Hundred Years' Croatian–Ottoman War

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hundred Years' Croatian–Ottoman War
Part of the Croatian–Ottoman Wars, Ottoman–Hungarian Wars, Ottoman–Habsburg wars and the Ottoman Wars in Europe
Johann Peter Krafft 005.jpg
Nikola Šubić Zrinski's charge from the fortress of Szigetvár during the Siege of Szigetvár
Date1493 to 1593 (100 years)
or 2nd half of the 15th century to 1606
Location
Medieval Kingdom of Croatia, Habsburg Kingdom of Croatia
Result
  • Ottoman Empire conquered areas of the Croatian Kingdom, their advance was conclusively halted in 1592 on Croatian soil. The remaining land remained under the Kingdom of Croatia.
  • Start of the Long Turkish War
Belligerents
Until 1526:
Coat of arms of Croatia 1495.svg Kingdom of Croatia
Coa Hungary Country History (19th Century).svg Kingdom of Hungary		 Until 1526:
Osmanli-devleti-nisani-yeni.png Ottoman Empire
From 1527:
Coat of arms of Croatia 1495.svg Kingdom of Croatia
Coa Hungary Country History (19th Century).svg Kingdom of Hungary
 Holy Roman Empire

From 1527:
Osmanli-devleti-nisani-yeni.png Ottoman Empire

Commanders and leaders
Croatian Ban,
various Croatian feudal lords		 Ottoman Sultan,
Bosnian Beglerbeg

The Hundred Years' Croatian–Ottoman War (Croatian: Stogodišnji hrvatsko-turski rat,[1][2] Stogodišnji rat protiv Turaka,[3][4] Stogodišnji rat s Osmanlijama[5]) is the name for a sequence of conflicts, mostly of relatively low intensity, ("Small War", Croatian: Mali rat[2]) between the Ottoman Empire and the medieval Kingdom of Croatia (ruled by the Jagiellon and Zápolya dynasties), and the later Habsburg Kingdom of Croatia.

Pope Leo X called Croatia the Antemurale Christianitatis ("Bulwark of Christianity") in 1519,[6] given that Croatian soldiers made significant contributions to the struggle against the Turks. The advancement of the Ottoman Empire in Europe was stopped in 1593 on Croatian soil (Battle of Sisak). Nevertheless, the Muslim Ottoman Empire occupied parts of Croatia from the 16th to the end of the 17th century. Furthermore, Christianity remained in the majority in most of Europe.

Time span[]

There are several different variations about the exact length of the war. According to one group of historians, the war began with the Battle of Krbava Field in 1493, and ended with the Battle of Sisak in 1593.[7] According to the other group of historians, the war lasted from the second half of the 15th century and into the entire 16th century.[8] A third group of historians mark the Peace of Zsitvatorok in 1606 as the end of the war. The war was won by the Ottoman's defeat upon their advance on the Kupa river border, with the remainder of Croatia's territory consisting of only 16,800 km2.[9]

In light of the human and territorial loss, and also from the modern Croatian Romanticist point of view, the 15th and 16th centuries were known as the "Two centuries of Croatia in mourning" (Latin: Plorantis Croatiae saecula duo carmine descripta) in the lyric-epic poem of Pavao Ritter Vitezović from 1703.[10]

Background[]

By the mid 14th century, the Ottoman Empire established a foothold in Europe around the town of Gallipoli. From there, they expanded into the Bulgarian Empire and encircled Byzantine capital Constantinople. In 1361, the Ottomans captured Adrianople and proclaimed it their capital.[11] Most of Moravian Serbia fell under Ottoman control following the battle of Kosovo in 1389, while Bulgaria was captured in 1396.[12] The Serbian Despotate became an Ottoman vassal. These conquests opened the way further west and allowed the Ottomans to reach the Kingdom of Bosnia, as well as the Kingdom of Croatia and the Kingdom of Hungary.[13][14] Croatia and Hungary were since 1102 in a personal union, with the territory of Croatia governed by a royal dignitary (ban).[15] The medieval Kingdom of Slavonia was governed by a separate ban,[16] and was not a part of the royal title.[17] Sigismund, the king of Hungary and Croatia, led the crusade of Nicopolis against the Ottoman Empire in 1396, which resulted in the rout of the Christian army. He then turned to the strengthening of border areas in his realm.[18] Sigismund's rule was marked with dynastic struggles. Venice took advantage of this and between 1409 and 1420 established control over Dalmatia.[19]

