The Hundred Years' Croatian–Ottoman War (Croatian: Stogodišnji hrvatsko-turski rat, Stogodišnji rat protiv Turaka, Stogodišnji rat s Osmanlijama) was a sequence of conflicts, mostly of relatively low intensity, between the Ottoman Empire and the medieval Kingdom of Croatia (ruled by the Jagiellon and Zápolya dynasties), and the later Habsburg Kingdom of Croatia. Besides periods of small-scale borderland warfare, the conflict also saw episodes of major conquest campaigns of Croatian land which was undertaken by the Ottomans especially during the 16th century.
The expansion of the Ottoman Empire in Europe was stopped in the Battle of Sisak 1593. Nevertheless, the Ottoman Empire held control over parts of Croatia from the 16th to the end of the 17th century, when most of the territories were regained in the Great Turkish War, except for lands known as Turkish Croatia (roughly corresponding to modern day western Bosnia and Herzegovina) which remained in Ottoman hands until the 19th century.
Time span
There are several different variations about the exact length of the war. According to one group of historians, the war began with the Battle of Krbava Field in 1493, and ended with the Battle of Sisak in 1593. According to the other group of historians, the war lasted from the second half of the 15th century and into the entire 16th century. A third group of historians mark the Peace of Zsitvatorok in 1606 as the end of the war. By the end of war, Croatia was reduced to "Remnants of the Remnants" and its territory consisted of only 16,800 km2.
In light of the human and territorial loss, the 15th and 16th centuries were known as the "Two centuries of Croatia in mourning" (Latin: Plorantis Croatiae saecula duo carmine descripta) in the lyric-epic poem of Pavao Ritter Vitezović from 1703.
Background
By the mid 14th century, the Ottoman Empire established a foothold in Europe around the town of Gallipoli. From there, they expanded into the Bulgarian Empire and encircled Byzantine capital Constantinople. In 1361, the Ottomans captured Adrianople and proclaimed it their capital. Most of Moravian Serbia fell under Ottoman control following the battle of Kosovo in 1389, while Bulgaria was captured in 1396. The Serbian Despotate became an Ottoman vassal. These conquests opened the way further west and allowed the Ottomans to reach the Kingdom of Bosnia, as well as the Kingdom of Croatia and the Kingdom of Hungary. Croatia and Hungary were since 1102 in a personal union, with the territory of Croatia governed by a royal dignitary (ban). The medieval Kingdom of Slavonia was governed by a separate ban, and was not a part of the royal title. Sigismund, the king of Hungary and Croatia, led the crusade of Nicopolis against the Ottoman Empire in 1396, which resulted in the rout of the Christian army. He then turned to the strengthening of border areas in his realm. Sigismund's rule was marked with dynastic struggles. Venice took advantage of this and between 1409 and 1420 established control over Dalmatia.
The fall of Constantinople in 1453 enabled the Ottoman Empire to engage more troops in their Balkan campaigns. Bosnia was conquered by Sultan Mehmed II in May 1463, after the capture of Bobovac and the execution of Stephen Tomašević, the last Bosnian king. Ottoman forces then raided the neighbouring Croatia and Venetian Dalmatia. The valleys of the Sana and Una rivers were successfully defended by Croatian Ban Pavao Špirančić during the summer of 1463. The Ottomans then directed their incursions to the south, on the Croatian region of Krbava and around the coastal town of Senj. Špirančić was captured in battle in September and died in captivity.
King Matthias Corvinus waited until most of the Ottoman troops left the region. In the fall of 1463, Corvinus led an army and captured parts of northern Bosnia and towns along the Vrbas and Usora rivers, including the fortress of Jajce in December, after a three month siege. Croatian Ban Stephen III Frankopan took part in Corvinus's campaign. Sultan Mehmed did not immediately respond to the offensive. He established the Sanjak of Bosnia on the territory of the former Bosnian Kingdom, which became the starting point of Ottoman raids into Croatia. Corvinus appointed Slavonian nobleman Emeric Zápolya as the governor of Bosnia, in order to organize the defense.
In 1464, Mehmed gathered an army to recapture the lost territories. He arrived to Bosnia in June and began a month-long siege of Jajce, but the garrison withheld the attack. Corvinus led an offensive into northeastern Bosnia and along the Drina River, and captured Srebrenik.
Ottoman style of warfare
The usual Ottoman tactic consisted of persistent loot and scorching raids usually conducted by the irregular light cavalry called the akinjis. The aim of these raids, (somewhat similar to the chevauchées conducted during the Hundred Years War) was to intimidate and demoralize the local civil inhabitants, to exhaust the economic opportunities and disable the normal economic life on the frontier areas, which would soften up the enemy defense. The tactic was also known as the "little war" (German: Kleinkrieg). The regions of Krbava and Lika were initially the main targets of Ottoman raids, regularly led by local sanjak-beys. The mountains and forests of medieval Croatia provided cover for Ottoman raiding parties, enabling them to remain longer on Croatian territory. Later, the duchies of Carniola, Styria, and Carinthia, the County of Gorizia, and Venetian-held territories were targeted by these raids as well.
On the other side, Croatian and allied Christian forces implemented counterattacks, especially in the first phases of war, when they were still able to apply the counterattacking or the offensive tactics. Even though akinji raiding parties attempted to evade hostile military formations, the armies did sometimes clash. Sometimes the local armies intercepted or pursued the raiders on their return. At that point the presence of captives which akinjis would capture as well as the heavy booty which they carried back made their return more slow and therefore vulnerable to the enemy attack such as at Battle of Una in 1483. The captives captured in these raids were usually sold as slaves on the Ottoman slave markets.
