Austria-Hungary Vs Ottomans: Who Would Win?

The Ottoman-Habsburg wars were fought from the 16th to the 18th centuries between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg monarchy, which was often supported by the Kingdom of Hungary. The conflict was driven by the Ottoman presence in the Balkans, which posed a direct threat to the security of the Austrian Habsburg Empire. The rivalry took place in two areas: in the western Mediterranean against Charles V and in Hungary against Ferdinand. The Ottoman Empire was poised to conquer the entirety of the Balkans and sought to expand further into Central Europe, beginning with the Hungarian lands. The Hungarians initially succeeded in the Crusade of Varna, but without significant outside support, they were defeated. The Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453 established the Ottomans as a world empire, and their victory at Mohács in 1526, where they crushed the Hungarian army, further solidified their dominance. The Austrian branch of the Habsburg monarchy needed the economic power of Hungary for the Ottoman wars, and during this time, the territory of the former Kingdom of Hungary shrunk by around 70%. The Ottoman-Habsburg conflict continued until the 18th century, with intermittent tension persisting throughout the 19th century, although the two empires never fought each other in another war and ultimately found themselves allied in World War I.

The Ottoman-Habsburg Wars

Rise of the Ottomans

By the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire had become a serious threat to European powers. Ottoman ships had seized Venetian possessions in the Aegean and Ionian seas, while Barbary pirates working with the Ottomans had seized Spanish possessions in the Maghreb. The Ottomans had also become a powerful Islamic state, which was seen as a threat to Christendom in Europe.

Early Conflicts

The Ottoman Empire's early conquests in Europe were significant, with a decisive victory at Mohács reducing around one-third of central Hungary to the status of an Ottoman tributary. The Crusades of Nicopolis in 1396 and Varna in 1443-44 were some of Europe's most determined attempts to halt the Ottoman advance into Central Europe and the Balkans. However, these attempts failed, and the defeat of Balkan rebels like Vlad Dracula opened up central Europe to Ottoman invasion.

The Habsburg Response

The Habsburgs, who occasionally held the titles of Kings of Hungary and Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, responded to the growing Ottoman threat. After the death of King Louis II of Hungary at the Battle of Mohács in 1526, his widow, Queen Mary of Austria, fled to her brother, the Archduke of Austria, Ferdinand I. Ferdinand's claim to the Hungarian throne was strengthened by his marriage to Anne, King Louis II's sister and the only remaining claimant to the throne. Consequently, Ferdinand I was elected King of Bohemia, and he and his wife were elected King and Queen of Hungary. This clashed with the Turkish objective of placing their puppet, John Zápolya, on the Hungarian throne, setting the stage for conflict.

• Suleiman I's campaign and the siege of Vienna in 1529
• Ottoman-Habsburg War (1526-1538)
• Conquest of Tunis (1535)
• Ottoman-Habsburg War (1540-1547)
• Algiers expedition (1541)
• Ottoman-Habsburg War (1551-1562)
• Expedition to Mostaganem (1558)
• Sieges of Oran and Mers El Kébir
• Ottoman-Habsburg War (1565-1568)
• Fourth Austro-Turkish War (1663-1664)
• Great Turkish War (1683-1699)
• Austro-Turkish War (1716-1718)
• Russo-Turkish War (1735-1739)
• Austro-Turkish War (1788-1791)

Notable Conflicts

The Siege of Vienna, 1529

In 1529, the Ottoman Empire, led by Suleiman the Magnificent, laid siege to Vienna. The Ottoman army numbered around 120,000, while the defenders, led by Ferdinand, consisted of only 16,000 troops and 8,700 volunteers. The siege was ultimately unsuccessful due to heavy rainfall, which hampered Ottoman cannon operations, and the fierce defence mounted by Ferdinand.

The Great Turkish War, 1683-1699

The Great Turkish War was a series of conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and a coalition of European powers known as the Holy League, which included the Holy Roman Empire, Poland-Lithuania, Venice, Russia, and the Kingdom of Hungary. The war began in 1683 with an Ottoman advance on Vienna and ended in 1699 with the signing of the Treaty of Karlowitz. The war resulted in a resounding defeat for the Ottomans, who lost substantial territory in Hungary, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the western Balkans. It marked the first time Russia joined an alliance with Western Europe and was considered the Fourteenth Crusade against the Turks by the papacy.

