By the year 1600, the territories of Eastern Europe had recovered from the Mongol invasions, with some turning into major regional powers.[393] At this time, there were four major political players in the region: the Habsburg dynasty, the Ottoman Empire, Sweden, and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
These powers would decline during this period. However, Russia was on its way to becoming a major world power. Meanwhile, the Ottomans continued stomping over Eastern Europe, attempting to continue their glory from the fall of Constantinople. It was only a matter of time before they, too, would enter their own decline.
We’ll start our story with the Thirty Years’ War, a territorial conflict that became a continental war, with Eastern Europe caught in the crossfire.[394]
The Thirty Years’ War
The Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) was a 17th-century war that The Girl in Kherson pitted Catholics against Protestants in a bid to see what religion would reign supreme in Europe. Since the 15th century, Protestantism had been spreading in Eastern Europe, beginning with Jan Hus and his efforts in Bohemia.[395]
This war is one of the longest conflicts in history, and it had several theaters and offshoots.[396] The conflict actually started because of a dispute between Catholic and Protestant factions in Bohemia in the present-day Czech Republic.[397] It ended with powers all across Europe joining in on the fight, bringing religious warfare to a new level.
The Bohemian Revolt
Although they lost the Hussite Wars, the Hussites won a major victory in 1437. It remained so popular that the Bohemian government granted it legal protection as a state religion. Bohemia would become the first Protestant state in Europe, so it’s fitting that the Thirty Years’ War started there.
In 1526, the Habsburgs became the kings of Bohemia after the Battle of Mohács.[398] After less than one hundred years of Habsburg rule, the Bohemian elite refused to acknowledge Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II when he ascended the throne.[399] Instead, they chose someone else: Frederick V of the Palatinate.[400] Their choice makes sense; Ferdinand was a devout Catholic, while Frederick was a Protestant.
Ferdinand dispatched representatives to pressure the Bohemians into submission. When Ferdinand’s men reported to Prague Castle, the emperor’s threats and strong-arming didn’t work.[401] The Bohemian elites threw the representatives out of a window! Luckily for the emissaries, they survived; a pile of horse waste broke their fall.
In 1618, the noblemen of Bohemia threw Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II’s envoys out of a window at Prague Castle. This event, commemorated in this 17th-century woodcut, is known as the 1618 Defenestration of Prague.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Defenestration-prague-1618.jpg
Even though the representatives didn’t die, Ferdinand was furious at the disrespect. He invaded Bohemia in 1618, beginning the first phase of the Thirty Years’ War.[402] The Bohemians gave Ferdinand’s forces a tough fight for two years. In 1620, at the Battle of White Mountain, the Protestants were defeated.
Ferdinand didn’t take this humiliation lightly, and the elites of Bohemia paid for it dearly. His revenge was punitive and bloody; Ferdinand stripped the elites of their lands and titles, which were then given to Habsburg supporters. In a final twist of vengeance, he ordered twenty-seven nobles to be marched out to the city square, where they were murdered. Ferdinand quickly subdued the rest of the territory. It would be a vassal to the Habsburgs until the dismantling of their empire in 1918.
This image depicts the execution of twenty-seven Bohemian nobles at Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II’s order.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hinrichtung_auf_dem_Altst%C3%A4dter_Ring.JPG
The Struggle for Transylvania
The Ottoman Empire took control of Transylvania after its victory at the Battle of Mohács.[403] While the Ottomans were in charge, the Hungarians were given relative freedom in their own affairs.[404] The Hungarian elite was in charge of the government in the Ottoman vassal territory, which was governed by the Báthory family.
The Báthorys
Stephen Báthory ruled Transylvania, along with his other territories, including the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, from 1571 to 1586, making him one of the most powerful men in 16th-century Eastern Europe. During this time, Transylvania expanded its borders into Slovakia and Ukraine. But Stephen’s name has a negative connotation thanks to his niece, Elizabeth Báthory.
A portrait of Stephen Báthory. Attributed to Jost Amman, 1585.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Amman_Stephen_Bathory.jpg
Elizabeth married Count Ferenc II Nádasdy, a soldier for Royal Hungary, which was then controlled by Habsburgs. They lived in Csejte, Royal Hungary (present-day Čachtice, Slovakia), but he was away fighting the Ottomans for most of their marriage. In 1604, Count Nádasdy died on the battlefield.
