Otto I: The German King Who Ended The Magyar Invasions Of Western Europe

the Magyars were offended greek-speaking people from the Ural Mountains region in Western Asia after centuries of moving West they eventually made their way into an area of modern-day Ukraine starting in the first half of the ninth century soon afterwards the Byzantine emperors bribed them into attacking the ball gars which caused the ball gars to encourage a people known as the pechenegs to attack the Magyars these actions ended up forcing the Magyars into eastern and central europe and established themselves in the Carpathian Basin from their bases in Hungary the Magyars launched devastating raids westward into Germany France and Italy starving in the year 898 the Magyars fought as they had on the Eurasian steps as fast moving and lightly equipped horse archers Abbott regino of Rome noted that magyars killed few with her swords but thousands with their arrows as mounted Raiders the Magyar sought slaves and movable wealth and like the Muslims and Vikings were quick to take advantage of their enemy's political dissension in Germany Saxony and Bavaria were hit the hardest in both regions pay tribute to the Raiders in the nine 20s but fortunes reversed for the Magyars in the nine 30s and nine 40s and by the early 90s they were poised for what would be their final reading expedition into Western Europe in 954 a massive magyar army of over 50,000 men swept through bavaria and central france as far west as Aquitaine the Magyars had come west as the Allies of the rebel Duke conrad of Lotharingia but the raids farther west showed their true inclinations this transgression across southern Germany aroused the new king otto the first into action the son of sex and King Henry the first little is known about Otto's early years but he probably shared in some of his father's own war campaigns Henry the first had also battled the Magyars as he had steadily built up a cavalry centred army to counter their mounted Hort this change in warfare had allowed him to decisively defeat them at the of masa Burke and 933 this and other victories in the years prior gave him such power that he was able to force the nobility to abandon elections and accept a straight primogenitor succession to his son Otto for the first time all Germania between the Rhine the Danube and the Elbe had a sole ruler who was the king of nowhere else and whose right to the throne was by lineage alone Germany seemed to be on the Royal Road to nationhood a month after Henry's death Otto was elected by the German Dukes at Aachen on August 7th 936 and crowned by the Archbishop's of mites in Cologne German King couldn't forget the memory of Charlemagne's imperial glory Otto the great as he would become known was crowned in Aachen sitting upon Charlemagne's own stone throne despite being completely unrelated to him it was a sign of greater things to come for the first decade of his reign otto was forced to deal with internal conflicts within his kingdom discontented Nobles and even some of Otto's own family members had started a rebellion against him when he attempted to assert his authority over them Otto's half-brother thank Marr led an army consisting of rebellious Nobles at 9:38 but was defeated and killed by Otto in Arras burg Germany the next year Otto's younger brother Henry revolted and was joined by other German Nobles in a campaign that was even supported by French king Louis the fourth they met at the Battle of and her neck and Otto's forces were victorious again in battle with the main rebellious noble leaders killed and Henry forced to submit to his brother however Henry joined a conspiracy to kill the king in 941 but the plot was discovered in time and Otto was saved from assassination Otto had forgiven his brother yet again and Henry remained loyal to him from then on and was even made the Duke of Bavaria in 947 despite these internal troubles Otto found time to strengthen and extend the frontiers of the kingdom he'd like to use the Catholic Church as a tool of his conquests believing he had the divine right to rule over his kingdom and even the foreign lands around Germany before he could think about greater ambitions for himself Otto had to deal with the pagan Slavic tribes in the Northeast along Elbe River throughout the centuries the Elbe was always seen as sort of a dividing line between the German and Slavic peoples the Slavs rebelled against Otto's rule at 9:39 but were defeated in 941 and he established numerous dioceses to consolidate his power in the area in the east conflict had been initiated starting in 935 when a new ruler named bolas lost the first assumed the Bohemian throne he refused to pay tribute to the German Kingdom breaking a peace treaty set up by Otto's father Henry the first two of Otto's armies were defeated the following year and a prolonged conflict lasted until 950 when Otto finally forced balla Slav to sign a peace treaty resuming tribute payments to the German Kingdom Otto soon establishes authority beyond the Elbe founding the two new dioceses on the other side of the river at 948 ad a border fortress on the river simply known as the great castle became his religious political military capital of Magdeburg the area between the rivers Elbe and odour were divided into marches together these marches occupied an area extremely similar to the future East Germany having strengthened his own position Otto looked West and could not only resist Frances claim to Lorraine but also act as mediator in Frances internal troubles he also extended his influence into Burgundy furthermore the widowed queen of Italy the Burgundian princess Adelaide appealed to Otto for help as she had been taken prisoner by bérenger ii of italy otto marched into Italy in 951 assumed the title of king of the Lombards and married adelaide as his first wife had died in 946 in 952 behringer even paid homage to Otto as his vassal for the Kingdom of Italy Otto had to break off his first Italian campaign because of a revolt in Germany were Leo Dolph his son by his first wife Edith had risen against him with the aid of several magnates Otto was in the process of