Editing Prince Eugene of Savoy (section)

=== Austro-Turkish War ===
{{Main|Austro-Turkish War (1716–1718)}}
[[File:Eugene of SavoyVS.jpg|thumb|170px|Prince Eugene during the Austro-Turkish War. Artist: Jacob van Schuppen.]]

Eugene's main reason for desiring peace in the west was the growing danger posed by the Turks in the east. Turkish military ambitions had revived after 1711 when they had mauled [[Peter the Great]]'s army on the River [[Prut]]h ([[Pruth River Campaign]]): in December 1714 Sultan [[Ahmed III]]'s forces [[Ottoman–Venetian War (1714–1718)|attacked the Venetians]] in the [[Kingdom of the Morea]].{{sfn | Coxe | 1820 | p=100}} To Vienna it was clear that the Turks intended to attack Hungary and undo the whole Karlowitz settlement of 1699. After the [[Sublime Porte]] rejected an offer of mediation in April 1716, Charles VI despatched Eugene to Hungary to lead his relatively small but professional army. Of all Eugene's wars this was the one in which he exercised most direct control; it was also a war which, for the most part, Austria fought and won on her own.{{sfn | McKay | Baker | von Savoyen | 1977 | pp=159–160}} Eugene left Vienna in early June 1716 with a field army of between 80,000 and 90,000 men. By early August 1716 the Ottoman Turks, some 200,000 men under the sultan's son-in-law, the Grand Vizier [[Silahdar Damat Ali Pasha|Damat Ali Pasha]], were marching from Belgrade towards Eugene's position on the north bank of the Danube west of the fortress of [[Petrovaradin]].{{sfn | Setton | American Philosophical Society | 1991 | p=435}} The Grand Vizier had intended to seize the fortress; but Eugene gave him no chance to do so. After resisting calls for caution and forgoing a council of war, the Prince decided to [[Battle of Petrovaradin|attack immediately]] on the morning of 5 August with approximately 70,000 men.{{sfn | Setton | American Philosophical Society | 1991 | p=435}}{{sfn | McKay | Baker | von Savoyen | 1977 | p=161}} The Turkish [[Janissary|janissaries]] had some initial success, but after an Imperial cavalry attack on their flank, Ali Pasha's forces fell into confusion. Although the Imperials lost almost 5,000 dead or wounded, the Turks, who retreated in disorder to Belgrade, seem to have lost double that amount, including the Grand Vizier himself who had entered the mêlée and subsequently died of his wounds.{{sfn | Setton | American Philosophical Society | 1991 | p=435}}

[[File:Eugene of Savoy during the Battle of Belgrade 1717.jpg|thumb|300px|left|Eugene at the Battle of Belgrade 1717. Artist: [[Johann Gottfried Auerbach]]. The battle was Eugene's last great victory.]]

Eugene proceeded to take the [[Banat]] [[Timișoara Fortress|fortress]] of [[Timișoara|Temeswar]] in mid-October 1716 (thus ending 164 years of Turkish rule), before turning his attention to the next campaign and to what he considered the main goal of the war, Belgrade. Situated at the confluence of the Rivers Danube and [[Sava]], Belgrade held a garrison of 30,000 men under Serasker Mustapha Pasha.{{sfn | Setton | American Philosophical Society | 1991 | pp=438–439}}
Imperial troops besieged the place in mid-June 1717, and by the end of July large parts of the city had been destroyed by artillery fire. By the first days of August, however, a huge Turkish field army (150,000–200,000 strong), under the new Grand Vizier [[Hacı Halil Pasha]] had arrived on the plateau east of the city to relieve the garrison.{{sfn | Coxe | 1820 | p=102}} News spread through Europe of Eugene's imminent destruction; but he had no intention of lifting the siege.{{sfn | McKay | Baker | von Savoyen | 1977 | p=165}} With his men suffering from [[dysentery]], and continuous bombardment from the plateau, Eugene, aware that a decisive victory alone could extricate his army, decided to attack the relief force. On the morning of 16 August, 40,000 Imperial troops marched through the fog, caught the Turks unaware, and routed Halil Pasha's army; a week later Belgrade surrendered, effectively bringing an end to the war. The victory was the crowning point of Eugene's military career and had confirmed him as the leading European general. His ability to snatch victory at the moment of defeat had shown the prince at his best.{{sfn | McKay | Baker | von Savoyen | 1977 | p=166}}

The principal objectives of the war had been achieved: the task Eugene had begun at Zenta was complete, and the Karlowitz settlement secured. By the terms of the [[Treaty of Passarowitz]], signed on 21 July 1718, the Turks surrendered the [[Banat of Temeswar]], along with Belgrade and [[Kingdom of Serbia (1718–1739)|most of Serbia]], although they regained the Morea from the Venetians. The war had dispelled the immediate Turkish threat to Hungary and was a triumph for Austria and for Eugene personally.{{sfn | Henderson | 1964 | p=221}}