CHAPTER XII.
AUSTRIA, POLAND, AND TURKEY.
By RICHARD LODGE, M.A., LL.D., late Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford; Professor of History in the University of Edinburgh.
The most critical period in the history of the House of Habsburg 338
The Austrian dominions. Hungary. 339
Difficulties and dangers survived. 340
The decline of Turkish power.342
Revival of Turkey. Mohammad Kiuprili.. 343
Poland and Transylvania. George Râkdczy II..344
Turkish attack on Transylvania. Keményi.. 345
Austria involved in war with the Turks. Ahmad Kiuprili. 346
Battle of St Gothard. Montecuculi. 347
Peace of Vasvar. End of the war of Candia.348
Austria, France, and Poland. John Casimir.349
Election of Michael Wisniowiecki. 350
Conspiracy of Hungarian nobles.351
Suppression of the Hungarian conspiracy. Reign of terror. 352
War between Poland and Turkey. Treaty of Buczâcz.353
Election of John Sohieski..354
Poland, Turkey, and Hungary. Kara Mustafa.355
France, Poland, and Austria.356
Religious toleration in Hungary. Diet of Oedenburg.357
Turkish hostility to Austria. Emeric Tökölyi.353
Turkish advance against Austria.359
The Holy League against the Turks. 364
War between Venice and the Turks. 365
Austrian successes in the east. Capture of Buda. 366
Austrian ascendancy in Hungary. Battle of Harkâny.367
Continued defeats of the Turks.368
Revival of Turkish power. Mustafa II.. 369
CHAPTER XII.
AUSTRIA, POLAND, AND TURKEY.
THE second half of the seventeenth century is perhaps the most critical period in the history of Austria, as it certainly is in the history of the great House of Habsburg, with whose fortunes those of Austria have for ages been inextricably intertwined. The Spanish monarchy, in the hands of the elder branch, was steadily sinking through impotence towards partition. Portugal had to be surrendered in 1668 ; and the feeble throne of Charles II was only preserved till the close of the century by constant cessions of territory to French greed and by the costly aid of European coalitions. The Austrian Habsburgs seemed to be threatened with a similar fate. Their dreams of a revived Imperial control over Germany, which might have been realised if Ferdinand II could have been his own Wallenstein, instead of having to employ so unmanageable an agent, were shattered by the victories of Gustavus Adolphus, by the disintegrating diplomacy of Richelieu, and in the end by the military strength of France. The Treaty of Westphalia not only transferred the Habsburg rights in Elsass to the Bourbon, but, by securing to the Princes of the Empire the independent control of their foreign relations, it made Germany the loosest and most impotent of federations. Nothing held it together except the survival of a great tradition and a grandiose title, together with the more practical unifying force of the dread of Turkish aggression. This danger enabled Leopold I, the son and successor of Ferdinand III, to obtain his election to the Imperial dignity in 1658, in spite of the intrigues of Mazarin. But, with the aid of French gold, the Electors were induced to extort from the young Emperor in his capitulation a [pledge that he would abstain from sending assistance to Spain. And France gave added force to the pledge by joining in the same year the League of the Rhine, formed by those Electors and Princes whose territories would have to be traversed by troops on their way from Austria to the Netherlands.
In face of the League of the Rhine and the continued danger of cooperation between France and Sweden, it was impossible to gain substantial power for the German monarchy. If the Austrian Habsburgs
In spite of all her difficulties, external and internal, Austria, unlike Spain, emerged from the critical half century, not only with undivided dominions, but on the whole with increased strength and prestige. In the series of coalitions which first checked and then foiled the ambitious designs of Louis XIV the Austrian ruler played a part hardly second to that of William III of Orange. But for the momentous decision of Leopold I to come to the assistance of the sorely-pressed Dutch in 1673, the French King, with the interested connivance of the degenerate Stewarts, and with the help of Turenne, Condé, and Luxembourg, must have firmly founded his supremacy in western Europe. Without Austria and Prince Eugene, no league could have been formed strong enough to prevent the retention by Philip of Anjou of the whole dominions of Spain. The western policy of Austria in this period, though chequered by reverses and leading to some bitter disappointments, is in itself no discreditable part of Austrian history. And any apparent discredit is removed when it is remembered that, all the time, the Habsburgs were fighting a double battle against domestic disaffection and Turkish aggression. Moreover, from this eastern struggle, of which only one salient episode, the relief of Vienna in 1683, has succeeded in fixing the attention of western Europe, Austria emerged victorious. By the end of the century Transylvania had been reunited to the Hungarian Crown, the Turks had been driven from almost the whole of Hungary, and that kingdom had been permanently subjected to the House of Habsburg. It is this eastern side of Austrian history which is the subject of the present chapter. The interest and importance of the events narrated in it may appear slight to the western reader, and the policy of Austria may often be blamed as vacillating, short-sighted and oppressive. But how different would have been the history of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, if Austria had fallen from her rank among the foremost Powers of Europe !
The ruler whose long reign witnessed some of the most critical moments in the fortunes of Austria, was singularly unfitted by nature and training to guide the State through troubled times. Leopold I, "the little Emperor in red stockings," was the second son of Ferdinand III and the Infanta Maria Anna of Spain. He was originally brought up for the Church until the death (from small-pox) in 1654 of his elder brother made him heir to the Austrian dominions. He
The clue to the difficulties and dangers of Leopold I in the east, and also to such success as he ultimately achieved, is to be found in his relations with the Ottoman Turks. Throughout the sixteenth century the Austrian dominions had been the most substantial barrier between central Europe and the threatened advance of Turkish power ; and this had done more than anything else to secure the election of successive Habsburgs to the Imperial throne. Fortunately for Europe, the unique opportunity offered by the Thirty Years' War had been lost by the Turks, in consequence of the internal decline of their State. Since the death of Solyman the Magnificent in 1566 the iron discipline which held together the Turkish forces had been sensibly relaxed. Degenerate Sultans ceased to lead their armies into the field, passed their lives in the enervating atmosphere of the harem, and became the puppets of female intrigue. The constitution of the once invincible army
The revival of Turkey, which was contemporaneous with the accession of Leopold I, constituted a danger of the first magnitude to Austria, and also to two other eastern States, Russia and Poland, which, in spite of mutual rivalry, were forced by common defensive interests into cooperation with Austria. Russia under the House of Romanoff had recovered unity after the internal disturbances at the beginning of the seventeenth century, and in the reign of Alexis (1645-76) was beginning to feel her way towards a place among European Powers. Her progress westwards was barred by Sweden and Poland, and southwards by the Tartar tribes of the Crimea and the Kuban, which had been under vassalage to Turkey since the fifteenth century. But, though Russian aggrandisement was destined to be ultimately ruinous to Poland, her most immediate enemies were Sweden, which blocked the way to the Baltic, and Turkey, which stood between Russia and the Black Sea. And both Sweden and Turkey were the enemies of Austria. Poland was in a somewhat similar position as regards external relations, though her domestic government was wholly different. For centuries Poland had been the foremost Slav State in Europe, but she had begun to decline since 1572 when, on the extinction of the male line of Jagello, she had made her monarchy elective and adopted a constitution which transformed the kingdom into an oligarchical republic. Geography made Poland the enemy of Turkey ; the history of the State had involved it in a prolonged and bitter quarrel with Sweden. In 1587 the Poles had elected as King the Roman Catholic Sigismund Vasa, whose mother was a Jagello princess and who in 1592 inherited the Swedish
Meanwhile, Mohammad Kiuprili had found in this war the pretext which he desired for intervention in eastern Europe. He had no reason to support the integrity of Poland or to desire the victory of the Poles ; but he was determined to restore Turkish control over Transylvania, and he had reason to suspect Rakdczy of tampering with the fidelity of the rulers of Wallachia and Moldavia. On the pretext that the invasion of Poland was a breach of Rakdczy's obligations as a vassal, he decreed his deposition and ordered the Estates to choose a successor. They submissively chose Francis Redei ; but Rakdczy speedily deposed his feeble rival, in the confident hope that the Turks would be too fully occupied in Crete to pay much attention to the affairs of a distant province.
