Battle of Sisak

Battle of Sisak
Part of the Hundred Years' Croatian-Ottoman War

Christians Before Sisak, Croatia A.D. 1593
(from book by Hieronymus Oertel, Nuremberg 1665)
Date22 June 1593
Location
Sisak, Kingdom of Croatia
Habsburg monarchy
45°28′14″N 16°23′10″E / 45.47056°N 16.38611°E / 45.47056; 16.38611
Result

Habsburg victory

Belligerents

Ottoman Empire

Habsburg Monarchy

Commanders and leaders
Gazi Hasan Predojevic †
Sultanzade Mehmed-beg of Hersek †
Džafer-beg of Pakrac-Cernica †
Arnaud Memi Bey of Zvornik †
Ramazan Bey of Pojega †
Arpadi Bey of Klis-Livno †
Ibrahim-beg of Lika

Commanders of Sisak garrison: Matija Fintić †
Blaž Đurak

Commanders of Christian joint relief army:

Ruprecht von Eggenberg
Tamás Erdődy
Andreas von Auersperg
Stephan Grasswein

Melchior of Redern
Strength
12,000[3]–16,000[4][5]

Sisak garrison:

Relief army:

Altogether:

4,300–5,800
Casualties and losses
8,000[4][9] killed or drowned 50[9]–500[10]

The Battle of Sisak[a] was fought on 22 June 1593 between Ottoman Bosnian forces and a combined Christian army from the Habsburg lands, mainly the Kingdom of Croatia and Inner Austria. The battle took place at Sisak, central Croatia, at the confluence of the Sava and Kupa rivers, on the borderland between Christian Europe and the Ottoman Empire.

Between 1591 and 1593 the Ottoman military governor of Bosnia, Beglerbeg Telli Hasan Pasha, attempted twice to capture the fortress of Sisak, one of the garrisoned castles that the Habsburgs maintained in Croatia as part of the Military Frontier. In 1592, after the key imperial fortress of Bihać fell to the Turks, only Sisak stood in the way before Croatia's main city Zagreb. Pope Clement VIII called for a Christian league against the Ottomans, and the Sabor recruited in anticipation a force of about 5,000 professional soldiers.

On 15 June 1593, Sisak was once again besieged by the Bosnian Pasha and his Gazis. The Sisak garrison was commanded by Blaž Đurak and Matija Fintić, both Croatian priests from the Diocese of Zagreb. A Habsburg relief army under the supreme command of the Styrian general Ruprecht von Eggenberg, was quickly assembled to break the siege. The Croatian troops were led by the Ban of Croatia, Tamás Erdődy, while major forces from the Duchy of Carniola and the Duchy of Carinthia were under the commander of the Croatian Military Frontier Andreas von Auersperg, known as the "Carniolan Achilles".

On 22 June, the Austro-Croatian relief army launched a surprise attack on the besieging forces, and at the same time the garrison came out of the fortress to join the attack; the ensuing battle resulted in a crushing defeat for the Bosnian Ottoman army, with Hasan Pasha being killed in action and almost all of his army being wiped out. The battle of Sisak is considered the main catalyst for the start of the Long War which raged between the Habsburgs and the Ottomans from 1593 to 1606.

  1. ^ Luthar, Oto (2008). The Land Between: A History of Slovenia. Peter Lang. p. 216. ISBN 978-3-631-57011-1.
  2. ^ Smith, Charlotte Colding (2015). Images of Islam, 1453–1600: Turks in Germany and Central Europe. Routledge. p. 65. ISBN 978-1-317-31963-4.
  3. ^ Oto Luthar: The Land Between: A History of Slovenia (Peter Lang GmbH, 2008), p. 215
  4. ^ a b Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall, Geschichte des Osmanischen Reiches. Vol.4: Vom Regierungsantritte Murad des Dritten bis zur zweyten Entthronung Mustafa des Ersten 1574–1623, Budapest: C. A. Hartleben, 1829, p. 218 and footnote with reference to the greatly differing figures in Turkish sources, e.g. Mustafa Naima,Tarichi Naima (i.e. "Naima's History"), Constantinople 1734, vol. I, p. 43 f. (Annals of the Turkish Empire: from 1591 to 1659. Transl. Charles Fraser. London: Oriental Translation Fund, 1832), and Austrian sources, e.g. Franz Christoph von Khevenhüller (1588–1650), Annales Ferdinandei, Leipzig: Weidmann 1721–1726, vol. IV, p. 1093.
  5. ^ a b Ive Mažuran: Povijest Hrvatske od 15. stoljeća do 18. stoljeća, p. 146
  6. ^ Vjekoslav Klaić: Povijest Hrvata od najstarijih vremena do svršetka XIX. stoljeća, Knjiga peta, Zagreb, 1988, p. 496
  7. ^ Ivo Goldstein: Sisačka bitka 1593., Zagreb, 1994, p. 104
  8. ^ Ferdo Šišić: Povijest Hrvata; pregled povijesti hrvatskog naroda 600 – 1918, pp. 305–306, Zagreb ISBN 953-214-197-9
  9. ^ a b Luthar, O. (2008). The Land Between: A History of Slovenia. Peter Lang. p. 215. ISBN 978-3-631-57011-1.
  10. ^ Bánlaky József: A magyar nemzet hadtörténelme; A sziszeki csata 1593 június 22.-én


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