sources explain the Ottoman defeat as due to a lack of cooperation between the different Ottoman armies which were led by different commanders.[17]
According toChalcocondyles, "Weary after Hunyadi forced the Ottomans to retreat in the Balkans in 1443, the old lords hurried on all sides to regain possession of their fathers' fields".[18] One of them wasGjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg who deserted the Ottoman army along with his nephewHamza Kastrioti and 300 Albanians and after capturingKrujë started atwenty-five-year-long struggle against the Ottoman Empire.[19][20][21][22][23][24]
Murad II signed a treaty for ten years, and abdicated in favour of his sonMehmed II. When the peace was broken the next year, Murad returned to the Balkans and won theBattle of Varna in November 1444.[25]
John Hunyadi accompanied by the cardinal-legate Giuliano Cesarini.
The whole army estimated to consist of 25,000 men, included an important mercenary force hired with funds given by Serbian despot, and in addition, a contingent of 8,000 Serbs and 5,000 Polish soldiers
the most important battle of the whole campaign took place at Bolvani, in the plain of Nish on November 3, 1443
The combined host met Ottoman forces first on November 3, 1443, between the castle of Bolvan (near Aleksinac) and the city of Niš. Here Kasim Bey, then governor of Rumelia, Ishak Bey and other standard bearers were defeated.
In the course of their flight Kasim and Turahan burned all villages between Niš and Sofia.
The Ottoman sources in general emphasize the disagreement and lack of cooperation between frontier Ottoman forces under Turakhan and sipahi army under Kasim
Comme nous le dit Chalcocondy- las après la retraite des Ottomans dans les Balkans en 1443 devant l'Hunyade, les anciens seigneurs se dépêchèrent de tous les côtés à rentrer en possession des domaines de leurs pères....(As Chalcocondyles tells us, "Weary after Hunyadi forced the Ottomans to retreat in the Balkans in 1443, the old lords hurried on all sides to regain possession of their fathers' fields".)
Posle bitke kod Pirota, Skenderbeg zajedno sa sinovcem Hamzom, sinom svog starijeg brata Staniše ...
"In the beginning of November 1443, Turakhan Beg commanded one of the Ottoman corps in the battle against John Hunyadi.
The combined host met Ottoman forces first on November 3, 1443, between the castle of Bolvan (near Aleksinac) and the city of Niš. Here Kasim Bey, then governor of Rumelia, Ishak Bey and other standard bearers were defeated.
... Iskender, fleeing from the camp of Kasim, the beglerbey of Rumeli...