Kiuprili met this defiance by leading an overwhelming army in 1658 to cooperate with the Pasha of Buda against Transylvania. The open country was laid waste, and the population sold into slavery. The towns only saved themselves from the same fate by payment of heavy contributions. The haughty Vezir nominated Achatius Barczai Prince of Transylvania, and forced the Estates to acknowledge him. All pretence of free election was disregarded. The annual tribute was raised from 15,000 to 50,000 florins, and a large war indemnity was demanded. But Râkdczy obstinately continued the struggle against overwhelming force, and appealed to Leopold I as King of Hungary to send him assistance. The Court at Vienna was watching with growing uneasiness the treatment of Transylvania as a dependency of the Porte. But Leopold had no standing army ; he was anxious to avoid a great eastern war ; and Rakdczy's recent action in Poland was not yet forgiven. All that Austria would do in 1658 was to offer diplomatic remonstrances, which the Porte treated with contempt. In spite of the return of John Keményi, Rakdczy's lieutenant in the Polish war, who had been carried off into captivity by the Crimean Tartars, and in spite of assistance from the deposed Hospodars of Wallachia and Moldavia, Rakdczy's cause was hopeless. In May, 1660, he was mortally wounded in a heroic struggle against heavy odds, and a fortnight later he died at Grosswardein.
In August, after an obstinate resistance, Grosswardein was forced to surrender to the Turks. But the patriots were not yet reduced to despair. In January, 1661, John Keményi was chosen Prince of Transylvania ; and soon afterwards Achatius Barczai, whose troubled reign was identified in the people's mind with humiliating submission to the oppressive invader, was put to death. Keményi renewed the appeal for help to Vienna, where, as a born Hungarian, he was more acceptable than Rakdczy had been. The appeal was supported by the Palatine and the chief nobles of Hungary, and Leopold could hardly refuse to help in the defence of his own kingdom, which was now threatened by the victorious Turks, though he was still desirous of avoiding any open declaration of war. In 1661 Montecuculi was sent into Hungary with the wholly inadequate force of 10,000 men, which were to be reinforced by Hungarian levies. This was a virtual recognition of Keményi ; and the Turks replied by forcing the Estates of Transylvania to accept another nominee of their own, Michael Apaffy, the fifth holder of the perilous dignity within three years. Meanwhile Montecuculi's campaign had produced little result. His original plan of diverting the Turks from Transylvania by an attack upon Buda was overruled from Vienna, and he was ordered to effect a junction with Keményi on the Theiss in Upper Hungary. Together they advanced into Transylvania as far as Klausenburg (Kolozsvâr) ; but the population gave them a cold welcome. The Turks refused to fight a battle, and the army was seriously weakened by disease and privation. Montecuculi, a cautious
After the death of Kemenyi hostilities languished for a year; Mohammad Kiuprili had died in November, 1661, and the Sultan gave the vacant office to his son Ahmad Kiuprili, the ablest and most famous Turkish commander of the century. The success which had attended the father's severity enabled the son to rule with greater leniency; and for a time Europe hoped that the Porte under new guidance might abandon its aggressive policy. The Hungarians demanded the withdrawal of the German troops, whom they had called to their assistance. The Protestants clamoured for the redress of their grievances and resisted all proposals in the Diet for a reasoned plan of defence. The Austrian Ministers were so irritated by what they considered gross ingratitude that they opened negotiations with the Turks ; and the Vezir was only too glad to lull suspicions while he made preparations for a campaign on a grand scale, which was intended to complete the conquest of Hungary and to carry the Crescent to the walls of Vienna. The result was a futile congress at Temesvar, and a complete neglect of military preparations on the part of Austria. In 1663 the Turks threw off all concealment, and commenced open war against the Emperor. At Adrianople Ahmad Kiuprili received the sacred standard from the hands of the Sultan, and in June he led an imposing army of over 120,000 men to Belgrade. In face of such a force it was hopeless to think of defending Transylvania. Klausenburg opened its gates to Apaffy, whose authority remained undisputed till his death. Meanwhile, the Vezir had advanced from Belgrade to Buda, whence his army threw itself like a slow but irresistible flood upon western Hungary. The Austrian Government was wholly unprepared for resistance. Leopold was ill with small-pox, and all that the Ministers could do was to send Montecuculi with some 6000 troops to " play the Croat " in face of the overwhelming enemy. Fortunately the Turks, in spite of their strength, were delayed by the necessity of capturing the various fortresses which defended the course of the Danube and its tributaries. One of these, Neuhäusel (Ursek Ujvar), offered an invaluable resistance, and it was not till September 25 that the garrison surrendered with the honours of war. Montecuculi, too weak to attempt the relief of Neuhäusel, sought to cover Pressburg and the eastern frontier of Austria by throwing himself into the long island of Schutt, formed by two channels of the Danube, where he was joined by the tardy levies of
Hungarian militia, and by the warlike Ban of Croatia, Niklas Zrinyi, whose dashing guerilla tactics were lauded by fiery patriots in contrast to the methodical procedure of the Commander-in-Chief. The strength of Montecuculi's position was never seriously tested, as Kiuprili contented himself with the capture of Neuhäusel, and retired into winter-quarters to prepare for a more energetic advance in the following year.
