Battle of Krbava Field The Battle of Krbava field ( , ) was fought between the Ottoman Empire of Bayezid II and a Croatian army of the Kingdom of Croatia in personal union with the Kingdom of Hungary on September 9 , 1493 in the Krbava field , a part of Lika region , southern Croatia . The Ottoman forces were under command of Hadım Yakup Paşa , sanjak - bey of Bosnia , and Croatian army was led by Mirko Derenčin , ban of Croatia , who served under King Vladislas II Jagiello . The Kingdom of Croatia was during this period under the Hungarian crown of St . Stephen and the Croatian lords who fought in the battle were subjects of the unified crown . The battle resulted in the total defeat of the Croatian army . Background . After the fall of the Bosnian Kingdom into Ottoman hands in 1463 , the southern and central parts of the Kingdom of Croatia remained unprotected , the defense of which was left to the Croatian gentry who kept smaller troops in the fortified border areas at their own expense . The Ottomans meanwhile reached the river Neretva and having conquered Herzegovina in 1482 , they found their way toward Croatia , skillfully avoiding the fortified border towns . Through the conquest of the Kingdom of Croatia , the Ottoman light cavalry pushed its way towards the towns of Carinthia and Carniola , threatening thus to a border area of Venice as well . Preparations . In order to stop such invasions , in the summer of 1493 the Croats attempted to rally their troops under the command of Ban Mirko Derenčin ( ) at Krbava field ( near today ' s Udbina ) in central Croatia , and lay in wait there to trap the Ottomans . Meanwhile , the Ottoman sanjak - bey Hadım Yakup Paşa with some 8 , 000 Akıncı ( Turkish light cavalry ) were returning from an expedition to Styria and Croatian Zagorje . The Croatian feudal army under the command of Viceroy Derenčin at Krbava field had some 2 , 000 heavy feudal cavalry and some 8 , 000 infantry from all parts of Croatia . Battle . The Croatian army rushed at the Ottomans after the Turks had lured them into the open plains . The Ottoman forces were at first pushed back . A bit later , the Turkish light cavalry which had the advantage over heavy feudal cavalry , surrounded the Croatians from the front , one flank and rear . Then the Croatian army suffered a total defeat in which the cream of the old Croatian nobility perished to a man , including Mirko Derenčin . Aftermath . The defeat was resounding . In one single day , around 7 , 000 Croatian soldiers lost their lives , including many of Croatian feudal nobleman of the time ( princes / dukes Ivan Frankopan Cetinski , Petar II Zrinski and Karlo Gusić Krbavski , then Juraj Vlatković , ban of Jajce , Ferdinand Berislavić etc . ) , and some others were captured ( Mirko Derenčin and his son , Nikola VI Frankopan Tržački ) . Prince Bernardin Frankopan was among few survivors . The defeat at Krbava field shook all the social strata in Croatia ; however it did not dissuade the Croats from making even more decisive and persistent attempts at defending themselves against the attacks of the much more powerful enemy . Following the battle , scores of Croatian refugees moved toward Austria while others migrated to Italian coastal areas .