The military history of

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

includes battles fought in the Carpathian Basin and the military history of the

Hungarian people Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and Kingdom of Hungary, historical Hungarian lands who share a common Hungarian culture, culture, Hungarian history, history, Magyar tribe ...

regardless of geography.

Early Hungarian warfare

The first well established reference to Hungarians derives from Georgius Monachus' work in the 9th century. It mentions that around 837 the

Bulgarian Empire In the medieval history of Europe, Bulgaria's status as the Bulgarian Empire ( bg, Българско царство, ''Balgarsko tsarstvo'' ) occurred in two distinct periods: between the seventh and the eleventh centuries and again between the ...

desired an alliance with the Hungarians. Although the Hungarians supposedly participated earlier at the

Battle of Pliska The Battle of Pliska or Battle of Vărbitsa Pass was a series of battles between troops, gathered from all parts of the Byzantine Empire, led by the Emperor Nicephorus I, and the First Bulgarian Empire, governed by Khan Krum. The Byzantines plu ...

in 811. The Hungarians began the conquest of the Carpathian Basin in 895. They continued to raid adjacent countries for many years. The Hungarians were able to defeat three major Frankish imperial armies between 907 and 910.Peter Heather
Empires and Barbarians
Pan Macmillan, 2011 Partition of Hungary

Notable battles

*~800–970:

Hungarian invasions of Europe The Hungarian invasions of Europe ( hu, kalandozások, german: Ungarneinfälle) took place in the 9th and 10th centuries, the period of transition in the history of Europe in the Early Middle Ages, when the territory of the former Carolingian Em ...

**~895–902:

Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin The Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin, also known as the Hungarian conquest or the Hungarian land-taking (), was a series of historical events ending with the settlement of the Hungarians in Central Europe in the late 9th and early 10t ...

**899:

Battle of Brenta The Battle of Brenta was fought between the cavalry of the Kingdom of Italy under king Berengar I and the Hungarians, hired by the East Francian king Arnulf of Carinthia, against him, at an unidentified location in northern Italian Peninsula a ...

**907:

Battle of Pressburg The Battle of Pressburg (german: Schlacht von Pressburg) or Battle of Pozsony ( hu, Pozsonyi csata), or Battle of Bratislava ( sk, Bitka pri Bratislave) was a three-day-long battle, fought between 4–6 July 907, during which the East Francian arm ...

**908: Battle of Eisenach **910:

Battle of Lechfeld The Battle of Lechfeld was a series of military engagements over the course of three days from 10–12 August 955 in which the Kingdom of Germany, led by King Otto I the Great, annihilated the Hungarian army led by '' Harka '' Bulcsú and the ch ...

**910: Battle of Rednitz **919:

Battle of Püchen The Battle of Püchen was fought in the summer of 919, between a Hungarian invasions of Europe, Hungarian raiding army and the newly elected East Francian/German king Henry the Fowler, and ended with a Hungarian victory. This battle was a part o ...

**933: Battle of Merseburg **955:

**970: Battle of Arcadiopolis *1044:

Battle of Ménfő The Battle of Ménfő was an important battle in the early history of the Kingdom of Hungary. Fought in 1044 at Ménfő, near Győr, between an army of mostly Germans and Hungarians (Magyars), it was a victory for the Germans and thus for Western ...

*1051:

Battle of Vértes The Battle of Vértes ( Hungarian: ''vértesi csata''), was a conflict that broke out in 1051, when the Emperor Henry III tried to invade Hungary and was defeated by King Andrew I of Hungary and Duke Béla of Hungary. Background After the dea ...

*1068:

Battle of Kerlés The Battle of Kerlés ( hu, kerlési csata) or Battle of Chiraleș, also known as the Battle of Cserhalom, was an engagement between an army of Pechenegs and Ouzes commanded by OsulMedieval chronicles wrote that the invaders were Cumans or Peche ...

*1074:

Battle of Mogyoród The Battle of Mogyoród took place on 14 March 1074. It was an internal conflict between Solomon, King of Hungary and his cousins duke Géza and Ladislaus, who were claiming rights to the throne. Solomon ruled for a few years, during which he ...