The news that, after the interval of a century, a Turkish army comparable to that of Solyman the Magnificent was advancing westwards under a young and capable leader, made a profound impression in Europe, and woke some faint echo of the old crusading ardour. Hungarian malcontents rallied to the House of Habsburg when they found their homes desolated by the Tartar bands, whose predatory instincts were imperfectly restrained by the discipline enforced among the regular troops of Turkey. The sluggish Diet at Ratisbon, to which Leopold appealed in person, voted a levy of money and troops from the Empire. Even Louis XIV, abandoning the selfish alliance with the Turks which his predecessors had maintained, and not unwilling to pose as the disinterested protector of a rival State, sent 4000 men under General Jean de Coligny to serve with Montecuculi. The prospect of external assistance encouraged the Austrian troops to begin the campaign instead of waiting to be attacked. The cavalry under Souches defeated and harassed the outlying forces on the right wing of the Turks, and even recovered some of the forts which had been taken in the previous year. Kiuprili was slow to commence his march, and his delay enabled the French and German auxiliaries to effect their junction with the main army. When the Turks advanced, it was seen that they kept to the southern side of the Danube, and that they were diverging from the main valley towards Styria in order to turn the defences of Pressburg. Montecuculi waited for them behind the Raab. As the Turks marched south-westwards along the right bank of the river, the Christians kept pace with them on the other side. At last, under the convent of St Gothard, Kiuprili found a convenient angle of the river at which the passage of troops could be protected by artillery placed at the two corners of the arc. Here he determined to brush away the one serious obstacle to his advance. A victory would give him unimpeded entry into the main Austrian dominions ; and already the Imperial Court was preparing to abandon Vienna for greater safety in Linz. On August 1 large bodies of Janissaries were thrown across the Raab and began to fortify a position on the left bank. Montecuculi, unable to dispute the actual passage, drew up his army in three divisions. The centre was formed by the troops of the Imperial Diet, the French were on the left wing, and the Austrians and Hungarians were on the right. Their great advantage was that the Turks could only cross in detachments, and were therefore unable to make full use of their superior numbers. But the first onslaught of the infidels, delivered with the
The battle of St Gothard is of supreme importance in the light of future events, because it gave the first proof that the Turks had lost their military superiority. Their courage and their obstinate fighting power were as indisputable as ever ; but their arms and their tactics were those of the time of Solyman, and they had made no progress in the art of war. On the other hand, the Christian troops had profited by the lessons and experience of the Thirty Years' War. In artillery, in cavalry, and above all in the use of the pike, the supreme infantry weapon of that day, they were the masters of their opponents. The great achievement of Montecuculi foreshadowed the later victories of Charles of Lorraine and Prince Eugene. But while Europe was exulting at the disappearance of a great danger, it was astounded to learn that the victor had made a hasty and not very creditable peace. Montecuculi's army was too exhausted and too ill-united to attempt the arduous task of driving the Turks out of Hungary ; and there were Ministers in Vienna who held that the continuance of the Turkish peril served a useful purpose in making Hungary dependent upon Austria. By the Treaty of Vasvar, signed on August 10, a truce for twenty years was arranged between Austria and the Turks. Apaffy was recognised as Prince of Transylvania ; the free election of his successor was guaranteed, and the principality was to be evacuated both by Turkish and Austrian troops ; but the Sultan's suzerainty over it was maintained. The Turks kept their most important conquests, Grosswardein and Neuhäusel ; but, in compensation for the latter, the Emperor was to be allowed to build a new fortress on the Waag. Finally, a sum of 200,000 florins was to be given to the Porte. The Austrians called it a gift ; but it was easy to regard it in Constantinople as a tribute. Ahmad Kiuprili, in spite of his defeat, was able to return with the credit of one who had enlarged the bounds of Turkish rule, and he set himself to maintain and enhance his reputation by bringing the long war of Candia to an end. In 1668 he took the command in person, and against his iron determination the heroic efforts of the great Venetian general, Francesco Morosini, and of the volunteers who flocked from all countries to the service of the Republic proved unavailing. In September, 1669, the defenders of Candia capitulated, and the whole island of Crete, with the exception
While the Turks were restoring and strengthening their ascendancy in the Mediterranean, the Austrian Government had three difficult questions to deal with. The War of Devolution, provoked by the preposterous claims of Louis XIV in the Netherlands, led to the earliest proposals of a European coalition to check the ambition of France. Of such a coalition Leopold I, who had just married the Infanta Margaret, the presumptive heiress of her brother Charles II, was the natural leader, and its most energetic advocate was the Austrian ambassador, Francis de Lisola, who was the first to formulate that policy of vigorous opposition to Louis XIV which was afterwards pursued by his master and by William of Orange. But at this time the Austrian Ministers, the Princes von Auersperg and Lobkowitz, were dominated by the French envoy, Bretel de Grémonville. Not only did Leopold remain neutral in the Netherlands war, but on January 19,1668, he was induced by his love of peace to conclude a secret treaty with France for the eventual partition of the Spanish inheritance. By this he virtually admitted the force of Louis XIV's contention that his wife's renunciation of her claims was invalid.
As against this weakness of Austrian policy in the west must be set a strenuous struggle to oppose the dangerous growth of French influence in Poland. John Casimir, the last of the Vasa Kings, had in 1648 renounced his Orders, to succeed his brother on the Polish throne and to marry his widowed sister-in-law, Mary di Gonzaga, daughter of the Duke of Nevers. On his death the right of election would be freed from any strong dynastic claims, and the prize of the Polish Crown would be thrown open to unlimited competition. The reign of John Casimir was a time of unrest. Poland was saved by its allies from the attack of Charles X of Sweden ; but the Peace of Oliva was followed by a renewal of the long struggle with Russia for the hazardous right of ruling the turbulent Cossacks of the Ukraine. During the Swedish war Poland had relied upon the Emperor's help, and Austrian influence had been so predominant at Warsaw that schemes were entertained for adding the great Slav kingdom to the possessions of the House of Habsburg. But since 1660 the influence of the Queen had been actively exerted on the side of France, and a strong party was formed to support the candidature of a French prince as John Casimir's successor. In 1663 Mary brought about a marriage between her favourite niece, Anne of Bavaria, and the Due d'Enghien, son of the great Condé. A strenuous effort was now made to induce the Poles to elect either Enghien or his father during the lifetime of the reigning King. As soon as this should be done, John Casimir pledged himself to abdicate and to retire to a more congenial
So vast and many-sided a plot-resembling in many ways the Jacobite organisation in England in the early eighteenth century- could hardly have escaped detection, if all the parties had been loyal and disinterested. Its disclosure became certain, when a jealous rivalry grew up among the leaders, when personal ambition became stronger than devotion to a common cause, and when the failure to gain any assurance of foreign aid began to excite disappointment and alarm. Apaff'y's zeal rapidly cooled, as he saw in the young Rakoczy a dangerous
On the suppression of the famous conspiracy of the Hungarian magnates followed a reign of terror, which has loaded the name of Lobkowitz with obloquy in Hungarian tradition. All the designs which had been attributed to the Austrian Government were now put into practice. The nobles could only escape suspicion and trial by the most abject submission. The Protestants were punished for treason as well as for heresy. Their preachers were sent to the galleys, and their churches were either closed or handed over to the Catholics. The time-honoured office of Palatine was suppressed; and Caspar von Ampringen, High Master of the German Order, was sent with full powers as Governor to Pressburg. The Jesuit advisers of Leopold believed that Hungary might be reduced by the methods which had proved successful in Bohemia. The Magyar, though inferior as a plotter, is, however, a more resolute rebel than the Slav. Possibly, if there had been no external difficulties, his obstinacy might have been overcome. But European affairs at this time
This conflict had its origin in the Ukraine, which in 1667 had been divided between Russia and Poland, the whole district on the left bank of the Dnieper being assigned to Russia, while the town of Kieff was to remain in her occupation for two years. The partition was a grievance to the turbulent Cossacks, who desired to recover their unity and who equally resented control from Warsaw or from Moscow. After two years of desultory warfare the Cossack Hetman Doroszenko appealed for aid to the Turks. Ahmad Kiuprili responded to the appeal in 1672 by once more leading an imposing army northwards. The Sultan was induced to accompany his troops on what was little more than a triumphant march. Kameniec was carried by storm; Lemberg surrendered; and the whole of Podolia was at the mercy of the invaders. The timid King Michael became a suppliant for peace, and agreed by the Treaty of Buczâcz (October 18,1672) to cede Podolia, to acknowledge Turkish suzerainty over the Ukraine, and to pay an annual tribute of 220,000 ducats. Mohammad IV returned in triumph to Adrianople.
