This battle ended Přemyslid dominance in Central Europe and established Habsburg rule over Austria for centuries.
Key Facts
- Date
- 26 August 1278
- Mounted troops engaged
- 15,300 cavalry
- Flanking force size
- 200 riders under Ulrich von Kapellen
- Outcome for Ottokar II
- Killed in battle
- Location
- Dürnkrut, north of Vienna, Austria
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Ottokar II of Bohemia had dramatically expanded his territories between 1250 and 1273, but in 1276 the newly elected German king Rudolf I of Habsburg imposed an Imperial ban on him, stripping him of Austria, Carinthia, Carniola, and Styria. Determined to recover his lost domains, Ottokar invaded Austria in 1278, exploiting local resentment of Habsburg rule particularly in Vienna.
On 26 August 1278, Bohemian and allied Habsburg-Hungarian cavalry forces clashed on the Marchfeld plain near Dürnkrut. Cuman horse archers outflanked the Bohemian left, while a 200-rider German force under Ulrich von Kapellen ambushed the Bohemian right flank from the rear. Caught from two directions, the Bohemian army collapsed in rout, and Ottokar II was killed during the ensuing slaughter.
The defeat and death of Ottokar II ended Přemyslid ambitions beyond Bohemia and Moravia. Rudolf I of Habsburg secured control of Austria and adjacent lands, marking the beginning of Habsburg ascendancy in Central Europe that would shape the region's political order for the following centuries.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Ottokar II of Bohemia.
Side B
2 belligerents
Rudolf I of Habsburg, Ladislaus IV of Hungary, Ulrich von Kapellen.