Battle of Peterwardein

The Battle of Petrovaradin, fought on August 5, 1716, opened the Austro-Turkish War of 1716-1718. Austria, under Emperor Charles VI, had declared war on the Ottoman Empire earlier that year, partly in support of its Venetian ally, which the Ottomans had attacked in the Morea. The conflict resumed the long Habsburg-Ottoman contest for control of the Danube basin and Hungary.

The Imperial army was commanded by Prince Eugene of Savoy, one of the foremost generals of the age, who confronted a much larger Ottoman force led by the Grand Vizier Silahdar Damat Ali Pasha near the fortress of Petrovaradin in present-day Serbia. Despite being outnumbered, Eugene's disciplined troops routed the Ottomans, and the Grand Vizier himself was killed in the fighting.

The victory opened the way for further Austrian advances, including the capture of the fortress of Temesvar and, in 1717, the great prize of Belgrade. The war concluded with the Treaty of Passarowitz in 1718, which confirmed substantial Habsburg gains in the Banat, northern Serbia, and parts of Wallachia, marking the high tide of Austrian expansion against the Ottomans.