1513

Both armies entered the new year continuing their same courses. Vladislaus worked to secure his position both home and afar, gathering coin and men to protect the Kingdom. Hadim Pasha went to work resolving the supply issues that had plagued his men all during the Siege of Belgrade.

King Vladislaus, a famous delegator and quiet speaker, was yet motivated by the impending doom of the provincial Ottoman army that had just cracked his shield. His first decision was a somewhat controversial, but overall well-liked, move to establish himself as the personal commander of the army while Stephan Bathory would serve alongside John Zapolya, who before was supreme commander. Alongside the declaration was a request of assistance towards the defense of the realm from amongst both the magnates and lower nobility of Hungary. Only the large landowners in the top positions of command contributed, but a key note of support by Zapolya of the King's request along with a large personal contribution strengthened his liege's coffers. Similarly, Vladislaus found both his familial ally in the Empire and his kin in Krakow giving much needed aid to the Bulwark of Christendom. The names of Sigismund and Maximilian were sung with praise by many in Hungary, though Zapolya was happy to lament the King's approval of foreign aid. Another key ally of Vladislaus had come home last year, Cardinal Bakocz, with a Papal Bull of crusade. With this Papal Bull he had spent months tirelessly campaigning across the Kingdom encouraging the defense of the Kingdom and the King. Indulgences were raised to pay the army while zealous groups of peasants and townfolk started to organize to prepare themselves into a makeshift army of their own. In the cold winter along the border of the Carpathian Plain and sacked Transylvania arrived a particularly charismatic man by the name of György Dózsa was a Szekely knight on the frontier of the Kingdom. He had surrounded himself with a number of radical Franciscan monks who spoke claiming to be allies of Cardinal Bakocz and the crusade from Rome he brought with him. However, the monks were also almost entirely of low born background and filled with zeal. They did not back down from harsh criticism of the nature of things for the peasantry of Hungary, which had a sharp decline in quality of life after a number of large tax increases and the enforcement of harsh serfdom. Dozsa, for his part, seems to not say anything against what they preach. This alliance seems to gather a large number of the peasantry who speak out in favor of the proposals by the Franciscans near Dozsa's position.

However, while Vladislaus took the time to deal with matters to maintain the war and protect his realm, Hadim Pasha and the Ottoman officer corps worked tirelessly to execute the bold plan of the supreme commander. Positions along the supply routes had been established over the last year and chains of command strengthened as the campaign matured. Most importantly, the chain of Belgrade had been taken by the capture of the fortress and the Danube and Sava Rivers had been opened up to the Ottoman forces. Hadim Pasha in cooperation with the Sultan in Konstantiniyye built a river fleet to ship supplies where possible to limit stuffing the old Roman roads, in particular the Via Militaris. The Wallachians had returned home with their large loot train and divvied it out before moving to unite with Hadim Pasha's army at Belgrade during the early winter, which has little issue. The Moldavians, for their part, had made peace with the Hungarians once Voivode Bogdan had secured Buda's renounce of authority over Moldavia and his loot from Transylvania.

Battle of Palanka

With the Ottoman army gathered and ready, they marched northwesterly from the recently taken fortress of Belgrade. As they left Belgrade the Hungarians, well prepared and rested right behind the Danube, move to oppose them at Palanka in early March. The Ottomans and Hungarians deploy their armies early in the morning opposite each other, the first time they meet on the field in the war. It is a large spectacle and there are no shortage of observers who show up to watch. The two armies are massive, totaling over 150,000 men, and King Vladislaus has arrived personally. The Ottomans customarily have a massive artillery train of their own along with a strong contingent of the Janissary Corps. Additionally, a number of auxiliary units like the Azabs have recently adopted more and more firearms as their weapon of choice. The Hungarians have done much the same under Zapolya's earlier preparations. They have a strong core of professional arquebusiers, with Hungary being one of the centers of firearms production in Europe. Ironically, many of the Ottoman soldiers are armed with Hungarian-made arquebuses themselves. The Hungarians also have a very large artillery train of their own, though it is still dwarfed by their counterpart. Similarly, each army is nearly one-third mounted in combat. The Ottoman Sipahi line up behind the infantry in all their regalia while the Hungarians amass between their light hussar cavalry and their heavily armored knights. There was even a showing of Teutonic support in King Vladislaus's army, one-hundred shining bastions of a time now dead. Where the Ottomans clamor with janissaries, archers, crossbowmen, and Sipahi, the Hungarians make up for in their adoption of the growing popularity in infantry. Beyond a small force of landsknecht sent to help from the Empire lead by Georg von Frundsberg, the Hungarians are made up of two formations. One is a ten-thousand strong force of amassed Croat polearms, lead by the grizzled Bernardin Frankopan, while the remaining men are a mix of Hungarian mercenaries and peasants gathered by their liege lords or signed up for the crusade. They formed a mix of mass squares and rectangles bristling with pikes, spears, swords. The Ottoman infantry were little different, preferring to fight in more loose and mass formations than their European counterparts.

