Temeşvar Kuşatmasının Serencâmı: Kale Muhafızı Mustafa Paşa’nın Arzının Tahlil ve Değerlendirilmesi (1716)
Bekir GökpınarKanunî Sultan Süleyman döneminde Osmanlı fetihleri batı istikametine doğru yönelmiştir. Özellikle Orta Macaristan’ın Osmanlı tarafından fethedilmesi uzun bir mücadelenin başlangıcıdır. Osmanlı için bölgeyi elde tutabilmek hem zor hem de maliyetli olmuştur. Yaklaşık 150 yıl kadar Osmanlı hâkimiyetinde kalan bölgenin önemli kısmı “Kutsal İttifak” savaşlarında elden çıkmıştır. Karlofça Antlaşması ile Macaristan’da Tuna’nın kuzeyinde kalan son toprak parçası ise Temeşvar eyaletidir. Temeşvar eyaletinin artık bir serhat bölgesi olması ile birlikte burayı elde tutabilmek için askerî, mali ve idari anlamda bazı düzenlemeler yapılmıştır. Çünkü Osmanlı yönetimi buranın bir gün Habsburgların hedefi olacağını tahmin ediyordu. Nitekim Damad Ali Paşa’nın 1716 yılında Varadin’de aldığı mağlubiyetten hemen sonra Habsburg güçleri kendilerine ilk hedef olarak Temeşvar Kalesi’ni seçmişlerdi. Prens Eugen, kaleyi büyük bir ordu ile kuşatmıştır. Osmanlı askerî yönetimi kısa süre önce aldığı mağlubiyet sebebiyle buraya yeterli askerî yardım gönderememiştir. Kale muhafızı Mustafa Paşa, yanında bulunan az sayıdaki askerle 57 gün mukavemetini sürdürmüştür. Kale uzun süren savunma sonucunda yardım gelmemesi üzerine Habsburg güçlerine teslim edilmiştir. Mustafa Paşa, kale teslim edildikten sonra Belgrad’a gelmiş ve padişaha kalenin savunma ve teslim sürecini ihtiva eden bir arz göndermiştir. Bu çalışmada Habsburg güçlerinin kaleyi kuşatması, kalenin savunulması, kale halkının durumu, imdat çığlıklarına rağmen bir türlü gelmeyen askerî yardımlar, çaresizliğin sonucu yaşanan teslim süreci ve sonrasında yaşananlarla ile ilgili Temeşvar muhafızı Mustafa Paşa’nın arzının tahlili yapılmaya çalışılmıştır. Paşa’nın arzında yer alan bilgiler döneme ait diğer kaynaklar da esas alınarak değerlendirilmiştir.
The Consequence of the Siege of Temeşvar: Analysis and Evaluation of the Submission Letter of the Castellan Mustafa Pasha (1716)
Bekir GökpınarDuring the reign of Süleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman conquests were directed toward the west. The conquest of central Hungary by the Ottomans in particular was the beginning of a long struggle. It was both difficult and costly for the Ottomans to hold the region and a significant part of the region, which remained under Ottoman rule for about 150 years, was lost in the "Holy League" wars. With the Treaty of Karlowitz, the last piece of land to the north of the Danube in Hungary was the province of Temeşvar. As the province of Temeşvar was by that time a frontier region, Ottomans made some military, financial and administrative arrangements there in order to keep Temeşvar because they predicted that this place would one day be the target of Austria. Indeed, after Damad Ali Pasha’s defeat in Varadin in 1716, the Austrian forces chose the Temeşvar castle as their first target and Prince Eugene besieged the castle with a large army. The Ottoman military administration could not send sufficient military aid here due to the recent defeat. The castle commander, Mustafa Pasha, continued his resistance for 57 days with a small number of soldiers. But the castle was handed over to the Austrian forces when no help came as a result of the long defense. After the castle was surrendered, Mustafa Pasha came to Belgrade and sent a letter to the sultan about the defense and delivery process of the castle. This paper, in the submission letter (arz) of the Castellan of Temesvar, Mustafa Pasha, attempts to analyze the siege of the castle by the Habsburg forces, the defense of the fortress, the situation of the people of the castle, the military aid that did not come despite the distress call, the surrender process and the issues that emerged afterward. The information in the Pasha’s submission letter has been evaluated based on other sources belonging to the period.
