The Austro-Turkish War (1663–1664) or fourth Austro-Turkish War was a short war between the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...

and the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. The Ottoman aim was to resume the advance in central Europe, conquer

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and subdue

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populou ...

. The Ottomans managed to capture key strongholds, however, the Habsburg army under

Raimondo Montecuccoli Raimondo Montecuccoli (; 21 February 1609 – 16 October 1680) was an Italian-born professional soldier, military theorist, and diplomat, who served the Habsburg monarchy. Experiencing the Thirty Years' War from scratch as a simple footsoldier ...

succeeded in halting the Ottoman army in the Battle of Saint Gotthard.

Prelude

The cause of this war was the invasion of Poland in 1658 by Prince George Rákóczy II of

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the ...

, without the permission of the Porte.

had after the Battle of Mohács in 1526 recognized Ottoman suzerainty and paid a

tribute A tribute (; from Latin ''tributum'', "contribution") is wealth, often in kind, that a party gives to another as a sign of submission, allegiance or respect. Various ancient states exacted tribute from the rulers of land which the state conq ...

to the Porte and were given political and religious autonomy in return. On hearing about Rákóczy's unauthorized war, the Ottomans declared war on their vassal. It was not long before

Grand Vizier Grand vizier ( fa, وزيرِ اعظم, vazîr-i aʾzam; ota, صدر اعظم, sadr-ı aʾzam; tr, sadrazam) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. The office of Grand Vizier was first ...

Köprülü Mehmed Pasha Köprülü Mehmed Pasha ( ota, كپرولی محمد پاشا, tr, Köprülü Mehmet Paşa; or ''Qyprilliu'', also called ''Mehmed Pashá Rojniku''; 1575, Roshnik,– 31 October 1661, Edirne) was the founder of the Köprülü political dynas ...

(Vizier 1656–1661) defeated Rákóczy and conquered Transylvania. The new Transylvanian prince, János Kemény, fled to Vienna seeking Austrian support. Emperor Leopold I, not wishing to see Transylvania fall under direct Ottoman control, sent Montecuccoli into Hungary with 10,000 men. Montecuccoli's advance into Transylvania was met with contempt by the local populace and his army was ineffective due to disease and privation. Meanwhile, in order to liberate

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

and Hungary, Nikola Zrinski, the Ban of Croatia, had since 1661 been doing his best to start a new Austro-Ottoman conflict by organizing raids into Ottoman territory from his stronghold,

Novi Zrin Novi Zrin ( hu, Zrínyiújvár or Új-Zrínyivár) was a fortress of the Zrinski ( Zrínyi in Hungarian) noble family built near the Donja Dubrava village in the northernmost part of Croatia (at the border village of Őrtilos in Hungary) on th ...

(Hungarian: ''Zrínyiújvár''). These raids and the presence of Montecuccoli's army made the Ottomans end the status-quo with Vienna, which had existed between them since 1606.

1663 campaign

In the summer of 1663, an Ottoman army of more than 100,000 strong under

Köprülü Fazıl Ahmed entered Habsburg Hungary and in September conquered the town of Érsekújvár (Nové Zámky). The Habsburg commander Montecuccoli had only his 12,000 men and the 15,000 Hungarian-Croatian troops of Nikola Zrinski to oppose the Turks.

Emperor Leopold I Leopold I (Leopold Ignaz Joseph Balthasar Franz Felician; hu, I. Lipót; 9 June 1640 – 5 May 1705) was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia. The second son of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, by his first wife, Maria ...

summoned the Imperial Diet in January 1663, to ask the German and European Kings for help, with success. An army of 30,000 Bavarian,

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 square ...

and

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

troops was raised. Even arch-enemy

Louis XIV of France , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ve ...

sent an army corps of 6,000 under

Jean de Coligny-Saligny Jean de Coligny-Saligny, ( Saligny, December 25, 1617 – April 16, 1686) was a French noble and army commander, best known for his part in the victory in the Battle of Saint Gotthard (1664). He was the son of Gaspard II de Coligny-Saligny an ...

in support. Ottoman Turks and

Tatars The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

invaded

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The me ...

in 1663. The invasion devastated eastern and southern Moravia, and the towns of Vsetín, Uherský Brod, Uherské Hradiště, Hodonín, Břeclav and Hustopeče were pillaged. Thousands of Moravians were killed and the Turks and Tatars took 40,000 captives to be sold as slaves.

