Editing Battle of Kosovo (section)

==Battle==
[[File:Battle of Kosovo plan.png|thumb|upright=1|right|Plan of the battle]]
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 ready for the attack. After positioning in a wedge formation,<ref name="Vitezi Kneza Lazara">{{Cite book |last=Nastasijevic |first=Slavomir |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ESbkAAAACAAJ |title=Vitezi Kneza Lazara |publisher=Narodna Knjiga Beograd |year=1987 |isbn=8633100150 |page=187 |language=sr |trans-quote=Serbian heavy cavalry took V wedge shape charge position breaking through Ottoman infantry and light cavalry.}}</ref> the Serbian cavalry managed to break through the Ottoman left wing, but were not as successful against the center and the right wing.<ref name="Rogers">{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2010 |title=Battle of Kosovo Polje |encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology, Volume 1 |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mzwpq6bLHhMC&pg=RA1-PA471 |editor-last=Rogers |editor-first=Clifford J. |page=471 |isbn=9780195334036}}</ref>

The Serbs had the initial advantage after their first charge, which significantly damaged the Ottoman wing commanded by Yakub Çelebi.<ref>{{harvnb|Emmert|1991}}{{page needed|date=July 2014}}</ref> When the knights' charge was finished, light Ottoman cavalry and light infantry counterattacked and the Serbian heavy armor became a disadvantage. In the center, Serbian troops managed to push back Ottoman forces, except for Bayezid's wing, which barely held off the Bosnians commanded by [[Vlatko Vuković]], who inflicted disproportionately heavy losses on the Ottomans. The Ottomans, in a ferocious counterattack 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 Bosnian troops drifting toward the center to compensate for the heavy losses inflicted on the Serbian infantry.

Historical facts say that [[Vuk Branković]] saw that there was no hope for victory and fled to save as many men as he could after Lazar was captured. In popular oral tradition, however, Branković is said to have fled and betrayed Lazar, a theory which was first presented by the writer [[Mavro Orbini]] in a [[Kingdom of the Slavs|1601 work]] but is largely seen as unfounded.{{sfn|Mihaljčić|1989|p=117, 158}}{{sfn|Fine|1994|p=414}}<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Chadwick |first1=H. Munro |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ds2oBKF_FrUC&pg=PA382 |title=The Growth of Literature |last2=Chadwick |first2=Nora K. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010 |isbn=9781108016155 |page=382}}</ref> 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.

In one of the earliest accounts of the battle, it is described that twelve Serbian knights, known in Serbian epic poetry as the [[Jugović brothers]], successfully breached the Ottoman defense.<ref>{{harvnb|Emmert|1996}}; {{Citation |last=Makušev |first=V. V. |title=Prilozi k srpskoj istoriji XIV i XV veka |work=Glasnik srpskog učenog društva 32 |pages=174–5 |year=1871 |language=sr}}</ref> One of the knights, later identified as [[Miloš Obilić]], pretended to have deserted to the Ottoman forces. When brought before Murad, Obilić pulled out a hidden dagger and killed the Sultan by slashing him. He was then killed by the Sultan's bodyguards.<ref name="Fine-410">{{harvnb|Fine|1994|p=410}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |year=1989 |title=Lanz Zervas and the British liaison officers |journal=The South Slav Journal |publisher=Dositey Obradovich Circle |volume=12–13 |page=47}}</ref> There are differing versions of the assassination however, with another version describing Obilić playing dead on the battlefield and stabbing the Sultan as he walked.<ref name="Tucker" /> It is also unclear when the assassination occurred, as some sources suggest it happened once the battle turned against the Serbs or in the immediate aftermath of the battle,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gwin |first=Peter |year=1999 |title=Overrun with Ghosts of Conflicts Past |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rhe6AAAAIAAJ |journal=Europe |publisher=Delegation of the Commission of the European Communities |volume=383-392}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Singleton |first=Fred |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qTLSZ3ucaZMC&pg=PA46 |title=A Short History of the Yugoslav Peoples |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1985 |isbn=9780521274852 |pages=46–47}}</ref> while others describe it happening early on as Miloš sought to prove his loyalty to Prince Lazar after he was accused of treachery.<ref name="Fine-410" /> The battle marked the only time in history an Ottoman Sultan was killed in battle.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Flemming |first=Barbara |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qoJ1DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA319 |title=Essays on Turkish Literature and History |publisher=Brill |year=2017 |isbn=9789004355767 |page=319}}</ref>