The Ottoman decline 1683-99

Following the defeat at Vienna the Hapsburg commanders were quick to exploit the situation. As early as mid-October they captured Gran and, after his return in disgrace, Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa was strangled. In 1686 Prince Eugene of Savoy stormed Buda, a victory that sent much of Europe into raptures. English volunteers, including the son of Prince Rupert, fought in Eugene's Army.

There was an Ottoman attempt to fight back. In 1687 a restored Turkish army gave battle at Mohacs - the same site as the epic victory of 1526. But this time the honours went to the Christian side, who followed up their success by invading Moldavia, Prince Eugene of Savoy at the fall of Buda in 1586.

Wallachia and Croatia. Meanwhile the Venetians attacked in south-east Europe, invading the Morea, capturing Athens and Corinth. The former victory had the tragic result of destroying the Parthenon, which the Turks were using as a powder magazine. In 1688 Belgrade fell and then Nis.

It was only the withdrawal of Austrian troops to meet the threat from Trance that gave the Ottomans a breathing space. Constantinople had seen repeated changes of Sultan, for neither Suleiman II nor Ahmed II lasted long. A Turkish counterattack recaptured Belgrade and Nis, but this was mere delay and in 1697 Sultan Mustafa II insisted on leading the army in person for the recovery of Hungary. Prince Eugene of Savoy followed their moves and at first Conclusion and consequences 91 expected an attack on Peterwardein (Petrovaradin), but was required to set in motion a forced march that caught the lurks when their army was half across the river Tisza near Zenta. Here he defeated the Ottomans at the decisive battle of Zenta, 'a frightful blood bath' in Eugene's own words, helped by a mutiny of the janissaries, who killed the Grand Vizier in their desperation. Eugene followed up his victory by a march as far as Sarajevo, but his army was tired and the peace talks that soon got under way cannot have been unwelcome to them. By the treaty signed at Karlowitz in 1699 the Turks conceded most of Hungary, including Transylvania, to Austria, returned Podolia to Poland, confirmed the right of Russia to occupy the port of Azov and made over most of Dalmatia, Morea and the Aegean islands to Venice. The Ottoman Empire was defeated and humiliated.

The Treaty of Karlowitz marked a final and decisive turning point in the military balance between the Ottoman Empire and Europe. It was the first agreement signed between the Ottoman Empire and a coalition of western powers and the first ever formal acknowledgement of an Ottoman defeat. After Karlowitz the Ottomans found themselves permanently on the defensive and rarely able to equal the armed strength of any European power. Internal disorders and the activity of Balkan brigands, a trend that was later to merge with nationalist resistance movements, contributed to the military weakness. From 1716 onwards Ottoman officials made sporadic efforts to recreate Turkish armies on the European model, but for more than a century the conservatism of the Janissaries brought most efforts to nothing. Karlowitz had been a real turning point, and for Europe the fear of the Turk had finally passed away.