With the Hungarians on the defensive, Stephan Bathory as commander of the Hungarian cavalry decides to split them in halves to cover both flanks. The battlefield, just south of the Fruska Gora mountains in northern Syrmia, is a large flat grassland allowing these large armies to deploy maneuver effectively. The Ottomans decide to mimic the Hungarians as well before the Hungarian cavalry move forward to control the battlefield. The Ottoman cavalry, much of which carried both melee weapon and bow, moved to skirmish against the Hungarians. Vladislaus, under guidance by Zapolya who remained beside him, ordered the Hungarian foot soldiers to move forward in response. As the gap between the armies begins to close, the Ottoman cavalry decide to engage in a melee in the open field. The Ottomans find themselves in the advantage on the left flank while the Hungarians repulse the Ottoman offensive on the right. As the cavalry melee slows down, the artillery of both sides are within range and begin their opening barrages. The Hungarian artillery is able to land their marks in the frontlines of the Ottomans, but the Ottoman trained artillery crews show their use in the opening. The Ottoman light cannon and bombards both hit three separate major Hungarian pike squares, causing a massive loss as the lines approach. The janissaries move into position under the smoke of their artillery and unleash a wave of fire into the same lines attempting to re-organize, meanwhile the Hungarian arqubusiers find themselves outmaneuvered and unable to line an effective shot without causing massive friendly casualties. The two sides archers fare mediocre, though the Hungarians had hired a strong collection of Italian crossbow mercenaries who landed their bolts on many Sipahi. The melee lines now meet, with the Hungarians still maintaining a lead after their brutal approach. The Ottoman frontline, lacking a significant armored core, buckled under the surprise of the still-attacking Hungarians. The Ottoman cavalry on the left flank use their room to wheel into the flank of the Hungarians, which allows the Ottoman lines to form up. The Hungarians attempt to do the same opposite them on the right, but the threat of Ottoman gunnery forced them to disengage before anything decisive. They would save themselves in doing so, for as the melee once again started the Ottoman artillery and handguns blew through the Hungarian ranks. The Hungarian arqubusiers with their crossbowmen would start to find their mark against the Sipahi eventually, but they were outclassed by the opposition. The melee flows back and forth, but eventually the Hungarian lines give way to the consistent and disciplined onslaught of the Ottoman provincials. Stephan Bathory has to be taken off the field and returned to camp after he takes a strong blunt attack on his right shoulder, where King Vladislaus and Zapolya order a retreat from the field. The Hungarians had prepared a route back over the mountains and were in strong enough shape to beat back the strong Ottoman cavalry's attempts to run down the army. However, incessant Ottoman pressure meant that they crossed the Danube shortly thereafter at Palanka, leaving a few hundred kilometers of mostly empty space before Hadim's prize, Buda.

Dozsa's Rebellion

While the Hungarian army left the field at Palanka intact, another Hungarian army had gathered. Dozsa had gathered nearly forty thousand peasants and townfolk together as crusaders meant to fight the Turkish threat. They had established themselves in the aims of helping King Vladislaus, but when news arrived of the failure at Palanka and the Ottoman approach on Buda the rhetoric of the Franciscans rose to a fever pitch. They declared Vladislaus and the nobility of Hungary enemies of the crusade and, on occasion, even heretics. The peasantry, harboring ill will towards the same names for years, were easily riled up by their words. Dozsa again did little to stop his Franciscan allies from preaching, though in practice he was much more forgiving and less hateful in talk against the nobility of Hungary. He had instead become focused on gathering strength for himself and his new army in Eastern Carpathia. This was mainly in the form of organized widespread violence against the estates and cities of the Kingdom. This behavior grew to the rest of Hungary as well, with strong feelings of resentment leading to smaller revolts against royal authority elsewhere. This development had created a slew of issues for King Vladislaus and Zapolya that threatened the defense of Hungary. The loss of working peasants country-wide had greatly reduced the annual crop yield and more of it was being eaten by the rampaging armies and Ottoman raiders. Dozsa's destruction of noble estates in Carpathia had also taken to occupy all of the nobility's minds, leading to a loss of morale and focus against the Ottoman threat. King Vladislaus was forced to make an official proclamation claiming that once the Ottoman threat was vanquished on the field the tax burden on the peasantry and the noble encroachment of his reign would be at an end. The haughty promises helped alleviate the severity of the rebellions, as many former rebels took advantage of the pardon, but Dozsa and his allies in particular seemed to be barely affected at all by the King's words. The Hungarian army avoids the worst of it in the end with the once-again key logistical efforts of Zapolya, who now shared command with Bernardin Frankopan. They would fight once more to defend the route to Buda, this time much closer to the city at Baja on the eastern bank of the Danube.

