Battle of Zenta

The Battle of Zenta or Battle of Senta, fought on 11 September 1697 just south of Zenta (Serbian: Senta, today in Serbia), on the east side of the Tisza river, was a major engagement in the Great Turkish War (1683–1699) and one of the most decisive defeats in Ottoman history. In a surprise attack, Habsburg Imperial forces routed the Ottoman army which was in the process of crossing the river. At the cost of a few hundred losses, the assaultants inflicted 30,000 casualties on the Ottomans, dispersed the remainder and captured the Ottoman treasure. As an immediate consequence, the Ottoman Empire lost control over Bosnia, while in the long run, the Habsburg victory at Zenta was the last decisive step to force the Ottoman Empire into the Treaty of Karlowitz (1699), ending the Ottoman control of large parts of Central Europe. After this treaty, Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary was enlarged and included much of the lands that once belonged to medieval Kingdom of Hungary (In the 16th century, Kingdom of Hungary was divided between Habsburg Monarchy (see: Royal Hungary), Ottoman Empire (see: Ottoman Hungary) and the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom centered in Transylvania).

Prelude

After the relief of the Habsburg capital in the Battle of Vienna of 1683, Austria enjoyed great success and by 1688 Belgrade and most of the Pannonian Plain was occupied by Habsburgs. But as the war with the French demanded more troops, and the new grand vizier reorganized and reinvigorated the Ottoman Army, the...
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