Crusade of Varna in the context of "Battle of Varna"

The Treaty of Edirne and the Peace of Szeged were two halves of a peace treaty between Sultan Murad II of the Ottoman Empire and King Vladislaus of the Kingdom of Hungary. Despot Đurađ Branković of the Serbian Despotate was a party to the proceedings. The treaty brought an end to the Christian crusade against the Ottomans with significant gains. Within a month Vladislaus abjured his oath at the urging of the papacy and the crusade continued. On 10 November 1444 it ended in disaster at the Battle of Varna where the crusaders were wiped out and Vladislaus killed.

The treaty was started in Edirne with discussions between Murad and Vladislaus' ambassador. Within a few days, it was sent to Szeged with Murad's ambassador, to be finalized and ratified by Vladislaus. Once it arrived, complications caused the negotiations to continue for several more days, and oaths were eventually given in Várad. The ratification took place on 15 August 1444 in Várad.

Albania in the Middle Ages was a period during the European Middle Ages when the Roman Empire divided into east and west in 395, the territories of modern Albania became a part of the Byzantine Empire. At the end of the 12th century, the Principality of Arbanon was formed which lasted until mid-13th century, after its dissolution it was followed with the creation of the Albanian Kingdom after an alliance between the Albanian noblemen and Angevin dynasty. After a war against the Byzantine Empire led the kingdom occasionally decrease in size until the Angevins eventually lost their rule in Albania and led the territory ruled by several different Albanian chieftains until the mid-14th century which for a short period of time were conquered by the short-lived empire of Serbia. After its fall in 1355 several chieftains regained their rule and significantly expanded until the arrival of the Ottomans after the Battle of Savra.

After the Battle of Savra in 1385 most of local chieftains became Ottoman vassals. In 1415–1417 most of the central and southern Albania was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire and its newly established Sanjak of Albania. In 1432-36 local Albanian chieftains dissatisfied with losing their pre-Ottoman privileges organized a revolt in southern Albania. The revolt was suppressed until another revolt was organized by Skanderbeg in 1443, after the Ottoman defeat in the Battle of Niš, during the Crusade of Varna. In 1444, Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg was proclaimed as the leader of the regional Albanian chieftains and nobles united against the Ottoman Empire in the League of Lezhë disestablished in 1479. Skanderbeg's rebellion against the Ottoman Empire lasted for 25 years. Despite his military valor he was not able to do more than to hold his own possessions within the very small area in the North Albania where almost all his victories against the Ottomans took place. By 1479 the Ottomans captured all Venetian possessions, except Durazzo which they captured in 1501. Until 1913 the territory of Albania would remain part of the Ottoman Empire.

The Battle of Nicopolis took place on 25 September 1396 and resulted in the rout of an allied Crusader army, assisted by the Venetian navy, at the hands of an Ottoman force, raising the siege of the Danubian fortress of Nicopolis and leading to the end of the Second Bulgarian Empire. It is often referred to as the Crusade of Nicopolis as it was one of the last big Crusades of the Middle Ages, together with the Crusade of Varna in 1443–1444. By their victory at Nicopolis, the Turks discouraged the formation of European coalitions against them. They maintained their pressure on Constantinople, tightened their control over the Balkans, and became a greater threat to Central Europe.

Kasım Pasha or Kasim Pasha (Turkish: Kasım Paşa; fl. 1442–43) was an Ottoman general and governor, the beylerbey of Rumelia and one of the commanders of the Ottoman forces during the Crusade of Varna (1443–44).

When Rumelian beylerbey and vizier Hadım Şehabeddin was defeated by John Hunyadi in 1442, he was replaced by Kasım Pasha at both positions.