Battle of Baja

The Hungarians and Ottomans line up in the same fashion as before, with the Hungarian cavalry led by Frankopan splitting to cover both flanks once more. The battle taking place on a wide open plain, a mass of over 30,000 mounted soldiers fought in a bloody melee. The heavy Hungarian knights created a core in sustained combat while the Hussars danced with the Sipahi on the edges. Though the Sipahi felled many, the Hungarian cavalry embarrassed the Sipahi who were forced to give the battlefield up. Faced with little other choice, the Ottoman formation packs up and approaches the Hungarian lines once more. Over one hundred and fifty artillery pieces ring out in unison as both sides learn of the deadliness of the gunpowder both armies wielded. The janissaries struggle in the early stages, finding themselves under fire from the Hungarian arqubusiers who find their aim. The mass of Ottoman arrows rains down hell on the Hungarian cavalry however, killing many. Hurt but still dominate over the full battlefield, the Hungarian knights hammer and anvil both flanks of the infantry melee. They cut down many successfully, and push back the Ottomans. The Ottoman Sipahis use this opportunity to counter charge the now-engaged Hungarians, with great success. Creating an even larger mass, the disgusting pit of despair and steel grew as it took more and more lives on both sides. Both sides faced multiple routs of groups of men fleeing the horrid conditions of the battle, and the artillery of both sides struggle to manage in the bad weather and mass of men. Both sides handguns, arrows, and bolts play kingmaker here but neither side is able to secure a checkmate. A truce is eventually agreed upon by King Vladislaus and Hadim Pasha, where both sides leave the field of battle. The Ottomans still face a wall on the way to Buda, and King Vladislaus can still claim victory in the protection of his seat of power.

The Realm

Though the Battle of Baja was only in May, the Hungarians would receive much-needed respite when news reached them of the Ottoman warcamp. An outbreak of typhus in the Hungarian camp was also true for the Ottomans, which had begun wracking up numbers of deaths on both sides. Furthermore, Hadim's offensive had only served to weaken his supply lines more so. To the politically savvy of the Ottomans, it was also as Hadim Pasha had so far enjoyed great success and personal glory in the campaign. The officer corps of the provincial army had alerted Hadim Pasha shortly after Baja that a formal request had been sent to Konstantiniyye to the Sultan and Divan for the removal of Hadim Pasha as commander of the provincial army. The speed at which such a thing had been done meant Hadim Pasha knew this was a plot behind his back and was helpless to oppose it. After failing to regain control after a few weeks of bickering, the organization of the Ottoman camp and logistics had worsened. Many in the army instead took up raiding for the rest of the year in the hopes of making it rich. They would strike in two directions, onto into Eastern Carpathia and another into the Banate of Croatia. In the former area, the crusader army of Dosza served to support the war effort by opposing much of the Turkish efforts. Beyond opposition militarily, there was also already lost loot taken by the revolting peasants. However, in Croatia in particular the Ottoman akinji were able to strike deep and ruthlessly. The loss of frontier fortresses and concentration of forces at Buda had made them weak and unprepared, and the raiding served to worsen the Hungarian supply situation.

With dwindling supplies and a crippled Ottomans, Vladislaus and his two key allies instead moved to protect their estates and their power by mobilizing the Hussars and Knights to defeat Dosza. Dosza had taken a few forts such as Arad and Szolnok, but they soon fell to the large and well-armed response. The revolt stood strong in opposition as the "crusaders" held their moral fight high, but it would only take the summer before Dosza and his allies were forced to reside only in the Carpathian Mountains, striking down into Pannonia. The Hungarians would continue to capture the elusive rebel but he would refuse to be caught, always one step ahead. The year would end on a peter, the two armies diseased and exhausted. The Hungarians would soon find their bellies empty, and many nobles now knew they did not even have a home to return to from the tumultuous times. Sultan Korkut had announced that Hadim Pasha was removed from his position in accordance to the demands, and a new commander given in his place. Piri Mehmed Pasha, also named as the Grand Vizier, would take the reins. Additionally, the Sultan would arrive to campaign on the frontlines come the new year. King Vladislaus would refuse all Ottoman envoys as the year ended, and Sultan Korkut had no intent to end the wave to Buda.

TL;DR

• The Ottomans and Hungarians gather massive armies where they fight south of the Danube. The Hungarians lose and are forced to flee, where the Ottomans are now approaching the empty plains to Buda

• A Székely Knight, Dosza, rises up with a peasant army claiming to be crusaders. He allies with radical peasants and Franciscans, who eventually escalate the crusade into an anti-noble and anti-king revolt

• The Hungarians force a stalemate at Baja south of Buda, where after the battle both armies also find themselves wrecked with a horrid outbreak of typhus. Hadim Pasha loses authority over the Ottoman army which, combined with the issues that grew from the chain of command, paralyzed the Ottomans who instead focus on raiding

• The Hungarians nearly end the revolt with a combination of promises from King Vladislaus and brutal repression with the use of the Hungarian Army. Dosza himself escapes capture, leading a small continued revolt.

• Hadim Pasha fired, new Grand Vizier and commander named Piri Mehmed Pasha prepare to arrive along with Sultan Korkut