ottoman habsburg wars

8/9/2019 Ottoman Habsburg Wars

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OttomanHabsburg wars

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ottoman-Habsburg warsPart of the Ottoman Wars in Europe

From top-left clockwise: Austrian coat of arms, Ottoman

Mameluke, Imperial Troops in battle, Flag of the

Ottoman Empire.

Date1526 (Battle of Mohacs) to 1791(Treaty of Sistova)

LocationHungary, Mediterranean Sea,

Balkans,North Africa and Malta.

Result Weakening of both sides.

Belligerents

Habsburg Dynasty:

Habsburg Spain

Holy Roman Empire

HabsburgAustria

Kingdom of

Hungary

Kingdom of

Ottoman Empire

Vassals:

Moldavia[1]

Transylvania

Wallachia

Barbary States

Crimean Khanate
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Croatia

Non-Habsburg Allies:

Moldavia[1]

TransylvaniaWallachia

Tsardom of Russia[2]

Holy League Allies:

Polish-Lithuanian

Commonwealth

Venice

The OttomanHabsburg wars refers to the military conflictsbetween the Ottoman

Empire and theHabsburg dynasties of the Austrian Empire, Habsburg Spain and incertain times, the Holy Roman Empireand the Kingdom of Hungary. The war would be

dominated by land campaigns in Hungary. Initially, Ottoman conquests in Europemade

significant gains with a decisive victory atMohacs reducing the Kingdom of Hungary tothe status of an Ottoman tributary.[3]

By the 16th century, the Ottomans had become a serious threat to Europe, with Ottoman

Barbary ships sweeping away Venetian possessions in the Aegean and Ionia. The

Protestant Reformation, the France-Habsburg rivalry and the numerous civil conflicts ofthe Holy Roman Empire served as distractions. Meanwhile the Ottomans had to contend

with the Persian Shah and the Mameluke Sultanate, both of whom were defeated and the

latter fully annexed into the empire.

Later, the Peace of Westphalia and the Spanish War of Succession in the 17th and 18thcenturies respectively left the Austrian Empire as the sole firm possession of the House of

Habsburg. By then, however, European advances in guns and military tactics outweighed

the skill and resources of the Ottomans and their elite Janissaries, thus ensuring theHabsburgs to retake Hungary. TheGreat Turkish Warended with three decisive Holy

League victories at Vienna, Mohacs and Zenta. The wars came to an end when the

Austrian Empire and the Ottoman Empire signed an alliance with the German Empireprior to World War I. Following their defeat in that war, both Empires were dissolved

and both Houses continue to claim the title of Caesar.

Contents

[hide]

1 Origins

2 Austrian advance

3 Siege of Vienna
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4 Little War

5 War in the Mediterranean

o 5.1 1480 - 1540

o 5.2 Siege of Malta

o 5.3 Cyprus & Lepanto

6 Thirteen Years War 1593 - 1606 7 Conquest of Crete

8 Great Turkish War

o 8.1 Siege of Vienna

o 8.2 Holy League Counter

9 End game

o 9.1 Spanish War of Succession

o 9.2 19th Century

o 9.3 World War One

10 Notes

11 See also

Origins

The origins of the wars are clouded by the fact that although the Habsburgs were

occasionally the Kings of Hungary and Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire (thoughalmost always that of the Holy Roman Empire after the 15th century), the wars between

the Hungarians and the Ottomans included other Dynasties as well. Naturally, the

Ottoman Wars in Europeattracted support from the West, where the advancing and

powerful Islamic state was seen as a threat to Christendom in Europe. The Crusades ofNicopolis and ofVarnamarked the most determined attempts by Europe to halt the

Turkic advance into Central Europe and the Balkans.

For a while the Ottomans were too busy trying to put down Balkan rebels such as VladDracula. However, the defeat of these and other rebellious vassal states opened up

Central Europe to Ottoman invasion. The Kingdom of Hungary now bordered the

Ottoman Empire and its vassals.

