| Battle of Drava River | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Croatian–Hungarian Wars during the Hungarian invasions of Europe | |||||||
 Scenes of the settlement of Hungarians in the Pannonian Plain - from Chronicon Pictum (14th century) | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Duchy of Croatia | Principality of Hungary | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Tomislav of Croatia | Zoltán of Hungary | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| unknown | unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| unknown | Heavy losses | ||||||
The Battle of Drava River was fought between the army of Tomislav of Croatia and the forces of Hungarian tribes led by Grand Prince Zoltán, the youngest son of Árpád, founder of the Árpád dynasty.
According to the Chronicle of the Priest of Dioclea from the late 12th century, Tomislav of Croatia defeated the Hungarians in battle.[1] Others question the reliability of this account, because there is no proof for this interpretation in other records.[1]
The exact place and time of the battle is not known, but very few remaining medieval sources[which?] suggest that the clash took place on the right bank of the Drava River in medieval Slavonia (Latin: Sclavonia) or former Principality of Pannonian Croatia respectively, in 925. Slavonia should have been an integral part of the medieval Croatian state if the battle had happened, however according to the Byzantine ruler Constantine Porphyrogenitus it was under Hungarian control.[1]
The battle was followed by the unification of Duchy of Croatia and the territory of Lower Pannonia.
- ^ a b c Florin Curta, Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500-1250, Cambridge University Press, 2006, p. 193, ISBN 978-0521815390