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Habsburg Lands

Ferdinand III (-1657) was duke of Austria (Upper and Lower), margrave of Styria, duke of Carinthia and Carniola, and held various lands and titles in Swabia. The Tyrol was in a collateral branch until 1665. He was also king of Bohemia, which included Moravia and Silesia (Lusatia had been given to Saxony in 1635). He was also king of Hungary, which included Transylvania, Croatia, Slavonia, and Dalmatia. In practice, Transylvania was independent and a large chuch was under Turkish control. The kingdom of Croatia was a bulwark against the Turks.

Bohemia went from 1.7 million people in 1618 to 900,000 in 1654.

The landlords of Bohemia, Austria and Hungary began to produce for the market. For example, in Bohemia they built large fish farms. In Hungary they raised horses and cattle, built large granaries near rivers, and owned the barges as well. The focus was still on agriculture, but the focus shifted to large-scale production for distant markets, a significant change. It favored the large landowners who in turn dominated the Estates and saw to it that the law allowed them to exploit their peasants. The most immediately profitable approach was to have free labor, and the peasants were steadily reduced to serfdom (the Czech name for serfdom is robota). The dramatic nature of the change can be seen in Bohemia. In 1620 peasants there did four to twelve days a year of work for their lord. After the collapse of the Bohemian revolt in 1627, boon service went to three days a week. By mid-century, the burden was even greater: as much as a quarter of the peasants had to work every day except Sundays and saints days. Obligations went further. Wealthier peasants had to provide carts, plows and draft animals, so the lord didn't have to. They had to buy produce, salt, beer, wine, grain and other essentials only from the manor. They had to grind their own grain in the lord's mill and had to pay for the service. Much the same trend occurred in Hungary.

Towns declined rapidly in the Habsburg lands. Those in Austria and Bohemia had participated in revolts and suffered severe restrictions on their political and economic liberties. The emperors were out of sympathy with urban sensibilities and simply neglected the cities.

By 1648, evangelical preaching in the Habsburg lands was almost non-existent. Many Protestants had been forced to convert to Catholicism; many others had gone into exile. A lord in Austria was allowed to remain Protestant, but had to practice his faith in private.

Bohemia had been a Protestant stronghold, but was eventually completely converted to Catholicism. The measures taken were various and some had to be repated over the course of decades. Ferdinand aggressively introduced the cult of Mary: professors at the University of Prague had every year to swear they believed in the Immaculate Conception. In 1639 a decree gave all Protestants (most of whom still clung to the name Hussite) three weeks to conform to Catholic practices. There were riots, and so many people began leaving that the landlords got the order relaxed. It was imposed again in 1650, with similar results. Meanwhile, the archbishop of Prague took more positive action, creating two new bishops for the kingdom. In 1651 Ferdinand set up commissions for each distrct, charged with improving the quality of the clergy and of identifying the Protestants. This time, the heretics were given six weeks of instruction. At the end of the instruction, they were given a choice: conversion or exile. Protestant practices continued in secret, never widespread, but persistent.

Transylvalnia was Calvinist, while the Counter-Reformation made good progress in Hungary. Transylvania came closest to full religious toleration: the princes and Magyar nobles were mostly Calvinist, the German towns were mainly Lutheran, Rumanian immigrants were Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic churches survived, and even Socinians were tolerated.

Imperial Government

The diversity of the Empire forced a diversity in Imperial government. While there was a privy council (Geheimer Rat) and a Chancery, much of the government was focused on particular regions--taxes, laws, justice, etc. Another central institution was the Hofskriegsrat, the Court War Council, which levied imperial troops across the Habsburg lands.

Emperor Leopold

2 April 1657 Emperor Ferdinand dies, succeeded by Leopold, age 16. Leopold had been crowned king of Hungary in 1655 and king of Bohemia earlier in 1657, but he had not yet been elected as king of the Romans. Ferdinand had not been neglectful; on the contrary, he had expended much time and money gaining the support of the Electors, not for Leopold but for his elder brother Ferdinand IV. The Electors had made enormous demands, and Cardinal Mazarin had tried hard to get a non-Habsburg elected. Ferdinand IV had been groomed for the job and was finally elected in May 1653. In July of the following year, though, he died. At that point, Leopold was retrieved from Spain where he was studying theology. The Electors again held out, Mazarin again meddled, and Leopold was not elected until August 1658.

