treason, and were beheaded on the scaffold in 1671. Many of the Protestant clergy of Hungary were banished from the country or condemned to the galleys, on the charge of complicity in the plot; while the chartered rights of Hungary were outraged.

FormidBut these acts of violence, instead of abating the disturbances, tended able Hungarian rather to augment them, and to excite the love of freedom and the Rebellion military spirit of the Hungarians. The suppression of the dignity of against Emperor Palatine of Hungary, which occurred about the same time, along with Leopold I. the cruelties and extortions practiced by the German troops, eventually produced a general rebellion in Hungary against the Austrian House of Hapsburg, which ended in civil war in 1677. The Hungarian rebels Emmerik at first chose Count Francis Wesselini for their leader, but he was soon superseded by Count Emmerik Tekeli. These patriotic magnates were secretly abetted by Louis XIV. of France and by Sultan Mohammed IV. of Turkey.

Tekeli.

Tekeli's

sions.

Count Emmerik Tekeli, at the head of twelve thousand Hungarians, Victories. defeated the Austrian and German imperial armies in Upper Hungary in 1678, and occupied the entire region of the Carpathian mountains. The Emperor Leopold I., as King of Hungary, then found it necesLeopold's Conces- sary to comply; and, in the Hungarian Diet, which he convened at Odenburg, he granted redress of most of the grievances complained of by the Hungarians; but, as Count Emmerik Tekeli disapproved of the resolutions of this Diet, the civil war in Hungary continued; and Tekeli Renewed. formed an alliance with the Prince of Transylvania and with the Sultan of Turkey, who recognized him as tributary King of Hungary in 1682, while Louis XIV. secretly afforded him assistance.

Civil War

Turkish

Hungarians.

Turko

As the twenty years' Truce of Vasvar had now almost expired, the Turks renewed hostilities with Austria and the German Empire in 1683, and an Ottoman army of two hundred thousand men under the Grand Vizier Kara Mustapha marched to the aid of the revolted Hungarians and joined Count Emmerik Tekeli at Essek, in Slavonia. The united Hunga- Turkish and Hungarian armies, numbering two hundred thousand men, then marched upon Vienna to make the Hapsburgs tremble in their own capital. At the approach of the invaders, the Emperor Leopold I. and Austria. his court fled in consternation to Linz, followed by sixty thousand persons in a single day; and the Austrian capital seemed doomed.

rian Invasion

of

Siege of

The immense Turkish hosts under Kara Mustapha laid siege to Vienna. Vienna, July 14, 1683. The inhabitants and the brave garrison under Count Rudiger von Stahremberg withstood the siege for two months, in spite of all assaults; but six thousand of the garrison perished by battle and pestilence, and the fall of the city appeared at hand.

At the earnest solicitations of the Emperor Leopold I., the valiant John Sobieski, King of Poland, who had covered himself with glory by

his gallant defense of Poland against Cossacks, Tartars and Turks, came with eighteen thousand Polish veterans to the relief of Austria's beleaguered capital. He was joined by the German imperial army under Duke Charles of Lorraine; and the united Polish and German armies, numbering eighty-three thousand men, under the chief command of the Polish warrior-king, appeared before Vienna on the evening of Saturday, September 11, 1683; his arrival upon the heights of Kahlenberg being betokened by the discharge of rockets, thus kindling new hopes in the starving citizens of the Austrian capital.

Although the besieging Ottoman hosts outnumbered the Polish and German troops more than two to one, John Sobieski's name alone was a terror to the Turks. The next day after the Polish king's arrival, Sunday, September 12, 1683, was decided the question whether the crescent of Islam or the cross of Christ was to wave on the spires of Vienna. John Sobieski had drawn up his troops in the plain fronting the Ottoman camp, and ordered an assault on the Turks in their intrenchments, exclaiming as he advanced: " Not to us, O Lord, but to Thee be the glory!"

Whole bands of Tartar troops in the Ottoman army broke and fled in the wildest dismay, upon hearing the name of Poland's hero-king repeated along the Turkish lines. An eclipse of the moon added to the consternation of the superstitious Turks, who observed with dread the waning crescent in the heavens. With a furious charge the Polish infantry got possession of an eminence commanding the Grand Vizier's position, and so surprised was Kara Mustapha at this unexpected onset that he instantly gave way to despair.

John Sobieski's March

to the

Relief of
Vienna.

His Grand

Attack

on the Besieging Turks.

Defeat

and Rout of the Turks.

Siege of
Raised.

Vienna

John Sobieski's Complete

Victory.

