| Battle of Niš | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Great Turkish War | |||||||
| 17th-century engraving of the Siege of Niš | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Unknown | |||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| Serbian Militia [1] | |||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 16,000 [2] | 40,000–70,000 [1] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 400 | Unknown | ||||||
The Battle of Niš was fought on 24 September 1689, [3] near the city of Niš in southern Serbia, between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire as part of the Great Turkish War.
The Austrian commander, Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden, defeated the Ottomans and captured the city. When Louis William learned that there were no Ottoman defensive positions on Vinik,[ clarification needed ] he ordered Pavle Nestorović to attack it. [1] Nestorović managed to bypass the right flank of the Ottoman forces and win the battle. For this achievement, Nestorović was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. [4]
After the battle Louis left Lieutenant-General Piccolomini in charge of the sanjak of Niš and marched to Vidin, where he attacked the Ottoman garrison on 14 October and received its capitulation on 19 October. Piccolomini led a campaign deep into Macedonia. The Ottomans retook Niš the following September after the Austrians abandoned the city. [5]
The Battle of Slankamen was fought on 19 August 1691, near Slankamen in the Ottoman Sanjak of Syrmia, between the Ottoman Empire, and Habsburg Austrian forces during the Great Turkish War.
The Great Turkish War, also called the Wars of the Holy League, was a series of conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy League consisting of the Holy Roman Empire, Poland-Lithuania, Venice, Russia, and the Kingdom of Hungary. Intensive fighting began in 1683 and ended with the signing of the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699. The war was a defeat for the Ottoman Empire, which for the first time lost substantial territory, in Hungary and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, as well as in part of the western Balkans. The war was significant also for being the first instance of Russia joining an alliance with Western Europe.
Karposh's rebellion or Karposh's uprising was a Christian anti-Ottoman uprising in the Central Balkans that took place in October 1689 during the Great Turkish War of 1683-1699. Karposh - the nickname probably derives from the Bulgarian or Macedonian word карпа - the leader of the rebellion, was born in the Sanjak of Üsküp in the then Rumelia Eyalet of the Ottoman Empire, probably in the village of Vojnik, and named Petar. At a very young age, he escaped to Wallachia, where he worked as a miner. Later, Karposh moved to the Rhodope Mountains, where he settled in the Dospat valley, becoming a notorious hajduk. After the army of the Holy Roman Empire advanced into the Ottoman Balkans, Karposh moved to the area of Znepole, and began to organise anti-Ottoman resistance-detachments there.
Arsenije III Crnojević was the Archbishop of Peć and Serbian Patriarch from 1674 to his death in 1706. In 1689, during the Habsburg-Ottoman War (1683–1699), he sided with Habsburgs, upon their temporary occupation of Serbia. In 1690, he left the Patriarchal Monastery of Peć and led the Great Migration of Serbs from Ottoman Serbia into the Habsburg monarchy. There he received charters, granted to him by Emperor Leopold I, securing religious and ecclesiastical autonomy of Eastern Orthodoxy in the Habsburg Monarchy. In the meanwhile, after restoring their rule in Serbian lands, Ottomans allowed the appointment of a new Serbian Patriarch, Kalinik I (1691–1710), thus creating a jurisdictional division within the Serbian Orthodox Church. Until death, in 1706, Patriarch Arsenije remained the head of Serbian Orthodox Church in Habsburg lands, laying foundations for the creation of an autonomous ecclesiastical province, later known as the Metropolitanate of Karlovci.
Moravian Serbia, the Principality of Moravian Serbia or the Realm of Prince Lazar are the names used in historiography for the largest and most powerful Serbian principality to emerge from the ruins of the Serbian Empire (1371). Moravian Serbia was named after Morava, the main river of the region. The independent principality in the region of Morava was established in 1371, and attained its largest extent in 1379 through the military and political activities of its first ruler, prince Lazar Hrebeljanović. In 1402 it was raised to the Serbian Despotate, which would exist until 1459.
