ORDER OF BATTLE // January 10, 1475
Battle of Vaslui
Estimated force strength by side, with confidence labels per surviving record.
Forces engaged
2 sides catalogued · combined 90,000–160,000 estimated
Moldavia
30,000–40,000
Medium-confidence figure
Ottoman Empire
60,000–120,000
Medium-confidence figure
Battle context
The Battle of Vaslui, fought at Podul Înalt near the town of Vaslui on 10 January 1475, pitted Stephen III of Moldavia against the Ottoman governor of Rumelia, Hadım Suleiman Pasha, during the broader Ottoman–Hungarian Wars. The Moldavian force of up to 40,000, supplemented by allied and mercenary contingents, faced an Ottoman army whose size the sources place anywhere between 30,000 and 120,000. Moldavian casualties stood at approximately 5,000 against Ottoman losses estimated between 40,000 and 100,000, figures that indicate a severe Ottoman defeat regardless of where within those ranges the true numbers fell. The outcome temporarily checked Ottoman expansion into Moldavia and demonstrated that a regional power of Moldavia's scale could inflict catastrophic losses on Ottoman forces in the field. Within the Ottoman–Hungarian Wars, the battle represented one of the more significant Christian defensive successes of the period, though the wide variance in recorded figures makes precise assessment of its operational consequences difficult.
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