After receiving news of her husband’s death, Elizabeth reportedly started luring Slovak girls to her castle fortress, where she tortured and killed them. Elizabeth allegedly murdered hundreds of girls before the Habsburgs had her arrested. She holed up for the rest of her life in her castle, where she died in 1614.[405]
A copy of a 1585 portrait of Elizabeth Bathory when she was about twenty-five years old.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elizabeth_Bathory_Portrait.jpg
Elizabeth Báthory is perhaps one of the most controversial women in history. While she is infamously known as the “Blood Countess” and has a reputation for bathing in the blood of her victims, there is no factual evidence to back this up. The first mention of her draining the blood of her victims doesn’t appear in the historical record until 1760, nearly a century and a half after she died.[406]
A Territory in Transition: Wallachian, Habsburg, and Hungarian Rule in Transylvania
The first years of the 17th century brought a turbulent rule to Transylvania. In 1599, the prince of Wallachia invaded Transylvania and took control for a time. His reign would only last two years. In 1601, the Habsburgs stepped in and assassinated him. The Habsburgs used the opportunity to run roughshod over Transylvania. Pogroms took place all over the region, and the Habsburgs eliminated anyone who was not Catholic or didn’t support them.
The Habsburgs enacted three years of terror in Transylvania. In 1604, the Hungarians—under Stephen Bocskay—defeated the Habsburg forces. The region went back to Ottoman control, returning some peace and stability, as well as autonomy, to Transylvania. However, the region was on a path to losing that independence.
A map of 17th-century Transylvania, from 1606 to 1660.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Transylvanian_Principality.svg
In 1613, the Ottomans placed Gabriel Bethlen on the throne. When the Thirty Years’ War broke out five years later, he campaigned against the Habsburgs. He won several victories, but he didn’t defeat them. However, the Hungarian elite was a fickle bunch, and they didn’t support Bethlen’s campaigns; they would only openly back him if he won against the Habsburg forces. Even though he had the support of the Ottoman Empire, Bethlen’s forces were an unorganized bunch. He never could secure a definitive victory. In 1626, the Habsburgs obtained peace with Bethlen, and he retired.
When Bethlen died in 1629, he was succeeded by the Rákóczi family. They mostly abstained from the rest of the Thirty Years’ War, preferring to secure their control over Transylvania. Several years after the war ended, the Rákóczis got ambitious; in 1657, they joined Sweden in an invasion of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Hungarians suffered a humiliating defeat, which incensed the Ottomans. They ended their policy of autonomy, secured control over the territory, and kept a close eye on the Rákóczis.
Transylvania slowly lost its autonomy, and the end of the 17th century brought the decisive blow. In the War of the Holy League (1683–1699), the Habsburgs invaded Hungary and Transylvania. They defeated the Ottomans, establishing their hold on the region. The 1699 Treaty of Karlowitz officiated Habsburg control over Transylvania, pushing the Ottomans out of Eastern Europe.
The Protestant elite resisted and launched a rebellion against the Habsburg rule in 1703. The nobles won some significant victories, but the Habsburgs crushed the rebellion in 1711. The days of relative independence were over. The Habsburgs enacted direct rule over Transylvania—something the Hungarians were not used to.
The Decline of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth:
In the 17th century, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth dominated Eastern European affairs.[407] However, during this period, it would enter a phase of decline that would preempt its downfall. It was a time of foreign kings and warfare that would permanently weaken the state.
The borders of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1648, the year that the Khmelnytsky Uprising began.
User:Mathiasrex based on layers of User:Halibutt, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Polish-Lithuanian_Commonwealth_in_1648.PNG
The beginning of the end came with the Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648-1657. When King Sigismund II died in 1572, it brought the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth into a period of foreign rule. The Polish nobility asked Sigismund II’s brother-in-law, Stephen Báthory (r. 1576-1586), to take the reins; as a result, Báthory became the ruler of the commonwealth. He was the king of Poland and the grand duke of Lithuania, in addition to being the prince of Transylvania.[408] That’s a lot of titles!
Stephen Báthory ruled the three territories efficiently for the next ten years until he died in 1586. The nobles sought out another foreign king from the House of Vasa, the royal family of Sweden. While the Vasa dynasty introduced a new line of kings that would rule for almost one hundred years, it was quite possibly the worst thing that could have happened to the commonwealth. Under Vasa rule, the commonwealth was pulled into wars between Sweden and Russia in the early 17th century. However, a greater threat lay to the east that would break the commonwealth’s hold on Eastern Europe.
North of the Black Sea, tribes of Eastern Slavs lived a nomadic life on the steppe under the jurisdiction of no king or master.[409] Occupying modern-day Ukraine, these warriors, the Cossacks, would become both an asset and a bother for Poland-Lithuania.