The charges which were rapidly hurled upon the wavering Ottoman lines put the Turkish hosts to rout with terrific slaughter, thus raising the siege of Vienna. Kara Mustapha vainly endeavored to rally his broken hosts. He asked the fleeing Khan of the Tartars: “Can you not aid me?" The Khan replied: "I know the King of Poland, and I tell you that with such an enemy we have no safety but in flight. Look at the sky! See if God is not against us!" So sudden and general was the panic and flight of the Turks that the triumphant John Sobieski entered the deserted camp of the enemy, who, in their flight, had abandoned one hundred and twenty thousand tents and all their spoils, horses, camels, artillery, baggage and camp equipage to the victorious Christian hosts. Even the consecrated banner of Mohammed became the prize of the victors, and was sent as a trophy to the Pope. This memorable and decisive victory of Christendom over Islam, of Turkey's civilization over barbarism, marks the era of the final and rapid decline of the Ottoman Empire. The intelligence of this great victory produced unbounded joy throughout Christendom; but it was unwelcome

Decline.

Louis

Letters of news to Louis XIV., who had secretly encouraged this Moslem invasion. XIV. It is said that letters from the French king containing the entire plan for the siege of Vienna were found in the Grand Vizier's tent. The Leopold's Emperor Leopold I., who was envious of the favor and applause with Ingratitude. which his subjects everywhere greeted the valiant King of Poland, treated him with the meanest ingratitude.

Turkish
Defeats.

Continued The Polish and German imperial armies under King John Sobieski and Duke Charles of Lorraine pursued the fleeing Turks and again defeated them in their retreat. The fortress of Gran, which the Turks had held for almost a century and a half, was wrested from them.

Siege of

Buda.

Holy League.

of

Turks.

In 1684 the German imperial army under Duke Charles of Lorraine captured Wissegrad, Waitzen and Pesth, but failed in a three months' siege of Buda, losing twenty-three thousand men. During the same year the Emperor Leopold I., King John Sobieski of Poland, the Venetian Republic and Pope Innocent XI. entered into a Holy League against the Turks; and the Holy War which ensued continued until 1699.

Recovery A succession of brilliant victories gained by the famous German imHungary perial generals, Duke Charles of Lorraine, Prince Louis of Baden and from the Prince Eugene of Savoy, recovered that part of Hungary which had been in the possession of the Turks since the famous victory of Sultan Solyman the Magnificent at Mohacz in 1526. The victory of the Duke of Lorraine over the Turks at Strigova in 1685 recovered the fortress of Neuhäusel for the Austrians. In 1686 the Duke of Lorraine took the strong fortress of Buda by assault after a siege of three months, and after it had been in the possession of the Turks for one hundred and forty-five years. During the same year Russia joined the Holy League against the Ottoman Porte.

Siege and

Capture of Buda

Battle of

Execution

The splendid victory of the German imperial army under Charles of Mohacz. Lorraine over the Turks at Mohacz, August 12, 1687-the scene of their of Kara great victory in 1526-recovered Transylvania and Slavonia for AusMustapha tria. These continued reverses cost the life of the Grand Vizier Kara and Deposition of Mustapha, who was strangled by order of the enraged Sultan MohamMoham- med IV. med IV. During the same year, 1687, the many Turkish disasters caused a mutiny in the Turkish army and a riot in Constantinople; Solyman and Sultan Mohammed IV. was hurled from his throne by the rebellious Janizaries, and imprisoned in the Seven Towers; while his brother SOLYMAN III. was raised to the dignity of Sultan of Turkey.

med IV.

III.,
, A. D.
1687-

1691.

and the

Emperor Encouraged by the brilliant triumphs of his arms, the Emperor
Leopold I. Leopold I., as
Leopold I., as King of Hungary, convened the Hungarian Diet at
Hunga- Pressburg in 1687, where he demanded that, in consideration of the
extraordinary exertions which he had been obliged to make against the
Turks, the Hungarian kingdom should be made hereditary in his

rian

Diet.

family. The magnates of Hungary seemed at first resolved to maintain their right of electing their sovereign; but, as the criminal court of Eperies had already deprived the magnates of their most enterprising leaders and spread terror through the entire Hungarian nation, the magnates soon yielded to the influence of authority.

Made a

Hered

session

of the Haps

Accordingly, the Hungarian Diet made a great change in the con- Hungary stitution of Hungary by abolishing elective monarchy and making the Hungarian crown hereditary in the Austrian House of Hapsburg; but itary Posthe magnates renewed the Golden Privilege-Hungary's Magna Charta -which their ancestors had wrung from King Andrew II. in 1222, excepting that clause in the thirty-first article which authorized the magnates to take up arms against their sovereign whenever they judged him guilty of having broken his coronation oath by infringing the rights and liberties of Hungary.

burgs.

Conces

sions.