But the elation of the Turks was premature. The haughty spirit of the Poles was roused by the news of the King's abject surrender. In response to the fiery appeals of Sobieski, the shameful treaty was repudiated. Kiuprili had to return northwards, where he threw a strong
As might have been anticipated, the choice of the Diet fell upon the vigorous champion of the nation's honour, John Sobieski (May 21, 1674). His accession was a triumph for Louis XIV, as that of his predecessor had been for the Emperor. Sobieski was bound to France by early associations, by the influence of his wife, Mary d'Arquicn, and by his identification during recent years with the French party in Poland. Louis naturally sought to make the most of what might prove invaluable assistance in the east. He sent the Marquis of Béthune, who had married an elder sister of the new Queen of Poland, to carry his congratulations to Sobieski ; and on June 11, 1675, a treaty of alliance was signed between France and Poland. The Polish King was to receive a subsidy of 200,000 crowns, and French assistance in the design of restoring Polish suzerainty over East Prussia. In return, he was to allow recruiting in his dominions for the French service and to give a helping hand to the Hungarian rebels. Thus Louis had it in his power to stir up formidable difficulties which would divert the forces of Austria and also those of the Elector of Brandenburg, who had rejoined the coalition against France. On May 27, 1677, Béthune signed a treaty with Apafi'y and his allies by which, in return for French subsidies and aid from Poland, an army of 15,000 men was to make war upon the Emperor 1 Charles Leopold of Lorraine succeeded his uncle diaries III in 1676 in the titular duchy which he never ruled. Although he failed in his candidature for the Polish Crown, he married the Archduchess Eleonora Maria, the widow of King Michael, in 1678. The grandson of this marriage, Francis Stephen, hecame the husband of Maria Theresa and the ancestor of the later House of Lorraine-Habsburg.
In spite of all this diplomatic activity, the Hungarian revolt gained little from foreign assistance, and exerted far less influence upon the western war than had been anticipated at Versailles. ApafFy found it necessary to regulate his actions in accordance with the will of the Porte, which was not yet prepared for an open rupture with Austria. Ahmad Kiuprili, who had extended the empire of Turkey to its furthest bounds in Europe by the inclusion of Neuhäusel in its Hungarian dominions and by the acquisition of Podolia and Crete, died a few days after the signing of the Treaty of Zurawna. His successor, Kara Mustafa, had by his energy and strength of will gained the confidence of the two Kiuprilis and the favour of the Sultan. He had become son-in-law of Mohammad, and thus brother-in-law of Ahmad Kiuprili. In all his actions he displayed that hatred and haughty contempt for the Giaours which had been handed down from the days of Turkish triumph. Already, as Kamakam (deputy of the Vezir), he had persuaded Mohammad IV to express to the French Minister his willingness to make war upon the Emperor as soon as peace was made with Poland. This momentous decision was formally approved by the French Council of State, and the conclusion of the Treaty of Zurawna was welcomed with enthusiasm at Versailles. But, though Kara Mustafa never abandoned his design, he was compelled to postpone its execution. The Cossack Hetman Doroszenko, profoundly disappointed by the Treaty of Zurawna, appealed to the Tsar for assistance against his recent allies. In 1677 the Turks found themselves involved in a war with Russia-the one Christian Power for which they entertained a vague but real respect. So long as this war continued, it was hopeless for France or any other Power to expect Turkish intervention. Apaffy found it advisable to restrain his enthusiasm for the Hungarian rebels. In 1678 his representative, Teleki, withdrew of his own accord from the command of the insurgent forces and adroitly suggested as his successor Emeric Tökölyi, who was betrothed to his daughter. The new Hungarian leader possessed all the personal qualities which gain affection and loyalty; and his name still holds a high place in the traditions of his countrymen.
But, in spite of his fiery courage, his persuasive eloquence, his constancy in misfortune, and the dramatic vicissitudes of his career, it is clear that the hatred of Austria which he inherited from his father was stronger than his devotion to the real interests of his country, and that his action on more than one momentous occasion was determined by personal ambition. It was of evil omen that he celebrated his acceptance of the national leadership by the issue of coins which had on their reverse the legend, "Tolcolyi princeps partium Hungariae dominus" and on their obverse, "Ludovicus XIV, Galliae Rex, Protector Hungariae.''''
The disappointment caused in France by the failure of the Turks to take up arms against Austria was neither so bitter nor so lasting as the resentment excited by the defection of Poland. Both personal and political motives combined to bring this about. The grasping Mary d'Arquien complained that the pension given her as Queen was no larger than that which she had received as the wife of the Grand Hetman, and demanded the elevation of her father, a dissipated elderly nobleman, from the rank of marquis to that of duke and peer of France. Louis XIV refused to grant this impudent request, and excused his apparent parsimony by recalling the large sums which he had expended in the Polish election. Sobieski himself, while as a doting husband he supported his wife's demands, felt that Louis had, for his own reasons, urged him into the Treaty of Zurawna, though he could have extorted better terms if he had waited for Russian assistance. Besides, Poland was overwhelmingly Roman Catholic, and its clergy, as well as the Pope, opposed the giving of aid to the Hungarian Protestants. In truth, had Sobieski followed the dictates of France, he must have incurred the hostility of his subjects. Although he received the crown on less onerous terms than his predecessor, he was only the first magistrate of a republic. Thus, in spite of the efforts of Béthune, the Polish King drifted further from France and nearer to the Emperor, who held out a prospect of his daughter's hand being given to Sobieski's son, and of the King's father-in-law becoming a Prince of the Empire and being endowed with lands in Silesia. In 1677 Sobieski pledged himself to give'no aid to Leopold's rebellious subjects, and went so far as to prohibit the departure of troops which Béthune had recruited in Poland for aiding the Hungarians.
