Last Fortress in Ottoman Hungary: End of Ottoman Domination in Timişoara (1716)

Abstract

In 1552, Timişoara fell under Ottoman suzerainty and it became centre of the province. It has great strategic importance for protecting the Transylvania region. Timişoara which was under Ottoman rule for a long time, remained the seat of an Ottoman administrative unit even after the 1699 Treaty of Karlowitz. But when the Austro-Turkish War started, Timişoara was put on the agenda again. In 1716, Damad Ali Pasha’s Petrovaradin expedition ended with a great defeat, and then the Habsburgs first directed their forces against Timişoara, the capital of the Banat region/plain, and not against Belgrade. Timişoara was the last Ottoman fortification on the northern side of the Danube and Ottomans could not provide enough support there. The town resisted for a long time, but it surrendered when the expected relief did not come.