Siege_of_Knin_(1688)

Siege of Knin (1688)

Siege of Knin (1688)

A siege of Dalmatian town of Virovitica during Great Turkish War

The siege of Knin was a siege undertaken in 1688 by the Venetian governor of Dalmatia, Girolamo Cornaro, and his local allies during the course of Great Turkish War in late August and early September 1688. The siege ended in Ottoman surrender and Venetian takeover of Knin.

Quick Facts Date, Location ...

Background

In 1683, the twenty-year-long peace, concluded by the Vasvar peace treaty ended, and Ottoman Porte decided to renew its hostilities against the Habsburg Empire. The large Ottoman Army, attempted to capture Habsburg capital of Vienna in 1683, but suffered a crushing defeat, which also ended with the formation of anti-Ottoman alliance, The Holy League, and the beginning of the Great Turkish War.[1] The Holy League brought together several European states such as Habsburg Monarchy, Russia, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Republic of Venice and united them against the Ottoman Empire.[1]

By the year 1688, the Great Turkish War went on for almost five years. In June 1688, local hajduk leader Zaviša Janković conducted a raid on local Turks around Knin, killing 15 of them. He also stole their horses and burnt down their crops.[2]

Siege

On August 29, 1688, Dalmatian governor Giorlamo Cornaro gathered all available forces, and besieged the town of Knin.[2] The well-aimed Venetian cannon fire damaged the town walls and caused casualties among Ottoman troops defending it.[2] After losing all hope in successful defence of the town, beglerbey Mehmed-pasha decided to surrender town on 11 September 1688, to Venetians.[2] His son Mehmed-bey and other prominent local Turks had also falen into captivity.[2]

Aftermath

After taking control of Knin, Cornaro had the most prominent Ottoman captives taken to Venice. He also loaded the remaining captives on Venetian ships and deported them eastwards, after he accused them of being "hardline plunderers".[2]

References

  1. [1]
    "Sveta liga | Hrvatska enciklopedija". www.enciklopedija.hr. Retrieved 2022-06-02.
  2. [2]
    Mažuran, Ive (1998). Hrvati i Osmansko Carstvo. Zagreb: Golden marketing. pp. 262–263. ISBN 953-6168-38-3.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Siege_of_Knin_(1688), and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.