Romanian Warfare in the Austrian-Turkish War of

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1 ANDREI POGĂCIAȘ Independent Researcher Romanian Warfare in the Austrian-Turkish War of Die rumänischen Provinzen Walachei und Moldau befanden sich im 18. Jahrhundert unter osmanischer Oberhoheit und wurden somit in die Kriege zwischen der Hohen Pforte und den großen europäischen Mächten einbezogen. Die vom Autor gefundenen Quellenbestände zeigen anhand des österreichisch-osmanischen Krieges von , wie die Armeen dieser Provinzen organisiert waren und welche Rolle sie in den militärischen Auseinandersetzungen gespielt haben. Den Vorurteilen von einer veralteten Kriegsführung in der Walachei und Moldau setzt der Autor die Darstellung der Truppen, ihrer Waffen und Kampfstrategien entgegen, um zu zeigen, dass diese Armeen nach modernen Standards organisiert wurden. Introduction The 18 th century in the Romanian Countries Wallachia and Moldavia is regarded by Romanian historiography as one of the darkest times in Romanian history. The period known as Phanariote, from 1711 to 1821, meant a powerful decrease in sovereignty, autonomy, welfare and statute for the two Romanian Principalities. The five Russo-Austrian-Turkish Wars that occurred in the 18 th century and the numerous Tatar raids brought the countries to their knees, affected demography, social structures, the economy, and even territorial integrity. 13

2 Andrei Pogăciaș The Phanariote rulers, mainly Greeks appointed by the Ottomans as administrators of the two Principalities, were usually loyal followers of official politics, with the strong aim to keep the local high nobility, known as boyars (Romanian boieri), under strict observation and gather as much money as possible for themselves and for the officials in Constantinople they constantly had to bribe. With the new rulers came a large political, administrative and religious apparatus, again consisting of Greeks, who were acting as conquerors, taking control over all matters, foreign and domestic. Romanian historiography avoided the study of this period, and only a few social and economic aspects have been analyzed. Also, very few scholars have studied in detail the political and diplomatic aspects of the period involving the Romanian countries. Until recently, nobody has given attention to the military history of the age and to the armies of the two Principalities. The same is valid for Romanian medieval and early modern armies. The main idea was that, during the 18 th century, the Romanian Countries had almost no troops, only a few border and Court guards, acting as police and administration rather than combat troops. Studies developed in the last years by the author of this article and which are yet to be published, have reversed this theory: internal and external documents and chronicles give detailed accounts of numerous types of troops, important effectives and various purposes they served. This article will discuss the participation of Wallachian and Moldavian troops in the Austro-Turkish War of The beginning of the 18 th century saw the change of political and international statute for the Romanian Countries, as the Phanariote rulers were installed in 1711 in Moldavia and 1714 in Wallachia due to the dangers local rulers would pose, now that the two Christian empires, Austria and Russia, were closing in on the Ottoman borders and the Danube. 14

3 The Troops Romanian Warfare in the Austrian-Turkish War of As in the rest of Europe, the Romanian rulers had employed foreign mercenaries in the Middle Ages and the practice went on into the Modern Age. The percentage and importance of these mercenaries are largely unknown and internal chronicles speak of many nationalities employed as fighters. The era of national armies in the Romanian Countries had ended however at the end of the 16 th and the beginning of the 17 th century, from the times of the Wallachian ruler (voievod) Michael the Brave, the conqueror of Moldavia and Transylvania. Large numbers of foreigners from the Balkans, Eastern Europe, but also Transylvania and even Western Europe were employed during the 17 th century both in Moldavia and Wallachia. It is difficult to present the evolution of the armies employed by the rulers of the Romanian Countries without serious research on the matter. For the end of the 17 th and the beginning of the 18 th centuries, contemporary sources give a very colorful image of many types of troops, cavalry, infantry and some artillery, with many different names, tasks, equipment, commanders, uniforms and organization. The Phanariote rulers employed all these types of troops and tried to keep them satisfied. Some were paid by the state, others were exempted from paying taxes in exchange for military service; some received clothing from the ruler, others received only the money necessary to buy clothes that had to match in color and model; some had military roles, others only administrative; some were guarding the borders, others were guarding just the mountain passes; some were permanent, others not; some were staying only in the capital or in the main towns, others in the whole of the country etc. It would be natural for this period of decadence to have only few types of troops, if any at all, but a count 1 gives the astonishing number of 27 types of troops, some of the names coming from the classical period of the Romanian medieval armies. 15

