Battle of Mohács (1687)

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Battle of Mohács (1687)
Part of Great Turkish War
Date 12 August 1687 Location 15 miles south-west of Mohács, on the River Danube, modern day Hungary Result Habsburg victory
Belligerents
Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Bavaria	Ottoman Empire
Commanders
Duke of Lorraine Maximilian II Emanuel	Süleyman Paşa† (Grand Vizier)
Strength
60,000[1]	40,000 Mameluk slaves, 40,000 Balkan mercenaries and 800 Ottoman Turks
Casualties and losses
15,000-18,000 killed or wounded	~40,000 killed or wounded

v • d • e Ottoman-Habsburg wars 1st Mohács – Hungary 1527–28 – Balkans 1529 – 1st Vienna – Little War – Kőszeg – Tunis – Osijek – Preveza – Hungary 1543 – Eger – Malta – Szigetvár – Lepanto – Thirteen Years' War – Keresztes – Saint Gotthard – 2nd Vienna – 2nd Mohács – Zenta – Peterwardein – Grocka

The Second Battle of Mohács was fought between Sultan Mehmed IV's Ottoman Turks and Emperor Leopold I's Austrian Habsburgs' forces commanded by Charles of Lorraine.

[edit] Battle

The Ottoman commander Süleyman Paşa made up a strategy; the Mameluks prepared to charge the left flanks, and the Balkan mercenaries to wheel from right flank into the rear, and the well equipped Ottoman Turks were ordered to attack into the centre of the Habsburg army, in hope to break it. The Ottoman Turks (Süleyman Paşa joined the troop) charged into middle, and crushed the innerpart of the Habsburg army ( 5,000-8,000 killed during that charge), while the mameluks and the Balkan mercenaries swarmed the flanks. But the Ottoman army wouldn't last for long, even though they outnumbered the Habsburg army. The mameluks lost their position, and suffered huge losses, while the Balkan mercenaries fell into panic. All the Ottoman Turks were killed, including Süleyman Paşa, since with the flight of the Mammelukes and mercenaries, they were totally outnunumbered. The Habsburgs were victorious, with 15,000-18,000 killed or wounded.

The battle was a crushing defeat for the Ottomans, destroying their ambitions to expand further into Europe. After the battle, the Turkish army revolted and Sultan Mehmed IV was deposed. For a year the Ottoman Empire was paralysed, and Leopold's forces were poised to capture Belgrade and penetrate deep into the Balkans.

[edit] References

• Chandler, David. A Guide to the Battlefields of Europe. Wordsworth Editions Ltd, (1998). ISBN 1-85326-694-9
• Penguin, 1961, Second Edition 1987 (including Preface to Second Edition and a new chapter 'From E.H. Carr's Files: Notes towards a Second Edition of What is History?')