Since the early 1300s, the expanse of land that makes up modern-day Ukraine was under Lithuanian control.[410] The Grand Duchy of Lithuania put Ukraine on a long leash, letting it rule itself. In 1569, the Union of Lublin passed control of Ukraine from Lithuania to the commonwealth, which changed the policies in dealing with Ukraine. Instead of leaving the lands alone, the commonwealth occupied them. To encourage settlement, the state granted the nobility tracts of land in Ukraine. The nobles used these new estates to subdue the local population, forcing them into labor and converting them to Christianity.
Despite the new expansionist policy, the commonwealth still kept a light hold on Ukraine. It was the perfect spot for those who existed on the fringes of society who felt threatened by the status quo. Local Ukrainians developed their own communities and welcomed all nationalities and ethnic groups.
These new settlements protected their way of life through military training and preparedness. They learned how to raid cities, fight on horseback, and use weapons. Settlements planned their own defenses and kept a regular supply of weapons, food, and supplies in order to withstand attacks. These new warriors on horseback were called Cossacks, and they were a formidable enemy to the nations that surrounded them. They also made great allies, and they hired themselves out to anyone who could pay.
The kings of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth hired the Cossacks as auxiliaries in times of war.[411] However, they often found themselves on the wrong side of the Cossacks. The commonwealth was too persistent in trying to get the Cossacks to accept Christianity and abandon their nomadic lifestyle. The commonwealth should have known not to go after the people they relied on for their defenses.
The Cossacks turned on their former employers, using the traits the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth valued against them. In 1648, communications between the rulers of the commonwealth and the Cossacks soured, and the Cossack chief, Bogdan Khmelnytsky, declared war on the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The nomads rode in from the east from a wide expanse of land the commonwealth called the “Wild Fields.” They had the organization and discipline of a well-trained army.
After winning several victories against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Bogdan Khmelnytsky made a triumphant march into Kiev (Kyiv). Entrance of Bohdan Khmelnytsky to Kyiv, Mykola Ivasyuk.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pic_I_V_Ivasiuk_Mykola_Bohdan_Khmelnytskys_Entry_to_Kyiv.jpg
At first, Khmelnytsky’s rebellion was successful, but it quickly fizzled out. A year into the conflict, the Cossacks pushed the Polish-Lithuanian forces out of Ukraine. This new freedom would only last for two years. The commonwealth army came back and crushed the Cossacks.
The Cossacks refused to suffer the indignity of foreign rule by the country that defeated them, and they continued to resist for the next three years. The Cossacks approached Russia in 1654, signing an alliance that would have long-term ramifications. To this day, there is debate on the exact nature of the agreement between the Cossacks and the Russians. While the Russians claim that Ukraine passed its sovereignty to the Russian crown, the Ukrainians maintain that they signed the alliance with the agreement that Ukraine would remain autonomous.
The commonwealth was furious, and it soon went to war with Russia. The war between Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth lasted for one year, with no clear victor. In 1655, Sweden invaded the commonwealth over a separate issue—a succession dispute. Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth signed a peace treaty, ending their conflict and turning their attention to Sweden.
The Cossacks couldn’t do anything about Russia’s about-face because a period of civil strife damaged their leadership. Until the end of the 1660s, a series of rival commanders challenged each other for control over the Cossacks. This destroyed any campaign it could have made to secure its position.
In 1667, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia officially divided Ukraine between them. The Cossacks still refused to admit defeat, and they approached the Ottomans to help attack their enemies. Hoping it would give them another route into Eastern Europe, the Ottomans agreed, reigniting the conflict in 1672. An exhausted Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth finally made peace with the Ottomans four years later in 1676.[412]
This wasn’t the end of the story. With the Russians, Ukraine got more than it bargained for. With Russia’s participation in the conflict, it saw an opportunity to extend its borders. Throughout the rest of the 17th century and into the 18th century, Russia spread into present-day Ukraine, taking control of most of the territory where the Cossacks lived.[413] The Russians saw the benefit of the Cossacks just as much as their lands, and the Russians incorporated the nomads into the Russian police force to serve the Russian tsar.
As for the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the state barely survived.[414] The commonwealth came out of the Cossack conflict with no money, no resources, and a fractured army. The last Vasa king, John II Casimir Vasa (r. 1648–1668), botched the war effort, abdicating in humiliation in 1668.[415] The Polish nobles had enough of foreign rule and chose to elect their next monarch from their own ranks.[416] In 1674, the nobles elected one of its most well-known members, John III Sobieski, to the throne.[417] He was exactly what the commonwealth needed. John had proven himself on the battlefield during the Cossack conflict, and his reign was a temporary reprieve from the constant wars it had been pulled into for most of the 17th century.
The commonwealth regained some of its glory and reputation under John’s leadership. He would play a crucial role in ending Ottoman supremacy in Eastern Europe. Until his death in 1696, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth enjoyed its last years as one of Eastern Europe’s dynamic powers.
