- Asia
Battle of Ankara and the Interregnum
Timur (Tamerlane) crushed and captured Sultan Bayezid I at Ankara, plunging the Ottoman state into a decade of civil war before it recovered.
Era: The Rise of the Seljuks and Ottomans
Sources: Ottoman Empire · Encyclopædia Britannica
- Europe
Battle of Grunwald (Zalgiris)
Polish and Lithuanian forces under Wladyslaw II Jagiello and Grand Duke Vytautas annihilated the army of the Teutonic Knights, ending the Order's expansion in the Baltic.
Era: Union with Poland, Christianization and the Age of Vytautas
Sources: Battle of Grunwald (1410) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vytautas the Great · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Battle of Grunwald
Polish and Lithuanian forces under Wladyslaw II Jagiello destroyed the army of the Teutonic Knights at Grunwald, halting the Order's eastward expansion in the Baltic.
Era: The Piast and Jagiellonian Kingdom
Sources: Battle of Grunwald (1410) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Capture of Ceuta
Portuguese forces took the North African port of Ceuta, the starting point of overseas expansion and of Prince Henry's interest in exploring the African coast.
Era: The Age of Discovery
Sources: Henry the Navigator · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
The Hussite Wars
Followers of Hus fought a series of wars against the Catholic crown and papal crusades; under Jan Zizka the Hussite armies proved nearly invincible before the conflict ended in compromise.
Era: Jan Hus, the Hussite Wars and the Bohemian Reformation
Sources: Hussite (Bohemian Reformation) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Czechoslovak history · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Joan of Arc at Orléans
Joan lifts the siege of Orléans, reversing English fortunes; she is executed in 1431.
Era: The Medieval & Early-Modern Kingdom
Sources: St. Joan of Arc · Encyclopædia Britannica
- Asia
Thai capture of Angkor
After repeated Tai attacks, Angkor is captured in 1431 and subsequently abandoned as a capital, marking the end of the imperial era.
Era: The Khmer Empire and Angkor
Sources: Khmer empire · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Cambodia: The Khmer state (Angkor) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Skanderbeg's revolt and the return to Kruje
Gjergj Kastrioti (Skanderbeg) broke with the Ottomans after 1443, reconverted to Christianity and seized his ancestral fortress of Kruje, launching a national revolt against Ottoman rule.
Era: Medieval Albania, the Ottoman Conquest and Skanderbeg
Sources: Skanderbeg (Gjergj Kastrioti) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, History of Albania · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Burgundy seizes Luxembourg
Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, took Luxembourg in 1443, ending the rule of the House of Luxembourg and absorbing the duchy into the Burgundian dominions.
Era: The House of Luxembourg and the Imperial Duchy
Sources: History of the city of Luxembourg · Luxembourg City Tourist Office, History of the City of Luxembourg · Ville de Luxembourg (City of Luxembourg)
- Europe
The sieges of Kruje
From his stronghold at Kruje Skanderbeg withstood repeated Ottoman sieges, including those of 1450 and 1466-67, keeping much of Albania free for some twenty-five years.
Era: Medieval Albania, the Ottoman Conquest and Skanderbeg
Sources: Skanderbeg (Gjergj Kastrioti) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, History of Albania · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- South America
Inca conquest of the highlands
The Inca empire expands south into the region the Spanish would call Charcas, absorbing the Aymara lands while permitting them their language and identity.
Era: Tiwanaku, the Aymara, and the Inca
Sources: Bolivia: Early period · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Fall of Constantinople
Ottoman forces under Sultan Mehmed II captured Constantinople, ending the Byzantine Empire and clearing the way for Ottoman rule over the Greek lands.
Era: Roman and Byzantine Greece
Sources: Fall of Constantinople (1453) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Byzantine Empire · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Asia
Fall of Constantinople
After a 53-day siege, Sultan Mehmed II captured Constantinople, ending the Byzantine Empire; the city became the Ottoman capital and Hagia Sophia was converted to a mosque.
Era: The Rise of the Seljuks and Ottomans
Sources: Fall of Constantinople, 1453 · Encyclopædia Britannica, Ottoman Empire · Encyclopædia Britannica
- Europe
Ottoman conquest completed
By the mid-15th century the Ottomans had established direct rule over all of Serbia, including Kosovo, ending the medieval Serbian state in the region.
Era: The Medieval Serbian Heartland and the Battle of Kosovo
Sources: Kosovo: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Siege of Belgrade
Hungarian forces under John Hunyadi broke an Ottoman siege of Belgrade, checking the Turkish advance into central Europe for decades and becoming a celebrated victory of the medieval kingdom.
Era: Mohács and the Three-Part Kingdom
Sources: Battle of Mohács (1526) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Ottoman conquest of Serbia
The Ottomans captured the fortress of Smederevo and extinguished the Despotate, absorbing the Serb lands into the empire and beginning nearly four centuries of Ottoman rule.
Era: The Battle of Kosovo and the Ottoman Conquest
Sources: Serbia: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Ottoman conquest of the Morea
The Ottomans completed their conquest of the Greek mainland with the fall of the Byzantine Despotate of the Morea, including Mystras, bringing the Greek lands under Ottoman rule.
