The Battle of Zlatitsa was fought on 12 December 1443 between the Ottoman Empire and Serbian and Hungarian troops in the Balkans as part of the larger Crusade of Varna. The battle was fought at Zlatitsa Pass () () near the town of Zlatitsa in the Balkan Mountains, Ottoman Empire (modern-day Bulgaria). The impatience of the King of Poland and the severity of the winter then compelled John Hunyadi to return home in February 1444, but not before he had utterly broken the Sultan's power in Bosnia, Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Albania.
Background In 1440, John Hunyadi became the trusted adviser and most highly regarded soldier of King Władysław III of Poland. Hunyadi was rewarded with the captaincy of the fortress of Belgrade and was put in charge of military operations against the Ottomans. Władysław recognized Hunyadi's merits by granting him estates in Eastern Hungary. Hunyadi soon showed and displayed extraordinary capacity in marshaling its defenses with the limited resources at his disposal. He was victorious in Semendria over Isak-Beg in 1441, not far from Nagyszeben in Transylvania, where he annihilated an Ottoman force and recovered for Hungary suzerainty over Wallachia. In the year of 1442, John Hunyadi won four victories against the Ottomans, two of which were decisive. In March 1442, Hunyadi defeated Mezid Bey and the raiding Ottoman army at the Battle of Szeben in the south part of the Kingdom of Hungary in Transylvania. In September 1442, Hunyadi defeated a large Ottoman army of Beylerbey Şehabeddin, the Provincial Governor of Rumelia. This was the first time that a European army defeated such a large Ottoman force, composed not only of raiders, but of the provincial cavalry led by their own sanjak beys (governors) and accompanied by the formidable janissaries. These victories made Hunyadi a prominent enemy of the Ottomans and a renowned figure throughout Christendom and were prime motivators for him to undertake along with King Władysław the famous expedition known as the "Long Campaign" in 1443, with the Battle of Niš being the first major clash of this expedition. Hunyadi was accompanied by Giuliano Cesarini during the campaign. The battle took place in the plain between the Bolvan Fortress (near Aleksinac) and Niš on 3 November 1443. Ottoman forces were led by Kasım Pasha, the beglerbeg of Rumelia, Turahan Beg and Ishak-Beg. After the Ottoman defeat, the retreating forces of Kasım Pasha and Turahan Beg burned all of the villages between Niš and Sofia to hinder the crusaders in finding provisions. The Ottoman sources explain the Ottoman defeat by a lack of cooperation between the Ottoman armies led by different commanders. The Ottoman Sultan Murad II, who had been occupied with a war against the Karamanids, rushed to his European possessions in order to establish defenses on the crusader path to prevent them from reaching his capital Edirne. Turahan Bey convinced Murad to burn down Sofia and retreat to the Bulgarian mountains. Towards the end of November, the crusaders entered Sofia. Following the capture of the city, Hunyadi reported to the Saxon towns of Transylvania the Sultan had "fled towards the sea" and that he would in the Edirne within six or eight days. As it appeared later, the sultan had opted to block the two mountain passes leading to Edirne, one being an ancient Roman road named Trajan's Gate and another route named Zlatitsa Pass.Pálosfalvi, Tamás (2018). p. 116, "it led through the pass known as Trajan's Gate. The other, which was even more difficult to pass so late in the season, crossed the mountains in a north-south direction at Zlatitsa... instead of choosing the most commonly used route leading through Trajan's Gate, Hunyadi opted for the Zlatitsa Pass, probably still hoping that he would be able to overcome the Ottomans by a swift and unexpected move... By the time the Christians reached the Zlatitsa Pass sometime in the middle of December, it had also been blocked, and was guarded by Murad in person. The pass was obstructed with both stone and felled trees... After the rumours about the sultan's flight, this situation may have come as a surprise to many in the Christian army. Nevertheless, on 12 December, using artillery and trusting in the superior armour of his troops, Hunyadi tried to break through the pass. His efforts proved futile, however, and the voevode himself almost fell into Ottoman hands. Then it was decided that the king and part of the army, together with the wagons, should withdraw from the pass, with Hunyadi and his troops covering the retreat. It may have been a last-ditch effort to trick the Ottomans out of their well-defended positions. If so, the plan almost worked, for -according to the Anonymous- it was once again the notorious Turahan upon whose advice Murad cancelled a potentially self-destructive assault on the newly-established Christian wagenburg outside the pass"
Battle