Battle of Mohács (1687)
Contemporary depiction of the Battle of Mohács (1732)
| date | August 12, 1687 |
|---|---|
| place | Nagyharsány near Mohács in Hungary |
| output | Victory of the imperial troops |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
Imperial , |
|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| about 60,000 men | about 60,000 men |
| losses | |
|
about 10,000 men |
about 600 men |
The Battle of Mohács (also known as the Battle of Mount Harsány ) in 1687 was a battle between the imperial army on the one hand and the army of the Ottoman Empire on the other during the Great Turkish War (1683–1699). It ended with an imperial victory, under the impression of which the Hungarian estates recognized the heredity of the Hungarian crown in the House of Habsburg at the Pressburg Reichstag .
prehistory
The Great Turkish War began with the siege of Vienna in 1683 by the Ottoman army. After the relief of the city in the Battle of Kahlenberg on September 12, 1683, the initiative passed to the imperial troops. In the following years they pushed back the Ottomans under Duke Charles V of Lorraine and conquered numerous fortresses. In 1686 they achieved their greatest success to date with the capture of the former Hungarian capital Buda ( → see: Siege of Ofen (1684/1686) ). Peace offers from the Ottoman Empire were rejected at the end of the year, as the cession of all of Hungary now seemed within reach.
In April 1687 the decision on how to proceed was made in Vienna. The main army (approx. 40,000 men) under Duke Charles of Lorraine was to advance along the Danube on Esseg , while a second army (approx. 20,000 men) under Elector Max Emanuel of Bavaria was to move from Szolnok on the Tisza to Peterwardein at the same time . In mid-July the two armies united on the Danube. The Ottoman troops (approx. 60,000 men) under the Grand Vizier Süleyman Pascha , however, moved into a fortified camp in front of Esseg to protect this city. Only the river Drau lay between the armies . At the end of July, the Imperial troops captured a bridgehead on the far bank of the river and lined up in order to challenge the Ottomans. However, these remained passive and were limited to the bombardment of the Drau bridges and embankments. Since Duke Karl of Lorraine was unable to storm the fortified Ottoman camp, he decided to clear the bridgehead after a few days, although he was criticized for this by both his subordinates and Emperor Leopold I. The Grand Vizier suspected that the moral of the imperial troops was now bad and followed them. By skillful maneuvers he pushed the imperial family back into the Mohács area, where they took up a fortified position at the beginning of August. The Ottomans also built a fortified position near Dárda , which, however, was hidden by thick bushes and was not visible to the imperial family. Accordingly, Duke Charles of Lorraine had no inkling of the proximity of the Ottoman army.
course
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On the morning of August 12th, the Duke of Lorraine planned to move to Siklós because the area there seemed to be suitable for a battle. The right wing started moving and marched west into a thick wooded area. Süleyman Pascha saw his chance and attacked with his entire army the left wing of the imperial army under the Elector of Bavaria, who was still in the fortified positions and was also about to march west. 8,000 Sipahis alone tried to encompass the left flank of the imperial troops. The Elector of Bavaria immediately notified the Duke of Lorraine, who was with the marched right wing, and took steps to repel the attack by the doubly superior Ottomans. The infantry maintained their position and General Piccolomini succeeded with some cavalry regiments to repel the encircling attack of the Sipahis.
The Grand Vizier was surprised by the unexpectedly fierce resistance and ordered the attacks to cease. The Ottoman artillery continued to bombard the imperial positions, but the troops themselves were ordered to set up positions and hide behind them. This gave the alerted right wing of the imperial army the time it needed to return to its original position. The Duke of Lorraine, too, initially only intended to defend the position he had taken, but finally allowed himself to be persuaded by the Elector of Bavaria and the Margrave Ludwig von Baden to launch a large-scale counterattack. The deployment of the imperial army ended at 3 p.m. At the same time, Suleyman Pasha resumed the attack. Again the Sipahis, assisted by Janissaries , tried to bypass the left flank of the imperial position. Margrave Ludwig von Baden fended off this attack with 23 squadrons and then went on to assault the as yet unfinished Ottoman position. At the head of the attack, the troops of Generals Jean-Louis de Bussy-Rabutin and Eugene of Savoy penetrated the Ottoman entrenchments, with the riders having to dismount from their horses due to the difficult terrain. The Ottoman resistance collapsed and the initiated retreat of the Ottoman army soon turned into a wild flight.