After King Louis II of Hungary was killed at the Battle of Mohacs, his widow QueenMary fled to her brother the Archduke of Austria, Ferdinand I. Ferdinand's claim to the

throne of Hungary was further strengthened by the fact that he had married Anne, the

sister of King Louis II and the only family member claimant to the throne of the shattered

Kingdom. Consequently Ferdinand I was elected King of Bohemia and at theDiet ofBratislava he and his wife were elected King and Queen of Hungary. This clashed with

the Turkish objective of placing the puppetJohn Szapolyai on the throne, thus setting the

stage for a conflict between the two powers.

Austrian advance
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Ferdinand I attacked Hungary, a state severely weakened by civil conflict, in 1527, in an

attempt to drive out John Szapolyai and enforce his authority there. John was unable to

prevent Ferdinand's campaigning which saw the capture of Buda and several other keysettlements along the Danube. Despite this, the Ottoman Sultan was slow to react and

only came to the aid of his vassal when he launched a huge army of about 120,000 men

on 10 May 1529.[4]

Siege of Vienna

At Vienna, the Ottomans found overruning pike formations in the face of concentrated

musket fire a challenge too difficult to overcome.

The Ottoman Sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent, easily wrestled from Ferdinand most ofthe gains he had achieved in the previous two years - to the disappointment of Ferdinand

I, only the fortress of Bratislava resisted. Considering the size of Suleiman's army and the

devastation wrought upon Hungary in the previous few years it is not surprising that thewill to resist one of the world's powerful states was lacking in many of the recently

garrisoned Habsburg settlements.

The Sultan arrived at Vienna on 27 September the same year. Ferdinand's army was some

16,000 strong - he was outnumbered roughly 7 to 1 and the walls of Vienna were aninvitation to Ottoman cannon (6ft thick along some parts). Nonetheless, Ferdinand

defended Vienna with great vigour. By October 12, after much mining and counter-

mining an Ottoman war council was called and on October 14 the Ottomans abandonedthe siege. The retreat of the Ottoman army was hampered by the brave resistance of

Bratislava which once more bombarded the Ottomans. Early snowfall made matters

worse and it would be another three years before Suleiman could campaign in Hungary.

Little War

After the defeat at Vienna, the Ottoman Sultan had to turn his attention to other parts of

his impressive domain. Taking advantage of this absence, Archduke Ferdinand launched

an offensive in 1530, recapturing Gran and other forts. An assault on Buda was onlythwarted by the presence of Ottoman Turkish soldiers.
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The Ottoman army consisted of both heavy & missile, cavalry and infantry, making it

both versatile and powerful

Much like the previous Austrian offensive, the return of the Ottomans forced the

Habsburgs in Austria to go on the defensive once more. In 1532 Suleiman sent a massive

Ottoman army to take Vienna. However, the army took a different route to Koszeg. After

adefence by a mere 700-strong Croatian force, the defenders accepted an "honorable"surrender of the fortress in return for their safety. After this, the Sultan withdrew content

with his success and recognizing the limited Austrian gains in Hungary, whilst at the

same time forcing Ferdinand to recognize John Szapolyai as King of Hungary.

Whilst the peace between the Austrians and the Ottomans would last for nine years, John

Szapolyai and Ferdinand found it convenient to continue skirmishes along theirrespective borders. In 1537 Ferdinand broke the peace treaty by sending his ablest

generals to a disastrous siege of Osijek which saw another Ottoman triumph. Even so, bythe Treaty of Nagyvrad, Ferdinand was recognized as the heir of the Kingdom of

Hungary.

Ruins of Koszeg castle
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Turkish attack on a river fortress (Szigetvr 1566)

The death of John Szapolyai in 1540 saw Ferdinand's inheritance robbed; it was instead

given to John's son John II Sigismund. Attempting to enforce the treaty, the Austriansadvanced on Buda where they experienced another defeat by Suleiman; the elderly

Austrian General Rogendorf proved to be incompetent. Suleiman then finished off the

remaining Austrian troops and proceeded to de facto annex Hungary. By the time a peacetreaty was enforced in 1551, Habsburg Hungary had been reduced to little more than

border land. However, at Eger the Austrians achieved a stunning victory, thanks in part to

the efforts of the civilians present.

After the seizure ofBudaby the Turks in 1541, the West and North Hungary recognizeda Habsburg as king ("Royal Hungary"), while the central and southern counties were

occupied by the Sultan ("Ottoman Hungary") and the east became thePrincipality of

Transylvania.