The Ottomans, the Battle of Vienna, and the Great Turkish War
This period would mark the beginning of the end for the Ottoman Empire. It would lose Montenegro, deal with chaos in its territories in both Wallachia and Moldavia, and lose the decisive Battle of Vienna.[418] By the end of the 17th century, Ottoman supremacy in Eastern Europe was threatened.
The Ottomans in the Romanian Lands
After the debacle of Michael the Brave, in which the ruler of Wallachia brought both Transylvania and Moldavia under his control, the Ottomans knew they had to take a more hands-on approach in the Romanian lands. Although Michael the Brave would unite Romania, it wouldn’t remain so for long.
The Ottomans quickly moved in after Michael’s assassination, taking advantage of the resulting power vacuum. While the Ottomans retained their hold on Moldavia and Wallachia, they did allow them some opportunities for self-rule. However, when the Ottomans found out that the Moldavian and Wallachian princes supported a 1711 Russian invasion of their lands, the Turks quickly changed their tune.
The Moldavian prince escaped into exile rather than face the Ottomans’ wrath. The Wallachian prince was not so lucky; the Ottomans sentenced him to death. With the thrones of Moldavia and Wallachia empty, the Ottomans installed their own line of puppet rulers, the Phanariots.[419]
A portrait of a 19th-century Greek Phanariot family. Theodoros Vryzakis, 19th century.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mavrokordatos_Family.jpg
The Phanariots were Greek merchants from Constantinople who only cared about trade. Most importantly, they didn’t play politics, which is what the Ottomans needed in their Romanian lands. The Phanariots would rule Moldavia and Wallachia until 1821, encouraging trade relationships between Eastern Europe and the Ottoman Empire.
Ottoman Failures in Eastern Europe: The Loss of Montenegro and the European Challenge
Like other Ottoman territories in Eastern Europe, Montenegro enjoyed the Ottoman methods of indirect control.[420] The former Serbian territory of Zeta had been independent since the 14th century; since then, it had turned into a religious state ruled by archbishops. By the 18th century, Montenegro was still under the control of its archbishops.
That doesn’t mean the Ottomans didn’t try to reassert their authority. By the early 18th century, the Ottomans took the Montenegrin capital of Cetinje three separate times: twice in the 17th century (in 1623 and 1687) and once in the 18th century (in 1712). Each time, the Ottomans failed to secure any more of the territory than the city borders.
The 18th century also brought a change in fortune for Montenegro. The Montenegrins constantly resisted Ottoman rule, but their independence movement really took off after they allied with Russia.[421] The Russians provided soldiers, weapons, and money to support Montenegrin independence from Ottoman rule, which the Ottomans would finally recognize in 1799. Independence was relatively easy to achieve since the archbishop kings had lost their power over Montenegro throughout the 18th century. The territory descended into civil war, with the tribal families all competing for control of the territory.
The Battle of Vienna (1683)
This change of fortune was devastating for the Ottomans. For hundreds of years, the Ottoman Janissaries terrified the powers of Europe.[422] These elite armed forces were trained in the top military technology and strategy available, outperforming any European army on the battlefield. However, in the 17th century, that started to change.[423]
A drawing of a mid-17th-century Ottoman Janissary.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ralamb_Janissary_1.jpg
European countries (both in Eastern and Western Europe) were starting to modernize, building their own efficient armies. While Europe was moving forward, the Ottomans remained stagnant.[424] Soon, the powers of Europe were worthy competitors. The Ottomans started losing battles, and their military supremacy was threatened by Christian nations.
This was something that Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Paşa could not tolerate.[425] The grand vizier to Sultan Mehmed IV (r. 1648–1687), Kara Mustafa Paşa, wanted to demonstrate Ottoman supremacy in Eastern Europe. The only way he felt he could do that was by finally taking the city of Vienna. Of course, the sultan was not on board with this plan. Mehmed was a bumbling, ineffectual ruler, more interested in life’s pleasures than actually ruling an empire. Under the influence of ambitious advisors, the sultan was powerless to stop Kara Mustafa Paşa’s plan to siege the city. In 1683, the Ottomans attacked Vienna again, trying to recreate a victorious version of their 1529 attempt.[426]
In the 17th century, Vienna was the center of Austria and the base of operations for the Habsburgs; it had been the capital of Habsburg power since the 15th century.[427] An Ottoman attack so far inland set the other Christian nations of Eastern Europe on alert. Putting aside their own rivalries, they united against their common enemy.
