Siege of İzvornik

Siege of İzvornik
Part of the Austro-Turkish War (1716–1718)
Zvornik Fortress
Date mid-1717 Location İzvornik, Ottoman Empire 44°23′N 19°6′E Result Ottoman victory
Belligerents
Ottoman Empire	Habsburg monarchy
Commanders and leaders
Numan Pasha Feyzullah Pasha	Maximilian Petrasch (WIA) Stadtkommandant of Osijek
Strength
Small	15,000
Casualties and losses
Low	5,000–6,000 killed
class=notpageimage| Location within Europe Siege of İzvornik (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Austro-Turkish War of 1716–18

200km
125miles

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The siege of İzvornik was a military siege undertaken by the Habsburgs in mid-1717 against the city of İzvornik, which was under Ottoman rule. The Ottoman garrison was led by Köprülüzade Numan Pasha whilst the Habsburg forces were commanded by Maximilian Petrasch. The siege was part of the Austro-Turkish War (1716–1718), and resulted in an Ottoman victory.

Background

From June to September 1715, the Ottoman Empire, led by Grand Vizier Silahdar Damat Ali Pasha, easily reclaimed the Peloponnese, which they had ceded to the Republic of Venice with the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699. Thus, the Venetian Kingdom of the Morea was no more and had been absorbed into Ottoman territory. Having formed an alliance with Venice in April 1716 and as the guarantor of the Karlowitz treaty, Austria demanded the full withdrawal of Ottoman troops from the region, as well as financial compensation to Venice for the continued violation of the stipulations of the Karlowitz treaty. Confident that they could defeat the Habsburgs and possibly reconquer Hungary due to successive victories in the Pruth River Campaign and the war with Venice, the Ottomans responded to Austria's ultimatum by waging war on 15 May 1716.

Prelude

Although the war with the Habsburgs began favourably for the Ottomans at Karlowitz, they had suffered important defeats thereafter (most notably at Petrovaradin, Temeşvar, and Belgrade). With the Ottomans driven deeper into the Balkans, the Habsburgs sought to capitalize on the situation by deploying over 50,000 soldiers to the Bosnian front of the conflict. However, this campaign proved even more calamitous than their incursions into Moldavia, where after their defeat at Iași they were forced to withdraw completely from the region.

Siege

The Habsburgs besieged İzvornik in the middle of 1717 with 15,000 soldiers under the command of Generalfeldwachtmeister Maximilian Petrasch and the Stadtkommandant (city-commander) of Osijek. It is not known how many Ottoman troops were stationed in the garrison of the city, though it is believed to be a small amount. The defense efforts were led by Feyzullah Pasha as he waited for reinforcements to arrive from Köprülüzade Numan Pasha, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire seven years ago and currently the Beylerbey of Bosnia. With the arrival of the pasha and the subsequent confrontation between Ottoman and Habsburg forces, the siege ultimately failed. Petrasch was seriously wounded and walked with a limp his entire life.

A poem is written of the siege by an Ottoman poet known as Begzadić (Beyzadeoğlu). He mentions at the end of it that the siege lasted seven hours and resulted in the deaths of 5,000–6,000 Habsburg soldiers.

Aftermath

Due to Maximilian Petrasch's failure to capture İzvornik and Sigbert Heister's unsuccessful attempt to take Novi Grad during its siege, Habsburg presence was eradicated from Bosnia, thus rendering the Ottomans victorious on the Bosnian front of the war.