Contents
Introduction
The Habsburgs - Forever Wars With Austria
Poland-Lithuania Wars And Beyond
Concluding Remarks
Bitesize Edition
Previously we’ve covered the Western Roman Empire and Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantines. The Byzantine Empire lost its capital in 1453 to the Ottomans, who then established control over much of the Balkans.
To the north of the Ottoman-controlled Balkans lay the Habsburg Empire. To the North-East sat the Poland-Lithuania Commonwealth, and Transylvania. The Republic of Venice also existed to the West of the Balkans.
The Ottomans tried to limit Habsburg's power to the North but often saw their efforts unrewarded, with small gains made by either side in long, drawn-out conflicts.
This period aligns with the period some believe marks the beginning of the Ottoman's decline. Some state this began when the Ottomans reached the extent of their territorial control in 1683. Regardless of beliefs of when the Ottomans did begin their decline, today we’ll explore their period of firm control over the Balkans, and we’ll set up the beginning of the end for the Ottomans, which (small spoiler) occurred over 200 years later. Quite a slow decline, right? For now, let's explore the Ottomans in their heyday, and how the Balkans were affected by these conflicts.
Introduction
We concluded last week with the death of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in 1566. It’s debated whether this started the slow decline of the Ottomans, or once they reached the maximum extent of their territorial control over a century later in 1683. With today’s continuation into the history of the Balkan region, I’ll allow you to be the judge. The Ottomans maintained dominant leadership and control over the Ottomans for the period discussed today, but wars occurred, nonetheless. Back in the day when wars were all we knew, access to necessities was a function of the land you possessed to grow food and to access water. Resource competition drove many decisions in war and strategic planning. Increasing territory led to the protection of one’s key fortresses and settlements, and control over key trade routes, which furthered the economic prowess of these powerful empires. The hardest fought battles came when two empires sat border-to-border with one another, shifting from competition to cooperation to conflict. For the Ottomans, this came in the form of the Habsburgs.
The Habsburgs - Forever Wars With Austria
After the Ottoman victory in the Ottoman-Hungarian Wars, ending in 1526, Suleiman’s unsuccessful approaches towards the Habsburg-controlled Vienna saw two large empires clash in Europe. The Treaty of Constantinople was signed in 1533 between Suleiman and Ferdinand ⅼ.
The Habsburgs were unhappy with the treaty, and so attacks began once again.
Fast forwarding to the death of Suleiman, the fighting continued to rage over the following decades. Peace was signed in 1568 under the new Ottoman leadership of Selim II. 1570 also saw the Treaty of Speyer which essentially saw Transylvania become an Ottoman vassal under the rule of former Hungarian King John Sigismund Zapolya.
Selim ׀Ι died in 1574, but the peace from 1568 was resigned in 1576, 1584, and 1591. However, all peace eventually came to an end with the Long Turkish War, lasting from 1593 until 1606. Before the beginning of the war, the Ottomans captured the fort of Bihac in the siege of Bihac in 1592 which was a city in Croatia under the Habsburg monarchy. The Ottomans continued into Croatia, taking the city of Sisak in 1593, ending a century-long Croatian-Ottoman War, which was of relatively low intensity, but saw the Ottoman's encroach onto Croatian territory over the century.
The Ottomans launched attacks directly against the Habsburgs by capturing Gyor in Hungary and Komarno in Slovakia in 1593, starting the Long Turkish War.
A treaty of alliance was signed in 1595 between the Holy Roman Empire, The Habsburgs, and Transylvania, which saw Moldavia and Wallachia led by Michael the Brave join a year later. The Spanish Habsburgs also sent 6000 infantry and 2000 cavalry.
The Ottomans wished to take Vienna, and the Habsburgs wished to retake territories in Hungary controlled by the Ottomans. This ensured the Danube marked a key region of interest for the Habsburgs, and control of the fortresses on its banks would act as a key defence against the Ottomans.
