Battle of Mohács (1687)

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Mohács (1687)
partof=Great Turkish War


caption=
date=12 August, 1687
place=15 miles south-west of Mohács, on the River Danube, modern day Hungary
result=Habsburg victory
combatant1=Austria,
Croatia,
Hungary,
Bavaria
combatant2=Ottoman Empire
commander1=Duke of Lorraine
Maximilian II Emanuel
commander2=Süleyman Paşa†
(Grand Vizier)
strength1=60,000 men [Chandler: "A Guide to the Battlefields of Europe", p.251. All statistics taken from Chandler.]
strength2=~80,000 men
*40,000 Mameluk slaves
*40,000 Balkan mercenaries
*800 Ottoman Turks
casualties1=15-18,000 killed or wounded
casualties2=20,000 killedThe Second Battle of Mohács was fought between the forces of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed IV, commanded by Süleyman Paşa, and the forces of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, commanded by Charles of Lorraine. The result was crushing defeat for the Ottomans.

Battle

In accordance with the strategy set up by Süleyman Paşa, the MameluksFact|date=July 2008 attacked the left flank while the Balkan mercenaries took the right flank in the rear. While these swarmed the flanks, the well equipped Ottoman Turks (led by Süleyman himself) charged into centre of the Habsburg army, killing about 5,000-8,000 Habsburg soldiers. The Habsburg army was outnumbered but managed to turn the tide: first the Mameluks lost their position and suffered huge losses, then the Balkan mercenaries fell into panic and fled. Now, the remaining the Ottoman Turks were outnunumbered and were all killed, including Süleyman Paşa.

The battle was a crushing defeat for the Ottomans, destroying their ambitions to expand further into Europe. After the battle, the Turkish army revolted and Sultan Mehmed IV was deposed. For a year the Ottoman Empire was paralysed, and Leopold's forces were poised to capture Belgrade and penetrate deep into the Balkans.

References

*Chandler, David. "A Guide to the Battlefields of Europe". Wordsworth Editions Ltd, (1998). ISBN 1-85326-694-9
*Penguin, "1961, Second Edition 1987 (including Preface to Second Edition and a new chapter 'From E.H. Carr's Files: Notes towards a Second Edition of What is History?')"