Battle of Krbava Field
The Battle of Krbava Field (Croatian: Bitka na Krbavskom polju, Krbavska bitka; Hungarian: Korbávmezei csata; Turkish: Krbava Muharebesi) was fought between the Ottoman Empire of Bayezid II and an army of the Kingdom of Croatia, at the time in personal union with the Kingdom of Hungary, on 9 September 1493, in the Krbava field, a part of the Lika region in Croatia.
| Battle of Krbava Field | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Ottoman wars in Europe Hundred Years' Croatian-Ottoman War | |||||||
Illustration of the battle of Krbava field from the 16th century | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Ottoman Empire | Kingdom of Croatia | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Hadım Yakup Pasha of Bosnia Ismail Bey of Alaca Hisar Mehmed Bey of Üsküp |
Emerik Derenčin (POW) Bernardin Frankopan Ivan Frankopan Cetinski † Nikola VI Frankopan Franjo Berislavić Petar II Zrinski † | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 8,000–10,000 light cavalry |
2,000–3,000 cavalry 8,000 infantry | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 1,000 killed |
5,000–7,000 killed 1,500 imprisoned | ||||||
The Ottoman forces were under the command of Hadım Yakup Pasha, sanjak-bey of the Sanjak of Bosnia, and the Croatian army was led by Emerik Derenčin, ban of Croatia, who served under King Vladislaus II Jagiello. Earlier in the summer of 1493, the Ottomans undertook a raid through Croatia into Carniola and Styria. Around the same time, clashes had been raging in Croatia between the House of Frankopan and the Croatian ban, but news of the Ottoman incursion forced them to make peace. The Croatian nobles assembled a large army and intercepted the Ottoman forces that were returning to the Sanjak of Bosnia. Poor tactics, and the choice of an open battle done by ban Derenčin against more experienced Ottoman cavalry, resulted in the total defeat of the Croatian army.
There were no immediate territorial gains for the Ottoman Empire, but in the following decades the Ottomans gradually expanded into southern Croatia.