The Battle of Kosovo , also known as the Battle of Kosovo Field or the Battle of Blackbird 's Field , took place on St. Vitus ' Day , June 15 , 1389 , between the army led by Serbian Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović , and the invading army of the Ottoman Empire under the leadership of Sultan Murad I . The army under Prince Lazar consisted of his own troops , a contingent led by Serbian nobleman Vuk Branković , and a contingent sent from Bosnia by King Tvrtko I , commanded by Vlatko Vuković . Prince Lazar was the ruler of Moravian Serbia , and the most powerful among the Serbian regional lords of the time , while Vuk Branković ruled a part of Kosovo and other areas , recognizing Lazar as his overlord . The Battle of Kosovo took place in the Kosovo Field , about 5 kilometers northwest of modern-day Pristina . Reliable historical accounts of the battle are scarce ; however , a critical comparison with historically contemporaneous battles -LRB- such as Angora or Nikopolis -RRB- enables reliable reconstruction . The bulk of both armies was wiped out in the battle ; both Lazar and Murad lost their lives in it . Although Ottomans managed to annihilate the Serbian army , they also suffered high casualties which delayed their progress . Serbs were left with too few men to effectively defend their lands , while the Turks had many more troops in the east . Consequently , the Serbian principalities that were not already Ottoman vassals , one after the other became so in the following years . The Battle of Kosovo is particularly important to Serbian history , tradition , and national identity . Emperor Stefan Uroš IV Dušan the Mighty -LRB- r. 1331-1355 -RRB- was succeeded by his son Stefan Uroš V -LRB- r. 1355-1371 -RRB- whose reign was characterized by decline of central power and rise of numerous virtually independent principalities ; this period is known as the fall of the Serbian Empire . Uroš the Weak was not able to sustain the great empire created by his father nor to repulse the foreign threats and failed to limit the independence of the nobles . Uroš V died childless on 4 December 1371 , after much of the Serbian nobility had been destroyed by the Turks in the Battle of Maritsa earlier that year . Prince Lazar , ruler of Moravian Serbia , aware of the Ottoman threat , began diplomatic and military preparations for a campaign against the Ottomans . After the defeat of the Ottomans at Pločnik -LRB- 1386 -RRB- and Bileća -LRB- 1388 -RRB- , Murad I , the reigning Ottoman sultan , moved his troops from Philippoupolis -LRB- Plovdiv in modern Bulgaria -RRB- in the spring of 1389 to Ihtiman . From there , the party traveled across Velbužd -LRB- Kyustendil -RRB- and Kratovo -LRB- present-day Macedonia -RRB- . Though longer than the alternative route through Sofia and the Nišava Valley , this route led the Ottoman party to Kosovo , one of the most important crossroads in the Balkans . From Kosovo , Murad 's party could attack the lands of either Lazar of Serbia or Vuk Branković . Having stayed in Kratovo for a time , Murad and his troops marched through Kumanovo , Preševo and Gnjilane to Pristina , where he arrived on June 14 . While there is less information about Lazar 's preparations , he gathered his troops near Niš , on the right bank of the South Morava River . His party likely remained there until he learned that Murad had moved to Velbužd , whereupon he moved across Prokuplje to Kosovo . This was the best place Lazar could choose as a battlefield , as it gave him control of all the routes that Murad could take . Murad 's army numbered from 27,000 to 40,000 fighters . These 40,000 included no more than 2,000 Janissaries , 2,500 of Murad 's cavalry guard , 6,000 sipahis , 20,000 azaps and akincis , and 8,000 troops from his vassals . Marko and Dragaš , although Ottoman vassals , did not participate in the battle . Lazar 's army numbered from 12,000 to 30,000 . Out of approximately 30,000 fighters present , 12,000 to 15,000 were under Lazar 's command , with 5,000 to 10,000 under Vuk Branković , a Serbian nobleman from Kosovo , and just as many under nobleman Vlatko Vuković . The latter troops were sent by Bosnian king Tvrtko I Kotromanic . Mixed with Vuković 's army was a contingent of Knights Hospitallers , whom the Croatian knight John of Palisna had led from Vrana in Croatia . Several thousand were cavalry . Furthermore , there has been several accounts which have mentioned that the `` Christian army '' of Lazar was far greater , and that it also included contingents of other nations , although these can not be verified . The armies met at Kosovo Field . Murad headed the Ottoman army , with his sons Bayezid on his right and Yakub on his left . Around 1,000 archers were in the front line in the wings , backed up by azap and akinci ; in the front center were janissaries , behind whom was Murad , surrounded by his cavalry guard ; finally , the supply