4 Andrei Pogăciaș First of all, the guards protecting the Prince and his wife stayed at the Court and in the capital, and were both infantry and cavalry. They had the role to watch over the ruling family, accompany the Prince at official meetings, religious ceremonies or whenever he had to go somewhere. They also participated in war, together with the Prince. They were paid by the state and also had many privileges. There were many types of troops among them, such as seimeni, bostangii, arnavuts, panţîri, ciohodari, paici, ceauşi, 2 etc. The rest of the troops were spread all over the country and consisted mainly of cavalry, more than 65 percent. There were 15 distinct types of troops among the cavalry, such as călăraşi (riders), roşii (reds), Cossacks, mounted dorobanţi/darabans, catane (perhaps Hungarian/Transylvanian mercenaries), ulans, hajduks, lipcani (Tatars), poteraşi (light irregular cavalry), potecaşi (mounted border guards in the mountains), mounted pandurs, saragele (the yellows), levenţi (mounted volunteers), drăgani (dragoons), panţîri (cuirassiers). The infantry was composed of seimeni, dorobanţi, panduri, tălpaşi, vînători, plăieşi, martalogi, mocani, panduri, and the artillery corps. In case of need, peasants were recruited and organized separately. There were no garrison troops since the two Romanian countries had not been allowed to erect and maintain fortifications by the Ottomans. 3 The only fortified places to use in case of need were the fortified monasteries, around 150 in both countries. Many of them had been built in the 17 th century, a few in the 18 th, and provided good refuge at least for a short period of time. The main weapons were cutting weapons. Internal chronicles and especially foreign travelers insist on the fact that the Romanians didn t like to use fire weapons, as they considered them unworthy and preferred hand-to-hand fight. These weapons were also much easier to produce and repair. All the guards were armed with swords and lances, but they also had and used fire arms. The rest of the army usually relied on swords, lances, knives, axes, war hammers and, until the middle of the century, bows and arrows. Slowly but surely, from the middle of the century onwards, the number of 16

5 Romanian Warfare in the Austrian-Turkish War of fire weapons began to increase. Cannons are also mentioned all along this period, in battle or at various ceremonies. As protection, metal helmets were worn by parts of both infantry and cavalry, although the majority of soldiers had headgear made of animal (bear, sheep) fur. The color of the uniforms takes us back to the Byzantine times. The soldiers in the Romanian countries in the 18 th century wore mainly green and blue uniforms, while the color red was reserved for the ruling family. Over the course of the period, this monopoly disappeared and red became the color of officer uniforms and of certain units. Only few units wore yellow, which was also a color for the officer corps. Towards the end of the century, the guards at the palace wore white uniforms. Mountain troops wore brown clothes, while irregulars dressed in traditional Romanian costumes. As symbols, the uniforms had numbers representing the unit, on the headgear the initials of the Prince, each unit had its flag and the coat of arms of the Prince was carried with much attention at ceremonies. The ethnicity of the troops was a true mosaic: beside Moldavians and Wallachians, the Phanariotes employed Albanians, Serbs, Bulgarians, Greeks, Turks, Tatars, Hungarians, Russians, Cossacks and even Germans. It is somehow natural, given the fact that mercenaries were still present in many armies on the continent. The supreme commander of the army was the Phanariote Prince. Under him, various boyars with traditional military roles and names commanded the units. The soldiers were partly paid by the state, but some of them had to sustain themselves. Sometimes they were given cloth to make uniforms or gifts consisting in money and were exempted from carrying various duties or paying certain taxes. They were also allowed to trade inside the country, respecting the special laws regarding 17

6 Andrei Pogăciaș them. In case of war, they were allowed to prey on the enemy and keep what they had plundered. As many as they were, the Phanariote soldiers proved efficient only in times of peace. In times of war, except for a few cases, they acted cowardly and didn t prove to be much of an enemy. Even if tactics were applied, the lack of discipline and determination led to mass desertions, betrayals and massive loss of life and goods. Just to be sure they wouldn t be a military burden, the Ottomans would usually put the Phanariote soldiers in charge of building bridges, repairing roads or acting as scouts for the advancing army. These troops were merely a pale and sad shadow of the Romanian medieval armies. The Events The Ottoman-Venetian War started in September As allies of Venice, Vienna had to intervene in the conflict, although the Ottomans had tried to persuade the Imperials that the war was caused by Venice and that they didn t intend to threaten Austria. Austria, on the other hand, had barely finished two wars the War for Spanish Succession and the Kuruc War, its army was weakened and its finances drained. In Vienna, the head of the Hofkriegsrat was Prince Eugene of Savoy, who immediately thought it was a good opportunity for Austria to gain more territories from its Turkish neighbor. The Ottomans attacked first and the Austrians achieved the great victory of Peterwardein, in their own territory, which allowed them to cross the border into Ottoman lands. Eugene s goals were Timişoara and Belgrade. Timişoara was a powerful fortified town in the middle of Banat province, while Belgrade was one of the most formidable strategic positions on the Lower Danube. Eugene wanted to open a second front, in order to distract the Ottomans, and set his sight on the Romanian countries, Wallachia and Moldavia. The first one attacked was Wallachia, as it also held a 18

