(November 10, 1444) Turkish victory over the Hungarians that marked the end of the European effort to protect Constantinople.
The Hungarians under Janos Hunyadi broke a truce and marched to Varna (in present-day Bulgaria), where they fought the Turks under Sultan Murad II and were defeated; the Hungarian king Ulászló I (also ruler of Poland) was killed in the battle. The victory enabled the Ottoman Empire to gain control of the Greek Peloponnese, conquer Constantinople (1453), and reabsorb Serbia (by 1459).