1664 campaign

At the beginning of 1664, the Imperial Army was divided into three corps: In the south, 17,000 Hungarian-Croatian troops under the command of Nikola Zrinski. In the center, the main army of Montecuccoli, which was 28,500 men strong, and in the north some 8,500 men under General Jean-Louis Raduit de Souches. There were some 12,500 men in reserve to defend the fortresses. This army of 66,500 men was not united, as the differences of opinion between the commanders were very strong, especially with Zrinski. As a preparation for campaigns planned for 1664, Zrinski set out to destroy the strongly fortified Ottoman bridge (the Osijek (Hung.:Eszék) bridge) which, since 1566, had linked Darda (Hung.:Dárda) to Osijek across the Drava and the marshes of Baranya. Destruction of the bridge would cut off the retreat of the Ottoman Army and make any Turkish reinforcement impossible for several months. Re-capturing strong fortresses (Berzence, Babócsa, the town of Pécs, etc.) on his way, Zrinski advanced 240 kilometers on enemy territory and destroyed the bridge on February 1, 1664. He didn't succeed in conquering

Nagykanizsa Nagykanizsa (; hr, Velika Kaniža/Velika Kanjiža, or just ''Kaniža/Kanjiža''; german: Großkirchen, Groß-Kanizsa; it, Canissa; sl, Velika Kaniža; tr, Kanije), known colloquially as Kanizsa, is a medium-sized city in Zala County in southw ...

, the main objective. The siege had to be lifted when in June the main army of Köprülü approached. The Turks besieged and conquered Zrinski's stronghold

, which had to be abandoned when Montecuccoli refused to come to its rescue. Zrinski would never forgive this, which would eventually lead to the

Magnate conspiracy The Magnate conspiracy, also known as the Zrinski-Frankopan Conspiracy ( hr, Zrinsko-frankopanska urota) in Croatia, and Wesselényi conspiracy ( hu, Wesselényi-összeesküvés) in Hungary, was a 17th-century attempt to throw off Habsburg and ...

("Zrinski-Frankopan conspiracy" ( hr, Zrinsko-frankopanska urota) in

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

, and "Wesselényi conspiracy" ( hu, Wesselényi-összeesküvés) in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...

Battle of Saint Gotthard

After the conquest of Novi Zrin, the Ottoman main army marched towards Vienna. As the Ottoman army advanced into Hungary, it was stopped at the Rába river between

Mogersdorf Mogersdorf ( hu, Nagyfalva, sl, Modinci) is a town in the district of Jennersdorf in the Austrian state of Burgenland. Geography Cadastral communities are Deutsch Minihof, Mogersdorf and Wallendorf.Szentgotthárd Abbey by Montecuccoli's army, where the Ottomans were charged and defeated by the Imperial forces. In the north of Hungary the army of de Souches had also won some smaller victories against Küçük Mehmed Pasha. Most importantly, he reconquered

Nitra Nitra (; also known by other alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, situated at the foot of Zobor Mountain in the valley of the river Nitra. It is located 95 km east of Bratislava. With a population of about 78,353, it is the fifth ...

and Léva.

Peace of Vasvár

Nine days later, on August 10, 1664, the Peace of Vasvár was signed. The Habsburgs removed their troops from Transylvania, recognized the Ottoman-backed

Michael I Apafi Michael Apafi ( hu, Apafi Mihály; 3 November 1632 – 15 April 1690) was Prince of Transylvania from 1661 to his death. Background The Principality of Transylvania emerged after the disintegration of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary in the sec ...

as the ruler, allowed the Ottoman Empire to retain Nagyvárad (Grosswardein) and Érsekújvár (Neuhäusel) and agreed to pay 200,000 florins to the Sublime Porte. In contrast, the Ottomans agreed to send "gifts" of the same worth to the Habsburg Emperor, allow the construction of the Habsburg fort Leopoldov along the Waag river, and granted a twenty-year truce. The major factor in the Habsburgs' decision for a peace treaty was the French threat to the much more valuable estates in the Netherlands, Germany and Italy. Moreover, the Imperial war effort lost some of its momentum after the victory of Saint Gotthard, as the French withdrew from the coalition while other German princes were reluctant to advance further east. Hence, the Austrians did not believe they could liberate the whole of Hungary and were unwilling to leave the French advance unchecked for a few Hungarian fortresses.

Consequences

The Croats and Hungarians were outraged at the loss of the conquered territories and felt the initiative and momentum after the victory of Saint Gotthard should have been maintained. The discontent from the Vasvar treaty led to the

. The peace in fact held for 20 years until the Ottomans attacked Vienna for the second time in 1683 and were pushed back from Hungary in the following Great Turkish War (1683–1699).

Notes

References

Sources

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