Battle of Zenta (1697): Prince Eugene Crushes the Ottomans

The Battle of Zenta was fought on 11 September 1697 at Zenta (Senta) on the Tisza river, in today’s northern Serbia. Prince Eugene of Savoy, commanding the Habsburg army, attacked the Ottoman army of Sultan Mustafa II while it was crossing the river and destroyed it in a few hours. The battle was the decisive blow of the Great Turkish War and made Eugene famous across Europe.

Background

After the Ottoman defeat at Vienna in 1683, the Holy League had reconquered most of Hungary. But the war dragged on. Habsburg forces were stretched by the Nine Years’ War against France, and an Ottoman counter-offensive had retaken Belgrade in 1690.

Mustafa II, who became sultan in 1695, broke with recent custom by leading his armies in person. In 1695 and 1696 he won some successes in the Banat of Temesvar. In 1697 he again marched north from Belgrade with a large army.

Eugene of Savoy, a French-born prince who had entered Habsburg service in 1683 and fought at the relief of Vienna, was appointed commander in Hungary that summer at the age of 33. He had been recommended for the post by Count Ernst Rudiger von Starhemberg, the defender of Vienna in 1683 and by then president of the imperial war council. He found an army short of pay and supplies, which he reorganised quickly.

The armies

Eugene commanded roughly 50,000 men, including infantry, cavalry and artillery. The Ottoman army is usually estimated at 80,000-100,000, though such figures are uncertain and included many non-combatants.

Mustafa II at first moved toward the Habsburg base at Peterwardein (Petrovaradin) and then turned north along the Tisza, apparently intending to strike toward Transylvania or upper Hungary. To do so the army had to cross the river at Zenta, on a bridge of boats protected by earthworks.

The battle

On 11 September 1697 Eugene, who had been shadowing the Ottomans, learned from a captured Ottoman officer that the army was in the middle of its crossing. The sultan, much of the cavalry and the baggage were already on the east bank, while the infantry, including the Janissaries, and the artillery were still on the west bank.

Eugene marched at once and arrived in the afternoon, with only a few hours of daylight left. He formed his army in a wide crescent around the Ottoman bridgehead and attacked at about five in the evening. Imperial troops on the left wing found a sandbank along the river that let them get behind the Ottoman defences and cut off the bridge.

The Ottoman position collapsed. Trapped between the attackers and the river, thousands were killed or drowned as they tried to escape across the bridge or swim the Tisza. The grand vizier, Elmas Mehmed Pasha, was killed, according to many accounts by his own mutinous soldiers. Mustafa II watched from the far bank and then withdrew to Temesvar.

Darkness ended the fighting after only about two hours. Contemporaries were struck by the speed of the collapse: an army that had been a serious threat that morning had ceased to exist as a fighting force by nightfall. Eugene’s decision to attack so late in the day, with limited light, was a calculated risk that paid off because the Ottoman army was split in two by the river.

By the numbers

Among the trophies were the Ottoman artillery, the army’s treasury and the grand vizier’s seal of office, a symbol of the sultan’s delegated authority.

Timeline

• 1683, 12 September: Eugene fights in the relief of Vienna.
• 1695: Mustafa II becomes sultan and leads campaigns in person.
• 1697, July: Eugene takes command of the imperial army in Hungary.
• 1697, 11 September: Battle of Zenta.
• 1697, October: Eugene raids Ottoman Bosnia and burns Sarajevo.
• 1699, 26 January: Treaty of Karlowitz ends the war.

Consequences

Zenta was the last major battle of the war. In October 1697 Eugene led a raid deep into Ottoman Bosnia, reaching Sarajevo, which was set on fire. With France at peace after the Treaty of Ryswick, the Habsburgs could put more weight on the eastern front.

The Ottoman government, its field army destroyed, agreed to negotiate under English and Dutch mediation. The talks led to the Treaty of Karlowitz in January 1699.

Legacy

Zenta launched the career of one of the most celebrated commanders of the age. Eugene went on to win the Battle of Blenheim with the Duke of Marlborough in 1704 and to capture Belgrade in 1717. The battle is still commemorated in Senta today.

Why it matters

The Battle of Zenta ended the Ottomans’ last serious attempt to reverse their losses in Hungary. By forcing the sultan to the negotiating table, it set the borders of Central Europe for the next generation.