Siege of Sofia

Coordinates: 42°42′N 23°20′E / 42.700°N 23.333°E / 42.700; 23.333

Bulgarian-Ottoman Wars
Date1382 or 1385
LocationSofia, Bulgaria
Result Ottoman victory
Belligerents

Bulgarian Empire

Slavs		 Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Yanuka Lala Shahin Pasha
Strength

15,000 Bulgar [1]

4,000 Slavs [2]		 10,000 [3]
Casualties and losses
10,000 + [4] 400 [5]

The Siege of Sofia took place in 1382 or 1385[6][7] during the course of the Bulgarian-Ottoman Wars. Unable to defend his country from the Ottomans, in 1373 the Bulgarian emperor Ivan Shishman agreed to become an Ottoman vassal and to marry his sister Kera Tamara to their sultan Murad I, while the Ottomans were to return some conquered fortresses.[6] Despite the peace, in the beginning of the 1380s the Ottomans resumed their campaigns and besieged the important city of Sofia which controlled major communication routes to Serbia and Macedonia. There are little records about the siege. After the futile attempts to storm the city, the Ottoman commander Lala Shahin Pasha considered to abandon the siege.[6] However, a Bulgarian renegate managed to lure the city governor ban Yanuka out of the fortress to hunt and the Turks captured him. Leaderless, the Bulgarians surrendered.[7] The city walls were destroyed and an Ottoman garrison was installed. With the way to the north-west cleared, the Ottomans pressed further and captured Pirot and Niš in 1386, thus wedging between Bulgaria and Serbia.[7]

Citations

  1. ↑ The Balkans: A History of Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Rumania, Turkey , Clarendon Press,
  2. ↑ The Balkans: A History of Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Rumania, Turkey , Clarendon Press,
  3. ↑ The Balkans: A History of Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Rumania, Turkey , Clarendon Press,
  4. ↑ The Balkans: A History of Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Rumania, Turkey , Clarendon Press,
  5. ↑ The Balkans: A History of Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Rumania, Turkey , Clarendon Press,
  6. 1 2 3 Андреев, p. 283
  7. 1 2 3 "20. The Decline of the Second Bulgarian Empire" (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 8 August 2011.

Sources

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