Austro-Ottoman Wars in the 17 th and 18 th centuries The Ottoman and Austrian empires had been in a series of conflicts during the second half of the 17th.

Austro-Ottoman Wars in the 17th and 18th centuries

The Ottoman and Austrian empires had been in a series of conflicts during the second half of the 17th century and in the 18th century. These wars marked the end of the Ottoman power in Central Europe and later weakened also the mastery of the Sublime Porte in the Balkans.The Ottoman-Polish conflict over Ukraine was a prelude to the struggle between the Ottoman Empire and the Christian Powers in Central Europe.

The Ottoman Empire-Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth War 1667-1683

After Bogdan Khmelnytsky's Cossack rebellion, when Russia acquired parts of Eastern Ukraine from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, some Cossacks stayed in the south east of the Commonwealth. Their leader, Doroshenko wanted to ally Ukraine with the Ottoman Empire, starting a rebellion against the Polish governor of Ukraine, the future king of Poland, Jan Sobieski. Mehmed IV “The Hunter”, thought that the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was weak due to internal conflicts, and attacked Podolia in Western Ukraine.

A Polish army was defeated by the Ottoman forces in 1672. The Poles agreed to surrender Podolia and the adjacent region and to pay tribute to the Ottoman Sultan by the Treaty of Buczacz (Bucaş in Turkish) in the same year.When a message about the defeat and treaty terms reached Warsaw, the capital of the Commonwealth, the Sejm (the Polish Parliament) refused to ratify the treaty and to pay the tribute. Accordingly the Sejm assembled a large army under Jan Sobieski having some military successes over the Ottoman forces in 1673. Yet, Ottomans kept Podolia. However, after King Michael’s death in 1674, Jan Sobieski was elected king of Poland.

The Wars of the Holy League 1683–1699After a few years of peace, the Ottoman Empire consolidating some of its political and military power under the able grand viziers of Köprülü family waged war on its Habsburg foe. The advance of the Ottoman armies into Central Europe reached Vienna, but the Polish king Jan III Sobieski led a Christian alliance which defeated the Ottoman forces led Kara Mustafa Pasha at the Battle of Kahlenberg and ended the Second Siege of Vienna in 1683. The Battle of Vienna deteriorated the Ottoman Empire's mastery in Eastern Europe.

A new Holy League (La Sainte-Alliance) was initiated by Pope Innocent XI and composed of the Holy Roman Empire (headed by the Austrian Habsburgs), the Venetian Republic and Poland in 1684, joined by the Russian Empire in 1686.The Holy League battled the Ottoman Empire in the second Battle of Mohács (1687) which ended with an Ottoman defeat this time. The Russian involvement marked the beginning of the Russo-Ottoman Wars.

The Ottomans continued to suffer defeats against the Austrians in the late 1680s, such as the loss of Belgrade to Maximilian II of Bavaria in 1688 and Bosnia in 1689. However, two years later Belgrade was recaptured by the Ottoman forces. The next year, a new Austro-German army under Louis William of Baden marched down the Danube to face the Ottoman army commanded by Grand Vizier Köprülü Mustafa Pasha.

After a hard battle in Slankamen in 1691, the Austro-German forces were victorious over the Ottoman army. The Ottoman Grand-vizier was killed while trying to encourage his soldiers on the battle line and the Ottoman army was routed.The Battle of Slankamen (in the north-west of Belgrade) was the last battle in the Austro-Ottoman war of 1683-1699 that could have turned the war in favour of the Ottoman Empire. Austrian–led alliance’s victory was now inevitable. The Ottoman defeat at Slankamen eventually led to the signing of the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699.

The Treaty of Karlowitz (1699)

The Treaty of Karlowitz (Karlofça in Turkish) was signed in 1699 in Sremski Karlovci (situated in today’s ethnic Hungarian Voyvodina region) in Serbia concluding the Austro-Ottoman War of 1683–1697 in which the Ottoman side was defeated.Following a two-month congress between the Ottoman Empire on one side and the Holy League, a coalition of various European powers including the Habsburg Monarchy, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Republic of Venice and the Russian Empire on the other side, a treaty was signed on January 26, 1699.