*1091–1097:

Croatia in personal union with Hungary The Kingdom of Croatia ( la, Regnum Croatiae; hr, Kraljevina Hrvatska, ''Hrvatsko kraljevstvo'', ''Hrvatska zemlja'') entered a personal union with the Kingdom of Hungary in 1102, after a period of rule of kings from the Trpimirović and Svetosl ...

**1097:

Battle of Gvozd Mountain The Battle of Gvozd Mountain took place in 1097 and was fought between the army of Petar Snačić and King Coloman I of Hungary. It was a decisive Hungarian victory, which ended the War of the Croatian Succession and served as a turning point ...

*1167:

Battle of Sirmium The Battle of Sirmium, Battle of Semlin or Battle of Zemun ( hu, zimonyi csata) was fought on July 8, 1167 between the Byzantine Empire (also known as Eastern Roman Empire), and the Kingdom of Hungary. The Byzantines achieved a decisive victory, ...

*1146:

Battle of the Fischa The Battle of the Fischa or Battle of the Leitha took place on 11 September 1146 near the Fischa River at the border of the Kingdom of Hungary and the March of Austria, which then belonged to the overlordship of the Dukes of Bavaria and it was r ...

*1202:

Siege of Zara The siege of Zara or siege of Zadar ( hr, Opsada Zadra; hu, Zára ostroma; 10–24 November 1202) was the first major action of the Fourth Crusade and the first attack against a Catholic city by Catholic crusaders. The crusaders had an agree ...

*1217–1218: King Andrew II's participation in the

Fifth crusade The Fifth Crusade (1217–1221) was a campaign in a series of Crusades by Western Europeans to reacquire Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land by first conquering Egypt, ruled by the powerful Ayyubid sultanate, led by al-Adil, brother of Sala ...

*1241–1242:

First Mongol invasion of Hungary The first Mongol invasion of Hungary ( hu, tatárjárás) started in March 1241, and the Mongols started to withdraw in late March 1242. Background Mongol invasion of Europe The Hungarians had first learned about the Mongol threat in 1229, when ...

**1241:

Battle of Mohi The Battle of Mohi (11 April 1241), also known as Battle of the Sajó River''A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East'', Vol. I, ed. Spencer C. Tucker, (ABC-CLIO, 2010), 279; "Although Mongol losses in t ...

*1246:

Battle of the Leitha River The Battle of the Leitha River was fought on 15 June 1246 near the banks of the Leitha river between the forces of the King Béla IV of Hungary and Duke Frederick II of Austria. The Hungarian army was routed, but Duke Frederick was killed, ending ...

*1278:

Battle on the Marchfeld The Battle on the Marchfeld (''i.e. Morava Field''; german: Schlacht auf dem Marchfeld; cs, Bitva na Moravském poli; hu, Morvamezei csata) at Dürnkrut and Jedenspeigen took place on 26 August 1278 and was a decisive event for the history o ...

*1282:

Battle of Lake Hód The Battle of Lake Hód ( hu, Hód-tavi csata) was a battle between the Kingdom of Hungary and the Cumans in September or October 1282. King Ladislaus IV of Hungary successfully repelled the invaders. Background In the midst of imminent danger of ...

*1285–1286:

Second Mongol invasion of Hungary The Second Mongol invasion of Hungary ( hu, második tatárjárás) led by Nogai Khan and Tulabuga took place during the winter of 1285–1286. Prelude The first invasion In 1241, a Mongol army under Subutai and Batu Khan invaded central an ...

*1312:

Battle of Rozgony The Battle of Rozgony or Battle of Rozhanovce was fought between King Charles Robert of Hungary and the family of Palatine Amade Aba on 15 June 1312, on the Rozgony (today Rozhanovce) field. ''Chronicon Pictum'' described it as the "most cruel b ...

*1348:

Battle of Capua The First Battle of Capua was fought in 212 BC between Hannibal and two Roman consular armies. The Roman force was led by two consuls, Quintus Fulvius Flaccus and Appius Claudius Pulcher. The Roman force was defeated, but managed to escape. Han ...

