Turks
(1662-64 and 1683-99), by which the Ottoman power was driven from Hungary,
and the Austrian attitude towards Turkey and the Slav peoples of the
Balkans determined for a century to come. The first war, due to Ottoman
aggression in Transylvania, ended with Montecuculi's victory over the grand
vizier at St Gothard on the Raab on the 1st of August 1664. The general
political situation prevented Leopold from taking full advantage of this,
and the peace of Vasvar (August 10) left the Turks in possession of
Nagyvarad (Grosswardein) and the fortress of Ersekujvar (Neuhaeusel),
Transylvania being recognized as an independent principality. The next
Turkish war was the direct outcome of Leopold's policy in Hungary, where
the persecution of the Protestants and the suppression of the constitution
in 1658, led to a widespread conspiracy. This was mercilessly suppressed;
and though after a period of arbitrary government (1672-1679), the
palatinate and the constitution, with certain concessions to the
Protestants, were restored, the discontent continued. In 1683, invited by
Hungarian malcontents and spurred on by Louis XIV., the Turks burst into
Hungary, overran the country and appeared before the walls of Vienna. The
victory of the 12th of September, gained over the Turks by John Sobieski
(see JOHN III. SOBIESKI, KING OF POLAND) not only saved the Austrian
capital, but was the first of a series of successes which drove the Turks
permanently beyond the Danube, and established the power of Austria in the
East. The victories of Charles of Lorraine at Parkany (1683) and Esztergom
(Gran) (1685) were followed by the capture of Budapest (1686) and the
defeat of the Ottomans at [v.03 p.0009] Mohacs (1688). In 1688 the elector
took Belgrade; in 1691 Louis William I. of Baden won the battle of
Slankamen, and on the 11th of September 1697 Prince Eugene gained the
crowning victory of Zenta. This was followed, on the 26th of January 1699,
by the peace of Karlowitz, by which Slavonia, Transylvania and all Hungary,
except the banat of Temesvar, were ceded to the Austrian crown. Leopold had
wisely decided to initiate a conciliatory policy in Hungary. At the diet of
Pressburg (1687-1688) the Hungarian crown had been made hereditary in the
house of Habsburg, and the crown prince Joseph had been crowned hereditary
king of Hungary (_q.v._). In 1697 Transylvania was united to the Hungarian
monarchy. A further fact of great prospective importance was th