Kingdom of Bosnia (1377–1463)

In ancient times the area of Bosnia was inhabited by Illyrian, Thracian and Celt tribes, yet in the half of the 1st century AD, when Illyria was conquered by the Roman Empire, it became a part of the Roman province, subsequently settled in the 7th century by Slavs.

In the 10th century Bosnia became a self-reliant political unit, ruled individually through own Bans. One century later it temporarily became a subject to the influence of the Byzantine Empire, then Kingdom of Serbia, and from the 12th century Hungary.

An independent Kingdom of Bosnia emerged around fourteenth century, but it barely survived one hundred years in a tolerant religious environment that included three Christian churches: Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Bosnian Bogomil. before being overwhelmed by the Turkish Ottoman Empire

At the height of Serb power, the Turks defeated the Serb army at the Battle of Kosovo Polje on 28 June 1389. Serbia quickly capitulated and became part of the expanding Ottoman Empire.

Year 1463 is regarded as the year in which the Bosnian kingdom fell to the Ottomans, for it was at this time that Ottoman military forces occupied central Bosnia and killed the last Bosnian king Stjepan Tomašević.

After the conquest of Ottoman Turks in the years 1463-1878 Bosnia was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire, and then Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, which officially annexed this land in 1908.

During the Ottoman rule, many Muslim Bosnians became members of the Ottoman elite as soldiers, politicians, and Islamic scholars. Within Bosnia, a Bosnian Islamic culture formed — this included unique architecture, literature, and customs. Bosnia remained a key province of the Ottoman Empire for more than 400 years.
Kingdom of Bosnia (1377–1463)

Attack of the Ottoman Turks on Moldavia

In the fourteenth century, the Ottomans of Asia Minor attacked the Balkan Peninsula. Wallachia had fallen under Ottoman control, while Moldavia had become an appanage of the great Jagellon dynasty of Poland-Lithuania.

In January 1475 a huge Ottoman army invades Moldavia. Stephen the Great engages the Turks south of Vaslui in a swampy area surrounded by forest. The Ottoman troops, led by Sultan Mehmet II, are trounced by the numerically inferior Moldavians.

In 1484, new Turkish attack on Moldavia. Moldavia’s seashore and southern defenses crumble. In 1538, the Ottoman Empire invaded Moldavia and Sultan Suleiman I crushes the Moldavian army and seizes Suceava.

The Turks, who practiced the Islamic religion, allowed Romanian princess to continue rule their territories. But the princesses were forced to pay tributes every year to the Ottoman sultan..

In 1600 Wallachia and Moldavia were briefly united with Transylvania under Mihai Viteazul at Alba Iulia. In order to fight Ottoman rule, he joined forces in 1594 with the ruling princess of Moldavia and Transylvania against the Turks, attacking strongholds and massacring Turks.
Attack of the Ottoman Turks on Moldavia