Medieval Principalities(1330–1504)

Prior to Posada, Charles I's army sacked Câmpulung and Curtea de Argeș. Basarab avoided open battle, withdrew into mountains, then sprung the Posada ambush.

Basarab I ambushed Charles I's retreating Hungarian army in a mountain pass in the Carpathians. Four-day running battle through narrow defiles devastated the Hungarian force; Charles I escaped disguised as a common soldier.

Mircea the Elder sent a Wallachian contingent to support the Serbian coalition against the Ottoman advance. Both Sultan Murad I and Prince Lazar were killed. Strategic Ottoman victory despite mutual annihilation of core armies.

Mircea's Wallachian force repulsed a major Ottoman punitive expedition. Fighting in forested/marshy terrain negated Ottoman cavalry advantage. Bayezid retreated without installing a puppet ruler.

Major Wallachian victory in forested terrain near Craiova. Mircea's use of terrain, infantry in forests, and coordinated Wallachian tactics routed a much larger Ottoman-backed force. Vlad I (the pretender) killed in battle.

The last major crusade of the Middle Ages. French knights charged prematurely against Ottoman spahis; the Christian center collapsed. Mircea's Wallachian cavalry on the right wing performed well initially but could not compensate. Sigismund escaped by boat; thousands of crusaders captured and executed.

Following Nicopolis, Mircea launched several cross-Danube punitive raids into Ottoman-held Bulgaria, disrupting Ottoman supply lines and demonstrating continued Wallachian defiance.

Following Timur's defeat of Bayezid at Ankara (1402), Mircea intervened in the Ottoman civil war, briefly supporting pretender Musa Çelebi in Dobruja and Wallachia. Captured Dobruja temporarily.

Mircea secured Dobruja (including the Danube Delta) by military action during the Ottoman succession crisis. Extended Wallachian territory to its maximum historical extent.

Sultan Mehmed I launched a large campaign into Wallachia. Giurgiu fortress fell. Mircea was forced to accept Ottoman suzerainty and tribute. The Turnu and Giurgiu fortresses passed to Ottoman control.

Hunyadi defeated an Ottoman raiding force that had penetrated into Transylvania via the Iron Gates. Launched retaliatory raids across the Danube.

Mezid Beg led an Ottoman raiding army deep into Transylvania toward Hermannstadt (Sibiu). Hunyadi intercepted and defeated the Ottoman force, killing Mezid Beg. Demonstrated that Ottoman raids deep into Transylvania could be checked.

After Hermannstadt, the Ottomans sent an 80,000-strong punitive army under Şehabeddin Pasha. Hunyadi, badly outnumbered, used brilliant maneuvering on the Ialomița River in Wallachia. Lured the Ottomans into a tactical trap, routed the army. Placed pro-Hungarian Basarab II on the Wallachian throne.

The most successful Christian offensive against the Ottomans since the First Crusade. Hunyadi's army drove 500 miles into Ottoman territory, winning engagements at Niš, Sofia approach, and mountain passes. Forced Murad II to accept a truce (Peace of Edirne 1444).

King Vladislav I broke the truce with the Ottomans and marched on Varna. The crusade was shattered when Vladislav charged the Ottoman center and was killed. Hunyadi's cavalry initially broke through but was surrounded. Wallachian contingent under Mircea II fought on the right wing. Catastrophic Christian defeat.

Hunyadi invaded Ottoman territory without waiting for allied support (Skanderbeg was blocked). Three-day battle on the Kosovo plain. Wallachian voivode Vladislav II defected during the battle (having disputed with Hunyadi), contributing to the defeat. Hunyadi captured by Đurađ Branković.

Mehmed II besieged Belgrade with the largest Ottoman army assembled since Constantinople. Hunyadi broke the Danube blockade with river craft, then crusading peasant infantry swarmed the Ottoman camp in a spontaneous night attack. Mehmed II wounded; Ottomans withdrew in disorder.

Stefan, with Wallachian support from Vlad Țepeș, defeated his uncle Petru Aron (who had murdered Stefan's father) at Doljeşti on the Moldova River. Petru Aron fled to Poland.

Follow-up battle to Doljeşti. Stefan defeated the remaining supporters of Petru Aron and consolidated his hold on all of Moldavia.

Vlad III launched a devastating winter raid along the Danube, destroying Ottoman garrisons from Oblucița to Rahova. Vlad reported to the Hungarian king killing 23,883 Ottomans (with a list of heads, noses, and ears). Hamza Pasha captured and impaled.

