Siege of Berat

The Siege of Berat occurred ca. 1455 at the Albanian city of Berat, when the Albanian army of Skanderbeg besieged the fortress held by Ottoman forces.

Background

When Skanderbeg began his rebellion, Berat belonged to the Albanian prince Theodore Muzaka. In the early 1450s a small force of Ottoman soldiers came from their garrison in Vlorë, quietly scaled the poorly guarded walls of Berat, slaughtered the Albanian garrison of about 500 soldiers led by Pal Kuka, and claimed the castle. It was said that whoever possessed Berat, could control southern Albania as well as the vital supply routes leading to southern Macedonia and Greece due to the castle's strategic location atop a steep hill overlooking the valley below.

The siege

Skanderbeg and his forces besieged the Ottoman-occupied castle. Believing the situation was well in hand and that the castle would fall, Skanderbeg left with a sizable contingent of his army in the direction of Vlorë. This would prove to be his most disastrous blunder. Although he tutored his commanders, Skanderbeg could never bring them up to his level of knowledge in military affairs. His formal training and experience in Anatolia and his service with the Ottoman army aided in Albanian resistance to the Ottomans.

At the head of the remaining force he left Tanush Muzaka, his brother-in-law, since Berat was formerly a possession of Muzaka’s family. After a successful bombardment, the Ottoman commander of the garrison agreed to turn over the keys to the castle if the sultan had not sent reinforcements within a certain amount of time. This was obviously a ploy to fool the Albanian forces into a false sense of security, and delay any actions giving reinforcements time to arrive.

The battle

The sultan sent an army of 38,000 troops led by Evrenoz PashaFact|date=February 2007. The reinforcements surprised the Albanian army in mid-July, 1455. The Albanians were slaughtered by the thousands. Only one Albanian commander, Vrana Konti ( Kont Urani ) , managed to resist the initial Ottoman onslaught and pushed back several attacking waves. However, in the end the Albanians were overwhelmed in the field by sheer numbers.

More than 5,000 of Skanderbeg's men diedFact|date=February 2007, including several hundred Neapolitans, part of a 500 strong contingent that Skanderbeg had brought from Kingdom of Naples as experts in demolition, artillery, and siege warfare.

Aftermath

Skanderbeg himself was not at the battle, having moved southwest to inspect the routes to Vlorë and hinder a potential surprise attack from the garrison there. Upon learning the news, he rushed back, but by the time of his arrival the battle was all but over. Italian chronicles of the time describe Skanderbeg as performing feats of bravery “with sword and mace” and that many owed their life to his opportune intervention.

It is also argued that it was Skanderbeg's biggest (and only consequential) blunder during his war against the Ottoman Turks. The results at Berat were disastrous and badly crippled the Albanian resistance for a time.

Berat remained in the hands of the Ottomans and was never again to be taken by the Albanian army.

References