The Little war saw wasted opportunities on both sides; Austrian attempts to increase theirinfluence in Hungary were just as unsuccessful as the Ottoman drives to Vienna.

Nonetheless, there were no illusions as to the status quo; the Ottoman Empire was still a

very powerful and dangerous threat. Even so, the Austrians would go on the offensiveagain, their generals building a bloody reputation for so much loss of life. Costly battles

like those fought at Buda and Osijek were to be avoided, but not absent in the upcoming

conflicts. In any case Habsburg interests were split 3-way between fighting for adevastated European land under Islamic control, trying to stop the gradual

decentralization of Imperial authority in Germany, and Spain's ambitions in North Africa,

the Low Countriesand against the French. Having said this, the Ottomans, whilst hanging

on to their supreme power, could not expand upon it as much as they did in the days ofMehmet and Bayezid. Whilst the nadir of the Empire had yet to come, its stagnation

would be characterized by the same campaigning that led to little real expansion. To the

east lay further wars against their Shi'ite opponents, the Safavids.

Suleiman the Magnificent led one last final campaign in 1566, ending at the Siege of

Szigetvar. The Siege was meant to be only a temporary stop before taking on Vienna.

However, the fortress withstood against the Sultan's armies. Eventually the Sultan,

already an old man at 72 years (ironically campaigning to restore his health), died. TheRoyal Physician was strangled to prevent news from reaching the troops and the unaware
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Ottomans took the fort, ending the campaign shortly afterward without making a move

against Vienna.

War in the Mediterranean

1480 - 1540

Siege of Rhodes in 1522

Meanwhile, the Ottoman Empire rapidly began displacing her Christian opponents at Sea.

In the 14th century, the Ottomans had only a small navy. By the 15th century, hundreds

of ships were in the Ottoman arsenal taking on Constantinople and challenging the naval

powers of the Italian Republics of Venice and Genoa. In 1480, the Ottomansunsuccessfully laid siege to Rhodes Island, the stronghold of theKnights of St. John.

When the Ottomans returned in 1522, they were more successful and the Christianpowers lost a crucial naval base.

In retaliation, Charles V led a massive Holy League of 60,000 soldiers against theOttoman supported city of Tunis. AfterHayreddin Barbarossa's fleet was defeated by a

Genoan one, Charles put 30,000 of the city's residents to the sword. Afterwards, the

Spanish placed a friendlier Muslim leader in power. The campaign was not anunmitigated success; many Holy League soldiers succumbed to dysentery, only natural

for such a large overseas army. Furthermore, much of Barbarossa's fleet was not present

in North Africa and the Ottomans won a victory against the Holy League in 1538 at theBattle of Preveza.

Siege of Malta
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Siege of Malta, 1565

Despite the loss of Rhodes, Cyprus, an island further from Europe than Rhodes, remained

Venetian. When the Knights of St. John moved to Malta, the Ottomans found that their

victory at Rhodes only displaced the problem; Ottoman ships came under frequent attacksby the Knights, as they attempted to stop Ottoman expansion to the West. Not to be

outdone, Ottoman ships struck many parts of southern Europe and around Italy, as part of

their wider war with France against the Habsburgs (SeeItalian Wars). The situation

finally came to a head when Suleiman, the victor at Rhodes in 1522 and at Djerbadecided in 1565 to destroy the Knight's base at Malta. The presence of the Ottoman fleet

so close to the Papacy alarmed the Spanish, who began assembling first a smallexpeditionary force (that arrived in time for the siege) and then a larger fleet to relieve the

Island. The ultra-modern star shaped fort of St Elmo was taken only with heavy

casualties; the rest of the island was too much. Even so, Barbary piracy continued and the

victory at Malta had no effect on Ottoman military strength in the Mediterranean.