During the reign of Sultan Süleiman Ottoman, the conquest focused beyond the Danube and affected Europe deeply with major consequences. Sultan Süleiman’s first conquest in this direction was Hungary. After the battle of Mohacs central Hungary came under the Ottoman rule. It is known that Sultan Süleiman wanted central Hungary to be his vassal state instead of having direct control. The reasoning behind this was Hungary’s geographical position. Being far away from İstanbul made it hard for Ottomans to have efficient control over the country. However, the king of central Hungary could not reach an agreement with the Sultan Süleiman and thus, a long power struggle began. The Ottomans gained control over the most important towns of Hungary but border warfare with the Habsburgs never ceased. Both sides constructed and fortified new castles along the borderline. It is known that hundreds of fortresses were built over time along the 1000 km line of the Ottoman-Hungarian border.
To protect Erdel and Habsburg’s borders, the Ottomans first took Budin and then towards Temeşvar and gave them both the status of Beylerbeylik. Budin and Temeşvar thus became two towns with the duty to protect the borders. They also served as logistic and supply bases for upcoming campaigns. The cost of defending the borders in the 17th century was immense for the Ottomans. The Ottomans were especially busy with fortifying the strategic castles and preserving the manpower needed to defend these castles. Most of the castles in the central Hungary were on the borders of Temeşvar province, and due to Temeşvar being a rich province, the cost of the defense was met directly from the income of the province. According to sources Temeşvar was richer than Budin the largest province in Hungary. After the second siege of Vienna Budin fell to the hands of allied forces. Temeşvar resisted all the attempts of the allied forces even to the attacks of Prens Eugen. During the discussions of the Karlofça agreement Temeşvar’s status remained conflicted. At the end of the negotiations Ottoman diplomats were successful. Temeşvar with the other castles in this province remained within the borders of the Ottoman State. After the agreement of Karlofça Temeşvar became the only town belonging to the Ottomans in the north of Danube and in the central Hungary. In 1716 during the Habsburg Ottoman war Temeşvar was the first target of the Prens Eugen.
The Ottomans realized during the Habsburg wars that Bosnia, Belgrad and Temeşvar had a key importance and fortified the towns appropriately. The guardian of Temeşvar, Mustafa Paşa, warned İstanbul before and after the war of Varadin of the need to give importance to the defense of Temeşvar. Mustafa Paşa himself inspected the defensive positions inside and outside the castle. However, the Ottomans seem to have failed to grasp the fact that Prens Eugen always had an opportunistic character. If the Zenta and Varadin defeats were to be analyzed correctly, Prens Eugen’s goal could have been predicted correctly as Temeşvar. Prens Eugen’s choice of Temeşvar instead of Belgrad in this regard seems to be the outcome of a planned strategy. The Ottomans could have defended Belgrad even if the they lost the battle but but helping Temeşvar was not so easy for the Ottomans and that is why Prens Eugen chose to besiege Temeşvar. The help Ottomans sent from Anatolia and Rumeli never reached its intended destination.
Only 20 days after the battle of Varadin Prens Eugen besieged the castle of Temeşvar with his powerful army. New trenches were dug for the defense and also to attack. There is little information about the siege and concession of the castle to the Habsburgs in the Ottoman documents. However, the Habsburg documents in this regard are plentiful. Nonetheless, one report of the Mustafa Paşa, guardian of the Temeşvar, has been found in the Ottoman archives. The report gives first hand information about the siege that lasted 57 days and thus is very important.
This study aims to compare the information given by Mustafa Paşa to other sources. Here, an attempt has been made to compare the information provided by Pasha, who was under siege, with local and foreign sources. In fact, information about the siege is very limited in Ottoman sources except for Pasha's letters. Both in the Ottoman archive and in the chronicles of the period, information on the siege is not sufficient to illuminate the event. For, in addition to the castle guard, there was also a bookkeeper and many clerks in his entourage. It is highly probable that they kept the records day by day. In this case, we have to rely on the detailed letters of Mustafa Pasha that I recently came across in the Ottoman Archive. However, the important aspect to be pointed out here is this: Could Mustafa Pasha have exaggerated the letter he wrote after the loss of the fortress in order to avoid punishment from the Ottoman administration, or could he have emphasized his emotions? In his report, Mustafa Paşa gave detailed information about the Habsburg army that besieged the castle and also his defending forces. Mustafa Paşa argues that event though he had sufficient supplies of food and ammunition he did not have enough manpower to defend the castle. Mustafa Paşa defended the castle for 57 days and waited for some help to come. When he realized the help he was waiting for was not forthcoming, he surrendered the castle on October 17, 1716 to the Habsburgs. The 165 yearlong Ottoman rule over the Temeşvar thus ended and Ottoman control north of the Danube ceased. This study using Mustafa Paşa’s report as a basis, analyzes the 57 daylong defense of the Ottomans with the help of domestic and foreign sources.