In 1679 Leopold, after a good deal of hesitation, followed the example set by his allies, Holland and Spain, in making the Treaty of Nymegen with France. His troops had at the end of 1678 driven Tökölyi from his strongholds in Upper Hungary ; he was secure from opposition on the part of either Poland or Turkey ; and, now that his hands were free in the west, it was naturally expected that he would complete the task of subjugating Hungary, which he had begun in 1670 and which had been interrupted in 1673 by his war with France. But the Emperor, though slow and timid, was not without intelligence, and what his mind had once grasped was not readily forgotten. He had learned
Substantial as these concessions were, and extremely distasteful to the Catholic party, they failed to satisfy either the extreme Protestants or the extreme nationalists. Emeric Tökölyi declined to attend the Diet at Oedenburg, rejected its decrees as inadequate and insincere, and at the close of 1681 sent three envoys to Constantinople to offer to the Sultan the suzerainty over Hungary. His motives and their justification will always be open to dispute. From the Austrian point of view, he acted as the hireling of France and as an ambitious and unscrupulous rebel who was resolved at all costs to gain a principality for himself. From the opposite point of view, he was the resolute defender of political and religious liberty who refused to be deluded by the deceptive promises of an intolerant despot-promises which were only extorted by the fear of France and Turkey and would be withdrawn as soon as that fear had disappeared. The truth probably lies between the two extremes, and the desire to avenge the deaths of his father's associates in 1671 may
The conduct of the Imperial Government in the year 1682 displayed equal short-sightedness and irresolution. In the previous year the Turks had concluded the war with Russia by abandoning the Ukraine and leaving Kieff to be a Russian city. In January, 1682, the envoys of Tökölyi received the definite assurance of Turkish support. Kara Mustafa never wavered in his intention of undertaking the direct attack upon Vienna which he had planned six years before. The very fact that the plan was opposed by rival aspirants to the Sultan's favour made him the more resolute to insist upon a policy which had become essential to the maintenance of his own ascendancy. But, in spite of warnings, Leopold and his Ministers refused to believe in the imminence of danger from the east. They had decided at the end of 1681 to send Count Albert Caprara as a special envoy to demand the prolongation of the Truce of Vasvar, which would expire in 1684. Although their resident ambassador warned them that a special mission would be interpreted as a proof of fear and weakness, they had little doubt as to the acceptance of their demand. They continued the policy of conciliation in Hungary, and carried complaisance so far as to give approval to a marriage between Tökölyi, who had repudiated his betrothal to Teleki's daughter, and Helen Zrinyi, the widow of Francis Râkdczy. A representative of the Emperor attended the wedding, which was celebrated on June 15, 1682, at the bride's castle of Munkâcs. By this marriage Tökölyi strengthened his hold upon the patriotic party, and brought under his control not only the greatest inheritance in Hungary but also the person of his stepson, Francis Râkdczy II, the heir to a great name and an inspiring tradition.
In the summer the confidence of the Austrian Ministers received a rude shock. Caprara reported that the Turks evaded his demands by suggesting impossible conditions for the renewal of the treaty, and that in his opinion the Vezir was resolved upon war. Tökölyi, once secure of his bride (who was fourteen years his senior), concluded a treaty with the Pasha of Buda, raised the standard of revolt in the name of " God and liberty," and overpowered the surprised garrisons in Upper Hungary. But blindness still prevailed in Vienna. In September the truce with Tökölyi was renewed, leaving him in possession of his recent conquests ; and the triumphant rebel was actually accepted as mediator to endeavour to bring about the prolongation of peace with the Turks. Under the influence of the Spanish ambassador, Marquis Borgomainero, more time was spent in discussing the measures for checking the distant aggressions of Louis XIV than in providing for the defence of Austria and its capital. Meanwhile Kara Mustafa was deceiving Caprara by artfully spaced-out interviews, and was employing the time in making elaborate preparations for a campaign which might, so far as official
Once convinced that Austria was again threatened with a Turkish invasion, the Imperial Ministers showed no lack of energy. Agents were sent to all Christian States to urge them to combine their efforts against the common foe. Although, as Louis XIV sneeringly remarked, crusades had gone out of fashion since the days of St Louis, the response was not wholly discreditable to the fellow-feeling which still feebly survived in Christendom. It is true that some States held selfishly aloof. Charles II of England was the pensioner of France, and had had quite enough of wars and of parliaments. William of Orange was powerless, against the opposition of the republican party, to send aid to an ally whose overthrow would be as fatal to Holland as to Austria itself. Frederick William of Brandenburg was playing his own game, and it was not the correct move at the moment to support a prince who disputed his claims in Silesia and who would not agree to help him to drive the Swedes from Pomerania. Spain was too anxiously watching France to be able to spare assistance even for her closest ally. But Innocent XI worthily discharged the duties of the first bishop of western Christendom. He sent money to Austria, and fatherly exhortations to all the rulers who belonged to his communion. Venice eagerly promised help against its old oppressor. The sluggish Germanic Diet voted money, and among the Princes who promised to lead their troops to the defence of their suzerain were Maximilian Emanuel of Bavaria, Leopold's prospective son-in-law, John George of Saxony, and the young George Lewis of Brunswick-Lüneburg, afterwards King George I of Great Britain (four of whose brothers likewise served against the Turks). But the nearest and most invaluable ally was the most experienced and successful of living combatants against the Turk, the King of Poland. On March 31, 1683, John Sobieski signed the momentous treaty by which he undertook to furnish a force of 40,000 men. The French envoy, Vitry, resorted to the tactics which Louis XIV had prescribed as the only safeguard, if Poland were alienated from
France, and tried to stir up opposition in the Diet. But he had to deal with a King who knew all the methods of French diplomacy in the past. His letters were discovered, and he was dismissed with contumely from Warsaw. Louis had to pay a heavy penalty for his creditable refusal to bestow unmerited rank upon the Marquis d'Arquien. For, after all, the French King was as keenly interested in the Turkish invasion as the Emperor himself-not that, as some thought, he had brought it about. Constantinople was the only European Court at which his influence counted for nothing. The most haughty and imperious of rulers in insisting upon the privileges of his representatives, he could not protect his envoys from contemptuous treatment and even from imprisonment at the hands of the Turks. But he had known of Kara Mustafa's design in 1676, had welcomed the Turkish peace with Russia as enabling the Vezir to put it into execution, had planned his aggressive Reunions in the confident hope that his foremost opponent would be paralysed by the task of defending his own country. Louis XIV would never have admitted that he was a traitor to the Christian cause. The Turk, according to Louis' purpose, was to be a tool and not a master. As soon as he had swept the Habsburgs out of the way and advanced with his hordes to the upper Danube, Germany must appeal to the Most Christian King, and Louis as the victorious champion of the Cross would recover that imperial dignity which, according to the belief and teaching of French historians, had been wrongfully wrested from their kings as the heirs of Charlemagne. Crusades would have come into fashion again, when they fitted in with the interests of France.