The fall of Constantinople in 1453 enabled the Ottoman Empire to engage more troops in their Balkan campaigns.[13] Bosnia was conquered by Sultan Mehmed II in May 1463, after the capture of Bobovac and the execution of Stephen Tomašević, the last Bosnian king.[20] Ottoman forces then raided the neighbouring Croatia and Venetian Dalmatia.[21] The valleys of the Sana and Una rivers were successfully defended by Croatian Ban Pavao Špirančić during the summer of 1463. The Ottomans then directed their incursions to the south, on the Croatian region of Krbava and around the coastal town of Senj.[22] Špirančić was captured in battle in September and died in captivity.[23]

King Matthias Corvinus waited until most of the Ottoman troops left the region.[24] In the fall of 1463, Corvinus led an army and captured parts of northern Bosnia and towns along the Vrbas and Usora rivers, including the fortress of Jajce in December, after a three month siege. Croatian Ban took part in Corvinus's campaign. Sultan Mehmed did not immediately respond to the offensive. He established the Sanjak of Bosnia on the territory of the former Bosnian Kingdom, which became the starting point of Ottoman raids into Croatia. Corvinus appointed Slavonian nobleman Emeric Zápolya as the governor of Bosnia, in order to organize the defense.[25]

In 1464, Mehmed gathered an army to recapture the lost territories. He arrived to Bosnia in June and began a month-long siege of Jajce, but the garrison withheld the attack. Corvinus led an offensive into northeastern Bosnia and along the Drina River, and captured Srebrenik.[26]

Timeline[]

Early confrontations[]

Map of Croatia and Slavonia, and Ottoman expansion at the beginning of 1500

The Ottoman Empire implemented attrition warfare, mostly characterized by raids carried out by irregular light cavalry, the akinji, instead of organized military campaigns. This tactic was known as the "little war" (German: Kleinkrieg), waged for the purpose of plundering and taking captives, and was often a part of a strategic plan to weaken the area for its later conquest.[27][28] The regions of Krbava and Lika were initially the main targets of Ottoman raids,[29] regularly led by local sanjak-beys.[30] The mountains and forests of medieval Croatia provided cover for Ottoman raiding groups, enabling them to remain longer on Croatian territory and wage a sort of guerilla war.[16] Later, the duchies of Carniola, Styria, and Carinthia, the County of Gorizia, and Venetian-held territories were targeted as well.[30]

Corvinus established the banates of Jajce and Srebrenik, which formed the centre of his new defense system. While it faced difficulties with coordination and finances,[31] the system provided protection for northern Croatia, Slavonia, and southern Hungary from Ottoman raids, but the Adriatic coast and southern Croatia were still exposed.[32] The fortresses of Knin, Klis, and Skradin formed the main line of defense in Croatia, while Krupa, Bihać, Otočac, and Senj formed the rear line. Later in 1469, the Captaincy of Senj was formed as a military and administrative unit within the defense system.[33]

In 1467, Ottoman akinji plundered the surroundings of Zadar and Šibenik. This was repeated in 1468 and January 1469, along with raids around Senj and across the Kupa River into the Duchy of Carniola. Another raid into southern Croatia followed in June 1469, when several thousand people were taken captive.[32] Estates of the Frankopan and Kurjaković families were particularly affected by these raids. The Frankopans were also struck by Corvinus's centralization measures, and were deprived of Senj and several other possessions.[34]

In the wake of the conquest of Bosnia, the Ottomans also expanded on most of the lands of Stjepan Vukčić Kosača by 1465.[20] The town of Mostar was captured in 1466.[32] In this area, the Ottoman Sanjak of Herzegovina was established in 1470.[35]

The military of the Croatian Kingdom was based on a banderial system,[36] involving soldiers on the ban's payroll and those of the magnates and the nobles.[37] Owing to maintenance costs and the mountainous terrain of Croatia, the infantry significantly outnumbered the cavalry. Units of the middle and lesser nobility presented the most numerous component of the Croatian armed force.[38] These armies lacked the mobility as members of the noble families were tied to their often scattered holdings, which were vulnerable to akinji attacks. The Croatian nobles raised their troops at the request of their counts or the head of the county (župan).[36] Such a mobilization system was slow and unable to react in time to prevent an incursion from the fast Ottoman light cavalry.[16] While the incursions of the akinji were usually successful,[39] the forces of the Croatian ban and local nobles sometimes intercepted Ottoman raiding groups on their way back to Ottoman-held territory.[36] In 1475 and 1478, the counts of the Zrinski family ambushed Ottoman troops returning from a raid and defeated them in the Una Valley.[40]