The year of Ferdinand III's death, the Empire got involved in the war between Sweden and Poland. Charles X of Sweden aimed to become not only the king of Poland but the king of Bohemia as well, which the Habsburgs could not allow. In addition, the prince of Transylvania, George Rákóczi, threw in with Sweden and was promised southern Poland.

Good luck rescued the young emperor, who was certainly in over his head. In May 1657 the Danes attacked Swedish holdings, forcing Charles X to deal with that danger first. In July, the Turks attacked and annihilated the Transylvanian army. The Austrians intervened and recovered Cracow for the Polish king, John Casimir. A second Austrian army attacked Swedish forces along the Baltic coast. The danger of a Protestant empire in northeast Europe vanished for the time being.

Transylvania had aroused Turkish ire by claiming suzereinty over Wallachia and Moldavia, two lands paying tribute to Constantinople. In 1658 a Tartar army and a Turkish army invaded Transylvania and captured major fortresses and towns. In September the Grand Vizier, Mehmed Köprülü, made Ákos Barcsay prince of Transylvania, making it a vassal state. The two princes vied for control, Barcsay supported by Turkish armies. Rákóczi turned to Hungary and Austria, but help from that quarter came too late. In May 1660, Rákóczi fought the Turks at Fenes (ten miles west of Kolozswár) and was killed.

Nacyvárad fell 27 August 1660. For two more years Vienna sent only enough help to drag matters out. On 22 January 1662, a Turkish army defeated another claimant (János Kemény) at Nagyszöllös, near Segesvár (Schässburg). Transylvania fell under Turkish control.

That Leopold was shocked by these events, as were his advisers and others around Europe, only shows how seriously the West had underestimated the Turks. The opinion had grown that the Turks were finished as a major power, of concern only as a border nuisance. Constantinople was, they held, too corrupt, its armies too outdated, to present a serious danger. But the memory of the Turk as the greatest threat to Christendom was still alive.

The Grand Vizier, Fazil Ahmed Köprülü, marched up the Danube in April 1663, toward Pressburg and Vienna. He was delayed for months by a brave stand at the fortress of Nové Zámky (Neuhäusel), which held out until November.

Leopold was scrambling to assemble an army, sending out a please to all Europe. Transylvania had fallen; Austria was next. Even France sent troops, as did Spain, the papacy, Brandenburg and other German states.

1664 came and the Turks took time to conquer what remained of Hungary. On 1 August, the Imperial army, a truly international force, met and destroyed the Turkish army as it tried to force a crossing of the Raab River near the monastery of St Gotthard. It was only about fifty miles east of Vienna.

The Turks at once offered terms, and on 11 August was signed the Peace of Vasvár, a significant treaty. Transylvania was placed under the authority of the sultan, but both Imperial and Turkish troops were withdrawn. Despite his victory, Leopold agreed to pay an indemnity and to leave certain key Slovakian fortresses in Turkish hands. In return, he got twenty years of peace on his eastern front.

The treaty outraged the Magyars, who believed Leopold refrained from destroying the Turks so they might keep Hungary weak. Plots were hatched but were bungled utterly. The rebels treated first with France and then with the Porte, but neither gave more than a little money. The rebellion was betrayed and delayed both. When action was finally taken in 1670, the Austrians were ready and easily suppressed the revolt. The whole business, complicated and inept, had one tangible result: it gave the Austrians an excuse to reduce Hungary to subject status. Austrian troops occupied the country and a German governing council was installed. The Protestant churches were suppressed and the Jesuits were brought in. Thousands fled to Transylvania.

After 1671, Leopold turned his attention westward. Louis XIV was moving so aggressively that Leopold finally declared war. From 1672 to 1679, Austrian troops fought in Alsace, as many as 50,000. This was enormously expensive.

More

Peasant revolts in 1652, 1673, 1680 (major), 1688

Plague 1678 (Hungary), 1679 (Austria), 1680 (Bohemia); and famine in 1679.

All through the 1670s Hungarian exiles formed rebel bands and raided in north-eastern Hungary. They were known as kurucok. Their leaders were Count Mihály Teleki and Imre Thölöky. By the end of the decade rebels controlled much of the mining towns and the Turks were beginning to show an interest. Since France was trying to get Poland to attack as well, all eastern Europe might suddenly erupt in war. For their part, the Turks believed the Empire was in sufficient disarray to deal a mortal blow.

The next few years were full of high drama. First, the situation in Hungary was completely reversed by an unlikely mediator: the pope. Innocent XI was a strong, active pope with a knack for diplomacy. He (actually, his nuncios) first got Leopold to agree to negotiate with the Hungarian Diet. In May 1681 the Emperor dissolved the governing council and returned the country's liberties, even the religious ones.