Era: Ottoman Rule and the War of Independence
Sources: Greece under Ottoman rule · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Ottoman conquest of the Morea · Wikipedia
- Europe
Vlad III the Impaler resists the Ottomans
Vlad III of Wallachia, remembered for impaling his enemies, fought a savage campaign against Ottoman power; his reputation later inspired the literary figure of Dracula.
Era: Wallachia, Moldavia and the Ottoman centuries
Sources: Vlad the Impaler · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Ottoman conquest of Bosnia
The armies of Sultan Mehmed II conquered most of Bosnia in 1463, ending the medieval kingdom and beginning more than four centuries of Ottoman rule.
Era: Medieval Bosnia: Banate, Kingdom and the Bosnian Church
Sources: Bosnia and Herzegovina: History · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Bosnia and Herzegovina: Ottoman Bosnia · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Asia
Onin War
A succession dispute ignites a decade of warfare that devastates Kyoto, cripples shogunal authority, and tips Japan into the fragmented Sengoku era.
Era: Kamakura and Muromachi: The Age of the Shogun
Sources: Muromachi period · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Sengoku period · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Sonni Ali takes Timbuktu
Sonni Ali captures Timbuktu, and in 1473 Djenné, bringing the Niger trade cities under Songhai control and laying the foundation of the empire.
Era: The Songhai Empire and Its Fall
Sources: The Songhai Empire (HIST103) · Saylor Academy, Sonni Ali · Wikipedia
- South America
Inca expansion reaches the Maule
The Inca empire extends its influence into northern and central Chile but is unable to subdue the Mapuche, whose resistance checks imperial control near the Maule River.
Era: Indigenous Peoples and the World of Rapa Nui
Sources: History of Chile · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Araucanian wars · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- South America
Inca advance into the northern Andes
Topa Inca Yupanqui begins the conquest of the Ecuadorian highlands, met by fierce resistance from the Cañari and the peoples around Quito.
Era: The Inca Conquest and the Last Emperor
Sources: History of Ecuador · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Atahuallpa · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Asia
- Europe
Battle of Vaslui
Stephen the Great destroyed a much larger Ottoman army at Vaslui, a victory celebrated across Christian Europe that briefly halted the Turkish advance into Moldavia.
Era: The Principality of Moldavia and the Golden Age of Stephen the Great
Sources: Stephen (Stephen the Great), prince of Moldavia · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Stephen the Great's victory at Vaslui
Stephen the Great of Moldavia crushed a much larger Ottoman army at Vaslui, one of his celebrated victories in a long resistance to the Turks that won him renown across Christian Europe.
Era: Wallachia, Moldavia and the Ottoman centuries
Sources: Stephen, prince of Moldavia (Stephen the Great) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Churches of Moldavia · UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Europe
Defeat at Valea Alba
An Ottoman counter-offensive under Sultan Mehmed II defeated Stephen at Valea Alba; though he survived and recovered, the campaign exposed the mounting pressure on the small principality.
Era: The Principality of Moldavia and the Golden Age of Stephen the Great
Sources: Stephen (Stephen the Great), prince of Moldavia · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
The Burgundian Wars
Swiss and allied armies defeated Charles the Bold of Burgundy at Grandson and Murten in 1476 and at Nancy in 1477, where Charles fell; victory destroyed Burgundy as a power and made Swiss pikemen the most feared infantry in Europe.
Era: The Oath of the Forest Cantons and the Old Swiss Confederacy
Sources: Switzerland: The Swiss Confederation during the Late Middle Ages · Encyclopaedia Britannica, The story of Switzerland's federal borders · Swiss National Museum (blog.nationalmuseum.ch)
- Europe
Battle of Bosworth ends the Wars of the Roses
Henry Tudor defeated Richard III at Bosworth Field, ending the Plantagenet dynasty and the Wars of the Roses and founding the Tudor line as Henry VII.
Era: The Norman Conquest and medieval England
Sources: House of Tudor · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Europe
Fall of Granada
Muhammad XII (Boabdil) surrendered Granada, the last Muslim state in Iberia, to the Catholic Monarchs, completing the Reconquista after nearly eight centuries.
Era: Al-Andalus and the Reconquista
Sources: Al-Andalus · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Alhambra, Generalife and Albayzín, Granada · UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Europe
French invasion and the Italian Wars
The French invasion of 1494 opened decades of warfare in which France and Spain fought for control of Italy, exposing the weakness of its divided states.
Era: The Renaissance and the City-States
Sources: Italy (country overview and history) · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Africa
Songhai campaigns against the Mossi
The Songhai emperor Askia Muhammad I campaigns against the non-Muslim Mossi, defeating Mossi of Yatenga but failing to subdue the kingdoms, which retain their religion and independence.
Era: The Mossi Kingdoms
Sources: Muhammad I Askia · Encyclopædia Britannica, Reign of Mohammed I Askia · EBSCO Research Starters, Mossi Kingdoms · Wikipedia
War & Rupture in the 15th century
Every event in the Terralore archive tagged war and rupture — wars, invasions, conquests, battles and armed conflict, narrowed to the 15th century — 32 of them, drawn from 27 nations, running from 1402 to 1498. Each entry keeps the sources it was verified against and links back to the chronicle it came from.
- Events
- 32
- Nations
- 27
- Earliest
- 1402
- Latest
- 1498
- Europe
- 22
- Asia
- 5
- South America
- 3
- Africa
- 2
Every entry below is the same record, with the same sources, as the one on its nation’s chronicle.