The Battle of Kosovo (Vidovdan special)

This isn't going to be my usual article, a bit later today I will release Warera Weekly. This is an article about the Battle of Kosovo, one of the most, if not the most important event in Serbian history. If you like history, stick around.

VIDOVDAN

Today, on 28. June, Serbs celebrate a holiday named Vidovdan. The name Vidovdan comes from the name of a Christian Saint named Saint Vit and the Serbian word for day "Dan". He was a saint and is celebrated by both the Serbian Orthodox church and the Roman Catholic church. But this holiday isn't really about this Saint in Serbia. It's more so about the big thing that happened on this day in Serbian history. Amongst many things that happened are:

The assassination of Franz Ferdinand

The beggining of the Second Balkan War

The treaty of Versailles

But the most important of these is by far the Battle of Kosovo.

(Saint Vid)

THE BATTLE OF KOSOVO

GENERALY ABOUT THE BATTLE

The Battle of Kosovo was a Battle that happened on the 28. June 1389. between the forces of Moravian Serbia led by prince Lazar Hrebljanović (also known as Tsar Lazar) and the Ottoman empire led by Murat I. To understand the importance of this Battle we need to look at some context.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Serbia was one of the strongest empires in Europe under the rule of Tsar Dušan "The Mighty". After his sudden death in 1355. Serbia had been divided between many wealhy Serbs of the time, because Dušans son just wasn't as strong as him and couldn't hold it together.

(The map of Serbia in 1350 and 1380)

Right at that time, the Ottomans were able to break through into Europe and started conquering Christian Balkan countries. They reached Serbia quickly and defeated them in the Battle on the River Marica in the year 1371. They conquered the Eastern regions but didn't advance further. It was now on Serbs, who were pretty outnumbered, to try to defend each other from the Ottomans or get conquered. Out of all the Serbian leaders one stood out, Prince (Tsar) Lazar Hrebljanović. He was the leader of the biggest Serbian state, Moravian Serbia.

(Tsar Lazar)

BEFORE THE BATTLE

(The map of the Balkans, 1389)

Lazar knew that the Ottomans would attack sooner or later so he started to gather all the Serbian novelty to try to defend Serbia for good. As Europe was getting increasingly more alarmed about an Islamic country possibly coming deeply into the continent, Lazar sent letters to various European leaders asking them for help to defend Europe form Islam. None of them unfortunately sent help. Everyone expressed support, but no one wanted to help directly. Not even all of Serbian novelty responsed which angered Lazar who, as the legend says, cursed every Serb who didn't answer to defend the country. Nevertheless, some did respond. Mainly Vuk Branković, the person who controled the Kosovo region, where the Battle was to be held and the king Tvrtko Kotromanić od Bosnia, who also went and fought with some of his army.

(Tvrtko Kotromanić)

(Vuk Branković)

THE BATTLE

The clash finnaly occurred on the 28. June 1389. It happened on Kosovo polje, todays Kosovo, specifically a region known as Gazimestan. It's is mostly a ravine, which allows for an open Battle. The Serbian army was led in front by Lazar himself, on his right was Vuk Branković and on his left, Vlatko Vuković Kosača. On the Ottoman side, Murat led their army, with his to sons Bayezid and Yakub. Although the exact numbers aren't know, it is suspected that the Ottomans had around 30 000 people, while the Serbs had around 15 000 to 20 000 people.

(The Battle)

In the first phase of the Battle Serbs were, although outnumbered, able to push the Ottomans back and did severe damage to the Ottoman army. In fact, this attack was so successful that a group of Serbian soldiers were able to reach the Sultan Murad and a well - known Serbian soldier, Miloš Obilić, killed him.

(Murad I)

(Miloš Obilić)

The Ottoman army, now having lost ist leader, looked like it was going to loose, but thanks to Murad's son Bayezid who quickly took charge and his quick thinking, the Ottomans pushed back, eventually capturing Lazar, the Serb leader, and executing him. After these events and horrible losses that both sides suffered, the Ottomans left the Battle.

THE AFTERMATH

Even though the Ottomans retreated, it wasn't a clear Serbian victory. Both sides suffered enormous casualties, but there were a lot more Turks than Serbs. Both leader also died in Battle and after this Battle no other Ottoman sultan ever went to a Battle himself. The Battle was at the time perceived as a Serbian victory, even the leader of Florence sending an official congratulations letter to Tvrtko and the Notre Dame church ringing it's bells as a celebration of victory. But in the long run, it was a big loss for Serbia. With this many casualties, Serbia just couldn't resist the Ottomans for much longer. Only a year later, Serbs were forced to accept Turkish vassalization and in 1459, Serbia officially fell in Ottoman hands. An upside for Europe at the time was that the Battle stopped the Ottoman empire, at least for a few decades and gave time to Hungary, Austria and many others to prepare. The Battle was already a significant event, but what came next was even more eimportant.

THE MYTH OF THE BATTLE OF KOSOVO

After the final fall of Serbia in 1459. year, Serbia will endure about 4 centuries of Ottoman rule. Ottoman rule was filled with Islamization, highly expensive taxes, and terror. This made people thrive for freedom and astablishment of a new Serbian state. The Battle of Kosovo started being looked at the glorious Battle, where thousands of Serbs went there, practically knowing they would die, but they went anyways to defend their country. Figures like Miloš Obilić (who killed Murad), Prince Lazar (who started being referred to as Tsar because the people glorified him), the nine Jugović brothers (who were made up by the people and not actually historical figures) were praised. Thousands of songs, stories and roumors started spreading throughout Serbia about the Battle. People would gather and sing the songs and tell the legends and stories about the Battle. The whole Myth and Legend of the Battle became so big that it is considered a whole chapter in the history of Serbian Literature, only songs about the Battle. Some figures, like Vuk Branković, were made out to be traitors (even though they weren't historically), and some were madr out to be stronger than they actually were. The whole Battle now wasn't just a Battle in the minds of the people, it was now a simbol of heroism, freedom and patriotism. The whole Myth of the Kosovo Battle largely inspired the two Serbian uprisings, which ultimately led to the creation of a sovereign Serbian state after 4 centuries in 1878.

TODAY

Today, the Battle of Kosovo still holds the significance it has held for the last 600 years or so. It is still a big part of the Serbian national identity. Dozens of Kosovo songs are read and analysed in chools with children, numerous books have been made, painting painted, films and TV shows shot and much more. Serbs still celebrate this day every year to remind us of the people who went to that Battle knowing they would die, but still went just to defend their country. This battle is also largely the reason why Serbia still claims Kosovo as its own territory.

(Kosovska djevojka (Kosovo woman) by a Serbian artist called Uroš Predić)

(The celebration of Vidovdan, Gazimestan, 2009)

This is a bit of a different article, but I felt the need, as a Serb, to write it. Thank you so much to everyone who read it, I know it is a big long, but I hope you enjoyed it. Warera Weekly as always come out later today.

Tipping is much appreciated!