Ferenc Szakály (1942–1999)

The reconquest of Hungary from the Ottoman Empire is usually only treated as a footnote to the more prominent siege of Vienna in 1683. This 1986 work by Ferenc Szakály offers a good account of the difficulties and setbacks. Logistics and local support were the key to success. The devastated and depopulated countryside meant that the relatively huge armies could only sustain themselves for a limited time in the field. While a stronghold could be temporarily captured, only the ongoing control of its surrounding countryside made its occupation permanent. The reconquest, thus, happened in stages. First, the reconquest of Buda(pest) and the Danube, then on to the Tisza/Theiss River, finally to the smaller rivers Save and Maros. Belgrade, which changed hands multiple times, became the new border fortress between the Habsburg and Ottoman Empire. A border that lasted until the First World War.

To the detriment of Hungarian nationalism, it was mainly Austrian forces that made the reconquest possible. The liberation from the Ottoman Empire was as much a conquest by Habsburg Austria, whose investments and whose bureaucracies started to lift Hungary out of the medieval world (to whose rights the Hungarian noblemen hung on kicking and screaming). Austria, however, lacked the internal strength to continue the reconquest south of the Danube. The religious divide would have made integration difficult too.

Filled with b/w illustrations and maps, this is a great title about a neglected topic.… (mais)