Luckily, the Habsburgs had powerful friends. One of them was King John III Sobieski of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.[428] Although John was a king, he was a warrior through and through. Interestingly enough, he wasn’t enthusiastic about a Habsburg alliance.[429] During his reign, John originally sought peace with the Ottomans, but their continued attacks on Christian nations changed his mind. In April 1683, he signed a peace accord with the Habsburgs. John and Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I (himself a Habsburg) agreed to defend each other from any attack. It wouldn’t take long for the Ottomans to come knocking.
In 1683, the Ottoman army reached the city of Vienna, completely surrounding the city. Frans Geffels, The Relief of Vienna, ca. 1683–1694.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vienna_Battle_1683.jpg
In July 1683, the Ottomans and their 150,000 soldiers arrived at the gates of Vienna.[430] Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I left the city as soon as he heard the Ottomans were coming. When John III Sobieski and his allies arrived in September, the Ottomans had already started digging under the walls of Vienna, bringing them closer to success than they had been before. John led the offensive himself, commanding an army of Polish and German forces. [431] With joint forces of the Holy Roman Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth that were eighty thousand strong, John broke the Ottoman siege at the ensuing Battle of Vienna.[432]
John III Sobieski at the Battle of Vienna. Jerzy Siemiginowski-Eleuter, 1686.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vienna_Battle_1683.jpg
The Ottomans were so surprised (and terrified) that they fled the city. Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Paşa famously ordered such a quick retreat that he left all of his personal belongings behind. With an expert cavalry contingent, Sobieski and his army pushed the Ottomans out of Austria.[433] They would never travel so far west again.
The Fate of Nations: The Ottoman Empire, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Habsburgs after the Battle of Vienna
The Battle of Vienna had different effects on the Ottoman Empire, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Habsburgs. While the Ottomans and the Poles foundered, the Habsburgs entered the 18th century as one of the dominant landholders in Europe.
The Ottomans were absolutely the loser of this conflict. Not only did their assault on Vienna fail, but the failed campaign cost the Ottomans their reputation.[434] They were no longer the feared army on the battlefield; John III Sobieski’s leadership proved that European armies could decisively win battles against the terrifying Ottoman forces.
Both Kara Mustafa Paşa and Mehmed IV would suffer personally. For his failure to take the city, Mehmed IV had Kara Mustafa Paşa executed in December 1683.[435] Mehmed’s downfall wasn’t far behind. After the Christian nations of Europe declared war on the Ottoman Empire, Mehmed IV lost his crown in 1687.[436]
After his loss at the Battle of Vienna, Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Paşa was executed. He was strangled with a cord made of silk.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kara_Musztafa_kiv%C3%A9gz%C3%A9se_a_Selyemzsin%C3%B3rral.jpg
Defeating the Ottomans was the moment of which Christian kings had been dreaming.[437] The foiled siege of Vienna and subsequent Ottoman failures on the battlefield inspired revitalized notions of a truly Christian Europe without Ottoman interference.[438] The Christian nations of Eastern Europe—the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Austria, and Russia—united as the Holy League, and it had one goal in mind: drive the Ottomans out of Eastern Europe for good.[439]
For the rest of the 17th century, the Great Turkish War (1684–1699) pitted the Holy League against the Ottoman Empire.[440] Unfortunately, it would destroy what was left of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.[441] The war was largely a failure for King John III Sobieski—a disappointment considering his early military successes against the Ottomans.[442] He launched several unsuccessful campaigns into Ottoman-held Moldavia (1684–1691), failing to liberate the territory. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was completely stripped of its resources, but it still got involved in another conflict. As a Russian ally, the commonwealth was pulled into the Great Northern War (1700–1721) between Russia and Sweden, which would cement Russian supremacy over the Baltic Sea region.[443]
After decades of warfare, the commonwealth was a fractured state that was barely hanging on.[444] Its alliance with Russia quickly became one-sided, with Russia treating the commonwealth like one of its territories. It wasn’t strong enough to repel Russian influence, so it had to accept its new reality.[445] Russian interference would characterize the last century of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which would lead to its downfall completely by the end of the 18th century.[446]
If there was a “winner” of the Great Turkish War, it was the Habsburgs. As the Ottomans tried to piece together their hold over their lands, the Holy League challenged the Ottoman presence in Eastern Europe.[447] After fifteen years of fighting, the Holy League won the war when Habsburg forces defeated the Ottomans at the Battle of Zenta in modern-day Serbia.[448] On the battlefield, the Ottoman charge descended into chaos. As the army realized they were losing, the Janissaries assassinated their commander. Ottoman Sultan Mustafa II knew his chances of winning the war were over, and he agreed to surrender.[449]
The Habsburgs didn’t forget the assault on their home in Vienna.[450] They proposed humiliating terms; in the Treaty of Karlowitz (1699), the sultan made many concessions, losing more territory than the Ottomans had in centuries. The Ottomans gave up their lands in Transylvania and Hungary.[451] They also lost control of Serbia, but this would only be temporary.
