Of course, the date of 11th September has a
significance that will never be lost to anyone who was alive and aware on that
date in 2001, but this article concerns an event that took place centuries
earlier, namely in 1697. This was the Battle of Zenta, fought between the army
of the Austrian Empire and the Ottoman Turks who were making inroads far into
central Europe.
Ottoman expansion
The expansion of the Ottoman Empire had been a matter of
grave concern to the European powers for many years, and would continue to be
so for a long time to come. In 1683 the Turks had been beaten back from the
walls of Vienna and had retreated into the Balkans (where there is a strong
Muslim presence down to the present day), but they were now threatening a fresh
assault.
Prince Eugene of Savoy
The task of keeping the Turks in check was entrusted to a
young French-born general, Prince Eugene of Savoy. Born in 1663, Eugene had
hoped to serve King Louis XIV in a military capacity but was rejected out of
hand, due mainly to the fact that Eugene’s mother had fallen out of favour with
the king, with whom she had been having an affair, and Louis would have nothing
to do with any of her family.
Eugene therefore offered his services to the Hapsburgs of
Austria. The occasion for doing this was the death of Eugene’s brother Louis,
who was killed in 1683 when fighting for the Austrians against the Turks in the
action at Vienna mentioned above. Eugene offered to take Louis’s place as a
commander in the Austrian army, and was accepted.
By 1697 Eugene had been involved in a number of campaigns,
both against the Turks and in the Nine Years War against the French, rising to
the rank of Major-General at the age of 22 and Field-Marshal at 30. It was
therefore not surprising that he should be offered supreme command of the
Austrian forces when the Ottoman threat reappeared.
The Battle of Zenta
Eugene was ordered to attack the Turks so as to remove the
threat of any further advances on the Austrian Empire. He therefore pursued the
army of Sultan Mustafa II and caught up with them at Zenta, at the confluence
of the rivers Tisza and Danube in modern-day Serbia.
The Turkish army was much larger than his own, but when he
arrived Eugene noted that the Turks had started to cross the Tisza, sending
their heavy artillery first. This meant that the infantry were still on the
near side of the river but the artillery was on the other side and unable to
take part in any action. Eugene seized the moment and attacked.
The result was a rout of the Turkish forces, which were
completely unprepared for battle. They panicked, and up to 10,000 men were
drowned as they tried to escape across the river. Another 20,000 were killed in
the fighting. Part of the Turkish army consisted of Christian conscripts known
as Janissaries; they mutinied during the battle and killed their own general.
Eugene’s losses were limited to 300 men, which is a measure
of just how complete the Austrian victory was. The Turks had to concede vast
tracts of land to the Austrians as a result of their defeat, which in turn
shifted the balance of power very much in Austria’s favour.
This victory was Eugene’s first as overall commander of the
Austrian army, but it would not be his last. He is generally regarded as one of
the greatest military figures of his age.
Another victory
As it happened, 11th September was also the date
of another victory by Eugene of Savoy. This was in 1709 at the Battle of
Malplaquet, where Eugene fought alongside the English general the Duke of
Marlborough against the French during the War of the Spanish Succession.
Although this later battle was a victory, in that the French were forced to
retreat, the result was nothing like as clear-cut as at Zenta. The allies lost
22,000 casualties against the French 12,000, which therefore qualifies the
battle as a “Pyrrhic victory”.
© John Welford
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