In 1476, for the sake of better military organization, the office of the Ban of Croatia was merged with that of the Ban of Slavonia, which contributed to the process of political integration of Croatia and Slavonia.[16] The Ottoman threat did not stop internal conflicts among the Croatian and Slavonian nobility, which further undermined an efficient defense.[41]

Battle of Krbava[]

Battle of Krbava Field in 1493

Incursions continued under Sultan Bayezid II, but with less intensity than in the 1470s.[37] The Ottomans captured Herceg Novi in 1482, completing the conquest of Kosača's realm.[20] In 1483, an army led by Croatian Ban Matthias Geréb routed the Ottoman cavalry at the battle of Una near Novi Grad. A seven-year peace treaty between Bayezid and Corvinus was signed later in the year.[42] By that time, the constant warfare left many villages deserted, and almost completely stopped the major trade route that went from Senj to Zagreb and further towards inner Hungary.[43] Corvinus died in 1490 and was succeeded by Vladislaus II. As the peace treaty came to an end, the hostilities renewed. In 1491, Croatian forces defeated an Ottoman group returning from Carniola in the battle of Vrpile Gulch in Lika. This defeat forced the Ottomans to halt their attacks during the following year.[44]

The Frankopans attempted to regain Senj in July 1493, which led to a conflict with Croatian Ban Emerik Derenčin. News of an Ottoman army passing through Croatia towards Bosnia in August forced them to make peace.[45] An army gathered by Derenčin, consisting of a number of Croatian nobles, attempted to block the Ottoman path. Derenčin decided to face them in an open battle, although some insisted that an ambush would be a better option. On 9 September, the Croatian army clashed with the Ottoman forces near Udbina in Lika and suffered a huge defeat in the battle of Krbava Field.[46] Ottoman strategy and tactics employed in the battle proved superior to that of the Croatian side.[47] While the outcome of the battle was not immedietely felt,[34] it accelerated the decline of the power of the nobility, particularly the lesser and the middle nobles.[48]

Fall of Knin[]

The Cetin Charter from 1 January 1527

In 1503, King Vladislaus concluded a seven-year peace treaty with Sultan Bayezid.[49] The Ottoman Empire kept the strategically important fortified towns of Kamengrad[verification needed] and Ključ[disambiguation needed], which separated the Banate of Jajce from Croatia.[50] The treaty was renewed in 1511. With the accession of Selim I as sultan in 1512, all peace treaties were annulled. The Banate of Srebrenik was captured in the autumn of the same year.[49] Petar Berislavić was the most active Croatian Ban in the early 16th century. In 1513, he won a major victory at the battle of Dubica on the Una river. He took part in the 1518 battle of Jajce. He was killed in an Ottoman ambush at the in 1520.[51]

In May 1522, after two failed attempts in 1513 and 1514,[52] Bosnian sanjak-bey Gazi Husrev-beg besieged Knin, the capital of Croatia. While Croatian Ban Ivan Karlović was preparing a relief force, the commander of the Knin garrison surrendered the fortress. A few days later, Skradin surrendered as well.[53][54] The loss of Knin accelerated the Ottoman advance, while Bihać took the leading role in Croatia's defenses south of the Sava River.[55] From 1522, Ferdinand I, Archduke of Austria, provided troops for the defense of Croatia. Although the support was limited, as inner-Austrian duchies opposed the permanent stationing of their troops outside the borders of the Holy Roman Empire, he managed to extend his influence in the kingdom.[56]

In 1526, Ottoman forces led by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent defeated a large Christian force led by King Louis II at the battle of Mohács. Louis, who had no heir, died in battle. Croatia and Hungary became disputed territories between Ferdinand I of the House of Habsburg, and John Zápolya, Voivode of Transylvania. Most of the Croatian nobles backed Ferdinand.[57] On 1 January 1527, the Croatian Parliament unanimously elected Ferdinand as King of Croatia at their assembly in Cetin.

