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From 1526 to 1606, the Habsburg–Ottoman contest for control of Hungary dominated the external affairs of central Europe. This was not simply a religious war in Germany, Catholics and Protestants were at times fighting each other. But in the period covered here (1540–1580) no European state could withstand the sultan’s armies. Austria’s Protestant nobles commanded the forces of their Catholic sovereigns. and in the Holy Roman Empire, after 1555, Protestant and Catholic estates joined against a common threat. Historian James Tracy explores the relative strengths of forces, Habsburg military strategies, and the futility of negotiating from a position of weakness. As “composite”’ states, the Habsburg Monarchy and the Holy Roman Empire are not thought to have functioned well, yet both showed a surprising resilience.
James Tracy was Professor of History at the University of Minnesota from 1966 to 2009. He was also editor of the Journal of Early Modern History (1997 – 2010), and has taught at the Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden, the Sorbonne, and the Universiteit van Amsterdam. His recent publications include: Balkan Wars: Habsburg Croatia, Ottoman Bosnia, and Venetian Dalmatia, 1499 – 1617 (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016); The Founding of the Dutch Republic: War, Finance and Politics in Holland, 1572 – 1588 (Oxford University Press, 2008); and Emperor Charles V, Impresario of War: Campaign Strategy, International Finance, and Domestic Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2002).
Introduction
Part I. The Balance of Power
Chapter 1. Foreign Correspondence: European Accounts of Sultan Suleyman’s Persian Campaigns, 1548 and 1554
Chapter 2. Charles V Reneges? A Campaign in Hungary That Never Was
Chapter 3. The Road to Szigetvár: Ferdinand I’s Defense of his Hungarian Border, 1548 – 1564
Chapter 4. “Tokaj, 1565: A Habsburg Prize of War and an Ottoman Casus Belli,” in Pál Fodor, ed., The Battle for Central Europe: The Siege of Szigetvár (Brill: Leiden: 2019), 359–376
Part II. Negotiating from a Position of Weakness
Chapter 5. “The Grand Vezir and the Small Republic: Dubrovnik and Rüstem Paşa, 1544 – 1561,” Turkish Historical Review, I (2010): 196–214
Chapter 6. “The Ambassador as Third Party: Busbecq’s Summary Account for the Year 1559,” Acta Histriae, 22 (2014), 1–12
Chapter 7. “A Castle in Dalmatia: Zemunik in the Veneto-Ottoman Peace Negotiations of 1573 – 1574,” Journal of Opinions, Ideas, and Essays (JOIE), 1 (2013), no. 7
Chapter 8. “The Logic of Kleinkrieg: The ‘Book of Halil Beg’ in Habsburg-Ottoman Diplomacy, 1550 – 1576,” Austrian History Yearbook, LII (2021), 85–101
Part III. Dynasties and Composite States
Chapter 9. “Reformed Perspectives on the Habsburg-Ottoman Conflict, 1564 – 1576: Notes on the Correspondence of Beza, Bullinger, and Gwalther,” in Amy Nelson Burnett, Kathleen M. Comerford, Karin Maag, eds., Politics, Gender and Belief: Essays on the Long-Term Impact of the Reformation (Geneva: Droz, 2014), 73–94
Chapter 10. “Advice from a Lutheran Politique: Ambassador David Ungnad’s Circular Letter to the Austrian Estates, 1576,” in Victoria Christman, Marjorie Elizabeth Plummer, eds., Cultural Shifts and Transformations in Reformation Europe (Leiden:” Brill, 2020). 193–209
Chapter 11. “The Habsburg Monarchy in Conflict with the Ottoman Empire, 1526 – 1593: A Clash of Civilizations,” Austrian History Yearbook, XLVI (2015): 1- 28
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index