Polish–Ottoman War (1683–1699)

Battle at Parkany (Štúrovo) (1683), author Juliusz Kossak

Polish-Ottoman War (1683-1699), the Third Polish-Ottoman War or the War of the Holy League refers to the Polish side of the conflict otherwise known as the Great Turkish War. The conflict begun with a great Polish victory at the battle of Vienna in 1683, and ended with the Treaty of Karlowitz, restoring to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth lands lost in the previous Polish-Otoman War (the Polish–Ottoman War (1672–1676)). It was the last conflict between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire, and despite the Polish victory, it marked the decline of power of not only the Ottoman Empire, but also of the Commonwealth, which would never again interfere in affairs outside of its declining borders.

War

After a few years of peace, the Ottoman Empire attacked the Habsburg Empire again. The Turks almost captured Empire's capital of Vienna, but king of Poland John III Sobieski led a Christian alliance that defeated them in the Battle of Vienna which stalled the Ottoman Empire's hegemony in south-eastern Europe.

A new Holy League was initiated by Pope Innocent XI and encompassed the Holy Roman Empire (headed by Habsburg Austria), the Venetian Republic and Poland in 1684, joined by Muscovite Russia in 1686. Various German, English and Scottish Protestants served as volunteers in the alliance. The second Battle of Mohács was a crushing defeat for the Sultan.

Following the Battle of Zenta, the League won the war in 1699 and forced the Ottoman Empire to sign the Treaty of Karlowitz. The Ottomans lost much of their European possessions, with Podolia (including the key fortress at Kamianets-Podilskyi) returned to Poland.

Battles

• battle of Vienna (12 September 1683)
• battle at Parkany Štúrovo) (7-9 October 1683)
• battle of Jazłowiec (Yazlovets) (1684)
• battle of Bojany (Boiany) (1685)
• siege of Kamianets-Podilskyi (Kamianets-Podilskyi) (1687)
• battle of Smotrycz (Smotrych River) (1688)
• battle of Suczawa (Suceava) (1691)
• battle of Târgu Neamţ (Târgu Neamţ) (1691)
• battle of Uścieczko (Устечко) (6 October 1694)
• battle of Lwów (Lviv) (1694)
• Battle of Podhajce (8-9 September 1698)