7 strategic position in the unfolding war, with its geographic location along the Danube, the many fortified monasteries and the rich supplies it could provide. Wallachia Romanian Warfare in the Austrian-Turkish War of Right after the beginning of the war and especially after the initial successes, Wallachian boyars started negotiations with the Austrians, asking for military help in order to escape the Ottoman rule. In exchange, they offered in turn a series of advantages. The offer was not bad and the opportunity was not to be missed. The boyars promised to help in the capturing of Nicolae Mavrocordat, the ruler in Bucharest. With the Wallachian army by their side and with Austrian reinforcements, the Wallachians hoped to be able to defend the country against Ottoman and especially Tatar raids and gain at least Austrian suzerainty, if not even independence (a virtually impossible goal at the time). The boyars managed to convince the Prince to appoint one of them as Ban of Craiova and give him as many troops as possible in order to defend against the Austrian attacks. Thus, the Capital would be left virtually undefended. The trick worked and on the morning of November 14 th, the Austrians entered Bucharest, 4 defeated a small Tatar force and captured the Prince, with only a few gun shots fired. Mavrocordat was taken to prison into Transylvania. The chronicles mention only a Tatar camp near the capital and a few Wallachian soldiers guarding the Court. No other skirmishes or fights are reported in Bucharest during this morning or in the following days, when the Austrians remained in the capital and plundered. The Austrians were satisfied as Wallachia had dropped out of the war and couldn t support the further Ottoman war effort, while plundering raids and famine took a deadly toll on the population. The new ruler, Ioan Mavrocordat, the former Prince s brother, managed to negotiate a quick peace with the Imperials, being forced to 19

8 Andrei Pogăciaș cede Oltenia/Little Wallachia, while trying to salvage the country from total collapse. 5 Ottoman, Tatar and Imperial forces were still raiding the countryside, causing massive damage, while units of the Wallachian army were still fighting the Austrians in the West. Helped by the small Ottoman guard at his side, the ruler attacked and defeated Tatar raiders, freeing thousands of peasant slaves and recovering many goods, especially flocks. 6 Strangely, chronicles stop mentioning local troops after the arrival of the new ruler in Bucharest, as if they had suddenly disappeared. Austrian reports, 7 however, mention skirmishes and troop movements in Oltenia, even after the territory had been given to the Imperials as a guarantee of neutrality. Official Imperial reports mention contingents of Wallachian cavalry joining the Austrians and fighting against the Ottomans during the course of the war. Also, a few Wallachian commanders continued to harass the Imperial troops in Oltenia. Several hundreds of their troops were involved every time, but no successes were achieved against the Austrians. 8 A firman 9 of Sultan Achmed III, from November 20 th 1716, ordered the Wallachian Prince to recruit from Wallachia and provide a certain number of soldiers. He had to report as quickly as possible that he had hired the mercenaries, so the Sultan could send him a man of high trust to control them and count them and note them in the register. The prince was supposed to place these new recruits in key positions around the country; the expenses for these troops were to be deducted from the Wallachian tribute to the Porte; the new recruits had to be able and brave and capable to fight. As a further Ottoman official document shows, 10 the prince indeed hired more soldiers. No other news is to be found on the whereabouts and actions of these soldiers. After the great victories of 1716, Peterwardein and Timişoara, the Austrians mounted the campaign against Belgrade, in 1717, so the bulk of the Ottoman army was south of the Danube. Wallachian troops did not appear in the armies fighting at Belgrade, so the most plausible possibility is that the new recruits had remained in the country, along the borders, 20