Of course, the Austrians benefited the most from the Ottoman surrender. They received Hungary and Transylvania, bringing the Habsburgs to the forefront of European politics. Perhaps the most significant effect of the Great Turkish War was that the Holy League managed to push the Ottomans behind the Danube River, ending Ottoman dominance in Eastern Europe. They would enter the 18th century on a sour note, as their defeat against the Holy League began its decline.[452]
While the 18th century was the beginning of the end for the Ottomans, it cemented the rise of Habsburg power. This was the culmination of a slow process over hundreds of years.[453] Even though the family could boast a Holy Roman emperor (the first of many)— Rudolf Habsburg became Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf I in 1278—the family wouldn’t achieve supremacy in Europe for another four hundred years. In that time, the Habsburgs built an impressive empire by marrying their children into wealthy noble and royal families and accumulating crucial lands through victories on the battlefield.[454]
By the 16th century, the Habsburgs had so much land in their possession that they had to split it up.[455] Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (r. 1519–1556) commanded the lands of the Holy Roman Empire in addition to lands in modern-day Hungary, Bohemia, Austria, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and France. When Charles stepped down, he divided the Habsburg lands into two distinct powers. He left Bohemia, Austria, Hungary, and the Holy Roman Empire to his brother, Ferdinand I, and the rest of his lands to his son, Philip II. These two empires became known as the Spanish Habsburgs and the Austrian Habsburgs. For our purposes, we will only be looking at the Austrian Habsburgs and their role in Eastern European history.
A map showing the Habsburg lands in the year 1700. The lands of the Austrian line are in yellow, and the lands of the Spanish line are in red.
Habsbourg-1700.png: Katepanomegasderivative work: Alphathon, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Habsburg_dominions_1700.png
Beginning in the 17th century, Austria grew in power and influence, making the Habsburgs a family to watch.[456] The Spanish Habsburg dynasty died out in 1700, which increased Austrian Habsburg power over Europe. This coincided with the Austrian victory as part of the Holy League in the Great Turkish War. The Habsburgs seemed unstoppable.
Using their far-flung lands, the Habsburgs encouraged German settlement throughout their empire. In 1740, when the most memorable Habsburg queen, Empress Maria Theresa, ascended to the throne, the Habsburg holdings included Austria, Bohemia, Croatia, Hungary, and Transylvania, and other smaller territories.[457] During Maria Theresa’s reign, the Germans spread out among the Habsburg lands. Germans arrived in Transylvania and the Banat (the corner of modern-day Hungary, Romania, and Serbia), Croatia, and Bukovina (the border of Ukraine and Romania).
However, this was also the same year that all of Europe became embroiled in the War of the Austrian Succession—a conflict with Maria Theresa at the center.[458] When Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI died in 1740, he had no direct male heirs, leaving his empire to his capable daughter, Maria Theresa. When Maria Theresa tried to take her father’s place as queen of the Habsburg Empire, the opportunistic Frederick II of Prussia attempted to knock down Austrian influence in Europe by challenging Maria Theresa’s inheritance. He invaded Silesia, one of the Habsburgs’ most valuable territories. It set off a chain of events in which both Austria’s and Prussia’s allies joined the war. The conflict, which had major theaters in Europe and North America, ended in 1748; although Frederick kept Silesia, Maria Theresa inherited the bulk of her father’s estate.
The Rise of Prussia
The War of the Austrian Succession had one long-lasting effect: it made Prussia an influential world power. Prussia came out of the former German Crusader states, which had been controlled by the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Order. However, over several centuries, the German Crusaders lost their influence.[459] Since the mid-15th century, Prussia had been a vassal state of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a move orchestrated by merchants of Prussian lands to challenge the rule of the Teutonic Knights.[460]
The Hohenzollerns
By the beginning of the 17th century, a new royal dynasty had come to power in Prussia: the Hohenzollerns.[461] The family achieved their position the way most heads of state did during this period: through marriage.[462] In 1594, the elector of Brandenburg, one of the states of the Holy Roman Empire, married the daughter of the duke of Royal Prussia, Anna Marie of Brunswick-Lüneburg. (As a side note, electors were a part of the electoral college that elected the Holy Roman emperor.) Anna’s father died in 1618, making her husband both the elector of Brandenburg and the duke of Prussia.