The Ottomans ceded most of Hungary, Transylvania and Slavonia to Austria while Podolia returned to Poland. Most of Dalmatia was ceded to Venice, along with the Morea (Peloponnesian peninsula).The Treaty of Karlowitz marked the beginning of the Ottoman decline in Eastern Europe and made the Habsburg Monarchy the dominant power in southeastern Europe.

The Treay of Karlowitz was followed a year later by the Treaty of Istanbul signed on 14 July 1700 between the Ottoman and Russian empires acknowledging the transfer of the strategically important city and fortress of Azov on the Northern Black Sea to the Russian Empire.

The Historical Atlas by William R. Shepherd, 1923

The Treaties of Karlowitz and Istanbul were not considered as an acceptable long-standing settlement by the Ottoman Empire. After Karlowitz, the Sublime Porte started to consider to recover the lost territories of 1683-1699.First, an Ottoman army led by the Grand Vizier Baltacı Mehmet Pasha defeated the Russian Army of Peter the Great at the swampland of Prut in 1711. After that, the new grand vizier Damat Ali Pasha re-conquered the Peloponnesian peninsula from Venice in 1715. The guarantor of the Treaty of Karlowitz, Austria, threatened the Ottoman Empire by declaring war. Consequently, the Ottoman Empire declared war against Austria.

Treaty of Passarowitz (1718)

The Treaty of Passarowitz (Pasarofça in Turkish) was the peace treaty signed in Pozarevac, Serbia on July 21, 1718 between the Ottoman Empire on one side and the Habsburg Empire of Austria and the naval Republic of Venice on the other.During the years 1714–1718, the Ottoman armies had been successful against Venice in Greece and Crete, but had been defeated at Battle of Petervaradin (1716) by the Austrian troops of Prince Eugene of Savoy.

The treaty reflected the military situation. The Ottoman Empire lost the Banat of Temesvár, northern Serbia (including Belgrade), northern Bosnia and Lesser Walachia to Austria. Venice lost its possessions on the Peloponnesian peninsula and on Crete, gained by the Treaty of Karlowitz, retaining only the Ionian Islands and Dalmatia. Belgrade and Lesser Walachia were regained by the Ottoman Empire in 1739 by the Treaty of Belgrade.

The Treaty of Belgrade (1739)

The Treaty of Belgrade was the peace treaty signed on September 18, 1739 in Belgrade by the Ottoman Empire on one side and Austria on the other. This ended the hostilities of the two-years Austrian-Ottoman war, in which Austria joined Russia in its fight against the Ottoman Empire.With the Treaty of Belgrade, Austria ceded Northern Serbia with Belgrade and Lesser Wallachia, gained by the Treaty of Passarowitz in 1718 to the Ottoman Empire and set the border line to the rivers Sava and Danube.

The Austrian withdrawal forced Russia also to accept peace with the Ottoman Empire, by which Russia gave up Crimea and Moldavia, but was still allowed to build a port at Azov, again gaining a foothold on the Black Sea.

The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca (1774)

The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca was signed on July 21, 1774, between Russia and the Ottoman Empire after the Ottoman Empire was defeated in the Russo-Ottoman War of 1768-1774.The Ottomans ceded the part of the Yedisan region between the Dnieper and Southern Bug Rivers to Russia.

This territory gave the Russian Empire its first direct access to the Black Sea. The treaty also gave Russia the Crimean ports of Kerch and Yenikale and the Kabardino region in the Caucasus.The Ottomans also lost the Crimean Khanate, to which they were forced to grant independence. The Khanate, while nominally independent, was dependent on Russia and was formally annexed into the Russian Empire in 1783.

The treaty also granted Russia several gains. It eliminated restrictions over Russian access to the Azov Sea (the 1739 Treaty of Belgrade had given Russia territory adjacent to the Azov Sea but the latter had been prohibited it from fortifying the area or using the sea for shipping.) The treaty also granted Russia some economic and political rights in the Ottoman Empire, such as allowing Ottoman Christians to sail under the Russian flag.

Attention

Russia also interpreted the treaty as giving them the right to protect Orthodox Christians in the Empire.