The Austro-Turkish War, 1788-1791

The Austro-Turkish War was fought between the Habsburg monarchy and the Ottoman Empire from 1788 to 1791. The war began as a Russian-Turkish conflict, with the Russians declaring war on the Ottomans in 1787 after a series of provocations. The Austrians, bound by an alliance with Russia, entered the war in February 1788. The war had negative consequences for the Austrian economy and resulted in only meagre territorial gains, with Austria returning most conquered lands in the final treaty settlement.

The Austrian-Turkish War

The Austro-Turkish Wars were a series of conflicts fought between the Habsburg monarchy and the Ottoman Empire from the 16th to the 18th centuries. The wars were dominated by land campaigns in Hungary, including Transylvania (now in Romania) and Vojvodina (now in Serbia), Croatia, and central Serbia. The Austrian branch of the Habsburgs also needed the economic power of Hungary for their Ottoman wars.

The first of these wars was the Ottoman-Habsburg War (1526-1538), which began when the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand I attempted to enforce his authority over Hungary, a state weakened by civil conflict. Despite some initial successes, Ferdinand ultimately had to turn to his brother, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, for financial support. The war ended in 1538, with the Ottomans retaining control of Buda and other key settlements.

The next major conflict was the Long Turkish War (1593-1606), which saw the Austrians and their allies attempt to push the Ottomans out of Hungary. Despite some initial successes, the Austrians were unable to break the Ottoman army and the war ended in a stalemate in 1606.

The Great Turkish War (1663-1699) began with a failed Ottoman siege of Vienna in 1683, which was portrayed by historians as a decisive Austrian victory that marked the decline of the Ottoman Empire. The Austrians assembled a large coalition of European powers known as the Holy League to fight the Ottomans and regain control of Hungary. The war ended with a decisive Holy League victory at Zenta in 1697, leading to the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699, which secured territories and overlordship of Transylvania for the Austrians.

The Austro-Turkish War of 1716-1718 began when the Ottomans, brimming with confidence after victories over the Russians and Venetians, marched on Belgrade. However, the invasion was a catastrophe, with the Ottoman army broken and their Grand Vizier killed at the Battle of Petrovaradin by an outnumbered Austrian force led by Prince Eugene of Savoy. The Austrians captured Belgrade the following year and gained possession of several territories in the subsequent Treaty of Passarowitz.

The final Austro-Turkish War (1788-1791) was fought concurrently with the Russo-Turkish War (1787-1792). The Austrians entered the war in February 1788, but their slow preparations and supply shortages hampered their efforts. The war had negative effects on Austria's economy and civil society, and Austrian Emperor Joseph II ultimately died of an illness contracted during the conflict. His successor, Leopold II, was compelled to end the war due to the threat of Prussian intervention in support of the Ottomans. The final outcome, established in the Treaty of Sistova, saw Austria make only minor territorial gains.

The Ottoman-Hungarian Wars

The Hungarian-Ottoman Wars were a series of battles between the Ottoman Empire and the medieval Kingdom of Hungary. The conflict began after the Byzantine Civil War, the Ottoman capture of Gallipoli, and the decisive Ottoman victory at the Battle of Kosovo, which left the Ottoman Empire poised to conquer the entirety of the Balkans. The Ottoman Empire also expressed its desire to expand further north into Central Europe, beginning with the Hungarian lands.

The Hungarians initially found success in the Crusade of Varna, though without significant outside support, they were ultimately defeated. The Hungarians also inflicted defeats on the Ottomans at Belgrade, even after the conquest of Constantinople. In particular, Vlad the Impaler, with limited Hungarian help, resisted Ottoman rule until the Ottomans placed his brother, a man less feared and less hated by the populace, on the throne of Wallachia. Ottoman success was once again halted at Moldavia due to Hungarian intervention, but the Turks finally succeeded when Moldavia and then Belgrade fell to Bayezid II and Suleiman the Magnificent, respectively.

In 1526, the Ottomans crushed the Hungarian army at Mohács, with King Louis II of Hungary perishing alongside 26,000 soldiers. Following this defeat, the eastern region of the Kingdom of Hungary became an Ottoman tributary state, constantly engaged in civil war with Royal Hungary. The war continued with the Habsburgs now asserting primacy in the conflict with Suleiman and his successors. The northern and most of the central parts of Hungary managed to remain free from Ottoman rule, but the Kingdom of Hungary, the most powerful state east of Vienna under Matthias I, was now divided and constantly threatened by Ottoman ambitions in the region.

