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Battle of Slankamen | |||||||
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Part of Great Turkish War | |||||||
Battle of Slankamen by Friedrich Kaiser | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Ludwig Wilhelm Adam Zrinski † Jovan Monasterlija | |||||||
Strength | |||||||
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Casualties and losses | |||||||
7,300 [4] | 25,000 [3] |
The Battle of Slankamen was fought on 19 August 1691, near Slankamen in the Ottoman Sanjak of Syrmia (modern-day Vojvodina, Serbia), between the Ottoman Empire, and Habsburg Austrian forces during the Great Turkish War.
The battle saw a Turkish-Transylvanian force led by Emeric Thököly and Mustafa Köprülü suffer an overwhelming defeat by an Imperial army commanded by Ludwig Wilhelm of Baden. The Grand Vizir Mustafa Köprülü was killed by a stray bullet and the Ottoman army routed, leaving behind the war chest and their artillery. The battle was disastrous for the Turks and costly for the Austrians. The victory stabilized the Hungarian front and secured Hungary, Croatia and Transylvania for the Habsburgs. [5]
The Ottomans suffered a series of defeats against the Austrians in the 1680s, most notably at the Battle of Vienna in 1683, Buda in 1686, Belgrade in 1688 and Bosnia in 1689. However, with the beginning of the Nine Years War in the west, the early 1690s were to see an end to Habsburg conquests in the Balkans and a partial Ottoman recovery. [6] Many German troops were withdrawn to fight King Louis XIV' French forces on the Rhine, encouraging the Ottomans, led by the Grand Vizier Köprülü Fazıl Mustafa Pasha, to counterattack. [7]
In April 1690 the death of Michael I Apafi In April 1690 pushed the Sultan to nominate Hungarian Emeric Thököly prince of Transylvania, Thököly at the head of an army quickly occupied much of the principality. [7] When the Imperial army left Belgrade to defeat Thököly in September, Köprülü managed to retake Belgrade and massacre the garrison which the Ottomans had lost in 1688. [2]
In August 1691, Ludwig Wilhelm (Türkenlouis) marched down the Danube to provoke the Ottomans into another major battle, after gathering a new Imperial army of 33,000, including a 10,000 strong Serb militia, under the command of vice-voivoda Jovan Monasterlija. [8] [9]
The clash between the two forces took place on the west side of the Danube, opposite the outlet of the Tisa. Both armies deployed near Zemun, but the superior Ottoman army did not attack for two days, the Ottomans lacked the vital Tartar component of their army, which was still travelling south. By withdrawing slowly to a fortified position near Slankamen Ludwig Wilhelm tried to provoke the attack. The Ottomans followed and surrounded the Imperial Army. By 19 August, heat, disease and desertion had reduced both armies to 33,000 and 50,000 able men. On that day the Ottoman cavalry finally attacked.
These were unorganized charges, however; although huge, the Ottoman forces were poorly armed and no match for the firepower of Ludwig Wilhelm's German-Austrian infantry and field guns. Additionally, the Ottomans' supply system was incapable of waging a long war on the empty expanses of the Pannonian plain. [6]
Initially, the Ottomans were at an advantage, as they advanced and burned 800 supply wagons of the Imperial Army. Ludwig Wilhelm, in a desperate situation, broke out of his position, besieged by the Ottomans, and turned their flanks with his cavalry, inflicting fearful carnage. [10] After a hard battle, the 33,000-man Imperial Army was victorious over the larger Ottoman force. The death of Grand Vizier Köprülü Fazıl Mustafa Pasha during mid-battle caused the Ottoman morale to drop and the army to disperse and retreat.
The Battle of Slankamen was the last battle in the war that could have brought it back in Ottomans' favour. The Austrians took Transylvania but were not able to press their advantage as they had gotten involved with France in the war of the Grand Alliance. The Ottoman defeat eventually lead to the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699. [5] For his victories against the Turks Ludwig Wilhelm of Baden earned the nickname Türkenlouis ("Turkish Louis"). [11]
A 16-metre-tall obelisk (52 ft) was built in Slankamen to commemorate the victory of the Imperial Army. [12]
Ahmed II was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1691 to 1695.
The Battle of Vienna took place at Kahlenberg Mountain near Vienna on 12 September 1683 after the city had been besieged by the Ottoman Empire for two months. The battle was fought by the Holy Roman Empire and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, both under the command of King John III Sobieski, against the Ottomans and their vassal and tributary states. The battle marked the first time the Commonwealth and the Holy Roman Empire had cooperated militarily against the Ottomans. The defeat is often seen as a turning point for Ottoman expansion into Europe, after which they would gain no further ground. In the ensuing war that lasted until 1699, the Ottomans would cede most of Ottoman Hungary to Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor.
Suleiman II was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1687 to 1691. After being brought to the throne by an armed mutiny, Suleiman and his grand vizier Fazıl Mustafa Pasha were successfully able to turn the tide of the War of the Holy League, reconquering Belgrade in 1690, as well as carrying out significant fiscal and military reforms.
Emeric Thököly de Késmárk was a Hungarian nobleman, leader of anti-Habsburg uprisings like his father, Count István Thököly, before him. Emeric was Prince of Upper Hungary, an Ottoman vassal state, from 1682 to 1685, and briefly Prince of Transylvania during the year 1690. Having formed an alliance with the Turks, Thököly assisted the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Vienna in 1683 and led the Turkish cavalry at the Battle of Zenta. Refusing to surrender to Habsburg Emperor Leopold I, Thököly lost his principality of Upper Hungary and finally retired to Galata, near Constantinople, with large estates granted him by Mustafa II.
Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden was the ruling Margrave of Baden-Baden in Germany and chief commander of the Imperial army. He was also known as Türkenlouis for his numerous victories against Ottoman forces. After his death in 1707, his wife, Sibylle of Saxe-Lauenburg, acted as regent of Baden-Baden during the minority of his eldest son, who succeeded him as Margrave of Baden-Baden.
Köprülüzade Fazıl Mustafa Pasha ("Köprülü Mustafa Pasha the Wise", also known as Gazi Fazıl Mustafa Köprülü served as the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 1689 to 1691, when the Empire was engaged in a war against the Holy League countries in the Great Turkish War. He was the son of Ayşe Hatun, of Turkish origin, and of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha. He was thus a member of the Köprülü family of Albanian origin through his father. His father, his elder brother Köprülü Fazıl Ahmed Pasha, as well as his two brothers-in-law were former grand viziers. His epithet Fazıl means "wise" in Ottoman Turkish.
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.
Kuruc, also spelled kurutz, refers to a group of armed anti-Habsburg insurgents in the Kingdom of Hungary between 1671 and 1711.
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Charles V, Duke of Lorraine and Bar succeeded his uncle Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine as titular Duke of Lorraine and Bar in 1675; both duchies were occupied by France from 1634 to 1661 and 1670 to 1697.
Michael Apafi was Prince of Transylvania from 1661 to his death.
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The Battle of Zernest was fought on 11 August 1690, near the town of Zernest in southeastern Transylvania, between the allied forces of Transylvania and the Holy Roman Empire, and the allied forces of the Ottoman Empire, Tatar allies, Wallachians, and Hungarian Kurucs.
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