The criminal blindness of the Austrian Government had delayed the appeal for help so long that it nearly came too late. For some months the Habsburg dominions had to provide their own defence. The veteran Montecuculi, who had so often urged the maintenance of a standing army as the one defence against the Turks, had died in 1681. His last service was to persuade his master to retain some 30,000 of the troops which had been raised in the recent war with France. These formed the nucleus of the Imperial army which was placed under the command of Leopold's brother-in-law, Charles of Lorraine, and which was joined by the youthful Eugene of Savoy, among other volunteers. For a moment the Imperial general meditated aggression as the best method of defence and advanced to attack Neuhäusel. But the risk of being cut off from the Austrian frontier was too great, and the Duke fell back to cover Vienna. On July 7, the Emperor with his wife and family quitted his capital amidst the murmurs of his subjects, to seek a safer refuge in Passau. Only at the last moment were measures taken to destroy the defenceless suburbs and to strengthen the neglected fortifications of the city. If Kara Mustafa had hurried his advance, he could hardly have failed to carry Vienna by storm. But he lost several precious days on the way, and it was not till July 17 that he completed the blockade of
The story of the defence of Vienna is the most heroic page in the stirring annals of the city. Grateful recollection has preserved the memory of all who played a prominent part in the obstinate resistance which was offered to the overwhelming force of the enemy, from the Governor, Count Rüdiger Starhemberg, to the leader of the corps of University volunteers. Local tradition preserved a record of every sally, of the desperate struggles which raged round each bastion. Kara Mustafa might have taken the city over and over again, if he had pressed the attack with that obstinate determination and that disregard of human life which had been shown by Mohammad II in the storming of Constantinople. But he preferred to wait until exhaustion, plague, and famine compelled an unconditional surrender. And even so he came within measurable distance of success. The limits of human endurance had almost been reached, when on September 11 the relieving army appeared on the slopes of the Kahlenberg. Charles of Lorraine had played his part manfully. He had impeded the supplies and interrupted the communications of the besiegers, and he had successfully defended Pressburg from the attack of Tökölyi. But his chief care had been to hasten the assembling of the relieving forces from Germany and from Poland. In response to the Duke's urgent appeals, John Sobieski commenced his march with only 26,000 men, instead of waiting for the collection of the full contingent fixed by the treaty. At Hollabrunn he was joined by Charles of Lorraine, who accompanied him to Tuln, where a bridge of boats had been carefully protected to secure the crossing of the Danube. To Tuln came the Bavarians and Saxons with a number of German volunteers, who had already assembled at Krems. On the southern bank of the river the whole Christian force, numbering nearly 70,000 men, was marshalled, and without delay set out on the difficult march through the Wiener Wald to the hills commanding a view of the city of Vienna and the eastward plain. Some fears had been entertained that difficulty might be caused by the jealous rivalry of a King, two Electors, and an Imperial general. To avert this, the Emperor actually started down the river with the intention of assuming the command in person. But his arrival would certainly have irritated the Polish King, whose superior rank and experience were not disputed by his colleagues. It was under his supreme command that the army was drawn up on the morning of the eventful September 12. On the left, nearest the river, were the Imperial troops under the Duke of Lorraine; in the centre were the Germans under the two Electors; while the right wing was formed by the Poles with an Austrian contingent.
It was no easy task which lay before them ; but it was facilitated by the gross ignorance and incompetence of Kara Mustafa. He had refused to believe till the last minute in the arrival of the Poles, and he had taken no precautions to cover the besieging army. He could easily have detached sufficient troops to destroy the bridge at Tuln or to hold the passes of the Wiener Wald. Even when the enemy was in sight, he refused to follow the advice of Ibrahim, the Pasha of Buda, to withdraw his seasoned troops from the trenches and to fortify a strong position on his western front. Between the Kahlenberg and the plain were a number of valleys formed by streams running into the Danube. Each of the intervening slopes might have been held by the Turks, and days must then have been spent in forcing an arduous path to the city walls. But all precautions had been neglected. The left wing of the allies, which had the hardest task, swept away the Moldavian and Wallachian auxiliaries, and the whole line threw itself with the impetuosity of assured success upon the Turkish camp. The Vezir was carried away with his panic-stricken troops. The Janissaries, surprised in the trenches between the relieving vanguard and the exultant garrison, were cut to pieces. Darkness was setting in, when the eight hours' combat came to an end, and the relief of Vienna was accomplished. The victors had so little anticipated such a speedy and complete triumph that they remained under arms all night, in the belief that the Turkish retreat must have been of the nature of a stratagem. It was not till day dawned that they discovered that the vast encampment which surrounded Vienna was deserted. As a matter of fact the flight of the Turks was so hasty that by 10 o'clock the next morning the foremost fugitives had reached Raab, a journey which it had taken the army eight days to cover on its advance.
It is saddening to turn from a heroic deed of arms, in which all worked together with complete enthusiasm and harmony, to the pitiful misunderstandings which followed. To a coalition success is almost as disintegrating as defeat. The Elector of Saxony stayed to escort the Emperor to the thanksgiving service in St Stephen's on the 14th, but started homewards with his troops that very evening, declaring that Protestants were regarded with little favour in Vienna and that the Saxons had no share in the spoils. He had some grounds for the complaint that the saving of Vienna was celebrated rather as a Roman Catholic than as a Christian victory. More serious was the want of concord between the Emperor and the King of Poland, and yet it was almost inevitable. Leopold, grateful as he was, could not but feel that he was dwarfed in his own and in his subjects' estimation by the magnificent achievements of his preserver. He had been willing to take the command, but had feared to come forward, lest he should hurt the susceptibilities of his ally ; and now he was an outsider in the celebration of the defence of his own capital. The susceptible Viennese had crowded to kiss the hands of Sobieski ; they looked with some coldness on the
Incipient quarrels, and the miasma emitted by the imperfectly cleared battlefield, made it imperative to remove the troops from Vienna; and on September 18 the pursuit of the enemy was begun. It was, however, too late to overtake the Turkish army. At Raab Kara Mustafa had put to death Ibrahim Pasha, whose advice he had rejected, and whose accusations before the Sultan he had good reason to dread. Thence the defeated Vezir made his way to Buda. Meanwhile, the Christian army had crossed the Danube at Pressburg by the bridge of boats which had been brought down from Tuln, and after a few days' rest continued their march along the north bank. Near Parkâny the Poles, who were in advance, were routed on October 7 by a superior Turkish force ; but their flight was stopped by the arrival of the Imperial cavalry under Charles of Lorraine. Two days later, when the infantry had come up, the Turks were again attacked and completely routed. This victory was followed not only by the surrender of Parkâny, but also by the capture of Gran, the frontier fortress of the Turkish dominions on the right bank of the Danube. This disaster, the first in which an actual possession of the Turks had been regained by a Christian force, completed the alienation of the Sultan from his Vezir. Kara Mustafa, instead of attempting to relieve Gran, had continued his retreat to Essek and Belgrade. The blame for the defeat at Parkâny he laid upon Tökölyi, who had been within easy march of the battlefield but had rendered no assistance to his allies. The Hungarian leader, whose following had been diminished by a well-timed offer of amnesty from the Emperor, and whose efforts to make terms for himself through Sobieski had failed, was now absolutely dependent upon Turkish assistance. To defend himself against the charges of
No sooner had the glorious campaign of 1683 closed, than the Emperor Leopold was confronted by the same momentous question which had been so hotly debated by the Austrian Ministers in the previous year. Were his most vital interests in the east or in the west ? Would he transform a war which had been forced upon him for the defence of his own dominions into an aggressive crusade for wresting from the Turks the Christian lands which had so long groaned under their rule ? Or would he make peace with the disappointed invaders of Austria, and turn his whole strength to the task of resisting Louis XIV, who remained in possession of Strassburg, and who, at the time when Vienna was in its greatest straits, had renewed the attack upon Luxemburg, which with a parade of magnanimity he had suspended in 1682 ? On the one side was the influence of the Spanish ambassador at Vienna, Borgomainero, who hoped to gain the support of Charles of Lorraine for a scheme which might lead to recovering his lost duchy. On the other side were the urgent representations of Pope Innocent XI and of the victorious generals, including the chivalrous Duke of Lorraine, who placed the interests of Christendom far above the recovery of his own inheritance. Leopold, with equal wisdom and docility, followed the guidance of the Church. On March 5,1684, at Linz, where the Emperor resided while his capital was purified and rebuilt, was signed the Holy League between Austria, Poland, and Venice. The three Powers pledged themselves to carry on war against the Turks and to conclude no separate peace with the infidel. Each State was to retain any conquests which it might make. The Pope was recognised as the patron and protector of the League, and a solemn oath to carry out its terms was transmitted to him from each of the members.