*1366–1490: Hungarian–Ottoman wars **1396:

Battle of Nicopolis The Battle of Nicopolis took place on 25 September 1396 and resulted in the rout of an allied crusader army of Hungarian, Croatian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, French, Burgundian, German, and assorted troops (assisted by the Venetian navy) at ...

**1442:

Battle of Hermannstadt The Battle of Hermannstadt, also known as the Battle of Sibiu or the Battle of Szeben, was fought between the army of the Hungarian Kingdom and the Ottoman Empire on March 18 and March 22, 1442, near Marosszentimre and Hermannstadt (Szeben), (toda ...

**1444: Battle of Kunovica **1444:

Battle of Varna The Battle of Varna took place on 10 November 1444 near Varna in eastern Bulgaria. The Ottoman Army under Sultan Murad II (who did not actually rule the sultanate at the time) defeated the Hungarian–Polish and Wallachian armies commanded by ...

**1448:

Second Battle of Kosovo The Second Battle of Kosovo ( Hungarian: ''második rigómezei csata'', Turkish: ''İkinci Kosova Muharebesi'') (17–20 October 1448) was a land battle between a Hungarian-led Crusader army and the Ottoman Empire at Kosovo Polje. It was ...

**1456: Siege of Belgrade **1464:

Siege of Jajce The siege of Jajce was a siege of the town of Jajce and its citadel in 1463, in a push by Ottomans to conquer as much of the Bosnian Kingdom, and continuation of the Ottoman–Hungarian Wars. After the fall of Travnik and royal fortress of Bo ...

**1479:

Battle of Breadfield A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

**1481:

Battle of Otranto The Ottoman invasion of Otranto occurred between 1480 and 1481 at the Italian city of Otranto in Apulia, southern Italy. Forces of the Ottoman Empire invaded and laid siege to the city, they captured it on 11 August 1480 establishing the firs ...

*1477–1488: Hungarian–Austrian War **1485: Siege of Vienna **1486–1487: Siege of Wiener Neustadt *1490–1541: Hungarian–Ottoman wars **1521: Siege of Belgrade **1526:

Battle of Mohács The Battle of Mohács (; hu, mohácsi csata, tr, Mohaç Muharebesi or Mohaç Savaşı) was fought on 29 August 1526 near Mohács, Kingdom of Hungary, between the forces of the Kingdom of Hungary and its allies, led by Louis II, and thos ...

**1532:

Siege of Güns The siege of Kőszeg ( hu, Kőszeg ostroma) or siege of Güns ( tr, Güns Kuşatması), also known as German Campaign ( tr, Alman Seferi) was a siege of Kőszeg (german: Güns)During the Ottoman–Habsburg wars, the small border fort was called G ...

**1541: Siege of Buda * 1541–1664: Hungarian–Habsburg–Ottoman wars ** 1543: Siege of Esztergom **1552: Siege of Eger **1566:

Siege of Szigetvár The siege of Szigetvár or the Battle of Szigeth (pronunciation: �siɡɛtvaːr hu, Szigetvár ostroma, hr, Bitka kod Sigeta; Sigetska bitka, tr, Zigetvar Kuşatması) was a siege of the fortress of Szigetvár, Kingdom of Hungary, that block ...

** 1588: Battle of Szikszó ** 1595: Battle of Gyurgyevó ** 1596:

Battle of Mezőkeresztes ), Hungary , result = Ottoman victory, , combatant1 = Ottoman Empire , combatant2 = Principality of Transylvania (1571–1711), Transylvania Kingdom of HungaryWalloons, Walloon and French mercenariesSerbian hajduksC ...

** 1599:

Battle of Sellenberk A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

** 1600: Battle of Miriszló ** 1652:

Battle of Vezekény The Battle of Vezekény ( hu, vezekényi csata) occurred during the 17th century Ottoman Wars in Europe. It was a major Hungarian victory. Tamás Esterházy was killed in the battle along with his younger brother Gáspár and his cousin L� ...

