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Battle of Lechfeld ends Magyar raids on the West

10–12 August 955 CE·Military & conflict·Bavaria (Germany)·
10–12 August 955 CEDate
Military & conflictCategory
23Empires active
Date
10–12 August 955 CE
Category
Military & conflict
Region
Bavaria (Germany)
Era
Post-Classical / Medieval
Significance

Over three days in August 955, King Otto I of East Francia (Germany) annihilated a large invading Magyar (Hungarian) army near Augsburg on the Lech river. For decades fast-moving Hungarian horse archers had raided deep into Western Europe, terrorising Germany, Italy and France.

At Lechfeld Otto assembled a coalition of German duchies and, with heavily armoured cavalry, destroyed the Magyar force; the captured Hungarian leaders were executed. The defeat ended large-scale Magyar incursions into the West for good and pushed the Hungarians toward settled life in the Carpathian basin, where within a generation they adopted Christianity and founded the Kingdom of Hungary. The victory hugely enhanced Otto's prestige and authority, helping him consolidate the German monarchy and project power into Italy. It opened the path to his imperial coronation in 962 and the foundation of what became the Holy Roman Empire, and it is often seen as a symbolic triumph of the new mounted knightly warfare that would dominate the High Middle Ages.

See the world map in 10–12 August 955 CE →More military & conflictThe Post-Classical / Medieval era

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Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire

Judith Herrin

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