Battle of Banja Luka

Battle of Banja Luka
Part of the Russo-Turkish War (1735–1739)
Date4 August 1737; 287 years ago (1737-08-04)
Location
Banja Luka, Bosnia Eyalet, Ottoman Empire (present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina)
44°46′N 17°11′E / 44.767°N 17.183°E / 44.767; 17.183
Result Ottoman victory[2]
Belligerents

Ottoman Empire

 Habsburg monarchy Austria
Commanders and leaders
Hekimoğlu Ali Pasha Joseph of Saxe-Hildburghausen[3]
Maximilian Ulysses Browne
Strength
20,000[a] (relief force)[4] 20,000[4]
Casualties and losses
600

988 dead[b][5]

or 1,300 dead (includes 1,000 drowned)
1,200 wounded

The Battle of Banja Luka (Turkish: Banaluka Muharebesi, Serbo-Croatian: Banjolučki boj) took place in Banja Luka, Ottoman Bosnia, on 4 August 1737, during the Austro-Russian-Turkish War. An Austrian army under Prince Joseph Hildberghausen was defeated, as it attempted to besiege the town, when it ran into a large Ottoman relief force led by Bosnian Vizier Hekimoğlu Ali Pasha.[6]

The Bosnian population was aware that Austrian forces would invade Bosnia during the war; to be exact, the energetic Bosnian vizier Hekimoğlu Ali Pasha predicted in 1737 that, without a declaration of war, a large Austrian army of over 14,000 soldiers would attack Bosnia. That was why he called a meeting in Travnik with the Bosnian captains and ayans to plan the defense. At this council, all captains and ayans ultimately demanded that all preparations for defense be carried out immediately, without the knowledge and consent of Porte; thus, the Ottoman forces were planning the defense without the help of Istanbul.[7] Vizier declared a defense in the territory of Bosnia, and quickly gathered about 10,000 soldiers in the grassland. All captains in the then Bosnian army responded to the call. After the battle took place, the Bosniak army had won an absolute victory. Five assaults broke the Austrian force and forced it to flight, leaving 1,300 dead with the great heroism of Bosnian captains and combatants. The Battle of Banja Luka is considered to be one of the most important events in the history of Bosniaks.

  1. ^ Hickok, M.R. (1997). Ottoman Military Administration in Eighteenth-Century Bosnia. Mnemosyne, Bibliotheca Classica Batava. Brill. p. 19. ISBN 978-90-04-10689-5.
  2. ^ Malcolm, Noel, Bosnia: A Short History (New York University Press, 1994), p. 86.
  3. ^ E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam 1913-1936, Ed. M. Th. Houtsma and A. J. Wensinck, (BRILL, 1993), 36.
  4. ^ a b c Aksan, V. (2014). Ottoman Wars, 1700-1870: An Empire Besieged. Modern Wars In Perspective. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-317-88403-3.
  5. ^ a b Wheatcroft, A. (2010). The Enemy at the Gate: Habsburgs, Ottomans, and the Battle for Europe. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-02081-2. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  6. ^ Jaques, T.; Showalter, D.E. (2007). Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: A-E. Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: A Guide to 8,500 Battles from Antiquity Through the Twenty-first Century. Greenwood Press. p. 105. ISBN 978-0-313-33537-2.
  7. ^ "Prije 278 godina Bošnjaci su kod Banja Luke izvojevali veliku pobjedu" [278 years ago Bosniaks managed a great victory near Banja Luka]. Archived from the original on 7 August 2015. Retrieved 4 August 2015.


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