Stopping the Ottoman Advance: The (Staggering) Siege of Belgrade 1456

In 1453 the ever-expanding Ottoman Empire breached the gate to Europe: Constantinople was captured. And soon Sultan Mehmed II, known as the Conqueror, renewed his offensive efforts. On the 4th of July 1456 he arrived at the Hungarian border fortress of Belgrade with an army of about 40’000 men and 200 ships. This marked the beginning of a siege characterized by an unusual crusader army, a trap failing to spring, and a towering fortress. The siege of Belgrade or in Hungarian Nándorfehérvár ended on July 22, a day now celebrated as a national Memorial Day in Hungary. This is how contemporary historiography tells the story of the staggering siege of Belgrade.

Chapters:
00:00-00:56 Intro
00:56-02:04 Ground News
02:04-07:57 Chapter 1: Where Do They Go?
07:57-11:40 Chapter 2: A Firm Grip
11:40-14:29 Chapter 3: The Battle on the Danube
14:29-16:42 Chapter 4: It's a Trap!
16:42-19:50 Chapter 5: A Trap Fails to Spring

Literature:
Ayton, A.; Price, L., The Medieval Military Revolution: State, Society and Military Change in Medieval and Early Modern Society, London 1998.
Nisbet, Bain, R., The Siege of Belgrade by Muhammad II, July 1-23, 1456, in: The English Historical Review, 7/26 (1892).
Pálosfalvi, T., From Nicopolis to Mohács. A History of Ottoman-Hungarian Warfare, 1389–1526, 2018.
Setton, K. M., The Papacy and the Levant (1204–1571), Volume III: The Sixteenth Century to the Reign of Julius III. Philadelphia 1984.
Shaw, S. J., History of the Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey, Volume 1, Empire of the Gazis: The Rise and Decline of the Ottoman Empire 1280–1808, 1976.

[SandRhomanHistory]

Feel free to suggest sieges that you would like us to cover below. We're planning the second half of the year and haven't decided which sieges we're going to prioritize.

[Ganonmustdie]

The addition of a 26000 man peasant army inexplicably raised up by an angry Italian clergyman unaffiliated with any government effort to bolster the defense of a Hungarian fortress against a Turkish invasion is one of those strange happenings of history that reminds me that you just can't make this stuff up.

[mariushunger]

Hunyadi is one of the most underrated generals of history for sure.

[EokaBeamer]

This is easily one of the top 10 best history youtube channels out there. Entertaining animation style, immersive narration, excellent research work and a very interesting selection of topics. I am always happy to see a fresh upload from you.

[oon]

Hunyadi was a genius commander, greetings to Hungarian friends from Serbia!

[crazyviking]

Mehmet was an adventurer until he took an arrow to the thigh.

[Maus_Indahaus]

Fun fact: During the siege of Belgrade, the Ottomans also sent a smaller force to besiege Smederevo, capital of Serbia. After the Ottomans retreated from Belgrade, Hunyadi sent reinforcements that defeated the smaller Ottoman army at Smederevo.
Nevertheless, only 3 years later the Ottomans attacked Smederevo again, this time successfully conquering it. Belgrade would only fall to the Ottomans in 1521, during the rule of Suleiman the Magnificent.

[WhatIsSanity]

These kind of videos are really important for me. I have trouble learning without a visual component, so I really appreciate the (staggering) amount of work that goes into creating them.

[mex_I.M]

Belgrade fortress still looks good even today. Greetings from Bosnia balkan bros.

[nikolaresanovic]

Amazing video! Cohesive, well written and amazingly illustrated. Much love from Belgrade! ♥️

[yja]

This channel keeps getting and better. Belgrade changed hands at least 4 times before 1878.

[nilloc]

The battle at the end of the siege is perhaps a good example of why late medieval/early modern commanders didn't try complex tactics. The co-ordination required for such things is perhaps too much to ask. That would have been the death knell for Belgrade and likely Hungarian independence but because the Ottoman cavalry were not in synch with the infantry fight it was the ruin of the army.

[BorisPFC]

The port where Hunyadi battled Turkish river navy is Zemun (Serbian), Zimony (Hungarian) Selmin (German) It was important river port from roman times (Taurunum) and separate city until first half of 20 century when he became Belgrade municipality . Even today, many Zemun residents say that they are not citizens of Belgrade but they are from Zemun. In Zemun, there was a hill called Gardos, which was a perfect observation post that monitored the movement of Turkish troops during the siege of Belgrade in 1456.

[nenenindonu]

The 15th century was packed with great generals ; Zizka, Skanderbeg, Mehmed the Conqueror, Stephen the Great, Uzun Hasan, Ivan the Great, Matthias Corvinus, Murad II, John Hunyadi

[ppx]

Omg! i was in Belgrade last month and i wanted to suggest it already. But then, we got treated to the siege of Constantinople :)
Now this! you are amazing! <3

[csabaszep]

I used to be a sultan myself but then I took an arrow to the thigh.

[bZoleed]

Pope Callixtus III ordered the bells of every European church to be rung every day at noon, as a call for believers to pray for the defenders of the city.The practice of the noon bell is traditionally attributed to the international commemoration of the victory at Belgrade, since in many countries (like England and the Spanish Kingdoms) news of the victory arrived before the order, and the ringing of the church bells at noon was thus transformed into a commemoration of the victory.

The Pope didn't withdraw the order, and Catholic and the older Protestant churches still ring the noon bell to this day.

[VojislavMoranic]

Fun fact.
If it werent for Despot Stefan Lazarevic who got the fortress early in his rule and decided to move the capital of the Despotate of Serbia there turning Belgrade from a dilapitated town into a mini constantinople this battle would not have lasted nearly as long.

Its honestly quite astounding how quickly castles were built during the despotate when they realized that there are no longer enough Serbs to meet the ottomans in the field and thusly needed much more castles.

The Smederevo Fortress the largest lowland castle in Europe was built in just 3 years but because of the haste and ruthlessness of the Despotitsa Jerina Kantakuzenous the wife of Despot Djuradj Brankovic earned her the name "Accursed Jerina" and many legends were made about her by the people how she tore down every stone house she could find, how she confiscated all chicken eggs for mortar making etc, a human chain from Smederevo to quarries in the east that would pass stones to each other etc.

A very fascinating time.

[GoryWory]

Around the third of Belgrade garrison was consisted from Serbs, who the ottomans feared even more than the crusaders.
Serbian despot Djuradj Brankovic (based in of Smederevo) sent a lot of help to the Hungarians, both in river ships and in light cavalry skirmishers who successfully crippled the ottoman supply lines.

River force that broke through blockade consisted primarily out of Serb sailors and marines in small and nimble river vessels called 'šajka'

There is also a legend about this battle:
Fighting was so fierce that after the siege people found a dead sparrow lying in the field, pierced by 3 arrows.

I say this, because I am surprised you didn't mention any of it :)

This siege was really a positive example of joint Serb - Hungarian effort, and a lot of people are proud of it, even today.

[WissHH-]

Entertaining, interesting and methodical work man, didnt expect less!