Battle of Torvioll

A woodcut of the confrontation between Skanderbeg's forces and the Ottoman Turks

Date	29 June 1444
Location	Plain of Torvioll, north of Peshkopi (present-day Plain of Shumbat, Albania)
Result	Decisive Albanian victory

Belligerents

League of Lezhë

Ottoman Empire

Commanders and leaders

Skanderbeg

Vrana Konti

Hamza Kastrioti

Ali Pasha

Strength

15,000 men (8,000 cavalry, 7,000 infantry)

40,000 men

Casualties and losses

100–120 dead, many more wounded (primary sources)

8,000–22,000 dead, 2,000 captured

The Battle of Torvioll, also known as the Battle of Lower Dibra, was fought on 29 June 1444 on the Plain of Torvioll, in what is modern-day Albania. Skanderbeg was an Ottoman Albanian captain who decided to go back to his native land and take the reins of a new Albanian rebellion. He, along with 300 other Albanians fighting at the Battle of Niš, deserted the Ottoman army to head towards Krujë, which fell quickly through a subversion. He then formed the League of Lezhë, a confederation of Albanian princes united in war against the Ottoman Empire. Murad II, realizing the threat, sent one of his most experienced captains, Ali Pasha, to crush the rebellion with a force of 25,000 men.

Skanderbeg expected a reaction so he moved with 15,000 of his own men to defeat Ali Pasha's army. The two met in the Plain of Torvioll where they camped opposite of each other. The following day, 29 June, Ali came out of his camp and saw that Skanderbeg had positioned his forces at the bottom of a hill. Expecting a quick victory, Ali ordered all of his forces down the hill to attack and defeat Skanderbeg's army. Skanderbeg expected such a maneuver and had prepared his own stratagem. Once the opposing forces were engaged and the necessary positioning was achieved, Skanderbeg ordered his forces hidden in the forests behind the Turkish army to strike their rear. The result was devastating for the Ottomans, whose entire army was routed and its commander nearly killed.

The victory lifted the morale of the Christian princes of Europe and was recognized as a great victory over the Muslim Ottoman Empire. On the Ottoman side, Murad realized the effect Skanderbeg's rebellion would have on his realm and continued to take measures to defeat him, resulting in twenty-five years of war.

George Kastrioti Skanderbeg, the son of the powerful prince John Kastrioti, had been a vassal of the Ottoman Empire as a sipahi, or cavalry commander. After his participation in the Ottoman loss at the Battle of Niš, Skanderbeg deserted the Ottoman army and rushed to Albania alongside 300 other Albanians. By forging a letter from Murad II to the Governor of Krujë, he became lord of the city in November 1443. Hungarian captain John Hunyadi's continued operations against Sultan Murad II gave Skanderbeg time to prepare an alliance of the Albanian nobles. Skanderbeg invited all of Albania's nobles to meet in the Venetian-held town of Alessio (Lezhë) on 2 March 1444. Alessio was chosen as the meeting point because the town had once been the capital of the Dukagjini family and to induce Venice to lend aid to the Albanian movement. Among the nobles that attended were George Arianiti, Paul Dukagjini, Andrea Thopia, Lekë Dushmani, Teodor Korona, Peter Spani, Lekë Zaharia, and Paul Stres Balsha. Here they formed the League of Lezhë, a confederation of all of the major Albanian princes in alliance against the Ottoman Empire. The chosen captain (Albanian: Kryekapedan) of this confederation was Skanderbeg. The League's first military challenge came in the spring of 1444, when Skanderbeg's scouts reported that the Ottoman army was planning to invade Albania. Skanderbeg planned to move towards the anticipated entry point and prepared for an engagement.

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Wikipedia