Austria-Hungary And Turkey: Historical Neighbors, Not One Country

The histories of Turkey and the Austro-Hungarian Empire are distinct, but they have had significant relations with each other dating back centuries. Turkey was never part of Austria-Hungary, but both were once large multi-ethnic conglomerations sustained by conquest. The two empires were rivals and waged frequent wars against each other over control of much of Central Europe and the Balkans. The Ottoman Empire, which included Turkey, threatened to conquer the Austrian capital of Vienna twice: in 1529 and 1683. After the second Ottoman defeat at Vienna and the end of the Great Turkish War in 1699, the Habsburgs gained the upper hand, capturing Hungary and Croatia from the Ottomans.

The Ottomans and the Habsburgs fought numerous wars from the 16th to the 18th centuries

The Ottoman–Habsburg wars were fought from the 16th to the 18th centuries between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg monarchy, which was supported by the Kingdom of Hungary, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and Habsburg Spain. The wars were dominated by land campaigns in Hungary, including Transylvania, Vojvodina, Croatia, and central Serbia.

By the 16th century, the Ottomans had become a serious threat to the European powers. Ottoman ships swept away Venetian possessions in the Aegean and Ionian seas, and Ottoman-supported Barbary pirates seized Spanish possessions in the Maghreb. The Protestant Reformation, French–Habsburg rivalry, and the numerous civil conflicts of the Holy Roman Empire distracted the Christians from their conflict with the Ottomans. Meanwhile, the Ottomans contended with the Persian Safavid Empire and, to a lesser extent, the Mamluk Sultanate, which was defeated and incorporated into the Ottoman Empire.

Initially, the Ottomans made significant gains in Europe, with a decisive victory at Mohács reducing around one-third of the Kingdom of Hungary to the status of an Ottoman tributary. Later, the Peace of Westphalia and the War of the Spanish Succession in the 17th and 18th centuries, respectively, left the Austrian Empire as the sole firm possession of the House of Habsburg.

After the second siege of Vienna in 1683, the Habsburgs assembled a large coalition of European powers known as the Holy League, allowing them to fight the Ottomans and regain control over Hungary. The Great Turkish War ended with a decisive Holy League victory at Zenta. The wars ended after Austria's participation in the war of 1787–1791, which Austria fought allied with Russia. Intermittent tension between Austria and the Ottoman Empire continued throughout the nineteenth century, but they never fought each other in a war and ultimately found themselves allied in World War I, after which both empires were dissolved.

The Kingdom of Hungary was divided into three parts after the Battle of Mohács in 1526

The Kingdom of Hungary was partitioned into three parts after the Battle of Mohács in 1526. The three parts were controlled by the Ottoman Empire, the Habsburg monarchy, and the Principality of Transylvania. This division lasted for several centuries. The battle itself was fought between the forces of the Kingdom of Hungary and its allies, led by King Louis II, and the Ottoman Empire, led by Suleiman the Magnificent. The Ottoman victory led to the end of the Jagiellonian dynasty in Hungary and Bohemia, with dynastic claims passing to the House of Habsburg.

The Kingdom of Hungary between 1526 and 1867 existed as a state outside the Holy Roman Empire but was part of the lands of the Habsburg monarchy, which later became the Austrian Empire in 1804. After the Battle of Mohács, Hungary was ruled by two crowned kings, John I and Ferdinand I, with the territory under Habsburg rule initially disputed. This period of uncertainty lasted until 1570 when John Sigismund Zápolya (John II) abdicated as King of Hungary in favour of Emperor Maximilian II.

The lands ruled by the Habsburg Hungarian kings were considered both the "Kingdom of Hungary" and "Royal Hungary". Royal Hungary symbolised the continuity of formal law after the Ottoman occupation, preserving its legal traditions. However, in general, it was de facto a Habsburg province. The Hungarian nobility forced Vienna to acknowledge that Hungary was a unique entity within the Habsburg lands, requiring governance in accordance with its laws.

The Treaty of Karlowitz, which concluded the Great Turkish War in 1699, resulted in the Ottomans ceding nearly all of Ottoman Hungary. These new territories were united with the Kingdom of Hungary, although its authority was mostly nominal, with the Diet of Hungary in Pressburg assuming control.

The Kingdom of Hungary became a dual monarchy in 1867, known as Austria-Hungary.

The Austrian and Ottoman Empires were allies during the First World War

The Austrian and Ottoman Empires shared a long history of conflict, dating back to the Middle Ages, when both empires were vying for control of Central Europe and the Balkans. The Ottoman Empire, ruled by the House of Osman, and the Austrian Empire, under the House of Habsburg, fought numerous wars against each other, with the Ottomans even threatening to conquer Vienna, the Austrian capital, in 1529 and 1683.