Cyprus & Lepanto

Battle of Lepanto

The death of Suleiman the Magnificent in 1566 brought Selim II to power. Known by

some as "Selim the Sot", he assembled a massive expedition to take Cyprus from the

Venetians, an Island far closer to Ottoman-controlled Middle East then to Venice. Theother military option that Selim opted out of was to assist the Moorish rebellion that had

been instigated by the Spanish crown to root out disloyal Moors. Had Suleiman

succeeded in landing in the Iberian peninsula, he may have been cut off, for after he hadcaptured Cyprus in 1571 he suffered a decisive naval defeat at Lepanto. The Holy

League, assembled by the Pope to defend the Island arrived too late to save it (despite 11

months of resistance at Famagusta) but having collected so much of Europe's available

military strength, sought to inflict a blow on the Ottomans, which with better supplied
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ammunition and armor, they did. The chance to retake Cyprus was wasted in the typical

squabbling the followed the victory, so that when the Venetians signed a peace treaty

with the Ottomans in 1573 they did so according to Ottoman terms.

Thirteen Years War 1593 - 1606

Europe and the Ottoman Empire (in purple) in the year 1600

After Suleiman' death in 1566, Selim II posed less of a threat to Europe. Though Cyprus

was captured at long last, the Ottomans failed against the Habsburgs at sea (see above

Battle of Lepanto). Selim died not too long after, leaving his son Murad III. A hedonistand a total womanizer, Murad spent more time at his Harem than at the war front. Under

such deteriorating circumstances, the Empire found itself at war with the Austrians yet

again. In the early stages of the war, the military situation for the Ottomans worsened asthe Principalities of Wallachia, Moldova and Transylvania each had new rulers who

renounced their vassalship to the Ottomans. At theBattle of Sisak, a group of Ghazis sent

to raid the insubordinate lands in Croatia were thoroughly defeated by tough Imperial

troops fresh from savage fighting in the Low countries. In response to this defeat, theGrand Vizier launched a large army of 13,000 Janissaries plus numerous European levies

against the Christians. When the Janissaries rebelled against the Vizier's demands for awinter campaign, the Ottomans had captured little other than Veszprm.

1594 saw a more fruitful Ottoman response. An even larger army was assembled by the

Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha. In the face of this threat, the Austrians abandoned a siege of

Gran, a fortress that had fallen in Suleiman's career and then lost Raab. For the Austrians,their only comfort in the year came when the fortress of Komarno held out long enough

against the Vizier's forces to retreat for the winter.

Despite the previous years' success, situation for the Ottomans worsened yet again in1595. A Christian coalition of the former vassal states along with Austrian troopsrecaptured Gran and marched southward down the Danube. Michael the Brave, the prince

ofWallachia started a campaign against the Turks (1594-1595), conquering several

castles near the Lower-Danube, including Giurgiu,Brila, Hrova, and Silistra, while hisMoldavian allies defeated the Turks in Iaiand other parts ofMoldavia.[5] Michael

continued his attacks deep within the Ottoman Empire, taking the forts ofNicopolis,

Ribnic, and Chilia[6] and even reaching as far as Adrianople[7]. At one point his forces
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reached Edirne, the former Ottoman capital city ; no Christian army had set foot in the

region since the days of theByzantine Empire under the Palaiologoi.

Murad III's mismanagement may have led to early Ottoman defeats in the war

Following the defeat of the Ottoman army in Wallachia (see theBattle of Clugreni) and

the series of unsuccessful confrontations with the Habsburgs (culminating in the

devastating siege and fall of Ottoman-held Esztergom), alarmed by the success andproximity of the threat, the new Sultan Mehmed III strangled his 19 brothers to seize

power and personally marched his army to the north west of Hungary to counter his

enemies' moves. In 1596, Eger, the fortress that had defied Suleiman with its "Bull's

blood"(?) fell quickly to the Ottomans. At the decisive Battle of Keresztes, a slowAustrian response was wiped out by the Ottomans. Mehmet III's inexperience in ruling

showed when he failed to reward the Janissaries for their efforts in battle; rather he

punished them for not fighting well enough and thereby incited a rebellion.

Keresztes was a bloodbath for the Christian armies - thus it is surprising to note that the

Austrians renewed the war against their enemies in the summer of 1597 with a drive

southward, taking Ppa, Tata, Raab (Gyr) and Veszprm. Further Habsburg victories

were achieved when a Turkish relief force was defeated at Grosswardein (Nagyvrad).Enraged by these defeats, the Turks replied with a more energetic response so that by

1605, after much wasted Austrian relief efforts and failed sieges on both sides, only Raab

remained in the hands of the Austrians. In that year a pro-Turkish vassal prince was

elected leader of Transylvania by the Hungarian nobles and the war came to a conclusionwith the Peace of Zsitva-Torok.

