August 10, 955
Responding to another in a sixty-year series of raids, approximately three thousand Germans under
Otto the Great defeated about five thousand
Magyars under the Karchas Bulksu near the Lech River northwest of Augsburg, Germany. Otto's personal guard stopped a Magyar encirclement, while a counterencirclement cleared the way for an attack that broke the main Magyar force.
The Magyars' use of siege machines against Augsburg on August 8-9 and the attempt of some to stand and fight against the German attack at the Lechfeld demonstrated a partial adoption of western combat techniques. Their defeat at the Lech led to permanent settlement in Hungary and eventual conversion to Latin Christianity. The Magyars were the last Central Asian nomads to invade western Europe.
Otto's ability to concentrate forces on the march and block escape routes during an extended pursuit on August 11-12 showed the effectiveness of the system, organized under his father Henry I, of combining fortifications with heavily armored troops. Otto exploited the propaganda value of the victory to solidify his rule in Germany and Italy and, in 962, became the first German king to be crowned Western Roman emperor.
Edward J. Schoenfeld