In the century after the death of Osman I in 1326, Ottoman rule began to extend over the eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans, slowly at first and later in earnest. Gallipoli was captured in 1354, severing the Byzantine Empire from its continental territories. The important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387, and the Turkish victory at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, paving the way for Ottoman expansion into the rest of Europe.

In the spring of 1365, Louis I of Hungary, who ruled from 1342-1382 and earned the epithet "the Great", invaded Wallachia and Moldavia and established a system of vassalage. Louis and his 80,000-strong army repelled the Serbian Dušan's armies in the duchies of Mačva and the principality of Travunia in 1349. When Emperor Dušan broke into Bosnian territory, he was defeated by Bosnian Stjepan II with the assistance of Louis' troops. When Dušan made a second attempt, he was defeated by Louis in 1354, capturing Mačva and Belgrade. The two monarchs signed a peace agreement in 1355.

Louis' latter campaigns in the Balkans were aimed not so much at conquest and subjugation as at drawing the Serbs, Bosnians, Wallachians, and Bulgarians into the fold of the Roman Catholic faith and at forming a united front against the Turks. It was relatively easy to subdue the Balkan Orthodox countries by arms, but to convert them was a different matter. Despite Louis' efforts, the peoples of the Balkans remained faithful to the Eastern Orthodox Church and their attitude toward Hungary remained ambiguous. Louis annexed Moldavia in 1352 and established a vassal principality there before conquering Vidin in 1365. The rulers of Serbia, Walachia, Moldavia, and Bulgaria became his vassals. They regarded powerful Hungary as a potential menace to their national identity. For this reason, Hungary could never regard the Serbs and Wallachians as reliable allies in subsequent wars against the Turks.

In 1366, Byzantine Emperor John V visited Hungary to beg for help against the Ottoman Turks, who were in increasing conflict with the Balkan vassal states. The Battle of Nicopolis in 1396 is thought to be the first military encounter between Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, where a broad coalition force of Christian monarchs and European military commanders, including the Knights Hospitaller, was comprehensively annihilated by a numerically inferior Turkish army under the capable command of their 4th Sultan, Bayezid the Thunderbolt.

Despite these successes, the Ottomans were dealt a major setback when, at Ankara in 1402, Timur the Great of the Timurid Empire defeated and captured the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid the Thunderbolt. After a decade of internecine battles, Mehmed I emerged victorious and reestablished the Ottoman Empire, and the Byzantine Emperor accepted its vassalship and agreed to pay tribute.

Murad II, the successor to Mehmed I, proved to be a worthy successor to his father, who had completed the restoration of their realm following the end of the Ottoman interregnum. Murad II proceeded to conquer new territories in both the Balkans and Anatolia, adding them to the resurgent Ottoman Empire. In 1422, no longer professing suzerainty to the Byzantines, he laid siege to Constantinople, which narrowly avoided becoming an Ottoman conquest. However, he managed to capture lands surrounding Constantinople.

With Byzantium no longer a threat, Murad II began his war against his Christian opponents, attacking Macedonia and capturing Thessalonika from the Venetians in 1430. Between 1435 and 1436, the Ottomans made a show of strength in Albania, but the country survived due to intervention from the Kingdom of Hungary, whose borders now neared those of the Ottoman Empire.

In the 1440s and 1450s, the Hungarian military leader John Hunyadi became the key architect of campaigns against the Ottoman Empire. In 1441, he scored a pitched battle victory at Semendria over Ishak Bey. The following year, he annihilated an Ottoman force invading Transylvania at Sibiu. In 1442, John Hunyadi won four victories against the Ottomans, two of which were decisive. In March 1442, Hunyadi defeated Mezid Bey and the raiding Ottoman army at the Battle of Szeben in the southern part of the Kingdom of Hungary in Transylvania. In September 1442, Hunyadi defeated a large Ottoman army of Beylerbey Şehabeddin, the Provincial Governor of Rumelia. This was the first time that a European army defeated such a large Ottoman force, composed not only of raiders but of the provincial cavalry led by their own sanjak beys (governors) and accompanied by the formidable janissaries.