Enea Silvio Piccolomini was a Sienese nobleman whose lineage included two popes, and who served in the Habsburg army of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor. He is known for leading a campaign against the Ottomans in Bosnia, Macedonia and Kosovo in 1689, and for setting fire to Skopje, the present day capital of the Republic of North Macedonia.
Jovan Monasterlija was a Serbian vice-voivode (podvojvoda) and Austrian imperial officer that led a Serbian Militia against the Ottoman Empire and other enemies of the Austrian Emperor. He was titled leader of the Serbian nation by Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I.
The Sanjak of Üsküp was one of the sanjaks in the Ottoman Empire, with Üsküb as its administrative centre.
Habsburg-occupied Serbia refers to the period between 1686 and 1699 of the Great Turkish War, during which various regions of present-day Serbia were occupied by the Habsburg monarchy. In those regions, Habsburg authorities have established various forms of provisional military administration, including the newly organized Serbian Militia. By the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699, some of those regions remained under the permanent Habsburg rule, while others were returned to the Ottoman Empire.
Toma Raspasani was an Albanian Franciscan friar and vicar, subordinate Pjetër Bogdani, Archbishop of Skopje, with whom he organized an Albanian pro-Austrian movement that would fight in the Great Turkish War against the Ottoman Empire.
The Battle of Lugos was fought on 21 September 1695 near the city of Lugos in the East Banat, between the forces of the Ottoman Empire and the forces of the Habsburg monarchy as part of the Great Turkish War.
The Battle of Batočina was fought on 29–30 August 1689 near the town of Batočina in the Sanjak of Smederevo, between forces of the Holy Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire during the Great Turkish War (1683–1699). The Serbian Militia under the command of Pavle Nestorović as a vanguard unit of the Habsburg army was victorious against a vanguard unit of the Ottoman army during the battle.

Pavle Bakić was the last titular Despot of Serbia. He was one of the most notable military commanders among Serbian nobility in the Kingdom of Hungary, and fought against the Ottoman Empire in several battles, most notably at the Battle of Mohács (1526) and the Battle of Vienna (1529). He fell at the Battle of Gorjani (1537).
Antonije Znorić was a military officer (colonel) of the Habsburg army and the commander of the Serbian Militia during the Great Turkish War.
The Serbian (Rascian) Militia was a military unit of the Habsburg-Austrian army consisting of Serbs, that existed in ca. 1686–1704.
Niš, a city in Serbia's Nišava District, is one of the oldest cities in the Balkans and Europe, and has from ancient times been considered a gateway between the East and the West. The Paleo-Balkan Thracians inhabited the area in the Iron Age, and Triballians dwelled here prior to the Celtic invasion in 279 BC which established the Scordisci as masters of the region. Naissus was among the cities taken in the Roman conquest in 75 BC. The Romans built the Via Militaris in the 1st century, with Naissus being one of the key towns. Niš is also notable as the birthplace of Constantine the Great, the first Christian Roman Emperor and the founder of Constantinople, as well as Constantius III. It is home to one of Serbia's oldest Christian churches dating to the 4th century in the suburb of Mediana.
The Sanjak of Sofia was one of the sanjaks of the Ottoman Empire which county town was Sofia. It was founded in 1393 and disestablished after the creation of the Principality of Bulgaria in 1878.
The Battle of Kunovica or Battle at Kunovitsa was fought between crusaders led by John Hunyadi and the armies of the Ottoman Empire on 2 or 5 January 1444, near the mountain Kunovica between Pirot and Niš, in present-day Serbia. It was part of the larger Crusade of Varna.
Pavle Nestorović, known as Dejak (Дејак) or Deak (Деак), was an Archduchy of Austria military officer of Serbian ethnicity. He was most notable as commander of the Serbian Militia during the Great Turkish War.
Jovan Popović Tekelija was a Serb army officer serving in the Habsburg army. As commander of the Serbian Militia, Tekelija participated in many battles distinguishing himself in particular during the Battle of Zenta in 1697 where the Ottoman Empire suffered a stunning defeat. For his merit, he was appointed Colonel of the Serbian militia in Arad and ennobled by Emperor Joseph I.