Karlowitz Congress of 1698–99

Karlowitz Congress of 1698–99 

an international congress that convened in October 1698 in the small village of Karlowitz in Slavonia to conclude peace between the states constituting the Holy League (Austria, Venice, Poland, and Russia) and the Ottoman Empire (Turkey).

The Karlowitz Congress was preceded by a number of Turkish military defeats in wars against the countries of the coalition, including the catastrophic rout of Turkish troops in 1683 outside Vienna. Because of the serious contradictions between the members of the Holy League (in particular the league’s opposition to any strengthening of the position of Russia in the Black Sea region), a number of separate treaties were signed by the allies with Turkey: by Poland on Jan. 16, 1699, and by Austria and Venice on January 26. Russia concluded only a two-year armistice, signed on January 24; in 1700 it was superseded by the Constantinople Treaty. Poland received Podol’e and part of the Right-bank Ukraine still in Turkish hands. Austria received much of the territory of Hungary, as well as Transylvania, Croatia, and nearly all of Slavonia. Venice received the Morea, the islands of the Aegean Sea, and fortresses in Dalmatia. According to the terms of the armistice, Russia kept Azov.

The Karlowitz Congress gave juridical form to the new disposition of forces in Central and Eastern Europe after the Turkish defeats and the halting of the Ottoman movement westward.

PUBLICATION

Noradounghian, G. Recueil d’actes internationaux de l’Empire Ottoman …, vol. 1. Paris, 1897.

G. A. KLEINMAN