Siege of Novi

Siege of Novi
Part of the Austro-Turkish War (1716–1718)
Date mid-1717 Location Novi, Ottoman Empire 45°2′47″N 16°22′40″E Result Ottoman victory
Belligerents
Ottoman Empire	Habsburg monarchy
Commanders and leaders
Unknown	Sigbert Heister
Strength
Small	30,000
Casualties and losses
Low	High
class=notpageimage| Location within Europe Siege of Novi (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Austro-Turkish War of 1716–18

200km
125miles

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The siege of Novi was a military siege undertaken by the Habsburgs in mid-1717 against the city of Novi, which was under Ottoman rule. The 30,000-strong Habsburg force was commanded by reputed Field marshal Sigbert Heister. The siege was part of the Austro-Turkish War (1716–1718), and resulted in an Ottoman victory.

Background

From June to September 1715, the Ottoman Empire, led by Grand Vizier Silahdar Damat Ali Pasha, easily reclaimed the Peloponnese, which they had ceded to the Republic of Venice with the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699. Thus, the Venetian Kingdom of the Morea was no more and had been absorbed into Ottoman territory. Having formed an alliance with Venice in April 1716 and as the guarantor of the Karlowitz treaty, Austria demanded the full withdrawal of Ottoman troops from the region, as well as financial compensation to Venice for the continued violation of the stipulations of the Karlowitz treaty. Confident that they could defeat the Habsburgs and possibly reconquer Hungary due to successive victories in the Pruth River Campaign and the war with Venice, the Ottomans responded to Austria's ultimatum by waging war on 15 May 1716.

Prelude

Although the war with the Habsburgs began favourably for the Ottomans at Karlowitz, they had suffered important defeats thereafter (most notably at Petrovaradin, Temeşvar, and Belgrade). With the Ottomans driven deeper into the Balkans, the Habsburgs sought to capitalize on the situation by deploying over 50,000 soldiers to the Bosnian front of the conflict. However, this campaign proved even more calamitous than their incursions into Moldavia, where after their defeat at Iași they were forced to withdraw completely from the region.

Siege

The Habsburgs besieged Novi in the middle of 1717 with 30,000 soldiers under the command of reputed Field marshal Sigbert Heister, who had inflicted multiple major blows against the Ottomans in the past decades. However, Heister was the one to be bested this time at the hands of the small Ottoman garrison. The defeat was so humiliating that the Habsburgs were forced to withdraw from Bosnia altogether, especially after suffering another defeat at around the same time in İzvornik.

Aftermath

Due to Maximilian Petrasch's failure to capture İzvornik during its siege and Sigbert Heister's unsuccessful attempt to take Novi Grad, Habsburg presence was eradicated from Bosnia, thus rendering the Ottomans victorious on the Bosnian front of the war.