From this treaty dates the continuous war which lasted till the Peace of Carlowitz (1684-98), which finally freed Europe from the Turkish terror, and which assured to the Austrian Habsburgs a foremost place among the Great Powers. The contributions of the three allies to the ultimate success were unequal in merit and in extent. That of Poland was unquestionably the least. John Sobieski did little to maintain, and nothing to enhance, the fame which he had won at Khoczim, at Lemberg, and in the relief of Vienna. He was not unfaithful to his allies, but he was fatally hampered by domestic difficulties, by the opposition of interested partisans of France among the nobles
In the case of Venice, on the other hand, the war was signalised by many creditable achievements. Taking full advantage of the fact that the main Turkish forces were occupied in the north, the Republic organised simultaneous attacks upon the Dalmatian coast and upon Greece. In the latter the chief command was entrusted to Francesco Morosini, the hero of the defence of Candia. He began the campaign in 1684 by capturing the island of Santa Maura and the town of Prevesa. In 1685, with the help of an army of German mercenaries, he commenced his great enterprise, the conquest of the Morea, which gave him the name of "the Peloponnesian." Koron was taken in August, and the fall of Kalamata made him master of the peninsula of Maina. In the next year the Turks were defeated in an attempt to relieve Nauplia by Count Königsmarck, who commanded the German troops ; and the surrender of the garrison gave to Venice almost complete mastery of the southern Morea. The campaign of 1687 is the most famous in the history of the war. In July the Turkish entrenchments near Patras were carried by storm, and an entry was secured into the gulf of Corinth. Accompanied by the fleet, the army marched along the coast to Corinth, which was occupied on August 7. After fortifying the Isthmus, the Venetian forces proceeded into Attica and laid siege to Athens. The bombs of the besiegers reduced to ruin the Parthenon and the Propylaea, and the Turks surrendered the city on September 28. With the fall of Athens the record of uninterrupted success came to an end. In 1688 the city was evacuated, partly on account of an outbreak of plague, and partly in order to concentrate all the forces of the Republic on the conquest of Negropont. This enterprise ended in complete and disastrous failure. Königsmarck died in September ; and on their departure from Negropont in October the German troops were disbanded and sent home. The later history of the war is comparatively uneventful. Morosini resigned his command in 1689; and in the next year Mouemvasia, the last Turkish stronghold in the Morea, was starved into surrender. But all attempts to extend or retain Venetian domination beyond the Isthmus ended in failure. Morosini tried to encourage his fellow-countrymen by returning to Greece at the age of seventy-five; but he died at Napoli (January 16, 1694) before he had time to put his reputation to a new test. His successor Zeno attacked Chios, but was completely defeated by a Turkish fleet and was punished for his incompetence by imprisonment in Venice. The Turkish Government
As compared with her allies, Austria bore the brunt of the war, and to her fell the largest and the most durable share of the spoils. Four eminent commanders, Duke Charles of Lorraine, the Elector Max Emanuel of Bavaria, Margrave Lewis of Baden-Baden, and Prince Eugene of Savoy, had taken part in the relief of Vienna; and they became the protagonists in the great eastern struggle. With the exception of 1684, when an over-confident attack upon Buda ended in the complete repulse of the besiegers, each of the early years of the war was marked by at least one distinguished feat of arms. In fact the superiority of the German arms and tactics, thanks largely to the teaching of Montecuculi, was so great that some contemporary critics complained that the successes gained were not more rapid and complete. For this they blamed the lateness of the season in which the campaigns were begun, and the jealousy with which both the Elector of Bavaria and the Margrave of Baden regarded the Duke of Lorraine. But it must also be remembered that, in addition to the main campaigns, the Austrians were fighting against rebels in northern Hungary and against the Turks in Slavonia and Bosnia ; that the central war was mainly a war of sieges ; and that the Turks, if inferior in the open field, were still stubborn opponents behind walls or entrenchments. A series of almost unbroken victories began in 1685 with the siege of Neuhäusel. The Turks, instead of attempting to effect a direct relief, marched to attack Gran, where they were defeated with great loss by Charles of Lorraine with his main army (August 16). Three days later Aeneas Caprara, who had been left with a small force to maintain the siege till the Duke's return, succeeded in storming the fortress which had been originally constructed by Ferdinand I, and had been the great prize of Ahmad Kiuprili in 1663. In the next year the Imperial army, to which volunteers now flocked from all parts of Europe, advanced to the second siege of Buda. The garrison offered as obstinate a defence as before, and the Vezir Kara Ibrahim led a large army to its succour. But the Duke of Lorraine pressed his attack in spite of many disappointments, and on September 2, after a siege of ten weeks, the ancient capital of Hungary was added to the dominions of the Habsburg King. Equally gratifying to Leopold and almost equally important were the successes gained in 1686 in Upper Hungary. Tökölyi, defeated by General Schulz near Eperies, appealed for aid to the Pasha of Grosswardein, who received him with royal honours and then sent him in chains to Adrianople. Although he was subsequently released and even restored to favour, his cause had suffered a blow from which it never recovered. By the end of 1686 Eperies, Kaschan, Tokay and a number of other towns had submitted to the Emperor. Only the fortress of Munkâcs held out
The campaign of 1687 opened with a reverse. Max Emanuel of Bavaria had long urged that he was entitled to a separate command by his rank as a great German Prince and as the Emperor's son-in-law. The fear that his discontent might lead to the withdrawal of the Bavarian contingent compelled the Austrian Government to divide the army between the Duke of Lorraine and the Elector. Their imperfect cooperation helped to bring about the repulse of an attack on the important fortress of Essek, where the great bridge over the marshy valley of the Drave was the main link in the line of communication between southern Hungary and Belgrade. But the failure was no un-mixed evil, since it encouraged the Vezir to follow the retreating army and to risk a pitched battle at Harkâny, near Mohâcs. Here the Turks suffered a crushing defeat (August 12), which did more than any other single event to overthrow that Turkish ascendancy in Hungary which had been founded upon Solyman's great victory at Mohâcs more than a hundred and fifty years before. General Diinewald, following the fleeing enemy, took Essek and Peterwardein, and thus opened the way into Servia. In the north Erlau surrendered, and Charles of Lorraine, entering into Transylvania, received from Apaffy an acknowledgment of vassalage to the Habsburg King of Hungary. Earlier in the year a special Court had been erected at Eperies under General Caraffa to enquire into the guilt of Tökölyi's associates, and its severity had for the moment intimidated the malcontents. On October 31 a Diet was opened at Pressburg, which recognised the Hungarian Crown as hereditary in the male Habsburg line, and repealed the famous clause in the Golden Bull of 1222, supposed to give the Hungarians a right of armed insurrection in defence of their liberties. The concessions to Protestants made at Oedenburg in 1681 were confirmed. Leopold celebrated his triumph in the formal coronation of his nine year old son, Joseph, on December 9. A few weeks later Munkâcs was at last forced to surrender, and Helen Zrinyi with her children became the Emperor's prisoner.