9 guarding the territory and its population from plundering raids and deserters. Moldavia Romanian Warfare in the Austrian-Turkish War of Following the success in Wallachia, the Austrians tried to take Moldavia out of the war in the same way. Moreover, they were helped by Moldavian traitors, 11 boyars who negotiated military help and other issues with the Imperial authorities. The main idea of the conspirators was to remove ruler Mihai Racoviţă and liberate the country from the Ottomans. The conspirators, with a certain number of their own soldiers, initially received around 300 cavalrymen, Austrian and Hungarian, with whom they entered Moldavia and occupied the old medieval fortress of Neamţ and the fortified monastery of Caşin. From these strongholds, they plundered the countryside and the monasteries, attacking towns, especially the estates of non-christians. The ruler in Iaşi feared for his life, as he didn t want to find himself in the same situation as his Wallachian counterpart. He didn t spend his nights at the Court, but moved his camp along the river Prut and slept in a tent. He asked for help from the Ottomans, who were urging him to act, and began recruiting himself. He also sent word to the Tatar Khan and asked him for troops. 12 On the 9 th of January 1717, the prince finally received word that the Austrians were approaching the capital. He took 600 cavalrymen and waited on the outskirts, until the freezing cold forced them to return into the town after a few hours. The prince and the boyars went to the Court and began eating and drinking, while dismissing their troops, who in turn went to their homes to bask. 13 The Prince and his court fell asleep, except for one of the boyars, who wanted to go home. Just out of the gates, he heard screams in the town and people shouting that the enemy had entered the capital and was asking for food and drinks. He immediately alerted the whole Court, thus saving the day. In a panic, the prince sent word to the 21

10 Andrei Pogăciaș troops to gather, and, surrounded by the ones near him, withdrew to the fortified monastery of Cetăţuia, also sending word to the Tatar camp not far from the town. Skirmishes began in the capital between the Moldavians and Austrians and the first victims fell. A part of the Imperials occupied the Court, plundered the houses of both Turks and locals, while others approached the monastery where the Prince was. All Moldavian troops caught in the town were massacred. While the Austrians were trying to find a way to besiege the monastery, the Tatars arrived. Taken by surprise, the Imperials tried to escape, but were caught between a steep slope, the Tatar cavalry and the Moldavian infantry, seimeni and chasseurs. 14 The fight went on into the night. The Austrians ran out of gunpowder and the Tatars charged and captured many of them, including their commander, a certain Captain Franz. Few managed to escape, eventually freezing to death during the night or being captured by the Moldavians on the next day. Austrians and Moldavian traitors alike were executed the Austrians by beheading or hanging, and the traitors were burned alive. 15 On January 12 th, prince Mihai Racoviţă marched towards Neamţ, quickly abandoned by the Austrians. The supplies found were divided among the troops and the wine found was drunk on the spot. 16 The army returned to the capital. The prince knew there was a long campaign ahead of him, as Austrian troops were still occupying two fortified monasteries in the south, Mera and Caşin Tatars came to help, although the Prince had asked for only to at most. 17 The number of Moldavian troops is not given, but the chronicles mention the ruler had a large army of his own, perhaps a few thousand strong, this time mostly infantry. In the middle of February the allied army began the campaign in the south. The Tatars, as always, left the camp, plundered the counties along the mountains and then withdrew 22

11 Romanian Warfare in the Austrian-Turkish War of across the Prut into southern Bessarabia. Even if the preparations to besiege the monasteries had begun, the Moldavians could not fight without the cover of light cavalry, so they had to withdraw. In May, once spring had finally arrived, prince Racoviţă went to war once again with Tatar help. Moldavian chronicles write about almost Austrians in the south of the country, a number too big to be taken seriously. On the march, skirmishes began between the two armies, with the Moldavians and Tatars gaining the upper hand. This time, chronicles mention almost Moldavian cavalry troops only in the vanguard, 18 fighting and defeating their enemy also in open field. The campaign ended quickly, almost all remaining enemies retreating without fighting in Transylvania. A small Moldavian unit entered Transylvania and plundered the area next to the border, a prequel to upcoming events. Transylvania In August 1717, an order came from the Sultan Moldavia had to gather its army anew and join Ottoman troops, mostly Tatars, in a great raid into Transylvania. The raid aimed to inflict losses on the Imperials and try to stir a rebellion in Hungary. A few former Kuruc 19 leaders, including Esterházy, were among the commanders of the raid, but their military power and influence in decisions valued almost nothing. Around Tatars and Moldavians headed for the mountain pass towards Rodna, commanded by the 12-year old Azamet Giray, the son of the Khan, Koltschag-bey, 20 the commander of the fortress Khotin, and Mihai Racoviţă. Once in Transylvania, the Moldavian ruler sent soldiers of his own guards, both cavalry and infantry, to attack and clear the slopes from the local Romanian mountain guards, who had inflicted losses on the advancing troops. But they were not able to track the mountain troops, so they returned to the main army. 23

