Holy League (1684)
The Holy League , founded in 1684, was an alliance of the Holy Roman Empire with other European powers against the Ottoman Empire . It was on March 5, 1684 through the mediation of Pope Innocent XI. Founded on the initiative of Emperor Leopold I. In addition to the Empire and Pope, members were initially Poland-Lithuania and the Venice Maritime Republic . After signing the " Eternal Peace " with Poland on May 6, 1686, the Moscow Empire joined the Holy League.
background
One year before the expiry of a 20-year armistice (→ Peace of Eisenburg ) between the Ottoman Empire and the Austrian Habsburgs, the Ottoman Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa and an army of 150,000 men marched towards Vienna in the spring of 1683. The aim was to take the royal seat of the Roman-German emperor, which had already been besieged unsuccessfully in 1529. Vienna had been enclosed since July 14, but was able to hold its own against the besiegers. A from the Polish King John III. Sobieski- led relief army inflicted a crushing defeat on the besiegers on September 12th and forced the Ottomans to retreat.
The Holy League in the Great Turkish War
With the mediation of the Pope, Emperor Leopold I, Poland and Venice agreed on joint action against the Ottomans. While a first foray into Hungary in 1684 was unsuccessful (→ Siege of Ofen (1684/1686) ), the allies were able to inflict several severe defeats on the Ottomans from the following year (including in the battles at Mohács (1687) and at Zenta (1697) ) and conquer areas that had belonged to the Ottoman Empire for centuries: Hungary, Transylvania, Serbia, and at times even the Greek Peloponnese .
On January 26, 1699, peace was finally concluded between the emperor, Poland and Venice on the one hand, and the Ottoman Empire on the other : Hungary, which had been reunited with Transylvania, was given to the Habsburgs, and most of Croatia (roughly today's Slavonia ) fell to Austria, which so that it rose to become a major European power. Venice was confirmed in possession of the Morea (now the Peloponnese), conquered in 1686 . Poland received back Podolia, which was occupied by the High Porte in 1672, as well as parts of the Ukraine. The Ottoman Empire, which had lost all its conquests of the 16th century with the exception of the Banat , concluded a two-year armistice with Russia .
The Holy League of 1684, the most famous and last in a series of alliances, all of which were called the " Holy League ", was dissolved with the peace treaty in 1699.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Der Große Ploetz , 32nd edition, p. 822.
- ↑ Der Große Ploetz , 32nd edition, p. 981.