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Capture of Belgrade
Part of the Russo-Turkish War (1735–1739)
Signing of Treaty of Belgrade, 1739
Date July – 18 September 1739 Location Belgrade44°48′N 20°28′E / 44.800°N 20.467°E / 44.800; 20.467 Result Ottoman victory Territorial changes The Ottoman army captured Belgrade in 1739
Belligerents
Ottoman Empire	Habsburg Austria
Commanders and leaders
Ivaz Mehmed Pasha Hekimoğlu Ali Pasha	Count Wallis
Strength
3,000	25,000+
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Heavy

The capture of Belgrade was the recapture of Belgrade (capital of modern Serbia) by the Ottoman Empire in 1739.

Background

According to the Treaty of Pruth signed in 1711 between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire, the Russians had stipulated to stop interfering in the affairs of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In the War of the Polish Succession (1733–1738), Habsburg Austria and the Russian Empire were allies. The Ottomans saw this alliance as a violation of the treaty and engaged in a war against Russia. Being an ally of Russia, the Austrians also declared war on the Ottoman Empire in 1737. The Austrian army was defeated in two major battles, the Battle of Banja Luka and the Battle of Grocka, and had to fall back on Belgrade.

Siege

The Ottoman Empire had first captured Belgrade in 1521 (the first campaign of Suleyman I), but lost it to Eugene of Savoy of Austria in 1717 (see siege of Belgrade (1717)). The Ottomans had since then been waiting for an opportunity to regain the city. After the battle of Grocka the grand vizier Ivaz Mehmed Pasha laid siege to Belgrade (July 1739). In August, Hekimoğlu Ali Pasha (former grand vizier) joined him from the western front, a Bosnian militia also took part in the attack. After a siege of 51 days Count Wallis, the Austrian commander, ordered the burning of the Danubean fleet under his command and sued for peace.

Peace talks

During the peace talks in Belgrade, Wilhelm Reinhard von Neipperg represented Austria, while Ottoman delegates including Mektupçu Ragıp (future grand vizier Koca Ragıp) represented the Ottoman Empire. Changing the borders caused no big problem; Austria agreed to cede territories to the Ottoman side. The major issue, however, was the future of Belgrade. The earliest Austrian offer was to keep Belgrade in return for the territories ceded to Ottoman side, which the Ottoman representatives refused. The second offer of the Austrian side was to cede Belgrade on the condition that the fortifications were to be demolished. Ivaz Mehmed Pasha also refused this offer. Negotiations broke down. Finally, Louis Sauveur Villeneuve, the French ambassador to the Ottoman Empire proposed a compromise in which only the former Ottoman fortification would be kept. Both sides agreed on the proposal and the treaty was signed on 18 September 1739.

Aftermath

Except for a brief occupation during the Austro-Turkish War (1787–1791) the Austrians were never able to capture Belgrade. The Ottomans kept the city up to the Serbian Uprising. Until 1878, Belgrade was a city of semi-independent Serbia under Ottoman suzerainty. Serbia gained full independence by the Treaty of Berlin (1878).

References

1. Ćirković 2004, p. 154, 176.
2. Hochedlinger 2013, p. 215-216.
3. Uyar, M.; Erickson, E.J. (2009). A Military History of the Ottomans: From Osman to Atatürk. Praeger Security International. Praeger Security International/ABC-CLIO. p. 106. ISBN 978-0-275-98876-0.
4. Prof.Yaşar Yücel-Prof Ali Sevim:Türkiye tarihi IV, AKDTYKTTK Yayınları, 1991, pp 20

