The Treaty of Karlowitz, concluding the Great Turkish War of 1683–1697, in which the Ottoman Empire was defeated by the Holy League at the Battle of Zenta, was signed in Karlowitz, in the Military Frontier of the Habsburg Monarchy, on 26 January 1699. Also known as "The Austrian treaty that saved Europe", it marks the end of Ottoman control in much of Central Europe, with their first major territorial losses in Europe, beginning the reversal of four centuries of expansion (1299–1683). The treaty established the Habsburg monarchy as the dominant power of the region.
Syrmia is a region of the southern Pannonian Plain, which lies between the Danube and Sava rivers. It is divided between Serbia and Croatia. Most of the region is flat, with the exception of the low Fruška gora mountain stretching along the Danube in its northern part.
The Military Frontier was a borderland of the Habsburg monarchy and later the Austrian and Austro-Hungarian Empire. It acted as the cordon sanitaire against incursions from the Ottoman Empire.
The Great Turkish War or The Last Crusade, also called in Ottoman sources as the The Disaster Years, 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 resounding 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. Some historians have labeled the war as the Fourteenth Crusade launched against the Turks by the papacy.
The Austro-Turkish War (1716–1718) was fought between Habsburg monarchy and the Ottoman Empire. The 1699 Treaty of Karlowitz was not an acceptable permanent agreement for the Ottoman Empire. Twelve years after Karlowitz, it began the long-term prospect of taking revenge for its defeat at the Battle of Vienna in 1683. First, the army of Turkish Grand Vizier Baltacı Mehmet defeated Peter the Great's Russian Army in the Russo-Turkish War (1710–1711). Then, during the Ottoman–Venetian War (1714–1718), Ottoman Grand Vizier Damat Ali reconquered the Morea from the Venetians. As the guarantor of the Treaty of Karlowitz, the Austrians threatened the Ottoman Empire, which caused it to declare war in April 1716.
Rascians was a historical term for Serbs. The term was derived from the Latinized name for the central Serbian region of Raška. In medieval and early modern Western sources, exonym Rascia was often used as a designation for Serbian lands in general, and consequently the term Rasciani became one of the most common designations for Serbs. Because of the increasing migratory concentration of Serbs in the southern Pannonian Plain, since the late 15th century, those regions also became referred to as Rascia, since they were largely inhabited by Rasciani (Rascians). Among those regions, term Rascia (Raška) was most frequently used for territories spanning from western Banat to central Slavonia, including the regions of Syrmia, Bačka, and southern Baranja. From the 16th to the 18th century, those regions were contested between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg monarchy, and today they belong to several modern countries.
Vojvodina is an autonomous province located in northern Serbia. It consists of the Pannonian Plain in the south, and the Danube and Sava rivers in the north.
Ottoman Serbia refers to the Ottoman period in the history of Serbia. Various regions of medieval Serbia came under Ottoman rule already at the end of the 14th century, while the Serbian Despotate fell in 1459. Northern regions of what is now the Republic of Serbia were incorporated into the Ottoman Empire during later conquests, from 1521 to 1552. Since the Habsburg expansion towards those northern regions, in 1699 and 1716, Ottoman rule was gradually reduced to Serbian territories south of the Sava and Danube rivers (1739). From 1804 to 1830, the Principality of Serbia was restored, as a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire. It gained independence in 1878, and expanded into southern regions, thus reducing Ottoman control to the historical region of the Old Serbia, that was liberated in 1912, thus ending Ottoman rule in Serbian lands.
The Great Migrations of the Serbs, also known as the Great Exoduses of the Serbs, were two migrations of Serbs from various territories under the rule of the Ottoman Empire to the Kingdom of Hungary under the Habsburg monarchy.
The Metropolitanate of Karlovci was a metropolitanate of the Eastern Orthodox Church that existed in the Habsburg monarchy between 1708 and 1848. Between 1708 and 1713, it was known as the Metropolitanate of Krušedol, and between 1713 and 1848, as the Metropolitanate of Karlovci. In 1848, it was elevated to the Patriarchate of Karlovci, which existed until 1920, when it was merged with the Metropolitanate of Belgrade and other Eastern Orthodox jurisdictions in the newly established Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes to form the Serbian Orthodox Church.
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.
The Kingdom of Serbia was a province (crownland) of the Habsburg monarchy from 1718 to 1739. It was formed from the territories to the south of the rivers Sava and Danube, corresponding to the Sanjak of Smederevo, conquered by the Habsburgs from the Ottoman Empire in 1717. It was abolished and returned to the Ottoman Empire in 1739.
The siege of Belgrade was a successful attempt by Habsburg troops under the command of the Elector of Bavaria Maximilian II Emanuel to capture the city of Belgrade from the Ottoman Empire. Part of the Great Turkish War (1683–1699), the siege lasted a month and culminated in the capture of the city on 6 September 1688. By conquering Belgrade, Habsburg forces gained an important strategic outpost, as the city had been the Ottoman's chief fortress in Europe for more than a century and a half. The Ottomans recaptured the city two years later, in October 1690. In 1693, Habsburg forces attempted to capture the city again, but failed.
The Serbian (Rascian) Militia was a military unit of the Habsburg-Austrian army consisting of Serbs, that existed in ca. 1686–1704.
Archbishopric of Belgrade and Karlovci is the central or patriarchal eparchy of the Serbian Orthodox Church, with seat in Belgrade, Serbia. The head of the eparchy is the Serbian patriarch.
The siege of Belgrade in 1690 was the fifth siege of that city, taking place during the Great Turkish War.
Early modern history of Serbia refers to the history of Serbia during the early modern period, from the Ottoman conquest in the second half of 15th century up to the beginning of the Serbian Revolution in 1804. The era includes periods of Ottoman and Habsburg rule in various parts of Serbia. During that time, several Habsburg–Ottoman wars were fought on the territory of Serbia.
Eastern Orthodoxy in Austria refers to communities, institutions and organizations of the Eastern Orthodox Christianity on the territory of modern Austria. There are several Eastern Orthodox jurisdictions in Austria. As of 2019, it is estimated that there are some 400,000 to 450,000 Eastern Orthodox believers in Austria. Most of them are ethnic Serbs and Romanians.
Isaija Đaković or Isaija I was elected to the rank of Metropolitan of Krušedol (Karlovci) in 1708. Isaija is best remembered as the first Serbian metropolite under Habsburg monarchy and for his diplomatic skills when he obtained the amendments in the Privileges. He was succeeded by Sofronije Podgoričanin.
Mojsije Petrović was the first Metropolitan of the unified Metropolitanate of Belgrade and Karlovci, from 1726 to 1730. As such, he exercised great influence among the Serbian and Romanian Orthodox faithful in the Habsburg Monarchy.