Thököly realized he was being squeezed out. He went to the Turks, who decalred him king of Hungary and Croaia. With their help he conquered northern Hungary, but the Turkish troops were mainly Tatar and Szekler (a branch of the Magyars), who burned villages and carried off slaves. This did little good for Thököly's cause.

Meanwhile, Pope Innocent XI was creating a grand European alliance, which was not completed until spring 1683, even as the grand Turkish army set out for Vienna. Thököly was to take Pressburg, but he failed. The Turks went around it and laid siege to Vienna. The city was defended by Count Rüdiger von Starkenberg and it held out for weeks. Finally, Sobieski arrived with the grand alliance army, caught the Turks by surprise, and routed them. It would prove to be the last time the Turks attacked Vienna. Never again were they viewed as an imminent danger to Latin Christendom.

Details of the Campaign

General Montecuccoli, victor at St Gotthard, died in 1681. He was succeeded as general by Duke Charles of Lorraine, a lesser commander and brother-in-law to Leopold.

The Ottoman army departed on 31 March 1683. It was virtually unopposed as it marched up the right bank of the Danube. Duke Charles withdrew all the way to Linz. Leopold and his family abandoned Vienna (the aristocrats always run).

When the Turks arrived, Vienna had only about 12,000 troops. Count Rüdiger was the military commander, but the may Andreas Limberg also played an important part. The Turkish army moved so slowly that it took three days to surround the city, 14-17 July. The sight from the walls of Vienna was disheartening. The Turkish camp, to the west of the city, had 25,000 tents and 50,000 carts.

What the Turks lacked, however, was heavy artiller6y. They had only about 150 lesser guns, suitable for attacking a fortress but not the fortifications of a modern European city. In fact, the Austrians had superiority in artillery. The Turks knew this, of course, but their plan all along was to breach the walls by mining. They greatly underestimated the difficulty of this, and were not well-prepared for counter-measures by the defenders.

The Europeans had made great advances in the science of fortification, and these included learning how to do more than sit on the defensive in a siege. Count Rüdiger sent out sorties that caused much damage among the Turks. And the walls held. Kara Mustafa's army was huge: between 200,000 and 500,000. He could probably have stormed the city, but he wated its surrender because he wanted its wealth. He utterly dismissed the threat of a relief force.

His 40,000 Crimean Tatars were of little use in a siege so he sent them on raids that reached as far as the Bavarian frontier.

Duke Charles of Lorraine forced Thököly to abandon his attack on Pressburg, and he managed to keep the Tatar raids from reaching further west. The European reinforcements converged on him. When Jan Sobieski arrived with 20,000 he was given command of the army--70,000 in all. A pitifully small number compared to the Ottoman army.

Kara Mustafa learned of the advance of the allied army on 4 September. He sent the Khan of the Crimean Tatars to prevent the crossing of the Danube (old Vienna is on the right bank of the river), but he failed to do so. Kara Mustafa underestimated what would be required.

Besides, he was on the verge of victory. The walls were now breached in several places. The defenders were trapped in the inner precincts of the Burg. Then, on 12 September, they could see the bonfires on the Kahlenberg and they knew the relief force had arrived. They dug in.

Kara Mustafa again underestimated the Europeans, or perhaps overestimated his own troops. He set mainly cavalry against Sobieski, with disastrous consequences. The Turks lost only about 10,000, but they lost their entire camp with its treasure, and their morale was broken. The Europeans could not believe they'd triumphed and did not pursue--they thought it was a trick, for a false retreat was a standard Turkish tactic.

Kara Mustafa reeled all the way back to Belgrade, where he sent his army into winter quarters. In December, Mehmed ordered his Grand Vizier strangled.

As a direct result of the victory at Vienna, the Habsburgs recovered Hungary. It took sixteen years and much hard fighting, but the campaigning was mostly successful and elevated Leopold to a leading position in Europe. Along the way, Hungary at last lost its independence. In 1687 Leopold got the Hungarian Diet to make the crown of St Stephen hereditary in the house of Habsburg, and abolished the ancient right (dating back to 1222) of the Magyar nobility to rebel against any king who violated their rights.

Transylvania was also reconquered, in 1691, and subjugated to Habsburg rule. It was not made part of Hungary but was ruled directly by Vienna. Its Diet was allowed some authority, and its religious diversity was allowed to continue.