Hunyadi's Long Campaign

Timeline

1. 1443Buda · HungaryAfter Eugene IV issued the crusade bull, Władysław III declared war at Buda on Palm Sunday. Having repeatedly defeated Ottoman incursions in Transylvania in 1441–1442, Hunyadi planned a long winter counteroffensive together with Serbian Despot Đurađ Branković, and about forty thousand crossed the Danube in mid-October.
2. 1443Niš to Sofia · SerbiaThe allied forces defeated Rumelia's beylerbey Kasim Pasha and Turahan Bey at Niš; the latter burned villages before withdrawing and advised the Sultan to abandon Sofia and hold the mountain passes. Hunyadi also repelled a flanking attack at Aleksinac. The Ottomans practiced scorched earth, yet the crusaders still entered the area of Sofia without encountering the Sultan's main force. The Niš operations of this phase also form the background to Skanderbeg's open break with the Ottomans.
3. 1443–1444Zlatitsa Pass and Kunovica · BulgariaOn December 12 the crusaders first encountered the well-fortified Ottoman main force at the snow-covered Zlatitsa Pass; the assault failed and they could not press on toward Edirne. During the retreat they ambushed the pursuers at Kunovica, capturing the Sultan's son-in-law Mahmud Bey. Branković advised wintering in Serbia and resuming the war in spring, but the king and Hunyadi refused and withdrew.
4. 1444Buda · HungaryThe army reached Belgrade in late January and entered Buda in February, welcomed as heroes. The court and church deliberately publicized the victory and downplayed the Zlatitsa setback. Murad II, inclined toward peace because of unreliable troops and Mahmud's capture, opened negotiations leading to the Treaty of Szeged–Edirne. The Long Campaign thus ended; the treaty's violation and renewed campaign that summer and autumn belong to another event.