Habsburg period[]

Map of Croatia (orange) and Ottoman expansion at the beginning of 1576
Siege of Bihać in 1592

Jajce fell in 1528, Požega in 1536, Klis fell in 1537, Nadin and Vrana in 1538, moving the Croatian-Ottoman border to the line, roughly, Požega-Bihać-Velebit-Zrmanja-Cetina.[58]

By the end of 1540, the Ottoman Empire occupied the Croatian possessions between Skradin and , eliminating them as a buffer zone between the Ottoman and Venetian territory in Dalmatia.[59] By 1573, the remainder of the Dalmatian hinterland, now largely controlled by the Venetian cities, was even further reduced by Ottoman advances.[60]

International impact[]

Although the Croatian Kingdom suffered major defeats in battles, it remained in existence, keeping its identity, religion, and culture under the Habsburg Monarchy. In addition, some Croats in the territories lost to the Ottomans remained because the Porte embraced ethnic diversity, many of them eventually converting to Islam throughout the following centuries of Ottoman rule.

The Croatian combat against the Ottomans did not remain unnoticed in the political circles of European states. Copious amounts of information from the war was written in Monumenta Hungariae Historica, Codex diplomaticus partium Regno Hungariae adnexarum from 1903 (over 600 documents).

Type of conflicts[]

The Ottoman tactic consisted of persistent loot and scorching raids whose aim was to intimidate and demoralize the local civil inhabitants, to exhaust the economic opportunities and disable the normal economic life on the frontier areas. On the other side, Croatian and allied Christian forces implemented counterattacks, especially in the first phases of war, when they were still able to apply the counterattacking or the offensive tactics. Despite these destructive tactics, the armies did sometimes clash. Sometimes the local armies intercepted or pursued the raiders in their return from the raid. There was also more intense military actions, such as the Battle of Krbava Field or the Battle of Sisak.

Zones of war peril[]

Kingdom of Croatia (pale brown), Republic of Dubrovnik (yellow), possession of Republic of Venice on Croatian coast (orange), and Ottoman Empire's Pashalik of Bosnia (green) in 1606.

The war-endangered areas can be classified in three zones:

  • The first zone was the territory of Kingdom of Croatia, that had no effective control by both sides, as well as the parts of Kingdom of Croatia that were heavily struck by the Ottoman military and paramilitary operations. This zone was up to 50 km deep in the Croatian territory. It mostly covered the areas along the border and the later-formed Military Frontier. The infrastructure and the supra-structure became ruined and devastated, and the economic life suffered. This zone had high rate of emigration, mostly to the second and the third zones, along with emigrations abroad.
  • The second zone was from time to time exposed to the raids of the Ottoman regular and irregular forces. The area was controlled by the Croatian authorities and the economic life was still somewhat functioning. Population level was steady and received a continuous inflow of displacees from the first zone. The Croatian nobles used this zone as the support point and the base for the defense or for the attempts of retaking of their estates in the first zone. These areas lived as economic support of the armies.
  • The third zone was mostly Ottoman raid-safe zone, in which the majority of the zone had no Ottoman raids, although few areas were subjected to Ottoman raids.[61]

Footnotes[]