However, by the early 20th century, the two empires no longer shared a border, due to the gains made by Austria in the Balkans and the decline of Ottoman influence in the region. This allowed the former rivals to become allies during the First World War, as part of the Central Powers, along with Germany and Bulgaria.

The Central Powers alliance offered significant strategic advantages due to the geographical proximity of its members, making it easier to move troops, equipment, and supplies between different fronts. For example, the Austro-Hungarians could quickly reinforce their troops on the Italian Front or the Salonika Front in the Balkans. This ability to "operate on interior lines" was crucial and enabled the Germans to launch a major offensive on the Western Front in 1918 by rapidly transferring divisions from the Eastern Front.

Despite their alliance in World War I, the Austrian and Ottoman Empires shared a complex history, and their rivalry had shaped the political landscape of Central Europe and the Balkans for centuries. The defeat of the Central Powers ultimately led to the collapse of both empires and the end of their monarchies.

The Austro-Turkish War was fought from 1788 to 1791

The Austro-Turkish War, also known as the Habsburg–Ottoman War, was fought between the Habsburg monarchy and the Ottoman Empire from 1788 to 1791. The conflict began soon after the breakout of the Russian-Turkish war, with the Austrian Emperor Joseph II bound by an alliance with the Russians formed in 1781. The war was fought concomitantly with the Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792).

The Austrians entered the war in February 1788, though they had lost their best chance for an easy victory. The Ottoman forces concentrated on Belgrade, which they captured in July. The Austrians relied on Russian support in Moldavia, which only began in late 1788, and Joseph II seemed reluctant to fight. The Austrians faced a shortage of supplies, and their soldiers were struck by disease. As many as 50,000 Serb refugees fled across the Danube, causing logistical problems. In mid-August, Joseph II dispatched 20,400 soldiers into the Banat, and a Serbian Free Corps of 5,000 soldiers was established to fight for liberation from Ottoman rule.

The balance later shifted towards Austria, with the Turks expelled from parts of Croatia, the Banat, and Bosnia. Belgrade was retaken in a three-week campaign by Field Marshal Laudon, and Habsburg-occupied Serbia (1788–1791) was established. The Austrian army also participated in the victories of Focşani and Rymnik, and Josias of Saxe-Coburg conquered Bucharest. However, outbreaks of malaria and other diseases played a major role, with thousands of Austrian soldiers falling ill and dying. Joseph II himself spent much of the war at the front and ultimately died of illness upon his return home in February 1790.

Joseph's successor, Leopold II, was compelled to end the war due to the threat of Prussian intervention in support of the Ottomans. The Treaty of Sistova of 4 August 1791 resulted in minor territorial changes in favour of the Habsburgs, with Austria gaining the small town of Orsova and a strip of Croatian land near the Bosnian-Croatian border. The war had serious negative consequences for the Austrian economy and derailed progress in creating a modern civil society.

The Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699 ended the Ottoman-Habsburg wars

The Treaty of Karlowitz, signed on 26 January 1699, concluded the Great Turkish War of 1683–1697. The Ottoman Empire was defeated by the Holy League at the Battle of Zenta, marking the end of Ottoman control in much of Central Europe. The treaty was signed in Karlowitz, in the Military Frontier of the Habsburg Monarchy (present-day Sremski Karlovci, Serbia). This treaty is also known as "The Austrian treaty that saved Europe".

The treaty was signed following a two-month congress between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy League of 1684, a coalition of the Holy Roman Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Republic of Venice, and Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia. The treaty confirmed the territorial holdings of each power based on uti possidetis. The Habsburgs received the Eğri Eyalet, Varat Eyalet, much of the Budin Eyalet, the northern part of the Temeşvar Eyalet, and parts of the Bosnia Eyalet from the Ottomans. This corresponded to large parts of Hungary, Croatia, and Slavonia. The Principality of Transylvania, an Ottoman vassal state since the mid-16th century, became nominally independent but was subject to the direct rule of Austrian governors.

The Treaty of Karlowitz significantly diminished Turkish influence in east-central Europe and established the Habsburg monarchy as the dominant power in the region. It marked the beginning of the reversal of four centuries of Ottoman expansion and was a watershed moment in the history of the Ottoman Empire. While the Ottoman Empire would take back some of its losses in the 1710s, the Peace of Karlowitz marked a shift in the balance of power between the Ottoman Empire and its Christian opponents, particularly the Austrian Habsburg conglomerate and Russia.

The Peace of Karlowitz also marked an important step towards streamlining the legal relations between the Habsburgs and the Ottomans under European law and away from Islamic law and Ottoman legal and diplomatic practices. For the first time in an Austro-Ottoman peace settlement, the treaty provided a procedure to delineate and demarcate the new borders on land, reflecting Christian European conceptions of territorial sovereignty and the strict separation of the states of war and peace.

Frequently asked questions