But the most important results of the battle of Harkany were felt in Turkey. A mutiny broke out in the retreating army, and the mutineers demanded the head of the Vezir. When this was conceded, they proceeded to insist upon the deposition of Mohammad IV, who had preferred the pleasures of the chase to the tasks of government and of military command (November, 1687). Solyman II, whose life had, contrary to all precedents, been spared by his brother, now emerged from his prison to mount the throne. He was wholly unable to control the disorderly troops; and for months Constantinople was given over to anarchy and lawless pillage, until the citizens themselves rose and put the ringleaders to death. So great was the disorder that an easy
It was a courageous but a rash decision. The outbreak of war with France, which compelled Leopold to send considerable forces under Charles of Lorraine and the Elector of Bavaria to the Rhine, restored the balance in the eastern struggle which had hitherto been so decisively adverse to the Turks. In 1689 the change was not yet apparent. In addition to their wars with Poland and Venice, the Turks had to face a new enemy in the Russians who invaded the Crimea. Lewis of Baden, who had succeeded to the command of the Imperial army, was able to overrun Servia, where he made himself master of Nizza and Widdin. But in the winter the Sultan gave the office of Vezir to Mustafa Kiuprili, the brother of the famous Ahmad. Mustafa displayed all the reforming zeal which characterised the members of his House, while he surpassed them in religious tolerance. His great desire was to deprive the enemies of the Porte of the advantages which they had hitherto gained from the discontent of the subject Christians. At the same time, he set himself to reorganise the military organisation and to rekindle discord in Hungary. The death of Apaffy in April, 1690, was followed by the
The battle of Szalankemen marks a turning-point in the history of the war. Both sides relaxed their efforts. The intrigues of France in Constantinople succeeded in preventing the conclusion of peace. On the other hand the influence of the Emperor's western allies, and especially of William III, induced him to abandon all ideas of further conquest and to stand on the defensive in Hungary. Lewis of Baden succeeded in taking Grosswardein in 1692, but in the following year he was despatched to the Rhine. For four years the Imperialists, under the successive commands of Croy, Caprara and the young Frederick Augustus of Saxony, achieved practically nothing, and more than once narrowly escaped disastrous defeat. Meanwhile changes of rulers occurred in Constantinople. On the death of Solyman II in 1691, his brother Ahmad had ascended the throne. The latter's death in 1695 was followed by the accession of his nephew Mustafa II, the son of the deposed Mohammad IV. The new Sultan was a young man in the prime of life and eager for military fame. Instead of entrusting all responsibility to a Vezir he undertook the command of his army in person. The Turks, always responsive to the call of an energetic leader, displayed their old warlike spirit. In 1695 and 1696 they defeated the Imperial forces in Hungary and recovered some of their lost predominance in the Jîgean. It seemed as if events would justify the solemn warning of Montecuculi that his master should never wage a long war against the Turks, as their power remained unbhaken by defeat. In 1697 the Sultan at the head of a formidable army marched from Belgrade up the valley of the Theiss in the direction of Szegedin, whence he could throw himself by way of the Maros into Transylvania. Frederick Augustus of Saxony, with all his physical strength and courage, possessed neither the character nor the capacity needed for a great general, yet it was impossible for the Emperor to dismiss an ally who had brought an independent force to his
Events now tended rapidly in the direction of peace. In November, 1697, the allies concluded the Treaty of Ryswyk with Louis XIV ; and this, added to the recent defeat at Zenta, put an end to the obstinate determination of the Turks to continue the war. They were once more exposed to attack from the undivided /orces of Austria, and they had another formidable enemy in Peter the Great, who had conquered Azoff in 1696, and eagerly desired to make Russia a maritime Power by extending his rule to the Black' Sea. On the other hand, Leopold had long abandoned the ambitious designs which had been entertained at the time of the capture of Belgrade ; and any inclination to renew them was removed by the pressing interest of the approaching succession in
Spain and by the strenuous appeals of the Maritime Powers that he would put an end to the distracting troubles of the eastern war. The youthful rulers of Poland and Russia were less peacefully inclined ; but both had begun to form plans against Sweden which required that they should have their hands free. In October, 1698, the Turks, for the first time, sent envoys to a general European congress at Carlowitz between Peterwardein and Belgrade. Under the mediating influence of Lord Paget, the English representative, actual possession at the time was taken as the basis of negotiations, and it only remained to determine what exceptions to the general rule should be admitted. As between Austria and the Porte the difficulties were not considerable. The Austrians desired the surrender of Tökölyi, who since his expulsion from Transylvania had served in the Turkish ranks. The Sultan was eager to retain at any rate some shadow of his long-established authority over Transylvania. Both demands were ultimately withdrawn, and the Emperor allowed the Turks to retain the banat of Temesvar, enclosed between the waters of the Theiss and the Maros. With that exception, the whole of Hungary was left to the House of Habsburg. To Poland, whose chief service had been the bringing of Russia into the Christian alliance, Podolia and Kameniec were restored ; and Venice was confirmed in its conquests in Dalmatia and the Morea. The three treaties in which these stipulations were embodied were signed on January 26, 1699. Russia, though represented at the congress, only concluded a truce for two years by which she remained in occupation of Azoff'. A special agreement between Austria and the Turks stipulated that Tökölyi should be interned in Asia Minor ; and there, far from the scene of their former exploits, he and his wife spent the remaining years of their lives.