Thanks to this auspicious marriage, the Hohenzollerns would rule Prussia and Brandenburg together until 1918.[463] While the family still carries royal titles to this day, they are largely nominal without any political power.[464] However, in the 17th century, these Prussian princes became very powerful. They used the Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648–1657 to campaign for self-rule. In exchange for military support, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth agreed to grant Prussia its independence in 1657.[465]
As much as the Prussians fought against their former Crusader overlords, the Prussians inherited the Crusader spirit. While other kings built up their military for defensive purposes, the military was a crucial part of the Prussian state. Prussian kings spent four-fifths of their budget on training soldiers, acquiring weapons, and studying military strategy. The idea of service to the state prevailed throughout Prussian society.
Frederick the Great
Perhaps the most famous Hohenzollern is Frederick II (r. 1740–1786), also known as Frederick the Great.[466] He was the king of Prussia that we mentioned in the previous section, the one that was all too eager to snatch Silesia from Empress Maria Theresa. Thanks to his father, Frederick William I, Frederick II took command over one of the best-trained armies in Europe.
Adolph von Menzel, Frederick the Great Playing the Flute at Sanssouci, ca. 1850. Not only was Frederick the Great one of the best military minds of his age, but he was also devoted to arts, music, and education. In this painting, he is playing the flute for an audience at his palace, Sanssouci.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Adolph_Menzel_-_Fl%C3%B6tenkonzert_Friedrichs_des_Gro%C3%9Fen_in_Sanssouci_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg
Under his leadership, Prussia grew larger and more powerful, commanding the battlefield in the War of the Austrian Succession. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the same luck during the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763). Prussia became a dominant European power by the end of the 18th century with the Partition of Poland. The pieces of Poland that Prussia gained united all the Prussian lands together, making them a regional power on the southeastern edge of the Baltic Sea.
Russia Builds an Empire
At the beginning of the 17th century, Russia was barely a blip on the radar of Eastern Europe.[467] It couldn’t compete with powerhouses like the Ottoman Empire or the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. After the reign of Ivan the Terrible, Russia was weakened by civil strife. Things got worse in 1591 when Ivan’s youngest son, Dmitri Ivanovich—the next heir to the throne after his brother—died; he was presumably murdered (or disposed of) by the regent Boris Godunov, clearing the way for Boris to claim the throne.[468] The other European powers could smell blood in the water, and they put forward their own “Dmitris” as challengers to the throne. This phase of the “False Dmitris” would result in both the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Sweden invading Russia to place their candidates on the throne.
In 1591, the political instability in Russia got worse after the death (most likely murder) of Ivan the Terrible’s heir, Tsarevich Dmitry. Death of Tsarevich Dmitry, ca. 1890.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Death_of_Tsarevich_Dmitry_(Pleshanov).jpeg
In 1610, forces from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth occupied Moscow, where they would remain for two years. The Russian nobility, led by Mikhail Romanov, would force them out in 1612. Mikhail would become the next tsar of Russia the following year, founding the Romanov dynasty that would reign for the next three hundred years. The first Romanovs were relatively weak rulers who tried to rebuild a country that was in shambles.
It was during this period that Russia would unlock the potential of Siberia.[469] Beginning with Ivan the Terrible, Russian tsars would support expeditions to claim that untamed land. For hundreds of years, the Russians moved deeper and deeper into Siberia. This had two benefits. First, it expanded Russian landholdings exponentially. Second, it had military value, providing land for retreating armies to fall back and further drawing the enemy into inhospitable conditions.
Peter the Great
Under Peter the Great (r. 1682–1725), Russia would make up for its years of stagnation.[470] He was the first monarch to modernize Russia. Peter the Great improved Russia’s military standing by hiring Western professionals to build the country’s first navy, bring in new technology, and train soldiers in the latest military strategies.[471] The new Russian army was now so well-trained that when Sweden tried to invade Russia in 1708, the Russian forces under Peter the Great successfully pushed them back. His success in the Great Northern War made Russia a major player on the world stage.[472] Peter had succeeded where Ivan the Terrible had not; he made inroads in the Baltic, claiming lands that lie in modern-day Latvia and Estonia.[473] In 1721, Peter proclaimed his expanded territories to be the “Russian Empire.”
One of the best-known images of Peter the Great is attributed to Jean-Marc Nattier; it was completed in the early 18th century.
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Success on the battlefield wasn’t enough. Russia needed to give the appearance of a modernized state, and it couldn’t do that when it was still rooted in traditional practices.[474] He introduced Western culture to Russian society, enforcing it in his new capital of St. Petersburg.
Between 1703 and 1712, architects and professionals from Russia and abroad labored on Peter’s new city. The tsar conscripted peasant labor to do the heavy lifting, proclaiming his namesake city the capital of Russia, which it would remain until 1918.
