Siege of Knin | |||||||||
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Part of the Ottoman wars in Europe Hundred Years' Croatian-Ottoman War | |||||||||
Knin on a 1522 map | |||||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||||
Ottoman Empire | Kingdom of Croatia | ||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Gazi Husrev-beg | Mihajlo Vojković | ||||||||
Strength | |||||||||
25,000 soldiers | Small garrison |
The siege of Knin (Croatian: Opsada Knina) was a siege of the city of Knin, the capital of the Kingdom of Croatia, by the Ottoman Empire in 1522. After two failed attempts in 1513 and 1514, Ottoman forces led by Ghazi Husrev Bey, sanjak-bey (governor) of the Sanjak of Bosnia, launched a major offensive on southern Croatia in the spring of 1522. In May, his forces, reinforced with troops from the Sanjak of Herzegovina and Constantinople, besieged the Knin Fortress.
Due to frequent raids of Knin and its surroundings, the fortress was already damaged and a large part of the local population fled to safer parts of Croatia. Croatian nobleman Mihajlo Vojković, the commander of Knin's garrison, only had a small force at his disposal. He surrendered the fortress on 28 May, in exchange for a free departure of his soldiers. The Ottomans entered the city on the following day. Croatian Ban Ivan Karlović, who was preparing a relief effort to help the besieged fortress, had Vojković imprisoned for surrendering the city. After its capture, the Ottomans incorporated Knin into the Croat vilayet within the Sanjak of Bosnia. Around 1580, Knin became the seat of the Sanjak of Krka and Lika, and remained under Ottoman rule until 1688.