Conquest of Crete
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A Spanish Galleon. The Galleon was a tough fighting ship of its time.

The Knights of Malta, emboldened by declining Turkish offensive power, began

attacking Turkish ships in the Mediterranean. The Turks retaliatedby besieging Candia

on Crete in 1648. The Venetians were left to defend their last major Aegean island alone,as Austria was still recovering from the devastation of the Thirty Years War and Spain

remained defiant against the French.

Since the darker days for Venice of the 16th century, the Venetian fleet was a more

potent force, defeating the Turks in their attempts to take the Island. So long as the

Venetians had naval supremacy, the Ottomans could do little on land at Crete, and theblockade established by the Italian city state at the Dardanelles was more than a serious

humiliation. Within 10 years the Spanish had signed a peace treaty with the French in

1659 and war with Austria resumed in the later 1660s. With the war going slow and theAustrians, Spanish and Venetians operating with the initiative, the Grand Vizier seized

power in the name of the Sultan and conducted a far more rigorous effort. Though beaten

by the Austrians, the Ottomans concluded a favorable peace in 1664 and the Venetianswere finally defeated at sea, ending the embarrassing blockade at the Dardanelles, so

close to the Ottoman Capital. The Island fell after many years of siege, thanks to the

skillful resources of the Grand Vizier, his organization of an army misused for manyyears and the French attacks on Austria, which forced her to postpone any offensives into

Hungary.

Great Turkish War

In 1663, the Ottomans launched a disastrous invasion of Austria, ending at the Battle ofSt Gotthard. The battle was won by the Christians, chiefly through the attack of 6,000

French troops led by La Feuillade and Coligny.[8] The Austrians were unable to follow up

on this victory due to the intervention of French forces in the Rhine; in such
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circumstances the Protestant allies of the Catholic Habsburgs would have proven

unreliable, wanting instead to have the Austrians and themselves fight the French in a

German coalition. The Ottomans therefore turned their attention north again against thePolish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. By now, the Kingdom had fallen into a terrible state;

the Sejm had divided loyalties and the treasury was bankrupt. It is therefore noteworthy

that Jan III Sobieski of the Poles led a decisive victory against the Ottomans at theSecondbattle of Khotyn.

Restless, the Ottomans were to have another chance in 1682, when the Grand Vizier

marched a massive army into Hungary and to Vienna in response to Habsburg raids into

Ottoman controlled Hungary.

Siege of Vienna

In 1683, after 15 months of mobilizing forces, the Grand Vizier reached Vienna to find

the city well defended and prepared. Worst of all for the Vizier were the numerous

alliances established by the Austrians, including one with Jan Sobieski. When the siegeof Vienna began in 1683, the Polish King and his coalition of Germans and Poles arrived

just as the city's defense became untenable. In a decisive battle, the Ottomans were

defeated and the siege lifted.

The climax of the Siege of Vienna

Holy League Counter
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The siege of united Christian forces in Buda, 1686

In 1687, the Ottomans repaired their armies and marched north once more. However,

Duke Charles intercepted the Turks at the Second Battle of Mohacs and avenged the loss

inflicted on the last Hungarian King over 160 years ago by Suleiman the Magnificent.

Pressing southward, the Ottomans continued to resist the Austrians, denying them anopportunity to negotiate from a position of strength. Only when the Ottomans suffered

yet another disastrous battle at thecrossing at Zenta in 1697 did the Ottomans sue forpeace; the resulting treaty of Karlowitz in 1699 secured vast amounts of the Balkans,

including Hungary, for the Austrians. Throughout Europe, both Protestants and Catholics

hailed Prince Eugene of Savoy as "the savior of Christendom" - English volunteers,

including a son of Prince Rupert (nephew of Charles I of England) and Protestants fromas far as Scotland fought in the Prince's army. For the Ottomans, the years between 1683

and 1702 were a sad time; 12 Grand Viziers were deposed in 19 years - the legacy of

what was at one time underKprl Mehmed Pashathe most powerful position of themost powerful Empire in the world.

By war's end, the Austrians had decisively shifted the balance of power away from the

Ottomans.

