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Leaders of the Medieval Balkans
My current favourite battle rules for the ancients and medieval period are To the Strongest! authored by Simon Miller. They are played extensively at my wargame club, Glasgow and District Wargames Society, who hosted a competition last year. Simon came up for the competition, and I foolishly pointed out the absence of Balkan medieval armies in his lists. This inevitably led to an invitation to draft some. It eventually reached the top of my to-do list, and he has now published them.
The army lists can be downloaded from the TtS! website and they broadly cover the period between the sack of Constantinople in 1204 and the end of the 15th century. The earlier period covers the limited recovery of the Byzantine Empire, the Achaian Franks and the growth of the Serbian Empire – not to mention the Catalan Vengeance. Then, as the Ottomans infiltrated into Europe, the story shifts to their conquest of the Balkans culminating with the capture of Constantinople in 1453. This includes the Hungarian led defence of Europe aided by revolts in Wallachia and Albania.
The standard text for this fascinating period of history is 'The Late Medieval Balkans' by John V.A. Fine (University of Michigan Press 1994). For wargamers, I would recommend the Warhammer Ancient Battles (WAB) supplement ‘Vlad the Impaler’, which I also assisted with.
For competition gamers, I’m afraid they are unlikely to find any super armies in the list to deploy. However, they are often a bit different from the typical western European armies you see on the tabletop. Generally, a little lighter armoured with more light troops, reflecting the terrain in the Balkans.
However, they do include some great characters, and it is these leaders I want to outline.
The army lists can be downloaded from the TtS! website and they broadly cover the period between the sack of Constantinople in 1204 and the end of the 15th century. The earlier period covers the limited recovery of the Byzantine Empire, the Achaian Franks and the growth of the Serbian Empire – not to mention the Catalan Vengeance. Then, as the Ottomans infiltrated into Europe, the story shifts to their conquest of the Balkans culminating with the capture of Constantinople in 1453. This includes the Hungarian led defence of Europe aided by revolts in Wallachia and Albania.
The standard text for this fascinating period of history is 'The Late Medieval Balkans' by John V.A. Fine (University of Michigan Press 1994). For wargamers, I would recommend the Warhammer Ancient Battles (WAB) supplement ‘Vlad the Impaler’, which I also assisted with.
For competition gamers, I’m afraid they are unlikely to find any super armies in the list to deploy. However, they are often a bit different from the typical western European armies you see on the tabletop. Generally, a little lighter armoured with more light troops, reflecting the terrain in the Balkans.
However, they do include some great characters, and it is these leaders I want to outline.
Stefan Dusan
Stefan Uros IV Dusan, known as Dusan the Mighty, deposed his father in 1331 to become King of Serbia. He had already gained a military reputation leading his father’s armies in the expansion of the Serbian state. As King, he forged a new Serbian army using the mineral wealth of Serbia to import western technology and create a cavalry based force. He expanded the Empire from the Danube in the north to the Aegean in the south gaining the title ‘Emperor of the Serbs and the Greeks’ and later adding ‘Bulgars and Albanians’. He died in 1355 without achieving his aim of capturing the Byzantine throne. Never the less, this was the golden age of Serbia. |
Murad I
There were several great Ottoman leaders during this period, but Murad deserves a place because he was the Sultan who built the foundations of the Ottoman Empire between 1326 and 1389. This included the creation of the Janissary corps, the Timariots and other systems of government. Under his rule the Ottomans expanded into the Balkans defeating the Christian allies at the Marica River in 1371, forcing the Byzantines to pay tribute. He died (either in battle or by assassination) after defeating the Serbian army and their allies at Kosovo in 1389. His legacy was a powerful state that dominated the Balkans for centuries to come. Murad II Murad II ruled from 1421 to 1444 and again from 1446-51. He inherited a weaken Empire after the defeat of Bayezit by Tamerlane. After dealing with insurrections, he consolidated the Ottoman position in Anatolia before launching a re-conquest of the Balkans. He defeated the Venetians at Thessalonica in 1430 and annexed Serbia in 1439. The height of his military achievements came in defeating the Christian crusades at Varna in 1444 and at the Second Battle of Kosovo in 1448. He failed to defeat the revolt of Skanderbeg in 1450 and died in 1451. Usually eclipsed by his more famous son, his battlefield achievements were arguably greater. Mehmet II The Conqueror Murad’s fourth son was Sultan on three occasions while his father retired and then came back to power. After his death in 1451, Mehmet planned the ultimate campaign, the siege of Constantinople and the destruction of the Byzantine Empire. This was achieved in 1453, not least because of his brilliant plan to transport the fleet overland. He then consolidated and expanded the Empire in the Balkans, although not without setbacks. He was defeated at Belgrade by Hunyadi and Vaslui by Stefan, but these proved to be tactical setbacks only. |