Stefan attacked the strategic Black Sea port of Chilia, held by a Hungarian-Wallachian garrison. Artillery bombardment wounded Stefan severely in the leg — a wound that plagued him for life. The assault failed.

Vlad led a night cavalry raid directly into the Ottoman camp, attempting to kill Mehmed II personally. Reached the sultan's tent but killed a vizier instead. Caused massive chaos and Ottoman casualties. Mehmed was unharmed; Vlad withdrew.

Mehmed II's army reached Târgoviște to find 20,000 impaled Ottoman prisoners arranged in a forest formation. Mehmed, reportedly shaken, withdrew from Wallachia without installing a permanent garrison.

Stefan returned to Chilia with adequate artillery and a larger force. The fortress fell after a short siege. Stefan secured Moldavia's access to the Black Sea trade routes and the Danube mouth.

Matthias Corvinus invaded Moldavia demanding tribute and vassal status. Stefan allowed the Hungarian army to occupy Baia, then launched a night attack. The town was set on fire; Hungarians trapped in burning buildings and narrow streets. Matthias wounded three times (by arrows), barely escaped. Over a third of his army killed.

A massive Tatar raiding force crossed the Dniester into Moldavia. Stefan met them at Lipnic on the Dniester. Devastating Moldavian victory — nearly the entire Tatar force was destroyed or captured.

Stefan invaded Wallachia to replace the pro-Ottoman Radu the Handsome with a pro-Moldavian candidate. Defeated Radu's forces at Soci. Temporarily installed Laiotă Basarab.

Stefan invaded Wallachia to replace the pro-Ottoman Radu the Handsome. Decisive battle on the Vodna River. Stefan captured Bucharest briefly and installed a pro-Moldavian prince.

Considered Stefan's masterpiece. Ottoman-Wallachian-Tatar army invaded Moldavia in winter. Stefan chose ground near Vaslui (now Podul Înalt) — a valley flanked by the Racova marsh and Bârlad forest. Heavy fog concealed Moldavian positions. Light infantry harassed Ottomans into the marsh; Stefan's cavalry struck both flanks. Ottoman army routed; pursuit lasted two weeks. Hadım Suleiman Pasha fled. Pope Sixtus IV called Stefan "Athlete of Christ."

Mehmed II personally led a massive retaliatory invasion after Vaslui. Stefan's Moldavian force, weakened by plague and desertion, faced the full Ottoman army. Stefan fought a fighting retreat, then made a last stand at Războieni. The Moldavian army was shattered; Stefan fled north to his fortresses (Suceava, Neamț). The Ottomans could not take the fortresses and withdrew due to plague and supply failures.

After Războieni, Stefan coordinated with Transylvanian forces to reinstall Vlad Țepeș on the Wallachian throne. Defeated Laiotă Basarab's pro-Ottoman forces. Vlad ruled briefly before being killed in early 1477.

After Stefan lost the fortress of Chilia (1484) and Cetatea Albă (1484) to the Ottomans — the most severe territorial losses of his reign — he struck back. At Catlabuga Lake in southern Bessarabia, Stefan ambushed and routed an Ottoman punitive force.

Follow-up Ottoman-Tatar expedition to punish Moldavia after Catlabuga. Stefan met them on the Siret near Șcheia and won a decisive tactical victory. Combined Ottoman-Tatar force routed.

Ongoing Tatar raiding into Moldavia. Stefan's border forces intercepted and defeated a significant raiding party in the northeastern frontier zone.

Jan Olbracht invaded Moldavia under pretext of crusade, actually seeking to install his brother Sigismund on the Moldavian throne. Stefan feigned retreat, then ambushed the Polish army in the Cosmin Forest (Bucovina). Trees pre-cut to fall on the column; Polish cavalry trapped in the forest. Catastrophic Polish defeat; Jan Olbracht barely escaped.

Stefan launched a retaliatory raid deep into Polish territory (into Galicia/Podolia), devastating the countryside and extracting tribute. Demonstrated that Moldavia could strike back across the border.

Ottoman-backed Wallachian forces pushed into the Moldavian Danube frontier. Stefan responded with a counteroffensive near the Danube mouth in Bessarabia, defeating the combined force.

One of Stefan's last campaigns. An Ottoman raiding force penetrated Moldavia via the Trotuș valley. Stefan's forces, now led increasingly by his son Bogdan, suffered a tactical reverse.