Bujdosó Pap Györgyi et al.: Várostromok és Közép-Európa Zrínyi Miklós (1620-1664) korában - Studia Agriensia 34. (Eger, 2017)

Czigány István: A furcsa oszmánellenes háború, 1661. Tévhitek és valóság

RÖVIDÍTÉSEKJEGYZÉKE

AFA

Alte Feldakten

AFW E 199

Archivum Familiae Wesselényi

cs

csomó

EOE

Erdélyi Országgyűlési Emlékek

fol

folio

HHSt

Haus- Hof- und Staatsarchiv

KA

Kriegsarchiv

MNLMOL

Magyar Nemzeti Levéltár Országos Levéltára

OStA

Österreichisches Staatsarchiv

Prot Exp

Protocollum Expedit

Prot Reg

Protocollum Registratur

István Czigány

The Strange anti-Ottoman War, 1661

Misconceptions and Reality

The internal struggles that followed the catastrophic 1657 campaign in Poland, led by György II Rákóczi, Prince of Transylvania, the punitive Ottoman expeditions aimed at disciplining the unruly vassal, as well as the occupation ofNagyvárad by the Ottoman army have toppled the balance of power between the Habsburg and the Ottoman empires. In 1661 Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary, sent his troops in support of his ally, János Kemény, Prince of Transylvania, in order to restore Transylvania’s former status. The emperor’s operational plans, however, were overwritten by the commander-in-chief Ali Pasha’s rapid and overwhelming attack. János Kemény was expelled and Mihály Apafi was elected as the new Prince - a move that divided the orders ofTransylvania. Montecuccoli took his 15,000-strong army from Komárom across the mainly protestant and hostile Upper Hungary to reach Kolozsvár in two months. It was a strange war, because both sides shunned large clashes to avoid an open war. Montecuccoli’s army was struck by illness, food shortages and the superior power of the enemy, forcing it to retreat. János Kemény’s position was never stabilised, the northeastern fortresses, however, remained under imperial-royal control to offset the loss ofNagyvárad and were regarded as a trump card during the diplomatic negotiations with the Ottomans.

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