Janos Hunyadi
The Hungarian warlord was arguably the best commander the Christian states produced to oppose the Ottoman Turks. The Pope described him as ‘Christ’s own athlete’. He was born in the frontier state of Transylvania in 1386 and learned his trade in Italy and some wealth which he traded for land, becoming a major landowner on returning home. From 1437 he was constantly at war with the Ottomans, forcing the advantageous Treaty of Szeged on them in 1444. However, King Ulaszlo broke the treaty leading to the disaster of the Varna Crusade and defeat at the Second Battle of Kosovo in 1448. His final act was the successful defence of Belgrade in 1456, halting the expansion of Mehmet the Conqueror after his capture of Constantinople. His son, Matthias Corvinus, became King of Hungary in 1458. Vlad the Impaler
No history of this period is complete without covering Vlad III Basarab, also known as Vlad Dracul, Vlad Tepes or Vlad the Impaler. The basis for Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’, it comes as a surprise to those visiting modern day Romania that he is a national hero. Born in 1431, his father, ‘Vlad the Devil’, Voievod of Wallachia, was forced to hand over his two sons to the Ottomans as hostages. Vlad and his brother Radu fought for Ottomans, who installed him as Voievod in 1448. Hunyadi deposed him in a Hungarian invasion but later supported him as a useful buffer state. Vlad built up an efficient army and state while building a reputation for violence and terror. When Mehmet invaded Wallachia in 1462, he harassed the enemy, culminating in the famous night attack on the Ottoman camp. When the Turks reached Tirgoviste, they were greeted by a forest of impaled bodies. This was the final straw for the battered Ottomans, and they withdrew. However, the Boyars placed Radu on the throne, and Vlad fled to Hungary. He had one further spell on the Wallachian throne before being yet again betrayed by the Boyars. The saying ‘live by the sword, die by the sword’ could have been written for Vlad. However, he was a man of his time, an extraordinary leader, who ultimately failed to achieve his aims. Stefan the Great
Stefan III of Moldavia was a cousin of Vlad the Impaler, but while being less well known, he achieved far more. He ruled Moldavia for 47 years, defeating Hungarian, Polish, Wallachian and Ottoman attempts to destroy him. His diplomatic skills enabled him to fight one enemy at a time. He defeated a Hungarian invasion led by Hunyadi in 1467. He then turned his attention to the Ottomans defeating their tartar allies in 1470 and intervening in Wallachia. This led to a massive Ottoman invasion and probably his greatest victory at Vaslui in 1474. Mehmet was back in 1476, and an isolated Stefan was forced to withdraw to the mountains before a Hungarian relief army arrived. His final act was the defeat of a Polish invasion in 1497, establishing a strong state that survived his death in 1504. Skanderbeg
Djerdj Kastrioti, known as Skanderbeg was born around 1402. Like Vlad the Impaler he was sent to the Ottoman court as a hostage. After his father died he assembled a force of 300 Albanians in Ottoman service and took over the fortress of Kruje. He led the League of Lezhe in revolt against the Ottomans and defeated them at the Battle of Torviolli. He continued to defeat Ottoman armies thrown against him, using guerrilla tactics and the mountainous terrain against them. However, he failed to join up with Hunyadi at the second Battle of Kosovo in 1448. Murad brought a huge army to besiege Kruje but was forced to withdraw. In 1461 Skanderbeg was strong enough to go to Italy in support of his ally the King of Naples. Sadly, after his death in 1468, the league fell apart. However, Skanderbeg had given his small country its first taste of independence. A beacon of resistance against the Ottomans, the Pope’s other ‘Athlete of Christ’. Tvrtko I Probably the one leader most readers will not have heard of. Stephen Tvrtko was Bosnia’s first king and greatest medieval ruler. He became the Ban of Bosnia in 1353, and after some early setbacks, he gained considerable autonomy from his Hungarian overlord and expanded the state. In 1373 he conquered parts of Serbia and had himself crowned as King of Bosnia and Serbia. He then expanded into parts of modern Croatia and controlled most of the Dalmatian coast as far south as Kotor in modern Montenegro. After the Battle of Kosovo 1389, he lost most of the Serbian lands to the Ottomans but succeeded in fighting off Ottoman attacks on Bosnia. His death in 1391 began a period of decline and eventual subjugation by the Ottomans. |
I haven’t included a Bulgarian, Byzantine or Achaian Greek ruler in my list of great leaders. There is an arguable case for Ivan Aleksandar of Bulgaria or the last Byzantine Emperor Konstantinos XI Paleologus. However, I didn’t think they came close to any of the above. I was tempted to go for Roger de Flor, who created The Catalan Company, but their biggest achievements post-dated him. Committee’s don’t quite qualify as great leaders in my view. Feel free to differ!