Battle of Vaslui

Part of the Moldavian-Ottoman Wars
and the Ottoman-Hungarian Wars

Date	10 January 1475
Location	Near Vaslui, present-day Romania
Result	Decisive Moldavian victory

Belligerents

Wallachia

Commanders and leaders

Stephen III of Moldavia
Mihály Fants

Hadım Suleiman Pasha

Basarab Laiotă cel Bătrân

Strength

40,000 Moldavians
5,000 Székelys
2,000 Polish
1,800 Hungarians (did not engage)
20 cannons

~120,000 Ottomans
17,000 Wallachians (did not engage)
20,000 Bulgarians

Casualties and losses

approx. 4,500

approx. 45.500

Ottoman Empire

Hadım Suleiman Pasha

The Battle of Vaslui (also referred to as the Battle of Podul Înalt or the Battle of Racova) was fought on 10 January 1475, between Stephen III of Moldavia and the Ottoman governor of Rumelia, Hadım Suleiman Pasha. The battle took place at Podul Înalt (the High Bridge), near the town of Vaslui, in Moldavia (now part of eastern Romania). The Ottoman troops numbered up to 120,000, facing about 40,000 Moldavian troops, plus smaller numbers of allied and mercenary troops.

Stephen inflicted a decisive defeat on the Ottomans, described as "the greatest ever secured by the Cross against Islam," with casualties, according to Venetian and Polish records, reaching beyond 40,000 on the Ottoman side. Mara Brankovic (Mara Hatun), the former younger wife of Murad II, told a Venetian envoy that the invasion had been worst ever defeat for the Ottomans. Stephen was later awarded the title "Athleta Christi" (Champion of Christ) by Pope Sixtus IV, who referred to him as "verus christianae fidei athleta" ("the true defender of the Christian faith").

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Wikipedia