Murad II paraded captured knights across the Middle East as propaganda
Evidence
An interesting case of visual propaganda occurred after the battle of Varna in 1444, when a Crusader army sent to fight the Ottomans was defeated and the Ottoman sultan Murad II captured a group of Frankish knights, gorgeously attired and caparisoned. He sent them all the way across the Middle East, to Afghanistan and back. The propaganda purpose is obvious: the Ottoman sultan, still in an early stage of Ottoman greatness, was saying to all his neighbors, colleagues and of course rivals: “Look at what I did!” “Look at what I got!” These Frankish knights in full war-kit must have been quite impressive, though they were probably rather tattered by the time they got to Afghanistan. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 485
Categorization
Category: Factual Claims
- SHARE: A military-history friend would love the image of tattered captured knights marched to Afghanistan and back as literal walking trophies.
- SEED: Angle: the display-of-the-humiliated as a recurring instrument of state messaging from Roman triumphs to Varna-processions to modern hostage parades.