End game

Spanish War of Succession

Although the Great Turkish Warwas a disaster for the Ottomans, from which they were

unable to recover, the Habsburgs were soon drawn into another destructive EuropeanWar against the French, their traditional rivals. The King of Spain was childless and

approaching death. The two most powerful claimants to the Spanish throne were the

Austrian branch of the Habsburgs and the French Bourbon dynasty (the latter being theclosest claimant). The Protestant powers of England (later Great Britain after 1707) and

the Netherlands were concerned with the consequences of either Catholic power seizingall the lands. When the Bourbons decided to inherit the entire Empirewithout partitioning

it with the Austrians, war broke out lasting until 1714. By the time the war had ended,Eugene's reputation in battle had risen further with victories such as those atBlenheim.

Nonetheless, the Bourbons had succeeded in de facto annexing Spain to their territories

by placing a member of the Bourbon lineage on the Spanish throne. Even so, the Italianprovinces of the Spanish crown passed to the Austrians, and the Catholic portions of the

Low countries - rather than passing to the Dutch who coveted them, or to the French who
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desired them as part of their expansion of their borders, returned to Imperial control once

more.

With the war over, Eugene turned his attention south again. Another victory was added tohis record at thebattle of Petrovaradin, a stunning victory in which the cunning Prince

saved his army from defeat at the hands of larger force and disease. However, Austriafailed to produce a military commander worthy enough to succeed him. In the absence of

such a talented leader, the Ottomans won a surprising victory against their Christianopponents at the Battle of Grocka. Drunken, outnumbered and in a disorderly fashion, the

Ottomans had forced the overconfident Austrians to surrender. It was a shameful defeat,

one of many in Empress Maria's reign, for which she was able to discipline herincompetent generals.

19th Century

For the next 100 years, the Austrians and the Ottomans both began to slowly lose their

power to the French, British, Germans and Russians. The key problem faced by bothEmpires was the rise of the new industrial era. New industries in Germany, France andBritain produced massive quantities of manufactured goods that aided in war and

diplomacy. Both the British and the French had colonial empires that fueled their

economies with raw materials, whilst the Germans found what they needed in the Ruhr

valley. Although the Russians had no such colonial empire, they did have vast amounts ofterritory and manpower. Both the Ottomans and the Austrian lacked heavy industries in

the same level as their other European counterparts, but the former was far behind the

latter. Thus, Ottoman power decayed faster than Austrian power. In the Balkans, thenationalistic cries for independence became increasingly frequent a bigger problem for

the more militarily incompetent Ottomans. After 1867, the Austrians compromised with

the Hungarians to form Austro-Hungary, thus eliminating a major ethnic group fromrebelling in the shorter term. The same benefits could not be had with the Ottomans.

Efforts to catch up with Europe in technology demanded officers and intellectuals to

study abroada plan that backfired for the Ottomans when these individuals broughtback European ideas ofEnlightenment and egalitarianism, which clashed with the

Turkish-dominated, autocratic, millet system of the Ottomans. Therefore, Ottoman power

collapsed more rapidly than Austrian power, and they were powerless to stop Bosnia

from being occupied in 1878 (officially annexed in 1908). Had it not been for theWestern powers of Britain, France and Prussia, the Ottomans would have faced more

defeats against the Austrians and their newer enemies, the Russians.

World War One

Relations between Austria and the Ottomans began to improve when they saw a common

threat in Russia and a common ally in Germany in countering the threat of the Tsar. The

Ottomans had hoped that the Germans would industrialize their nation to defend itselfagainst the Russians, who had taken the "anti-Turk crusade" to a more committed level,

driving the Turks out of the Crimea and Caucasus. Meanwhile the German Empire of

Prussia appealed to the Austrians through a common culture, language and the lenient
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terms imposed after the Austro-Prussian War. The Austrians were in no hurry to see

Russia advance at the cost of the Ottomans towards their borders. Thus, in the years

before World War 1, the two former enemies found themselves allies against the French,the Russians and the British. Both powers proved to be incapable of arming their troops

with enough firepower and feeding their populations under blockade. In 1918, the

Austro-Hungarian Empire surrendered to partition under the Treaty of Saint-Germain, asdid the Ottomans under the Treaty of Svres.
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ottoman habsburg wars

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