Sources

• Bataković, Dušan T., ed. (2005). Histoire du peuple serbe [History of the Serbian People] (in French). Lausanne: L’Age d’Homme.
• Ćirković, Sima (2004). The Serbs. Malden: Blackwell Publishing.
• Hochedlinger, Michael (2013). Austria's Wars of Emergence: War, State and Society in the Habsburg Monarchy, 1683–1797. London & New York: Routledge.
• Kurtaran, Uğur (2018). "Ottoman-Austria border determination works and newly determined borders according to the treaty of Belgrade of 1739". Belgrade 1521-1867. Belgrade: The Institute of History. pp. 169–192.
• Oruç, Hatice (2018). "Belgrade according to the 1741 dated tahrir defter on the Smederevo sanjak". Belgrade 1521-1867. Belgrade: The Institute of History. pp. 193–257.

v t e Major sieges involving the Ottoman Empire by century
13th-14th	1285 Kulaca Hisar 1326 Bursa 1328–1331 Nicaea 1333–1337 Nicomedia 1360s Adrianople 1385 Sofia 1393 Tarnovo 1394–1402 Constantinople
15th	1411 Constantinople 1422 Constantinople 1422–1430 Thessalonica 1428 Golubac 1440 Belgrade 1440–41 Novo Brdo 1448 Svetigrad 1450 Krujë 1453 Constantinople 1455 Berat 1456 Belgrade 1461 Trebizond 1462 Mytilene 1463 Jajce 1464 Jajce 1466–67 Krujë 1467 Krujë 1470 Negroponte 1474 Scutari 1477–78 Krujë 1478–79 Scutari 1480 Rhodes 1481 Otranto 1484 Chilia
16th	1500 Cephalonia 1517 Cairo 1521 Belgrade 1522 Knin 1522 Rhodes 1529 Peñón of Algiers 1529 Vienna 1531 Diu 1532 Güns (Kőszeg) 1532 Maribor 1533–34 Coron 1534 Tunis 1534 Baghdad 1537 Klis 1537 Corfu 1538 Diu 1539 Castelnuovo 1541 Buda 1543 Nice 1543 Esztergom 1548 Aden 1548 Van 1551 Tripoli 1552 Muscat 1552 Hormuz 1552 Temesvár 1552 Eger 1556 Oran 1559 Bahrain 1563 Oran 1565 Malta 1566 Szigetvar 1570–71 Famagusta 1574 Tunis 1578 Gvozdansko 1592 Bihać 1593 Sisak 1596 Eger
17th	1601 Nagykanizsa 1621 Khotyn 1638 Baghdad 1663 Uyvar 1664 Novi Zrin 1648–1669 Candia 1672 Kamenets 1683 Vienna 1684 Buda 1684 Santa Maura 1685 Érsekújvár 1686 Buda 1686 Pécs 1688 Negroponte 1688 Belgrade 1690 Belgrade 1695 Azov 1696 Azov
18th	1711 Brăila 1715 Nauplia 1716 Corfu 1716 Temeşvar 1717 Belgrade 1733 Baghdad 1734–35 Ganja 1737 Ochakov 1739 Belgrade 1788 Ochakov 1788 Khotin 1789 Belgrade 1789–90 Izmail 1799 El Arish 1799 Jaffa 1799 Acre
19th	1801 Cairo 1806 Belgrade 1821 Patras 1821–22 Acropolis 1821 Tripolitsa 1822 Missolonghi 1823 Missolonghi 1825–26 Missolonghi 1826–27 Acropolis 1828 Kars 1828 Varna 1854 Calafat 1854 Silistra 1854–55 Sevastopol 1855 Kars 1877 Plevna
20th	1912–13 Scutari 1912–13 Adrianople 1915 Van 1915–16 Kut 1916–1919 Medina
Ottoman defeats shown in italics.

• Sieges involving Austria
• Sieges involving the Ottoman Empire
• Conflicts in 1739
• Sieges of Belgrade
• 1739 in the Ottoman Empire
• 1739 in Europe
• Ottoman Serbia
• Battles involving the Ottoman Empire
• 18th century in Belgrade
• Russo-Turkish War (1735–1739)
• Battles involving Bosnian militia (Ottoman)