On this day, peace was signed in Srijemski Karlovci. The Turks left Croatia forever

About 326 years ago, the geostrategic situation in these areas changed forever. After 16 long years of fighting between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy League, a peace agreement was signed in a small town in Vojvodina, due to which Istanbul had to give up a large part of its territory for the first time. The defeat in the “Great Turkish War” stopped the penetration of Muslim forces into Europe.

It all started in 1683, when the grand vizier Kara Mustafa arrived in front of the walls of Bea with a huge army. The Turks hoped that they would succeed in conquering the Austrian capital where Suleiman the Magnificent broke his teeth 154 years earlier.

The outcome of the siege is moreć well known. Christian forces led by Jan Sobjeski defeated the Turks and in the next decade and a half drove them all the way to Skopje. Eugene of Savoy stood out in particular in the battles against the Turks. After the victory at Beč, Pope Innocent XI. formed the Holy League and started a new crusade.

The Holy Roman Empire, Venice, the Polish-Lithuanian Union, numerous German states and finally the Russian Empire joined the alliance. The Turks were in a row with defeats and after the disasters in the Second Battle of Mohč and the Battle of Senta, they asked for peace.

With this peace, Leopold I, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire acquired all of Hungary except the Banat, Croatia up to Una and southern Velebit, and Slavonia without southeastern Srijem. Venice received Knin, Sinj and Vrgorac.

Peace is especially important for Croatia because after a century of fighting, the Turks were expelled from Croatia and a border was created that Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina share to this day.

With that peace, Croatia received most of its modern borders, and Istanbul never again tried to a large extent to return the territories it previously held in Croatia.

Peace is also important for Russia, which for the first time in its history entered into an alliance with European countries and participated in negotiations with European rulers.