Following this victory, Wallachia again accepted the suzerainty of the Kingdom of Hungary. With the help of knights from western Europe, Hunyadi succeeded in capturing Nis on November 3, 1443, defeating another Turkish army as they crossed the Balkan Mountains and then taking another victory on Christmas Day. Because supplies for the Crusader army were low, Hunyadi concluded a ten-year peace treaty with Murad II, presumably on Hunyadi's terms, for it was the triumphant Hungarian that entered Buda in February 1444. Ten years was the maximum time permitted by Islamic law for a treaty with an "infidel". The peace was short-lived, as Cardinal Julian Cesarini incited the Hungarians to break the treaty and attack the Turks once more. However, much of the Crusader armies' strength had been reduced due to the loss (by defection) of Serbia, Albania, and the Byzantine Empire.

The Crusader army attacked across the Danube. Murad, upon hearing of the Christian breach of the treaty, is said to have mounted the broken treaty on his standard and said, "Christ, if you are God as your followers claim, punish them for their perfidy". The two armies met on November 10, 1444, near Varna in eastern Bulgaria. Accounts vary as to how many troops were present, but the Crusaders may have been 30,000 strong, while the Ottoman forces were two to three times larger. Nonetheless, Hunyadi's successful defense wagons held the line until King Ladislas led a charge to his death against the Turkish lines. His head was mounted on a spear where all the defeated Crusaders could see it. Few Crusaders survived the battle, although Hunyadi did escape with his life.

The Hungarians recovered their strength after Varna, and Hunyadi was able to lead another expedition down the Danube. Turkish counter-attacks saw this "crusade" driven back. After Murad dealt with the Greeks at the Peloponesse and others who had fought him at Varna, he turned his attention to Albania, whose leader, once an Ottoman hostage, was now a popular resistance leader. Hunyadi could not refuse an offer to fight the Turks, and in 1448 an army of some 24,000 Hungarians marched south into Serbia. At the Second Battle of Kosovo, Murad scored another victory against the Hungarians. This time, Hunyadi had had enough and was unable to campaign against the Ottoman Sultan. Murad II passed on his powers to his successor, Mehmed II. Thanks to such victories, the Ottoman forces were able to capture Constantinople in 1453, with only the Italians offering minimal support to the Byzantines.

Meanwhile, the Ottoman issue had again become acute, and after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Sultan Mehmed II was rallying his resources to subjugate Hungary. His immediate objective was Nándorfehérvár (today Belgrade), a major castle-fortress and a gatekeeper of south Hungary. The fall of this stronghold would have opened a clear way to the heart of Central Europe. Hunyadi arrived at the Siege of Belgrade at the end of 1455, after settling differences with his domestic enemies. At his own expense, he restocked the supplies and arms of the fortress, leaving a strong garrison there under the command of his brother-in-law Mihály Szilágyi and his own eldest son, Hunyadi László. He proceeded to form a relief army and assembled a fleet of two hundred ships. His main ally was the Franciscan friar, Giovanni da Capistrano, whose fiery oratory drew a large crusade made up mostly of peasants. Although relatively ill-armed (most were armed with farm equipment such as scythes and pitchforks), they flocked to Hunyadi and his small corps of seasoned mercenaries and cavalry.

On July 14, 1456, the flotilla assembled by Hunyadi destroyed the Ottoman fleet. On July 21, Szilágyi's forces in the fortress repulsed a fierce assault by the Rumelian army, and Hunyadi pursued the retreating forces into their camp, taking advantage of the Turkish army's confused flight from the city. After fierce but brief fighting, the camp was captured, and Mehmet raised the siege and returned to Constantinople. With his flight began a 70-year period of relative peace on Hungary's southeastern border.

However, plague broke out in Hunyadi's camp three weeks after the lifting of the siege, and he died on August 11. He was buried inside the (Roman Catholic) Cathedral of Alba Iulia (Gyulafehérvár), next to his younger brother John. Sultan Mehmet II paid him tribute: "Although he was my enemy, I feel grief over his death, because the world has never seen such a man."

During the battle, Pope Callixtus III had ordered the bells of every European church to be rung every day at noon as a call for believers to pray for the defenders of Belgrade. However, in many countries, news of the victory arrived before the order, and the ringing of the church bells at noon thus transformed into a commemoration of the victory. The pope never withdrew the order, and many Catholic and older Protestant churches still ring the noon bell to this day.

