Battle of Gorjani

Battle of Gorjani
Part of the Little War in Hungary and Hundred Years' Croatian–Ottoman War
Date9 October 1537
LocationGorjani, Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg)
Result Ottoman victory
Belligerents

Holy Roman Empire

 Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Johann Katzianer
Simon Erdődy
Ivan Ungnad
Ludwig Lodron †
Pavle Bakić †		 Unknown (perhaps Semendireli Mehmed Bey)
Strength
~24,000 8,000
Casualties and losses
20,000 killed[1] minimal

The Battle of Gorjani (Croatian: Bitka kod Gorjana, German: Schlacht bei Gorjani) or Battle of Đakovo (Hungarian: Diakovári csata) was a battle fought on 9 October 1537 at Gorjani, a place in Slavonia (present-day eastern Croatia), between the towns of Đakovo and Valpovo, as part of the Little War in Hungary as well as the Hundred Years' Croatian–Ottoman War.

Background

After seven years of war and the failed Siege of Vienna in 1529, the Treaty of Konstantiniyye was signed, in which John Zápolya was recognized by the Austrians as King of Hungary as an Ottoman vassal, and the Ottomans recognized Habsburg rule over Royal Hungary.

This treaty satisfied neither John Zápolya nor Austrian Archduke Ferdinand, whose armies began to skirmish along the borders. Ferdinand decided to strike a decisive blow in 1537 at John, thereby violating the treaty.

Battle

Ferdinand sent an army of 24,000 men (from Austria, Hungary, Holy Roman Empire, Bohemia, Tyrol and Croatia) under the command of Johann Katzianer to take Osijek.[2]

Very badly prepared, the siege came to nothing, because the allied army was decimated by disease and starvation before it could even besiege the city.[2]

The army had to withdraw, and got stuck in the swamps of Gorjani, near Đakovo and Valpovo on the Drava river, and their entire heavy armament was lost. Katzianer fled with the cavalry and abandoned his army. Count Ludwig Lodron remained to engage the Ottoman relief army that had pursued them (led by border commanders), but the entire force was annihilated.[2]

A reported 20,000 men were killed,[1] including generals Ludwig Lodron and Pavle Bakić. Bakić's severed head was taken to Constantinople.

Aftermath

This campaign was a disaster of similar magnitude to that of Mohács and therefore nicknamed the Austrian Mohacs. The news of the defeat came as a shock in Vienna and a new Treaty of Nagyvárad was signed in 1538.

Katzianer was arrested, and Nikola Jurišić took his place as the commander of Croatian defence. Some time later, Katzianer escaped the Vienna prison and hid at the Zrinski estates, until he lost Zrinski's favor, and was thus executed.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 Jaques 2007, p. 1061.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Budak 2002.

Sources

  • Jaques, Tony (2007). Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: A Guide to 8,500 Battles from Antiquity Through the Twenty-First Century. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0313335397.
  • Budak, Neven (2002). "Habsburzi i Hrvati - Građanski rat" [Habsburgs and the Croats - Civil war]. Kolo (3). Retrieved 2014-01-20.
  • Turnbull, Stephen (2003). The Ottoman Empire 1326 - 1699. Osprey, New York. p. 52.
  • Ivić, Aleksa (1914). Историја Срба у Угарској: од пада Смедерева до сеобе под Чарнојевићем (1459-1690). Zagreb: Привредникова.

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