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In 1396 Sultan Bayezid I clashed with Western Crusaders near Nicopolis. The French and English formed the vanguard, while Sigismund divided his troops into three: he commanded the Hungarian and German troops in the centre himself, the Transylvanians formed the right wing, and the Wallachians under Mircea the Elder formed the left. Bayezid formed his lines with a vanguard of cavalry protected by a line of stakes, a main line of archers and Janissaries, and the main body of Ottomans and Serbians hidden behind hills some distance away. Mircea the Elder of Wallachia advised a cautious battle plan, and requested to be allowed to attack first. Wallachian cavalry were to harass the Ottomans out of their positions so that the skilled horse archers would be able to easily pick off individual Turks, thus leaving the Turkish main line severely weakened and more prone to collapsing under the weight of a subsequent charge of the heavy Western knights. Mircea's proposal was refused by the other Crusaders, who thought that the Wallachian ruler only wanted to gain all the glory for himself. Thus, a straightforward sledgehammer-tactic was put in motion by the Westerners, a plan which would prove to be disastrous for the Crusader forces.
WI Crusaders had listened to Mircea and won the battle of Nicopolis? How is this altering History? Any thoughts?
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