12 Andrei Pogăciaș On the 23rd of May, the army was in front of Bistriţa and began besieging the town. The Tatars left the camp again and headed for northern Transylvania and Slovakia, being attacked and almost routed on their way back. The besiegers tried to take the town, but withdrew when they heard about Eugene of Savoy s great victory at Belgrade. They knew they couldn t resist by military force, if reinforcements were to be sent to Transylvania, now that the Ottoman army had been crushed. Without awaiting the Tatars and without any further incidents, Racoviţă and Koltschag returned to Moldavia. 21 Some time towards the middle of August, an Austrian unit had entered Moldavia again in the south, for a plundering raid, perhaps as response to the Moldavian raid earlier. Although his soldiers were tired, especially the cavalry, which had suffered while crossing the mountains into Transylvania, Racoviţă gathered his troops and marched south again. Attacked by the Moldavian light cavalry, the Austrians left almost all their prey and fled into Transylvania. The prince left 500 men to guard the passes in the south of Moldavia and returned to the capital. Finally, the hostilities ended for Moldavia as well. In the same year, the Prince and the Austrian commanders in Sibiu and Braşov exchanged letters, encouraged the commerce between the two countries, thus making peace. 22 A peace which would last less than 20 years. Conclusion As we have seen, the secondary front opened by the Austrians in the East during this war proved to be a very hot one, with military events on a large scale. The main theater of war, which also decided the outcome, was rather far off, and hostilities ended in the East only after the decisive victories of Eugene of Savoy. Nevertheless, even if Wallachia was strangely taken out so quickly out of the conflict, the military resistance and resilience of the Moldavians must have been a total surprise for the Austrian com- 24

13 Romanian Warfare in the Austrian-Turkish War of mand, who did not expect such a tough response from a country they didn t consider able to fight back. Bitter fights were to continue all along the century, with the Romanians on both sides seeing their countries destroyed every time. The subject of Romanian troops in the 18 th century, actually troops in the service of the rulers of the Romanian Countries, remains to be further studied. Although a lot of information has been gathered, more research is needed in order to publish the results. Information about these troops appears throughout the 18 th century and even at the beginning of the 19 th, until 1830, when Moldavia and Wallachia will finally see their national army reinstated, following modern European rules and regulations. The re-apparition of the Romanian army in the 19 th century wouldn t have been possible without the continuation of the Romanian military tradition in the grim 17 th and 18 th centuries. 1 As there is no published bibliography on military history of the era, the only existent account of these troops and their classification belongs to the author of this article and is based on internal chronicles and documents, external reports, diaries, letters, official documents. 2 Some of these names come from Turkish. Others are etnonyms or are derived from the main weapon of that unit. 3 In order to make sure the Romanian Countries will never rise again and take up arms against the Ottomans, the Sultan ordered the destruction of fortifications in both Moldavia and Wallachia in the late 16 th century. Medieval fortifications in both countries had not been numerous anyway, as they already relied on many fortified monasteries for refuge and safekeeping of goods. The Turks did not interfere in the Romanian Countries with the construction of churches and monasteries and many of these buildings have defensive elements skillfully added under the roofs or in the surrounding walls. 4 Radu Popescu, Cronica, in: Cronicari Munteni, Ed. Tineretului, Bucureşti 1970,

14 Andrei Pogăciaș 5 Cronica anonimă despre Brîncoveanu, in: Cronici brîncoveneşti, Ed. Minerva, Bucureşti 1988, Radu Popescu, Cronica, Călători străini, vol. IX, Ed. Academiei Române, Bucureşti 1988, Ibid., Documente turcești, vol. 1, Ed. Academiei R.S.R., Bucureşti 1976, Ibid., Cronica anonimă a Moldovei, (Pseudo-Amiras), Ed. Academiei R.S.R., București 1975, Ibid., Ibid., Constantin Erbiceanu, Cronica lui Chiparissa. Cronicarii greci care au scris despre români în epoca fanariotă, Ed. Cronicar, Bucureşti 2003, Ibid., Cronica anonimă, Chiparissa, Ibid., The Kuruc uprisings against the Austrians occurred in the 17 th and beginning of the 18 th century. Allies of the Ottomans, the Kuruc aimed to create an autonomous Hungarian Kingdom, free from any kind of Austrian interference. The last phase of the Kuruc Wars occurred from 1703 to 1711, under the command of Francis II Rákoczi. After their defeat, part of the former Kuruc soldiers joined the Austrian armies, while others sought refuge and help in the Ottoman Empire. Their last attempt to enter the Austrian Empire and revolt the Hungarian lands was in the Austrian-Russian- Turkish War of The ancestor of future Russian Admiral Alexander Kolchak, one of the White generals of the Russian Civil War. 21 Cronica anonimă, Chiparissa,