Battle of Nish (1443)

For other uses, see Battle of Niš.
Battle of Nish
Part of the Crusade of Varna
DateEarly November 1443
Location
Niš, Ottoman Empire
Result Crusader victory[1]
Belligerents
Serbian Despotate
Kingdom of Hungary
Kingdom of Croatia
Kingdom of Poland
Principality of Wallachia
Moldavia		 Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
John Hunyadi
Đurađ Branković		 Kasım Beg
Turakhan Beg
Isak-Beg
Skanderbeg
Hamza Kastrioti
Strength
12,000 cavalry[2] 12,000 sipahi cavalry under direct command of Kasım Beg[3]
Frontier army of unknown number
Casualties and losses
unknown

6,000:

  • 2,000 killed[4]
  • 4,000 captured[4]
  • Skanderbeg and 300 Albanian cavalrymen deserted

The Battle of Nish (early November 1443) was fought between the Crusaders led by John Hunyadi and Đurađ Branković and the Ottoman Empire led by Kasim Pasha. It saw the Crusaders capture the Ottoman stronghold of Nish (Niš) in Serbia, and defeat two armies of the Ottoman Empire.[5][6] The Battle of Nish was part of Hunyadi's expedition known as the long campaign. Hunyadi, at the head of the vanguard, crossed the Balkans through the Gate of Trajan, captured Nish, defeated three Ottoman pashas, and after taking Sofia from the Ottomans, united with the royal army and defeated Sultan Murad II at Snaim (Kustinitza). The impatience of the king and the severity of the winter then compelled him (in February 1444) to return home.

  1. ^ Riley-Smith, Jonathan, The Crusades: A History, (Continuum International Publishing Group, 1987), 275.
  2. ^ Jefferson 2012, p. 325.
  3. ^ Konstantin Mihailović (1975). Memoirs of a Janissary. Published under the auspices of the Joint Committee on Eastern Europe, American Council of Learned Societies, by the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Michigan. p. 214.
  4. ^ a b Jefferson 2012, p. 329.
  5. ^ Riley-Smith, 275.
  6. ^ Hupchick, Dennis P., The Balkans: From Constantinople to Communism, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), 117.