Treaty of Karlowitz
The Treaty of Karlowitz was signed on 26 January 1699 in Sremski Karlovci, in modern-day Serbia, concluding the Great Turkish War of 1683–1697 in which the Ottoman Empire had been defeated at the Battle of Zenta by the Holy League. It marks the end of Ottoman control in much of Central Europe, with their first major territorial losses after centuries of expansion, and established the Habsburg Monarchy as the dominant power in the region.Context and terms
Following a two-month congress between the Ottoman Empire on one side and the Holy League of 1684, a coalition of the Holy Roman Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Republic of Venice and Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia, a treaty was signed on 26 January 1699.
On the basis of uti possidetis, the treaty confirmed the then-current territorial holdings of each power. The Habsburgs received from the Ottomans the Eğri Eyalet, Varat Eyalet, much of the Budin Eyalet, the northern part of the Temeşvar Eyalet and parts of the Bosnia Eyalet. This corresponded to much of Hungary, Croatia and Slavonia. The Principality of Transylvania remained nominally independent but was subject to the direct rule of Austrian governors. Poland recovered Podolia, including the dismantled fortress at Kamaniçe.
Venice obtained most of Dalmatia along with the Morea, though the Morea was restored to the Turks within 20 years by the Treaty of Passarowitz. There was no agreement about the Holy Sepulchre, although it was discussed in Karlowitz.
The Ottomans retained Belgrade, the Banat of Temesvár, as well as suzerainty over Wallachia and Moldavia. Negotiations with Muscovy for a further year under a truce agreed at Karlowitz culminated in the Treaty of Constantinople of 1700, whereby the Sultan ceded the Azov region to Peter the Great.
Commissions were set up to devise the new borders between the Austrians and the Turks, with some parts disputed until 1703. Largely through the efforts of the Habsburg commissioner Luigi Ferdinando Marsili, the Croatian and Bihać borders were agreed by mid-1700 and that at Temesvár by early 1701, leading to a border demarcated by physical landmarks for the first time.
The acquisition of some of Hungarian territories at Karlowitz and of the Banat of Temesvár 18 years later by the Treaty of Passarowitz, enlarged Austrian State of the Habsburgs to its largest extent cementing Austria as a dominant regional power. It increased in size by the acquisition of Polish territories in 1772 and 1795, Dalmatia in 1815 and Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1908.
