Night attack at Târgoviște
1462 Wallachian battle with the Ottomans / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The night attack at Târgoviște (Romanian: Atacul de noapte de la Târgoviște) was a battle fought between forces of Prince Vlad III of Wallachia, and Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire on Thursday, 17 June 1462. The battle started after Mehmed II, who already had tense relations with Vlad, discovered his alliance with Hungary's king Matthias Corvinus and ordered his forces to ambush him. Vlad foiled the attack and invaded Bulgaria. In response, Mehmed raised a great army with the objective to conquer Wallachia. The two leaders fought a series of skirmishes, the most notable one being the conflict where Vlad attacked the Turkish camp in the night in an attempt to kill Mehmed. The assassination attempt failed and Mehmed marched to the Wallachian capital of Târgoviște, where he found a few men with cannons. After leaving the capital, Mehmed discovered 23,844 impaled Turks whom Vlad had killed during his invasion of Bulgaria. The number is mentioned by Vlad himself in a letter to Matthias Corvinus. The sultan and his troops then sailed to Brăila and burned it to the ground before retreating to Adrianople. Mehmed's forces returned home with many captured slaves, horses, and cattle.
Night attack at Târgoviște | |||||||
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Part of the Wallachian campaign and the Ottoman–Wallachian wars | |||||||
The Battle With Torches by Romanian painter Theodor Aman (1866) | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Wallachia | Ottoman Empire | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Vlad III Țepeș | Mehmed II | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
30,000[2] | Contemporary estimates vary from 90,000 to 300,000;[3] 150,000 according to Mehmed II himself[4] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
5,000[5] | 10,000[6]–15,000[5] |