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, Cr ...

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 historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Ural ...

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 E ...

**~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 ...

**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 chi ...

**910:

Battle of Rednitz The Battle of Rednitz on 22 June 910, was a decisive victory of the Magyar cavalry over the East Francian - German kingdoms armies. The location of this battle cannot be determined with 100% certitude. The battle happened near the River Rednitz, ...

**919: Battle of Püchen **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 Pech ...

*1074: Battle of Mogyoród *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 *1167: Battle of Sirmium *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 I, al-Adil, brothe ...

*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 *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 and ...

*1312: Battle of Rozgony *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 t ...

**1442: Battle of Hermannstadt **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 ...

**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 **1479: Battle of Breadfield **1481: Battle of Otranto *1477–1488: Hungarian–Austrian War **1485: Siege of Vienna **1486–1487:

Siege of Wiener Neustadt The siege of Wiener Neustad, part of the Austrian–Hungarian War (1477–1488), Austrian-Hungarian War, was an assault from January 1486 to August 1487 on the Austrian town of Wiener Neustadt. Launched by Matthias Corvinus, King of Kingdom of Hu ...

*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 ** 1599: Battle of Sellenberk ** 1600: Battle of Miriszló ** 1652: Battle of Vezekény ** 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 Mo ...

** 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 de ...

* 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 Battle of Zsibó ( hu, Zsibói csata, german: Schlacht bei Siben, ro, Bătălia de la Jibou) was fought on 15 November 1705 between the Kuruc ( Hungarian) army (supported by French contingents) and forces of the Habsburg Empire, Kingdom of ...

** 1705: Battle of Saint Gotthard ** 1708: Battle of Trencsén * 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 Fre ...

** 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 ...

* 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 t ...

** 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 we ...

** 1848:

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

** 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 ...

** 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 (supp ...

Early Hungarian warfare

Notable battles

References

Sources

Further reading