** 1664: Siege of Léva ** 1664: Battle of Saint Gotthard * 1683–1699:

Great Turkish War The Great Turkish War (german: Großer Türkenkrieg), also called the Wars of the Holy League ( tr, Kutsal İttifak Savaşları), was a series of conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy League consisting of the Holy Roman Empire, Pola ...

** 1683:

Battle of Vienna The Battle of Vienna; pl, odsiecz wiedeńska, lit=Relief of Vienna or ''bitwa pod Wiedniem''; ota, Beç Ḳalʿası Muḥāṣarası, lit=siege of Beç; tr, İkinci Viyana Kuşatması, lit=second siege of Vienna took place at Kahlenberg Mou ...

** 1686: Siege of Buda ** 1687:

** 1697:

Battle of Zenta The Battle of Zenta, also known as the Battle of Senta, was fought on 11 September 1697, near Zenta, Ottoman Empire (modern-day Senta, Serbia), between Ottoman and Holy League armies during the Great Turkish War. The battle was the most decis ...

* 1703–1711:

Rákóczi's War of Independence Rákóczi's War of Independence (1703–11) was the first significant attempt to topple the rule of the Habsburgs over Hungary. The war was conducted by a group of noblemen, wealthy and high-ranking progressives and was led by Francis II Rákó ...

** 1705: Battle of Zsibó ** 1705: Battle of Saint Gotthard ** 1708:

Battle of Trencsén A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

* 1716–1718: Habsburg–Ottoman War ** 1716: Battle of Pétervárad * 1803–1815:

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

** 1809:

Battle of Raab The Battle of Raab or Battle of Győr ( Hungarian: ''győri csata'') was fought on 14 June 1809 during the Napoleonic Wars, between Franco-Italian forces and Habsburg forces. The battle was fought near Győr (Raab), Kingdom of Hungary, and en ...

* 1848–1849:

Hungarian Revolution of 1848 The Hungarian Revolution of 1848 or fully Hungarian Civic Revolution and War of Independence of 1848–1849 () was one of many European Revolutions of 1848 and was closely linked to other revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas. Although th ...

** 1848:

Battle of Mór The Battle of Mór was a battle in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, fought on 30 December 1848 between Austria and Hungarian Revolutionary Army. The Austrians were led by Croatian Ban Lieutenant General Josip Jelačić, while the Hungarians wer ...

** 1848:

Battle of Pákozd The Battle of Pákozd (or Battle of Sukoró) was a battle in the Hungarian war of Independence of 1848-1849, fought on the 29 September 1848 in the Pákozd – Sukoró – Pátka triangle. It was the first and one of the most importa ...

** 1848:

Battle of Schwechat The Battle of Schwechat was a battle in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, fought on 30 October 1848 between the revolutionary Hungarian Army against the army of the Austrian Empire, in Schwechat, near Vienna. This was the last battle of 1848 i ...

** 1849:

Battle of Kápolna The Battle of Kápolna was a battle in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, fought on 26 and 27 February 1849. The battle ended with an Austrian victory and influenced the politics of central Europe: Franz Joseph I announced the March Constitution ...

** 1849: First Battle of Komárom ** 1849: Second Battle of Komárom ** 1849: Third Battle of Komárom ** 1849:

Battle of Segesvár The Battle of Segesvár (Transylvania, now Sighișoara, Romania), also called the Battle of Fehéregyháza, was a battle in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, fought on 31 July 1849 between the Hungarian revolutionary army under the command of Li ...

** 1849:

Battle of Szőreg The Battle of Szőreg was a battle in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, fought on 5 August 1849 at Szőreg, Hungary, fought between the Hungarian Revolutionary Army led by Lieutenant General Henryk Dembiński and the main army of the Habsburg Em ...

** 1849:

Battle of Temesvár The Battle of Temesvár (now Timișoara, Romania) was a key battle in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, fought on 9 August 1849 between the Austrian Empire, led by Field Marshal Julius Jacob von Haynau, and the Hungarian Revolutionary Army (sup ...

Early Hungarian warfare

Notable battles

References

Sources

Further reading