TRENDEAtlas of the Sultans · Wars, battles and treaties
Siege · 1686
The siege of Buda was a military engagement during the Great Turkish War, in which forces of the Holy League, led by the Habsburg Monarchy, recaptured the fortified city of Buda (now part of modern-day Budapest) from the Ottoman Empire. The siege took place between 18 June and 9 September 1686, ending nearly 150 years of Ottoman sovereignty over the former Hungarian capital. The campaign followed the failed Ottoman siege of Vienna in 1683 and was part of a broader counteroffensive launched by the Holy League. The coalition army of up to 100,000 men besieged the city for more than two months before storming the defences. The fall of Buda marked a decisive step in the Habsburg consolidation of central Hungary, leading to the recognition of hereditary Habsburg rule by the Hungarian Diet at Pressburg in 1687.
| Date | 18 June – 9 September 1686 |
|---|---|
| Location | Buda, Ottoman Hungary (now part of Budapest, Hungary), |
| Result | Holy League victory |
| Belligerents | Holy League | Ottoman Empire |
|---|---|---|
| Commanders | Charles V, Duke of Lorraine Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden Paul I, Prince Esterházy Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg (WIA) Manuel López de Zúñiga † | Abdurrahman Abdi Arnavut Pasha † Sarı Süleyman Paşa Pasha of Temeşvar Pasha of İstolni Belgrad Pasha of Osijek |
| Strength | 65,000–100,000 | Garrison: under 7,000 (including 3,000 Janissaries, 1,000 cavalry, and civilians) Relief army: ~40,000 |
| Casualties | ~20,000 | ~3,000 killed ~6,000 captured (including civilians) |
Buda had been under Ottoman rule for a century and a half, and Ottoman rule had not ended by an uprising of the Hungarians themselves, but by the forceful intervention of the Habsburgs. This fact was reflected in the post-war arrangements. As a consequence of the recapture of Buda from the Turks, as well as the victory in the Battle of Mohács (1687), the Hungarian parliament recognized at Pressburg in November 1687 that the inheritance of the Hungarian crown had passed to the Habsburgs, without the right to object as well as resist. In addition, the Hungarian parliament committed itself to crown the Habsburg successor to the throne still during his father's lifetime as king of Hungary.
Took place during the reign of Mehmed IV (1648–1687). Mehmed IV
Open the reign of Mehmed IV on the mapText: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), adapted for the atlas.