The Diet at Pressburg also consented to the admission of German Emperor imperial garrisons into all the fortresses of Hungary. In return for the Leopold's concessions of the Hungarian Diet, the Emperor Leopold I. confirmed the ancient privileges of the Hungarian nation, and granted perfect religious toleration to all orders and sects in Hungary. His son, the Archduke Joseph of Austria, was crowned the first hereditary King of Hungary, December 19, 1687.

Victories over the Turks in

Greece.

The Russians failed in their efforts to conquer the Tartars of the Venetian Crimea; but the Venetians won brilliant victories over the Turks in Central and Southern Greece, capturing a number of towns, among which were Athens and Corinth. The Parthenon, the most important architectural ornament of Athens-still as perfect in its exquisite proportions as in the time of Pericles—was used by the Turks as a powdermagazine. During the siege a bomb from a Venetian vessel fell into the Destrucfamous edifice, and its explosion shivered the finely-sculptured marbles of the central portion to atoms. The Venetian general Morosini completed the conquest of the Morea, the ancient Peloponnesus, from the Turks in 1690.

tion of the Par

thenon.

Austrian and

over the

Turks.

The Austrian arms were crowned with repeated victories, and the Continued humiliation of the Turks was deepened during the next two years after their great defeat at Mohacz in 1687. The German imperial forces German Sultan Soly- Victories Imperial took Albe-Royale, Belgrade, Semendria and Gradisca. Sultan Solyman III. now solicited peace; but this was refused by the Emperor Leopold I., who hoped to annihilate the Ottoman power in Europe and to make himself master of the dominions of the former Eastern Roman Empire. The Emperor Leopold's ambitious hopes seemed about to be realized in the campaign of 1689, during which his army under Prince Louis of Baden achieved two splendid victories, one at Nissa, in Servia, and the other at Widdin, ir Bulgaria, thus effecting the conquest of the

Turkish Victories over the

Austri

ans.

Turkish provinces of Bosnia, Servia and Bulgaria. Prince Louis of Baden established his winter-quarters in the tributary Turkish principality of Wallachia.

The drooping spirits of the Turks was temporarily revived during the campaign of 1690 by the talents and energy of their new Grand Vizier, Mustapha Köproli, Achmet Köproli's son, who, after gaining several victories over the Austrians, recovered the strong fortresses of Nissa, Widdin, Semendria and Belgrade, thus reconquering Bosnia, Servia and Bulgaria from the Austrians. The new Grand Vizier entered Slavonia and defeated the Austrians at Essek, while a Turkish Battle of detachment marched into Transylvania.

Salanke

men.

III.

The extraordinary efforts made by the Sublime Porte for the campaign of 1691 inspired the Turks with hopes of better success; but Solyman their expectations were doomed to bitter disappointment by the great Deposed. battle of Salankemen, in which the brave Mustapha Köproli was slain, thus giving the victory to the Austrians under Prince Louis of Baden, August 19, 1691. In consequence of this great disaster to the Ottoman arms, Sultan Solyman III. was deposed by a revolt of the Janizaries, and his brother ACHMET II. was raised to the Turkish throne.

Achmet II., A. D.

16911695.

Emperor

Forces

For the next five years this war between the Ottoman and German Leopold's Empires languished; as the principal forces of Austria and the GerEmployed man Empire were then occupied in the War of the Grand Alliance against against Louis XIV. of France, thus preventing the Emperor Leopold I. from reaping any advantage from the great victory of his arms at Salankemen, and obliging him to act on the defensive in Hungary during the campaigns from 1692 to 1696.

Louis

XIV.

Venetian

and

Russian

Conquests.

Achmet III. Deposed.

In the meantime the Venetians made many conquests from the Turks in Delmatia and Albania; while the Czar Peter the Great of Russia wrested the port of Azov, on the Black Sea coast, and its neighboring territory, from the Turks in 1696.

In 1695 Sultan Achmet II. was also driven from his throne by an insurrection of the Janizaries, and his nephew MUSTAPHA II. was elevated to the dignity of Sultan of Turkey. After the new Sultan's Mustapha accession the Ottoman arms suddenly became formidable once more to II., A. D. Christendom for a brief period, and in 1696 Sultan Mustapha II. led his hosts across the Danube and defeated the Austrians at Bega.

1695

1703.

Prince Eugene

of Savoy.

The danger which threatened Christendom was averted by the brilliant military genius of the new commander of the German imperial forces in Hungary-Prince Eugene of Savoy, a Frenchman by birth, but who had been offended by King Louis XIV., and who in revenge entered the service of the Emperor Leopold I., the deadly enemy of the French king. Among the first great achievements of Prince Eugene of Savoy was his signal and decisive victory over Sultan Mustapha II.