Hunyadi's son Matthias Corvinus was crowned king in Buda in 1458 at the age of 15. In 1471, Matthias renewed the Serbian Despotate in south Hungary under Vuk Grgurević for the protection of the borders against the Ottomans. In 1479, an Ottoman army, on its return home from ravaging Transylvania, was annihilated at Szászváros (modern Orăştie, October 13, 1479) in the Battle of Breadfield. The following year, Matthias recaptured Jajce, drove the Ottomans from northern Serbia, and instituted two new military banats, Jajce and Srebernik, from reconquered Bosnian territory. In 1480, an Ottoman fleet seized Otranto in the Kingdom of Naples. At the earnest solicitation of the pope, Matthias sent the Hungarian general Balázs Magyar to recover the fortress, which surrendered on May 10, 1481. Again, in 1488, Matthias took Ancona under his protection for a while, occupying it with a Hungarian garrison.

In 1456, Mehmed II's post-Constantinople troubles escalated further when the principality of Wallachia under Count Vlad III Dracul rebelled against the Ottoman Empire and declared the King of Hungary as his suzerain. The main drive for these actions was Vlad's return to his homeland after being in exile as a hostage of the Ottoman sultan. In 1461, five years after his return, Vlad initiated war with the Turks when he impaled the Turkish ambassadors demanding tribute from him and took the fortress of Giurgiu. Vlad then began a bloody assault across the Danube to the Black Sea, destroying as many of the ports as he could to prevent Ottoman naval attacks.

Ottoman attempts to subdue Vlad militarily proved a failure, but his cruelty, which had terrorized his enemies, proved to be his undoing. When Mehmed offered the populace the choice of Vlad or his brother Radu, the populace chose Radu, and soon Vlad was again an exile on the run. An attempt to return a few years afterward ended in his death in battle.

In 1475, Mehmed ordered an invasion of Moldavia. Again, the Ottomans often took possession of the field, but Moldavian hit-and-run tactics proved effective against the Turks. Poor roads further slowed the Ottomans until Stephen the Great was able to concentrate his forces at Vaslui. An Ottoman offensive was held in check and then finally driven from the field on January 10, 1475.

The Ottomans returned in 1476, this time assisted by their allies from Crimea, the Tartars, and their newly conquered Vassal of Wallachia. Stephen knew that he did not have the resources to defend his people and evacuated them to the mountains. After a failed attack on the Ottoman vanguard, Stephen seemed on the brink of defeat when King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary offered assistance. The Ottomans withdrew when the Hungarians began moving in, and fighting did not resume until 1484.

The early reign of Bayezid II included a small civil war against his brother Jem, who escaped to the west. There, European leaders entertained ideas of installing a pro-Western sultan while sending a crusade to the Balkans. Consequently, Bayezid did not incite any serious wars with his Christian opponents until his brother's death in 1495. In the meantime, Bayezid signed a ten-year peace with Hungary in 1484, although this did not prevent a defeat of an Ottoman army at Villach in 1493. Between 1484 and 1486, Bayezid campaigned annually against Moldavia in an attempt to subdue it and link up with Crimea, his Muslim vassal and ally. Despite two defeats in 1485 and 1486, Moldavia was subjugated. As Bayezid's reign drew to a close, he was entangled in a civil war between his sons Ahmed and Selim. Eventually, Selim took the throne in 1512 and, for the next eight years, continued minor conquests in the west, although his main achievement was the conquest of the Mamluke Sultanate. It would be Selim's successor, Suleiman, who would continue the war against Hungary.

Suleiman the Magnificent resumed the war against Hungary by attacking the city of Belgrade, the same settlement that had defied Mehmed II over half a century earlier. Despite strong resistance, the city fell to Suleiman. In 1522, Suleiman took his army to a strategically successful siege of Rhodes, allowing the Knights Hospital to evacuate the fort.