  1. ^ (in Croatian) Hrvatska znanstvena bibliografija Mirko Valentić: Stogodišnji hrvatsko-turski rat (1493-1593) - Od kraja 15. st. do kraja Prvoga svjetskog rata, Školska knjiga, Zagreb, 2005, ISBN 953-0-60577-3
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b (in Croatian) Kraljevina Hrvatska i Kraljevina Ugarska Kratka politicka i kulturna povijest Hrvatske
  3. ^ (in Croatian) Filozofski fakultet u Mostaru Archived 2012-03-05 at the Wayback Machine Kolegij Hrvatska povijest srednjega vijeka]
  4. ^ (in Croatian) Deseta gimnazija Ivan Supek, Zagreb Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine Zbirka zadataka za 2. razred
  5. ^ (in Croatian) ARHiNET arhivski informacijski sistem
  6. ^ Velikonja, Mitja (2003). Religious Separation and Political Intolerance in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Texas A&M University Press. p. 78. ISBN 978-1-60344-724-9.
  7. ^ (in Croatian) Hrvatski studiji Archived 2010-10-11 at the Wayback Machine Studij povijesti
  8. ^ (in Croatian) Hercegbosna.org Mladen Ančić: Hrvatski ulog u Bosni, 2. prosinca 2009.
  9. ^ (in Croatian) Milan Kruhek: Granice Hrvatskog Kraljevstva u međunarodnim državnim ugovorima, Povijesni prilozi 10/1991., str.37-39, ISSN 0351-9767
  10. ^ (in Croatian) ARHiNET arhivski informacijski sistem Pavao Ritter Vitezović
  11. ^ Tanner 2001, p. 28.
  12. ^ Tracy 2016, p. 8.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b Tanner 2001, p. 29.
  14. ^ Mažuran 1998, p. 20.
  15. ^ Font 2005, pp. 7, 10.
  16. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Grgin 2002, p. 90.
  17. ^ Font 2005, p. 8.
  18. ^ Font 2005, p. 15.
  19. ^ Raukar 1997, pp. 85–86.
  20. ^ Jump up to: a b c Tracy 2016, p. 32.
  21. ^ Klaić 1988, p. 60.
  22. ^ Kekez 2011, p. 159.
  23. ^ Croatian Encyclopedia 2021.
  24. ^ Tracy 2016, p. 33.
  25. ^ Mažuran 1998, p. 37.
  26. ^ Mažuran 1998, pp. 37–38.
  27. ^ Tracy 2016, pp. 36–37.
  28. ^ Jurković 1999, p. 67.
  29. ^ Kekez 2011, p. 162.
  30. ^ Jump up to: a b Tracy 2016, p. 37.
  31. ^ Grgin 2002, p. 88.
  32. ^ Jump up to: a b c Mažuran 1998, p. 40.
  33. ^ Grgin 2002, pp. 88–89.
  34. ^ Jump up to: a b Grgin 2002, p. 91.
  35. ^ Mažuran 1998, p. 41.
  36. ^ Jump up to: a b c Jurković 1999, p. 71.
  37. ^ Jump up to: a b Tracy 2016, p. 43.
  38. ^ Grgin 2002, pp. 89–90.
  39. ^ Jurković 1999, p. 68.
  40. ^ Kekez 2011, p. 164.
  41. ^ Grgin 2002, p. 93.
  42. ^ Mažuran 1998, pp. 46–47.
  43. ^ Jurković 1999, pp. 72–73.
  44. ^ Grgin 2002, p. 94.
  45. ^ Grgin 2019, pp. 79–80.
  46. ^ Mažuran 1998, p. 48.
  47. ^ Grgin 2019, p. 86.
  48. ^ Grgin 2002, pp. 101–102.
  49. ^ Jump up to: a b Mažuran 1998, p. 54.
  50. ^ Kekez 2011, p. 167–168.
  51. ^ Tracy 2016, pp. 69–70.
  52. ^ Gunjača 1960, pp. 87–88.
  53. ^ Klaić 1988, pp. 382–383.
  54. ^ Gunjača 1960, pp. 88–89.
  55. ^ Mažuran 1998, p. 59.
  56. ^ Tracy 2016, p. 78.
  57. ^ Tanner 2001, pp. 34–35.
  58. ^ Raukar, Tomislav (October 1990). "Hrvatska na razmeđu XV i XVI. stoljeća". Senjer Jahrbuch (in Croatian). 10 (1): 5–14. ISSN 0582-673X. Retrieved 2012-07-08.
  59. ^ Bogumil Hrabak (September 1986). "Turske provale i osvajanja na području današnje severne Dalmacije do sredine XVI. stoleća". Journal of the Institute of Croatian History (in Serbian). 19 (1). ISSN 0353-295X. Retrieved 2012-07-08.
  60. ^ Raukar, Tomislav (November 1977). "Venecija i ekonomski razvoj Dalmacije u XV i XVI stoljeću". Journal of the Institute of Croatian History (in Croatian). 10 (1): 221. ISSN 0353-295X. Retrieved 2012-07-08.
  61. ^ Ivan Jurković (September 2003). "Klasifikacija hrvatskih raseljenika za trajanja osmanske ugroze (od 1463. do 1593.)" [Classification of Displacees Among Croats During the Ottoman Peril (from 1463 till 1593)]. Migracijske i Etničke Teme (in Croatian). 19 (2–3): 147–174. ISSN 1333-2546. Retrieved 5 November 2011.

References[]

Retrieved from ""