Description
A very rare broadside, issued in 1907, showcases the map the Battle of Kosovo, fought in 1389.
The battle was fought between the Ottoman army under the command of Sultan Murad Hüdavendigâr and the army led by Serbian Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović, the ruler of Moravian Serbia. Although technically a draw, as both armies decimated each other and Serbian and Turkish accounts of the battle differ, making it difficult to reconstruct the course of event, the battle was a strategic Ottoman victory as the weekend Serbia could be totally overwhelmed by the far more numerous Ottomans.
The sheet was publshed in a series Ottoman State Military History (دولت عثمانيى تارخي عسكريسى) in the last years under the reign of Abdul Hamid II by a Royal War Office under the patronage of General Ahmed Muhtar (طويجى اركان حربيه سندن فريق احمد مختار). The series was suppose to educate people on the military history through the images of great Ottoman battles in the early 20th century, when the Ottoman Empire was undergoing a great crisis. In 1908 year Sultan Abdul Hamid was deposed in the Young Turk Revolution.
Traditionally the focus of Ottoman map making was not on historical cartography. As such the present battle plan of a key historical engagement in South Easter Europe is remarkable.
The broadsides showing the Battle of Kosovo are extremely rare. We could not trace any other examples of the map in instititutions worldwide.
