The Battle of Valea Albă, also known as the Battle of Războieni or the Battle of Akdere, was an important event in the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

history of

Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Centr ...

. It took place at Războieni, also known as ''Valea Albă'', on July 26, 1476, between the

n army of

Stephen the Great Stephen III of Moldavia, most commonly known as Stephen the Great ( ro, Ștefan cel Mare; ; died on 2 July 1504), was Voivode (or Prince) of Moldavia from 1457 to 1504. He was the son of and co-ruler with Bogdan II, who was murdered in 1451 ...

and an invading

Ottoman army The military of the Ottoman Empire ( tr, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nun silahlı kuvvetleri) was the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire. Army The military of the Ottoman Empire can be divided in five main periods. The foundation era covers the ...

which was commanded personally by

Sultan Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...

Mehmed the Conqueror Mehmed II ( ota, محمد ثانى, translit=Meḥmed-i s̱ānī; tr, II. Mehmed, ; 30 March 14323 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror ( ota, ابو الفتح, Ebū'l-fetḥ, lit=the Father of Conquest, links=no; tr, Fâtih Su ...

Background

In 1475 the Ottoman's attempt to bring

under their control, at winter by using an army of Rumelian local levies, ended disastrously with a defeat in the

Battle of Vaslui The Battle of Vaslui (also referred to as the Battle of Podul Înalt or the Battle of Racova) was fought on 10 January 1475, between Stephen III of Moldavia and the Ottoman governor of Rumelia, Hadım Suleiman Pasha. The battle took place at P ...

. During the proper military campaign season, the Ottomans assembled a large army under the command of Sultan Mehmed II and entered Moldavia in June 1476. Meanwhile, groups of

Tartars Tartary ( la, Tartaria, french: Tartarie, german: Tartarei, russian: Тартария, Tartariya) or Tatary (russian: Татария, Tatariya) was a blanket term used in Western European literature and cartography for a vast part of Asia bounde ...

from the

Crimean Khanate The Crimean Khanate ( crh, , or ), officially the Great Horde and Desht-i Kipchak () and in old European historiography and geography known as Little Tartary ( la, Tartaria Minor), was a Crimean Tatars, Crimean Tatar state existing from 1441 to ...

(the Ottomans' recent ally) were sent to attack Moldavia. Romanian sources may state that they were repelled. Other sources state that joint Ottoman and Crimean Tatar forces "occupied Bessarabia and took Akkerman, gaining control of the southern mouth of the Danube. Stephan tried to avoid open battle with the Ottomans by following a scorched-earth policy."Shaw, Stanford J. (1976) ''History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey – Vol 1: Empire of Gazis'', Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

, p.68 In the process the Moldavians forces ended up being dispersed throughout the country, leaving only a small force of about 12,000–20,000 men, led by Stephen himself, to face the main Ottoman attack.

The battle

The battle began with the Moldavians luring the main Ottoman forces into a forest that was set on fire, causing some casualties to the attacking Ottoman army in the forest. According to another battle description, the defending Moldavian forces repelled several attacks with steady fire from hand-guns. The attacking Ottoman

Janissaries A Janissary ( ota, یڭیچری, yeŋiçeri, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops and the first modern standing army in Europe. The corps was most likely established under sultan Orhan ( ...

were forced to crouch on their stomachs instead of charging headlong into the defenders' positions. Seeing the imminent defeat of his forces, Mehmed charged with his personal guard against the Moldavians, managing to rally the Janissaries, and turning the tide of the battle. Ottoman Janissaries penetrated inside the forest and engaged the defenders in man-to-man fighting. The Moldavian army was utterly defeated (casualties were very high on both sides, and the

chronicle A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and lo ...

s say that the entire battlefield was covered with the bones of the dead, a probable source for the

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

(''Valea Albă'' is

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

and ''Akdere'' Turkish for "The White Valley").

Aftermath

Stephen retreated into the north-western part of Moldavia or even into the Polish Kingdom

Jurnalul Național ''Jurnalul Național'' is a Romanian newspaper, part of the INTACT Media Group led by Dan Voiculescu, which also includes the popular television station Antena 1. The newspaper was launched in 1993. Its headquarters is in Bucharest Bucharest ...

,
Calendar 26 iulie 2005. Moment istoric
(Anniversaries on July 26, 2005.A historical moment)'' and began forming another army. The Ottomans captured considerable parts of Moldavian territory but were unable to conquer some of the major Moldavian strongholds such as

Suceava Suceava () is the largest urban settlement and the seat town ( ro, oraș reședință de județ) of Suceava County, situated in the historical region of Bukovina, northeastern Romania, and at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central and Eastern E ...

, Neamț, and

Hotin Khotyn ( uk, Хотин, ; ro, Hotin, ; see other names) is a city in Dnistrovskyi Raion, Chernivtsi Oblast of western Ukraine and is located south-west of Kamianets-Podilskyi. It hosts the administration of Khotyn urban hromada, one of the ...

and were constantly harassed by small-scale Moldavians attacks. Soon they were also confronted with starvation, a situation made worse by an outbreak of the

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...

. Meanwhile, anti-Ottoman forces were being assembled in

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

''Istoria României'', p.158 under

Stephen V Báthory Stephen Báthory of Ecsed ( hu, Báthory István, ; ro, Ștefan Báthory; 1430–1493) was a Hungarian commander, 'dapiferorum regalium magister' (1458–?), judge royal (1471–1493) and voivode of Transylvania (1479–1493). ...

's command. Confronted with this army and with Stephen's counterattack, the Ottomans retreated from major parts of Moldavia in August 1476 to come back again in 1480.

In fiction

In the Romanian theatrical play ''Apus de Soare'' by

Barbu Ștefănescu Delavrancea Barbu Ștefănescu Delavrancea ; pen name of Barbu Ștefan; April 11, 1858 in Bucharest – April 29, 1918 in Iași) was a Romanian writer and poet, considered one of the greatest figures in the National awakening of Romania. Early life and ...

(set in the final year of Stephen's reign), one can find a description of the battle in the form of a dialog between the daughters and widows of the boyars who had fallen in the battle, in which they describe how their respective fathers and husbands had to drag Stephen out of the battle, as he desperately tried to keep fighting.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Valea Alba 1476 in Europe Battles involving Moldavia Battles involving Wallachia Battles involving the Ottoman Empire Military history of Romania History of Western Moldavia Conflicts in 1476 Battles of Mehmed the Conqueror Stephen the Great 1476 in the Ottoman Empire