The Five Empresses
After Peter the Great died in 1725, Russia saw a new phase of rulership under the empresses.[475] From 1725 to 1796, five women ruled Russia with varying degrees of success. Peter’s widow Catherine I (r. 1725–1727) would reign for two years before her death in 1727.[476] She was unanimously put forward by several prominent court officials and high-ranking members of the army. Not bad for a former peasant!
The second wife of Peter the Great became the first of five women who would rule Russia after his death in 1725. She ruled as Catherine I. Jean-Marc Nattier, Portrait of Catherine I of Russia, 1717.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Catherine_I_of_Russia_by_Nattier.jpg
Before she died, Catherine made her husband’s grandson (through his daughter born to his first wife) her heir, who ruled as Peter II (r. 1727–1730). Peter also had a short reign, and he was succeeded by Peter the Great’s niece, Anna Ivanovna (r. 1730–1740).[477] When the Supreme Privy Council offered her the throne, they made her sign off on their control over the government, effectively making her a figurehead. Anna soon learned that she had support for her rule among the army and the landowners. She destroyed the contract and overthrew the council, establishing herself as an absolute monarch.
Anna was not as well-liked as her later successors would be. She didn’t have much talent for ruling and used her German advisors to rule the country. Russia fought two major conflicts during her reign, the War of the Polish Succession (1733–1735) and the Russo-Turkish War (1736–1739). Both wars were successful for Russia. The War of the Polish Succession put a Russian-supported monarch on the thrones of the commonwealth, giving Russia massive influence there. The Russo-Turkish War gave Russia some territory but not access to the water trade routes it wanted. Anna further alienated the population by her lavish spending at court, which she funded through taxing the peasantry.
In 1740, Anna Ivanovna named Ivan VI (r. 1740–1741), the infant son of her niece, Anna Leopoldovna, as her heir. Ivan became emperor as a baby, with a named regent.[478] However, Anna Leopoldovna overthrew her son’s regent and became the power behind the throne herself. She would never reign as empress, though.
Peter the Great had another daughter through his marriage with Catherine I: Elizabeth. Elizabeth became a powerful woman at court, and she formed an opposition to Anna Leopoldovna’s regency. Elizabeth especially took issue with Anna’s reliance on German advisors. In 1741, Elizabeth (r. 1741–1762) orchestrated a coup. After she arrested Anna Leopoldovna, Ivan VI, and their court, she had herself proclaimed the new empress.
Unfortunately, Elizabeth wasn’t the ideal empress either. Like her niece, she preferred to leave the ruling in the hands of her council. She put the time she wasn’t ruling to good use by funding Russian art and architecture and supporting a return to her father’s policies. Elizabeth reigned longer than any of her empress predecessors; she presided over a twenty-one-year reign, during which Russia became a major force in European politics.
After Elizabeth was another formidable empress, who is slightly better known: Catherine the Great.[479] Elizabeth’s heir was her nephew Peter, who was crowned Peter III in 1762. He wouldn’t sit on the throne for long. Peter’s wife, Catherine, led a coup against him six months after he took the throne. With the support of the military, she had Peter arrested and forced him to abdicate. She was proclaimed the next empress, Catherine II (r. 1762–1796). To avoid any challenge to her claim, Peter was arrested and quietly disposed of in the Russian countryside. According to some sources, she ordered his death herself.
One of the most famous Russian monarchs is Catherine the Great, the last of the five empresses. She greatly expanded Russia’s territory during her reign, and she was a patron for artists and Enlightenment thinkers. Aleksey Antropov, Portrait of Catherine II of Russia, ca. late 18th century.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Catherine_II_by_Alexey_Antropov_(18th_c,_Tver_gallery).jpg
Catherine the Great ruled over Russia for thirty-four years, during Russia’s greatest period of growth. Through war and conquest, she added hundreds of thousands of miles of territory to the Russian Empire, snatching land from the Ottoman Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Catherine was undoubtedly committed to public works projects. She invested a significant amount of the treasury into building new cities and improving the infrastructure of old ones. Considering herself the true heir to Peter the Great, Catherine the Great reformed the Russian military, updating it with the best technology and retraining it with the best strategists.
At this time, Russia was experiencing a cultural flowering; it was successful on the battlefield, and the royal court was a beacon for intellectuals of the Enlightenment. However, the end of Catherine’s reign cast a dark shadow. The French Revolution struck fear into the hearts of monarchs across Europe, and Catherine was no different. She was terrified of losing her crown and her head, especially considering she was not a native (Catherine was German-born) of a land where the people had perfected the art of the peasant uprising. Before she could ascertain whether her throne was in jeopardy, Catherine died in 1796. She passed the crown to her son, Paul, thus ending the decades-long period of women rulers.