Siege of Thessalonica (1422–1430) 1422
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 1422 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Medieval (500–1499) | derived from year |
| Location | Greece | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Byzantine–Ottoman War of 1421–1424, Ottoman–Venetian War of 1423–1430 | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Byzantine Empire, Ottoman Empire, Republic of Venice | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 40.6375, 22.9450 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The siege of Thessalonica between 1422 and 1430 saw the Ottoman Empire, under Sultan Murad II, capture the city of Thessalonica. Afterwards, the city remained in Ottoman hands for the next five centuries until it became part of the Kingdom of Greece in 1912.
Thessalonica had already been under Ottoman control from 1387 to 1403 before returning to Byzantine rule in the aftermath of the Battle of Ankara. In 1422, after the Byzantines supported Mustafa Çelebi, a rival pretender against him, Murad attacked Thessalonica. Unable to provide manpower or resources for the city's defence, its ruler, Andronikos Palaiologos, handed it over to the Republic of Venice in September 1423. The Venetians attempted to persuade the Sultan to recognise their possession, but failed as Murad considered the city his by right and the Venetians to be interlopers. This impasse led to an Ottoman blockade of Thessalonica, which occasionally flared up with direct attacks on the city. At the same time, the conflict was mostly fought as a series of raids by both sides against the other's territories in the Balkans and the Aegean Islands. The Venetians repeatedly tried to apply pressure by blocking the passage of the Dardanelles at Gallipoli, with little success.
The blockade quickly reduced the inhabitants to near starvation, and led many to flee the city.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Siege of Thessalonica (1422–1430) (revision 1371894679), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Thessalonica (380) 380 · 0 km
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- Siege of Thessalonica (1383–1387) 1383 · 1 km
- Siege of Thessalonica (617) 617 · 1 km
- Siege of Thessalonica (254) 254 · 1 km
- Siege of Thessalonica (676–678) 676 · 1 km
Other battles of the Byzantine–Ottoman War of 1421–1424
Browse more: battles in Greece · Europe · Medieval battles