John Hunyadi

Born around 1406 to a noble family of Wallachian ancestry, Hunyadi learned war on Hungary's southern frontiers, where Ottoman raiding parties tested every defense. Appointed Ban of Szörény in 1439 and Voivode of Transylvania in 1441, he adapted Hussite wagon tactics and fielded both professional soldiers and peasant levies — innovations that delivered four victories in 1442 alone, including the first major European defeat of a full Ottoman provincial army with janissaries at Szeben. Though he lost at Varna in 1444 and Kosovo in 1448, his "Long Campaign" deep into the Balkans made his name, and…