What occurred throughout the 13-year war was very little gains were made by either side.
The Peace of Zsitvatorok in 1606 had seen the Ottomans take Eger, Esztergom, and Kanisza, but lost the region of Vac to the Habsburgs. The Ottomans couldn’t advance into Habsburg territory. Another consequence of the drawn-out conflict was surprisingly, wars cost money! The Ottomans found themselves in a period of financial crisis in the early 1600s. Turns out, war economies lead to excessive spending and inflation. Who’d have thought?
During this period, we had the Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburgs. To the north existed another large empire that entered the story in 1620: Poland-Lithuania. After years with few conflicts, the Ottomans were back in the field of war.
Poland-Lithuania Wars And Beyond
The conflict between Poland-Lithuania and the Ottomans erupted over control of Moldavia. The Ottomans considered Moldavia under its sphere of influence, but the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth was intervening in Moldavian affairs more frequently. At the same time, Europe was embroiled in its Thirty Years War, lasting from 1618 to 1648. The Battle of Tutora saw the Ottomans crush the commonwealth, and soon after the war was suspended for the winter. The Ottomans were high on their success in the Battle of Tutora, extrapolating their success and eyeing the conquest of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth and reaching the Baltic Sea. The Battle of Khotyn, however, saw the Commonwealth limit the Ottomans. Eventually, the Treaty of Khotyn saw the Khotyn fortress given to Moldavia as an Ottoman vassal, and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth agreed it would no longer interfere in the region. A smaller conflict was renewed in 1633-1634 but was eventually ended by an extension of the peace treaty.
The Ottomans also had conflicts with Venice between 1645 and 1669, and Crete over the same period. The Venetians were allied with the Knights of Malta, the Papal States, and France, but suffered heavy losses in the first few years of the war to the Ottomans. The city of Candia, now known as Heraklion, resisted siege for much longer. The Venetians maintained naval superiority over the larger army of the Ottomans, and so the supply of necessities became a key strategy used by both sides. The Venetians unsuccessfully attempted to blockade the Dardanelles on many occasions. However, the Venetians eventually buckled. Their economy suffered, having relied heavily on the Ottomans prior to the conflict, and Crete fell to the Ottomans.
Throw in the Austro-Turkish War of 1663-1664 and the Ottomans had a busy second half of the 17th century. The Ottomans once again sought to conquer Vienna, clearly not learning from their previous attempts to take the centre of the Habsburg Empire. The Ottomans were stopped in their tracks by the Habsburgs in Western Hungary, in the Battle of Saint Gotthard.
Conflict once again with the Polish Lithuanians from 1672 to 1676 is described by many as the final conflict before the Ottomans definitely started their slow decline. The slow decline was started by the Great Turkish War between 1683 and 1699, when you guessed it, the Ottomans sought Vienna, again. Did they learn from their mistakes this time? Find out next week.
Concluding Remarks
Next week, we’ll explore the decline of the Ottomans. I expected this section to take a week or two, but I’m surprised by how in-depth the history of this period is. We’ll see over the coming weeks how much of what occurs during this period ties into the World Wars, and the world we know today, especially in the Balkans, Europe, and Russia. I hope you’ll come back for more next week. Until then, have an enjoyable week!
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Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austro-Turkish_War_(1663%E2%80%931664)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretan_War_(1645%E2%80%931669)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habsburg%E2%80%93Ottoman_wars_in_Hungary_(1526%E2%80%931568)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Years%27_Croatian%E2%80%93Ottoman_War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ottoman_conquests,_sieges_and_landings
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sultans_of_the_Ottoman_Empire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish%E2%80%93Ottoman_War_(1620%E2%80%931621)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish%E2%80%93Ottoman_War_(1633%E2%80%931634)
https://www.britannica.com/place/Ottoman-Empire/The-decline-of-the-Ottoman-Empire-1566-1807