When Suleiman launched an invasion in 1526, the Grand Vizier constructed a great bridge ahead of the Sultan, allowing his army to march into Hungary. Despite eighty days of marching and taking five days to cross the Danube River, the Ottomans met no resistance from the Hungarians. The original plan of Hungarian King Louis II had been to send a vanguard to hold the Danube where the Ottomans were expected to cross, yet the nobles of the Kingdom refused to follow the King's deputy in battle, claiming that they did so out of zealous allegiance to the King (and would, therefore, only follow him). Consequently, when King Louis II took the field, his army of 36,000 men seemed doomed to fail against the Ottomans' 80,000. At Mohács, the plains of Hungary allowed the heavier Christian knights to launch an effective charge. As the Hungarian knights brushed aside first the Akinjis and then the Sipahis, the Ottoman cavalry regrouped and flanked the Knights, inflicting a moderate number of casualties. The Sultan then placed his Janissaries and cannon into position, chained up as an effective line. The Hungarian cavalry took serious casualties from the skilfully handled Turkish artillery. With the cavalry annihilated, the infantry suffered immense casualties as the weight of numbers of the Ottomans and their skill in battle took their toll. When Suleiman the Magnificent found the body of Louis II, he is said to have been saddened by his untimely death.

After the death of the Hungarian king, both the Austrian Habsburg family and the Hungarian noble Zápolya family claimed the whole kingdom. King John I of Hungary ruled the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom, and the Habsburgs ruled the western part of Hungary. The Habsburgs tried several times to unite all of Hungary under their rule, but the Ottoman Empire prevented that by supporting the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom. King John I died in 1540, and the Habsburg forces besieged Buda, the Hungarian capital, in 1541. Sultan Suleiman led a relief force and defeated the Habsburgs. The Ottomans captured the city by trick during the Siege of Buda, and the south-central and central areas of the kingdom came under the authority of the Ottoman Empire, therefore Hungary was divided into three parts. The northwestern rim of the Hungarian kingdom remained unconquered and recognized members of the House of Habsburg as Kings of Hungary, giving it the name "Royal Hungary". The Eastern Hungarian Kingdom is the predecessor of the Principality of Transylvania, which was established by the Treaty of Speyer in 1570, and the Eastern Hungarian King became the first Prince of Transylvania. The Principality of Transylvania was a semi-independent state and a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire. It continued

The Ottoman-Venetian War

First Ottoman-Venetian War (1463-1479)

The First Ottoman-Venetian War lasted from 1463 to 1479 and resulted in the capture of Negroponte, Lemnos, and Albania Veneta by the Ottomans. During this war, Turkish cavalry raided Dalmatia and Friuli, and Venice agreed to pay tribute to the sultan.

Second Ottoman-Venetian War (1499-1503)

The Second Ottoman-Venetian War lasted from 1499 to 1503 and resulted in the capture of Venetian strongholds in the Morea (Peloponnese) by the Ottomans.

Third Ottoman-Venetian War (1537-1540)

The Third Ottoman-Venetian War lasted from 1537 to 1540 and resulted in the capture of the Cyclades except Tinos, the Sporades, and the last Venetian strongholds in the Morea by the Ottomans.

Fourth Ottoman-Venetian War (1570-1573)

The Fourth Ottoman-Venetian War, also known as the War of Cyprus, was fought between 1570 and 1573. It was waged between the Ottoman Empire and Venice, which was joined by the Holy League, a coalition of Christian states. This war resulted in the capture of Cyprus by the Ottomans and the defeat of their fleet in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571.

Fifth Ottoman-Venetian War or the Cretan War (1645-1669)

The Fifth Ottoman-Venetian War, also known as the Cretan War, lasted from 1645 to 1669 and resulted in the capture of Crete by the Ottomans.

Sixth Ottoman-Venetian War or the Morean War (1684-1699)

The Sixth Ottoman-Venetian War, also known as the Morean War, lasted from 1684 to 1699 and resulted in the capture of the Morea (Peloponnese), Lefkada, Aigina, and parts of Dalmatia by Venice, ending Ottoman dominance in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

Seventh Ottoman-Venetian War (1714-1718)

The Seventh and final Ottoman-Venetian War lasted from 1714 to 1718 and resulted in the recapture of the Morea, Tinos, and Aigina, the last Venetian holdings in the Aegean, by the Ottomans.

The Ottoman-French Alliance

The Franco-Ottoman alliance, also known as the Franco-Turkish alliance, was established in 1536 between Francis I, King of France, and Suleiman I of the Ottoman Empire. The alliance was one of the longest-lasting and most important foreign alliances of France, and was particularly influential during the Italian Wars.