During the entire battle only the left wing of the imperial army had been in action. In front of the front of the right wing there was a dense forest that did not allow an attack by these troops. Attempts had been made to evade the right wing to prevent the Ottomans from retreating, but the column had got lost in the woods. The losses of the imperial troops were very limited with about 600 men. The Ottomans, on the other hand, lost their entire entourage, most of the artillery (66 guns) and, according to some estimates, lost up to 10,000 people. The booty of the Elector of Bavaria alone is said to have comprised two million ducats . The grand vizier's grand tent and 160 flags fell into the hands of the winners.
consequences
The defeat plunged the Ottoman Empire into a domestic political crisis. Even before the battle of Mohács, the morale of the Ottoman troops had sunk significantly due to the setbacks. After the battle there was a revolt of the Janissaries and Sipahis in the Grand Vizier's camp. He fled to Istanbul , but an embassy of the rioters followed him and managed to get Sultan Mehmed IV to execute him. A short time later, the mutinous troops deposed the Sultan himself and enthroned his brother Suleyman II. After further riots against dignitaries and high officials, a popular uprising put an end to the chaos.
This weakness of the Ottomans enabled the imperial troops to conquer large areas. They took Esseg, Klausenburg , Valpó , Peterwardein , Karlowitz , Jllok , Požega , Palota and Erlau . This brought Slavonia and Transylvania under imperial control. The prestige that the Habsburgs gained in this way prompted the Hungarian estates at the Diet in Pressburg to crown the only nine-year-old Archduke Joseph on December 9, 1687 as the first hereditary king of Hungary. In addition, the Hungarians undertook to crown the heir to the throne while his father was still alive, and at the same time renounced their right of resistance and objection (jus resistendi / jus contradicendi) to the king. The disputes between the Habsburgs, the Ottomans, the Hungarian nobility and the princes of Transylvania over the St. Stephen's Crown since the death of King Ludwig II in 1526 were now over in favor of the Habsburgs. After the formal confirmation on January 25, 1688, the Kingdom of Hungary was the hereditary kingdom of the Habsburgs. The Muslim population fled Hungary, Slavonia and Transylvania, partly because of the atrocities they suffered from the Christian conquerors, and partly because the Muslim religious law provided for emigration in the event of capture by non-Muslims.
To compensate for the defeat of the battle against the Ottomans in 1526, it was decided to officially designate the meeting as the Battle of Mohács , although the site of the earlier battle was several kilometers away.
literature
- Bernhard von Poten (Ed.): Concise dictionary of the entire military sciences . tape 7 . Velhagen & Klasing , Bielefeld, Leipzig 1879.
- Karl Staudinger: History of the Bavarian Army under Elector Max II Emanuel 1680–1726 . tape 2 . Lindauer, Munich 1904.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Paul Wentzcke: General of the emperor - life and deeds Duke Charles V of Lorraine. Koehler & Amelang, Leipzig 1943, p. 278.
- ^ Franz Herre: Prinz Eugen - Europe's secret ruler . Stuttgart 1997, p. 39 f.
- ↑ Ernst Trost: Prince Eugene of Savoy . Vienna / Munich 1985, p. 60.
- ^ Paul Wentzcke: General of the emperor - life and deeds Duke Charles V of Lorraine. Koehler & Amelang, Leipzig 1943, p. 286.
- ↑ Ernst Werner, Walter Markow: History of the Turks - From the beginnings to the present . Berlin (East) 1979, p. 156 f.
- ↑ Thomas Winkelbauer : Freedom of the ranks and princely power - countries and subjects of the House of Habsburg in the denominational age . Vol. 1, Vienna 2004 (= Herwig Wolfram (Ed.): Austrian History 1522–1699 .)
- ↑ Josef Matuz: The Ottoman Empire. Baseline of its history . 5th edition, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2008, p. 186.
- ↑ Max von Turek: sv Mohács , in: Bernhard von Poten : Handbook of the entire military sciences , Leipzig 1879, p. 37.