withdrawing to Saxony but the position of the rebels began to deteriorate when the Magyars invaded Germany in 954 the size of the Magyar incursion in 954 convinced the German noble to put aside their differences and rally around the royal standard otto put an army into the field in the late summer of 94 but failed to locate the enemy before the end of the campaigning season the Magyars retreated to hungary and winter an unfamiliar soil after a prolonged struggle lee Adolphe ended his rebellion the following year and submitted to otto in late june 955 the Magyars returned to raid bavaria again with a large army although historians are unsure precisely how large it was led by lehel the Magyar general the invading army laid siege to Augsburg on August 8th but abandoned the city after only one day when news reached him of Otto's approaching army instead of playing to their strengths and avoiding a set-piece engagement as they had the summer before the Magyars moved to the nearby lick river and made camp seemingly inviting a pitched battle the Hales forces outnumbered the German army at least two to one some sources say almost 5 to 1 Otto approached the Magyar position from the northeast making camp upriver from the invaders his army was made exclusively of heavy cavalry in its pledge to him by his vassals in Bavaria Saxony Franconia Swabia and Bohemia even former rebel Duke Konrad supported Otto adding his banner to the German Kings cause Otto's army numbered between seven and eight thousand men a purposely small mounted force capable of strategic surprise and great technical mobility he hoped to use this small but better armored cavalry army to defeat his more numerous but lighter protected enemy just as his father did decades earlier the strategy of relying on the technical mobility of cavalry to hunt down invading Raiders had served Charles Martel well a tour in 732 King Otto's forces moved towards the Maquis army through broken terrain along the lek River however on the opposite bank and screened by the rugged terrain a Magyar light cavalry force was moving to strike the rear of the German column striking swiftly the Magyar horse archers routed the Bohemian contingent guarding the German baggage train panic set in and it spread to the two Swabian divisions but the Magyars pause to pillage the German wagons rather than mount a pursuit Otto ordered Conrad and his Frankish contingent out of the column to attack the now dismounted magyar villagers who were swiftly destroyed with the rear of his column now secured auto reforms his army and the German column continues towards the Magyar position next Otto orders his army to deploy from column to line 'la hails magyar cavalry follows suit slightly overlapping the German flanks the Magyar leader placed his most reliable better-armed Horseman in the front of his formation seeking a quick decision each side charges with the Germans depending on their heavier weight and greater shock power the Magyars are counting under greater numbers and maneuverability to gain victory as the opposing ranks converge the Magyars fire a volley of arrows into the German ranks but failed to check their enemy's advance how does Horseman increased their gait to a full charge as they closed with the enemy horse archers before the Magyars could launch a second volley of arrows Otto's heavy cavalry crashed into the ranks the lightly armored Maquis our cavalry began to give way under the onslaught of the armoured German Lancers lehel orders a portion of his army to feign retreat hoping to induce a pursuit on the part of the individual knights and turned the tables on his foe but the Magyar ruse fails and under relentless German pressure 'la hells forces begin to break and flee from the battlefield many of the fleeing troops drown and attempting to cross the lake in an effort to escape the few magyars who escaped the river attempted to hide in the countryside only to be pointed out to the pursuing Germans by local peasants instead of ransoming the Magyar princes and Nobles back to their vassals as was customary for the time otto ordered them hanged then sent the rest of them back to their homeland - ears or noses in the next few years Otto will further subdue the Slavs between the middle Elbe and the middle oder rivers even Moscow the first of Poland paid tribute to the German king the Battle of lexan for all magyar riding into Western Europe by the end of the 10th century the Magyars are converted to Roman Ollis ISM and settled down to establish the kingdom of Hungary under King Stephen the first in his descendants it grew into a powerful Christian Kingdom one that would bear the brunt of other nomadic invasions from the east most notably the Mongols and Ottoman Turks Otto's decisive victory won him the title of the first Holy Roman Emperor in early 962 an honor sanctioned by both Byzantium and the papacy a treaty was soon signed that regulated relations between the Emperor and the Pope German Holy Roman emperors would dominate the political affairs of Central Europe for the next two and a half centuries Otto had spent most of his final years in Italy asserting his authority in Rome and even advancing into byzantine territory in the south of Italy he returned to Germany in 973 and died in May of that year from his victories Otto gave Germany peace and security from foreign invasions all areas under Otto's rule prospered especially in the arts and sciences with this time period be known as the Otto nian Renaissance you

Channel: History Uncovered

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Keywords: otto i, otto the great holy roman emperor, magyar invasion, magyar invasion of europe, battle of lechfeld, emperor otto the great, otto the great, the magyars, magyars, lechfeld, otto 1, history of western europe, history uncovered, holy roman empire, history documentary, medieval history, medieval germany, medieval warfare, medieval europe, german history, hungary, documentary, extra credits, history channel, history, medieval, middle ages, dark ages, germany, knight, aachen, otto

Id: Lhm3GNO6Zeo

Length: 12min 16sec (736 seconds)

Published: Wed May 08 2019