The alliance was an opportunity for both rulers to fight against the hegemony of the House of Habsburg. The objective for Francis I was to find an ally against the Habsburgs, although the policy of courting a Muslim power was in reversal of that of his predecessors. The pretext used by Francis I was the protection of the Christians in Ottoman lands, through agreements called "Capitulations of the Ottoman Empire".

The plea of the French king nicely corresponded to the ambitions of Suleiman in Europe, and gave him an incentive to attack Hungary in 1526, leading to the Battle of Mohács and defeating the Hungarian empire, the strongest allies of the Habsburg monarchy of Austria. The Ottomans were also greatly attracted by the prestige of being in alliance with such a country as France, which would give them better legitimacy in their European dominions.

The alliance was controversial for its time as it was the first non-ideological alliance in effect between a Christian and Muslim state. It caused a scandal throughout Christendom, with Carl Jacob Burckhardt (1947) calling it "the sacrilegious union of the lily and the crescent".

The alliance lasted intermittently for more than two and a half centuries, until the Napoleonic campaign in Ottoman Egypt in 1798–1801. During this time, the Ottomans and the French collaborated on several military campaigns against the Habsburgs.

• 1525: Francis I was defeated at the Battle of Pavia by the troops of Emperor Charles V and forced to sign the Treaty of Madrid, relinquishing the Duchy of Burgundy and the Charolais to the Empire and renouncing his Italian ambitions.
• 1525: A first French mission to Suleiman seems to have been sent by the mother of Francis I, Louise de Savoie, but the mission was lost on its way to Constantinople.
• 1525: A second mission was sent, led by John Frangipani, which managed to reach Constantinople with secret letters asking for the deliverance of King Francis I and an attack on the Habsburgs.
• 1526: Suleiman responded positively to the French request, expressing his solidarity with Francis I and his readiness to help.
• 1526: Suleiman attacked Hungary, leading to the Battle of Mohács and defeating the Hungarian empire, the strongest allies of the Habsburg monarchy of Austria.
• 1528: A Franco-Hungarian alliance was signed between Francis I and the Hungarian king Zapolya, who had become a vassal of the Ottoman Empire.
• 1528: Francis I again contacted Suleiman, asking for the return of a mosque to a Christian Church and the protection of Christians in the Ottoman Empire.
• 1529: The Ottomans besieged the Habsburg capital in the first siege of Vienna.
• 1532: The French ambassador Antonio Rincon joined Suleiman in Belgrade and presented him with a magnificent four-tiered tiara.
• 1533: Suleiman sent Francis I 100,000 gold pieces to help him form a coalition with England and German states against Charles V.
• 1534: A Turkish fleet sailed against the Habsburg Empire at the request of Francis I, raiding the Italian coast and capturing Tunis.
• 1535: Ambassador Jean de La Forêt was sent to Istanbul and became the first permanent ambassador at the Ottoman court. He negotiated the capitulations, obtaining important privileges for the French, such as the security of people and goods, extraterritoriality, and freedom to trade.
• 1536: A formal alliance was signed.
• 1537: Combined operations were agreed upon, with the Ottomans attacking southern Italy and Naples, and Francis I attacking northern Italy with 50,000 men. However, Francis failed to meet his commitment.
• 1543: French and Ottoman forces collaborated to bombard the city of Nice.
• 1543: The Ottomans were offered by Francis I to winter at Toulon, and they used this base to attack the coasts of Spain and Italy.
• 1553: A new treaty of alliance was signed, involving naval collaboration against the Habsburgs. A Franco-Ottoman fleet accomplished an invasion of Corsica for the benefit of France.
• 1558: The Ottomans contributed to the Ottoman invasion of the Balearic Islands.
• 1559: The conflict ended with the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis.
• 1566: Under Charles IX, the French ambassador to the Ottoman Empire intervened in favour of the Dutch Revolt against the Spanish Empire.
• 1574: William of Orange and Charles IX of France tried to obtain Ottoman support in their fight against the Spanish King Philip II.
• 1798-1801: The Napoleonic campaign in Ottoman Egypt brought an end to the Franco-Ottoman alliance.

The alliance between France and the Ottoman Empire had far-reaching consequences. It helped save France from the grasp of Charles V and aided Protestantism in Germany. It also gave the Ottoman Empire the opportunity to become involved in European diplomacy and gain prestige in its European dominions.

Frequently asked questions