Zones of war peril
According to Croatian historian Ivan Jurković, danger zones affected by possible akinji raids could be graded in three levels:
- The first zone was the territory of Kingdom of Croatia, that had no effective control by both sides, as well as the parts of Kingdom of Croatia that were heavily struck by the Ottoman military and paramilitary operations. This zone was up to 50 km deep in the Croatian territory. It mostly covered the areas along the border and the later-formed Military Frontier. The infrastructure and the supra-structure became ruined and devastated, and the economic life suffered. This zone had high rate of emigration, mostly to the second and the third zones, along with emigrations abroad.
- The second zone was from time to time exposed to the raids of the Ottoman regular and irregular forces. The area was controlled by the Croatian authorities and the economic life was still somewhat functioning. Population level was steady and received a continuous inflow of displacees from the first zone. The Croatian nobles used this zone as the support point and the base for the defense or for the attempts of retaking of their estates in the first zone. These areas lived as economic support of the armies.
- The third zone was mostly an Ottoman raid-safe zone, in which the majority of the zone had no Ottoman raids, although few areas were subjected to Ottoman raids.
Croatia in personal union with Hungary
Early confrontations
In the aftermath of fall of medieval Kingdom of Bosnia to the Ottomans in 1463, Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus established the banates of Jajce and Srebrenik, which formed the centre of his new defense system. While it faced difficulties with coordination and finances, the system provided protection for northern Croatia, Slavonia, and southern Hungary from Ottoman raids, but the Adriatic coast and southern Croatia were still exposed. The fortresses of Knin, Klis, and Skradin formed the main line of defense in Croatia, while Krupa, Bihać, Otočac, and Senj formed the rear line. Later in 1469, the Captaincy of Senj was formed as a military and administrative unit within the defense system.
In 1467, Ottoman akinjis plundered the surroundings of Zadar and Šibenik. This happened again in 1468 and 1469, along with raids around Senj and across the Kupa River into the Duchy of Carniola. Another raid to southern Croatia followed up in June 1469, when several thousand people were taken captive. Estates of the Frankopan and Kurjaković families were particularly affected by these Ottoman raids. The Frankopans were also struck by Corvinus's centralization measures, and were deprived of Senj and several other possessions.
In the wake of the conquest of Bosnia, the Ottomans also expanded on most of the lands of Stjepan Vukčić Kosača by 1465. The town of Mostar was captured in 1466. In this area, the Ottoman Sanjak of Herzegovina was established in 1470.
The military of the Croatian Kingdom was based on a banderial system, involving soldiers on the ban's payroll and those of the magnates and the nobles. Due to the maintenance costs and the mountainous terrain of Croatia, the infantry significantly outnumbered the cavalry. Units of the middle and lower nobility presented the most numerous component of the Croatian armed force. These armies lacked the mobility as members of the noble families were tied to their often scattered holdings, which were vulnerable to akinji attacks. The Croatian nobles raised their troops at the request of their counts or the head of the county (župan). Such a mobilization system was slow and unable to react in time to prevent an incursion from the fast Ottoman light cavalry. Although incursions of Ottoman akinjis were usually successful, the forces of the Croatian ban and local nobles sometimes intercepted these raiding groups on their way back to Ottoman-held territory. In 1475 and 1478, the counts of the Zrinski family ambushed Ottoman troops returning from a raid and defeated them in the Una Valley.
In 1476, for the sake of better military organization, the office of the Ban of Croatia was merged with that of the Ban of Slavonia, which contributed to the process of political integration between Croatia and Slavonia. Despite everything mentioned earlier, the Ottoman danger did not stop internal conflicts between Croatian and Slavonian nobility, which further undermined an efficient defense.
Battle of Krbava
Incursions continued under Sultan Bayezid II, but with less intensity than in the 1470s. The Ottomans captured Herceg Novi in 1482, completing the conquest of Kosača's realm. In 1483, an army led by Croatian Ban Matthias Geréb destroyed the Ottoman raiding party in the Battle of Una near Novi Grad. A seven-year peace treaty between Bayezid and Corvinus was signed later in the year. By that time, the constant warfare left many villages deserted, and almost completely stopped the major trade route between Senj and Zagreb and inward towards Hungary. Corvinus died in 1490 and was succeeded by Vladislaus II. As the peace treaty came to an end, the hostilities renewed. In 1491, Croatian forces defeated another Ottoman raiding group returning from Carniola in the battle of Vrpile Gulch in Lika. This defeat forced the Ottomans to halt their attacks during the following year.
As Frankopans attempted to regain control over the town of Senj in July 1493, which was taken from them earlier by the king Matthias Corvinus in order to create Senj Captaincy (part of his defensive system) their efforts led to the conflict with Croatian Ban Emerik Derenčin resulting in Siege of Sokolac. As this was taking place, news of another Ottoman raiding party returning through Croatia towards Bosnia in August, forced them to quickly conclude truce and quit the siege. Derenčin gathered an army consisting of a number of Croatian nobles and their units and attempted to block the Ottoman path back to Bosnia. He decided to face the Ottoman army in an open battle, although Croatian nobles unsuccessfully insisted that making an ambush in the mountains would be a better option. On 9 September, the Croatian army clashed with the Ottoman forces near Udbina in Lika and suffered a huge defeat in the battle of Krbava Field. Ottoman strategy and tactics employed in this battle proved superior to that of the Croatian side. While the outcome of the battle was not immediately felt, it accelerated the decline of the power of the nobility, particularly the lower and the middle nobles.