train at the rear was guarded by a small number of troops . The Serbian army had Prince Lazar at its center , Vuk on the right and Vlatko on the left . At the front of the Serbian army were the heavy cavalry and archer cavalry on the flanks , with the infantry to the rear . While parallel , the dispositions of the armies were not symmetrical , as the Serbian center had a broader front than the Ottoman center . Serbian and Turkish accounts of the battle differ , making it difficult to reconstruct the course of events . It is believed that the battle commenced with Ottoman archers shooting at Serbian cavalry , who then made for the attack . After positioning in a V-shaped formation , the Serbian cavalry managed to break through the Ottoman left wing , but were not as successful against the center and the right wing . The Serbs had the initial advantage after their first charge , which significantly damaged the Turkish wing commanded by Yakub Celebi . When the knights ' charge was finished , light Ottoman cavalry and light infantry counter-attacked and the Serbian heavy armour became a disadvantage . In the center , Serbian fighters managed to push back Ottoman forces , except for Bayezid 's wing , which barely held off the forces commanded by Vlatko Vuković . Vuković thus inflicted disproportionately heavy losses on the Turks . The Ottomans , in a ferocious counter-attack led by Bayezid , pushed the Serbian forces back and then prevailed later in the day , routing the Serbian infantry . Both flanks still held , with Vuković 's drifting toward the center to compensate for the heavy losses inflicted on the Serbian infantry . Historic facts say that Vuk Branković had seen that there was no hope for victory , and fled to save as many men as he could . He fled after Lazar was captured , but in songs , it is said that he betrayed Lazar , and left him to death in middle of battle rather than after Lazar was captured and the center massacred . Bayezid gained his nickname `` the Thunderbolt '' here , after leading the decisive counter-attack . Sometime after Branković 's retreat from the battle , the remaining Bosnian and Serb forces yielded the field , believing that a victory was no longer possible . As the battle turned against the Serbs , one of their noblemen , a knight named Miloš Obilić , pretended to desert to the Turkish forces . When he was brought before Murad , Obilić pulled out a hidden dagger and killed the Sultan by slashing him from belly to neck . The Sultan 's bodyguards immediately hacked Miloš Obilić to pieces . The earliest preserved record , a letter from the Florentine senate to King Tvrtko I of Bosnia dated 20 October 1389 , says that Murad was killed during the battle . Murad 's son , Bayezid , was informed of the sultan 's death before his older brother Yakub . Bayezid sent Yakub a false message , stating that their father had some new orders for them . When Yakub arrived , he was strangled to death , leaving Bayezid as the sole heir to the Ottoman throne . The bulk of both armies were wiped out in the battle ; both Lazar and Murad lost their lives , and the remnants of their armies eventually retreated from the battlefield . The Serbs were left with too few men to defend their lands effectively , while the Turks had many more troops in the east . Consequently , the Serbian principalities that were not already Ottoman vassals , one after the other became so in the following years . Furthermore , in response to Turkish pressure , some Serbian noblemen wed their daughters , including the daughter of Prince Lazar , to Bayezid . In the wake of these marriages , Stefan Lazarević became a loyal ally of Bayezid , going on to contribute significant forces to many of Bayezid 's future military engagements , including the Battle of Nicopolis . Eventually , the Serbian Despotate would , on numerous occasions , attempt to defeat the Ottomans in conjunction with the Hungarians until its final defeat in 1459 and again in 1540 . The Battle of Kosovo came to be seen as a symbol of Serbian patriotism and desire for independence in the 19th century rise of nationalism under Ottoman rule , including the Kosovo curse , and its significance for Serbian nationalism returned to prominence during the breakup of Yugoslavia and the Kosovo War when Slobodan Milošević invoked it during an important speech . The battle was also a major blow to the Ottoman campaign , and although the Ottomans did eventually take over most of the Balkans , it took them over a hundred years to do so . After the destruction of their forces at Kosovo , the Ottomans were forced to send inexperienced reserve armies to Europe . This problem was partly solved with the `` recruitment '' of Jannisaries from the Balkans . The delay in Ottoman advancement also effectively stopped the Ottomans from invading central and west Europe , as it gave time to central European nations to fortify and mount proper defenses .