Great Turkish War
The Great Turkish War refers to a series of conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and contemporary European powers, then joined into a Holy League, during the second half of the 17th century. It marked the end of the Ottoman incursion into Europe and the start of Ottoman territorial retreat. Austria gained most of Hungary, Transylvania and Slavonia, Poland recovered Podolia while Republic of Venice also gained territory, some of which was later returned to Turkey. Despite some territorial recovery in the eighteenth century, such as Azov from Russia between 1711 and 1774 and the Peloponnesus peninsula in 1718, the following century saw further losses starting with Greece in 1827, then by successive Balkan provinces through until the end of the century.
1667–1683
After the Cossack rebellion led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky of 1648-1654 against Poland-Lithuania, when Russia acquired parts of Eastern Ukraine from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, some cossacks stayed in the southeast of the Commonwealth. Their leader, Petro Doroshenko, wanted to connect the rest of Ukraine with the Ottoman Empire, starting a rebellion against hetman (Polish army commander) Jonn III Sobieski. The Sultan Mohamed IV, who knew that the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was weak due to internal conflicts, attacked Kamieniec Podolski, a large city on the border.
A small Polish army was defeated by a larger Ottoman one in what is sometimes known as the Polish-Ottoman War (1672–1676). The first battle took place in Sconograd, Hungary, which was occupied by the Ottomans. The Polish army was defeated. The Poles retreated after three months. The Poles tried to defeat the Ottomans for four years, with no success. The Turkish advance followed later to the beginning of the Russo-Turkish Wars. The Poles agreed to surrender Kamieniec Podolski and the adjacent region and to pay tribute to the Ottoman Sultan.
When a message about the defeat and treaty terms reached Warsaw, the Sejm refused to pay the tribute. Accordingly the Sejm organized a large army under Jan Sobieski, who won a battle near Chocim in 1673 without however regaining Kamieniec Podolski. However, after King Michael’s death in 1673, Jan Sobieski was elected king of Poland.
War of the Holy League (1683–1698)
After a few years of peace, the Ottoman Empire attacked the Habsburg Empire. The Turks almost captured Vienna, but John III Sobieski led a Christian alliance that defeated them in the Battle of Vienna which stalled the Ottoman Empire's hegemony in south-eastern Europe.
A new Holy League was initiated by Pope Innocent XI and encompassed the Holy Roman Empire (headed by Habsburg Austria), the Venetian Republic and Poland in 1684, joined by Muscovite Russia in 1686. The second Battle of Mohács was a crushing defeat for the Sultan.
Russia's involvement marked the first time the country formally joined an alliance of European powers. This was the beginning of a series of Russo-Turkish Wars, which continued into the 20th century. As a result of the Crimean campaigns (1687 and 1688) and Azov campaigns (1695-1696), Russia's Peter the Great captured the key Ottoman fortress of Azov. It was handed back to the Ottoman Empire in 1711 then returned to Russia by treaty in 1774.
The Battle of Zenta
The turning point in the war was the Battle of Zenta, which took place in 1699.
Opening Maneuvres
Prince Eugene was made commander in chief of the Army in the Kingdom of Hungary on 5 July 1697. His army consisted out of 70,000 men at full strength of which only 35,000 were battle ready. As the war chest was empty, Eugene had to borrow money in order to pay wages and to create a working medical service.
When news arrived that the Sultan and his army were in Belgrade, Eugene decided to concentrate all his available troops from Upper Hungary and Transylvania and started to move his troops towards Petrovaradin. After the concentration took place, Eugene had an Imperial Army of 50,000 to 55,000 men to face the Ottomans. During August, Eugene offered battle in the neighborhood of the fortress of Petrovaradin but the Ottomans, attempting to start a siege, refused to engage in battle. In September the Ottomans moved north in an attempt to capture the fortress of Szeged and the Imperial army followed.
The Battle
After the capture of Dschaafer Pasha by the imperial cavalry, the plan for siege of Szeged was abandonded and the Sultan decided to return to winter quarters near Timişoara. When Eugene learned of these movements, he decided to force a battle.
On 11 September 1697, the Ottoman army was trying to ford the river Tisa (Tisza) near Senta, not knowing that the Imperial Army was nearby. The Imperial army thus was able to effect a complete battlefield surprise and to attack the enemy while he was still in the process of crossing the river. After an intensive artillery bombardment, many Imperial Dragoon regiments dismounted and proceeded to the moat encircling Ottoman camp, exchanging fire with the enemy. Ottoman troops behind the entrenchments retreated in confusion to the bridge, access to which became overcrowded. Austrian artillery decimated and slaughtered the Ottoman troops. The left flank of the Christian army attacked, penetrating between the Ottoman left flank and the bridge, cutting off their retreat. At the same time, Imperial forces attacked from the front and, after ferocious close-quarter fighting, broke through the trenches surrounding the Ottoman camp. Inside the camp, beyond the camp-wagons, the slaughter was terrible. Imperial soldiers pressed the attack relentlessly. Barely a thousand Ottoman soldiers escaped. More than 10,000 Ottoman troops drowned in the Tisa river. Up to 20,000 Ottoman soldiers were slaughtered on the battlefield.
Aftermath
The battle was an amazing victory for Austria; at the cost of 500 men they had inflicted the loss of 30,000 men and captured the sultan's harem, 87 cannon, the royal treasure chest and the state seal of the Ottoman Empire. The main Ottoman army was scattered and the Austrians gained complete freedom of action in Bosnia, where Sarajevo was burnt.
By the terms of the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699, the Austrians forced the sultan Mustafa II to make peace with the Emperor, and to cede Transylvania and the Ottoman eyalets of Buda, Eger and Kanizsa, which were later transformed or integrated into Habsburg provinces known as the Principality of Transylvania, Kingdom of Hungary, Kingdom of Slavonia, and the Military Frontier.
Legacy
See also
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Barker, Thomas Mack. 1967. Double eagle and crescent Vienna's second Turkish siege and its historical setting. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. ISBN 9780873951258
- Türk ve İslâm Eserleri Müzesi. 1999. War and peace: Ottoman-Polish relations in the 15th-19th centuries. İstanbul: Fako İlaçları A.Ş.ISBN Polish-Ottoman War of 1672-1676
- Sicker, Martin. 2000. The Islamic world in ascendancy from the Arab conquests to the siege of Vienna. Westport, Conn: Praeger.ISBN 9780313001116
- Sicker, Martin. 2001. The Islamic world in decline from the Treaty of Karlowitz to the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire. Westport, Conn: Praeger. ISBN 9780313000959
- Stoye, John. 2006. The siege of Vienna. Edinburgh: Birlinn.ISBN 9781843410379
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