The Spanish Heir (What if Carlos II had a son?)
- Thread starter Archduke
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1.19: The Changing of American Guards
XIX: The Changing of American Guards
Percy Kirke, Governor of the Dominion of New England
Percy Kirke, Governor of the Dominion of New England
Interestingly, just as Echagarai was reaching Vera Cruz, the first news of Rene Robert’s expedition reached the Peninsula via a navio de aviso (a special ship meant to carry urgent dispatches between the colonies and Spain). Aboard this navio de aviso were three different letters from Admiral Gaspar de Palacios, Governor Manuel de Murguia y Mena of Cuba, and Admiral Antonio de Astina. Each letter discussed the story of a French expedition gleaned from Denis Thomas and other corsairs as well as the Conde de Paredes’s planned response. Each man addressed a different member of Spain’s colonial administration. Palacios wrote to Don Pedro de Oreytia, the President of La Casa de la Contratacion de las Indias, which governed trade and exploration in the colonies. Murguia wrote to Fernando Joaquin Fajardo, Marquis de los Velez, who commanded the Consejo de Indias, which was the advisory group for colonial matters. Finally, Astina wrote directly to His Most Catholic Majesty, Carlos II, to ask for help and guidance. Three separate reports sent to the three most important entities when it came to Spanish colonial policy were probably unnecessary. Peninsular Spaniards took the danger of Frenchmen in the Gulf very seriously and did not doubt any of the reports. Just five days after the dispatches were brought before the Consejo, the Consejo began deliberating on the matter. The reason why the Consejo took the transcribed words of a desperate pirate so seriously was that they had imagined for years that the French would try to penetrate the Gulf of Mexico. The renegade Penalosa’s residence in France stood as a continual reminder of the possibility. In fact, the Consejo always imagined that the French corsairs would lead this effort just as they led the settlement of Tortuga and Petit-Goave. So for a pirate to say that France had in fact made a settlement on the Gulf was entirely in line with the Consejo’s expectations.
The Consejo’s view on the French expedition swiftly shifted when a contact in Seville passed along intelligence about a French military mission to the Gulf of Mexico. Authorized by Louis XIV himself, this mission was supposed to comprise five ships and be well-manned and amply armed. Next, the reports from Vera Cruz confirmed all the previous reports and further emphasized the thought that a French crown colony rather than a pirate outpost had been established on the Gulf coast. Altogether, these reports created a sense of alarm. To the Spanish, it seemed apparent that the French were orchestrating a major offensive against Spain’s colonies. The first step and the key to this offensive was the Bay of Espiritu Santo. Although the Consejo agreed that the Conde de Paredes’s plan to discover the colony was well-thought-out and planned, the Consejo feared that Paredes lacked the manpower to actually eliminate the French colony. With the loss of Nuevo Mexico and Apache raids, the resources of Nuevo Espana were stretched thin. If the French expedition was really as strong as the Seville contact claimed then Nuevo Espana might lack the manpower to overcome the French. Or at the very least, Paredes would have to shuffle men around to put together a reasonable anti-French force, but doing so could put other parts of Nuevo Espana at risk. Also, if the French were reinforced before Paredes would organize that shuffle then he might still be too weak to fight. Spain needed to respond fast and ruthlessly if it wanted to “pluck out the thorn that has been thrust into the very heart of America”. Accordingly, the Consejo recommended to the royal court that a sizable reinforcement was immediately dispatched to the Americas to help Viceroy Paredes restore stability and security to the colonies. This reinforcement was supposed to comprise two frigates and the greatest amount of available men and arms.
When the royal court received this recommendation, Mariana and Marie Louise did not bicker much. By this point, Mariana understood the importance of the colonies to Spain. They were a source of prestige and wealth, both of which Spain was in woeful need of. Meanwhile, Marie Louise did not see any reason to fight the other courtiers over the Americas. Rather Marie Louise decided to become an advocate for sending the strongest expedition possible for the relief of the Americas. Marie Louise still retained much of her loyalty to her homeland of France. Marie Louise desperately wanted to prevent Spain from engaging in another war against France. While Marie Louise had succeeded in getting a Stuart bride for her son and Spain’s heir, she had also enabled a practically anti-French Anglo-Spanish alliance. This alliance was emboldening Spain and Marie Louise could see it in the eyes and hear it in the words of the other members of the royal council. To Marie Louise, the best way to shift Spain away from its march toward a war of revenge against France was to send Spain’s soldiers elsewhere. If Spain’s soldiers were in the Americas rather than France then they could hardly combat the grand armies of Louis XIV. Even if these soldiers were still fighting against Frenchmen, at the very least it was over some pointless span of land thousands of miles away rather than Roussillon or Luxembourg. Naturally, Marie Louise kept these motives to herself when she proposed sending many men to the Americas. Surprisingly, Marie Louise’s proposal found friendly ears among the other councilors. The Consejo had been suggesting that France could threaten the Gulf for years and now France had actually done it. If the council wanted to stop this threat permanently then it needed to empower the colonies. With the new Irish Brigade defending the Spanish Netherlands and an English alliance guaranteeing all Spanish holdings, Spain had a level of security it had not seen for years. As a result, the council felt secure in sending several hundred professional soldiers to eliminate the French, restore Nuevo Mexico, and establish a new northern buffer [1].
To hide this significant reinforcement of the Spanish colonies, the expedition was deliberately delayed until the departure of Paredes’s replacement as Viceroy of Nueveo Espana, Melchor Portocarrero, Conde de Monclova. Ostensibly, the additional warships and soldiers were to be Monclova’s protection for his voyage across the Atlantic and then return with the treasure fleet. In truth, the orders written up for Monclova at the end of July stated that he was to use all available and necessary force to rid the Gulf coast of the French. The planned mission to scourge the Isthmus of Darien was scrapped so that Monclova could focus solely on the northern frontier. Specifically, the Consejo instructed Monclova to seek out the pilots that Paredes had sent out to gain all possible information on the French. If the pilots had failed to find the French then Monclova would immediately launch his own expedition. If instead, the pilots had succeeded then the responsibility of removing the French fell to Monclova since the Spanish did not expect Paredes to accomplish the task. The state of alarm and concern in Madrid and Seville was so great that Monclova was even instructed to build his own fort at the Bay of Espiritu Santo to ensure that the region remained devoid of foreign interlopers.
By the time Monclova arrived in Vera Cruz in November 1686, he arrived in a completely different situation than the one that Spain had foreseen. Paredes, Martin de Echagarai, and Palacios were all waiting at Vera Cruz in anticipation of Monclova’s arrival. When questioned about the French, Paredes revealed that Rene Robert Cavelier’s colony had not only been discovered but conquered. The explorer himself was imprisoned at Mexico City and his colonists had been dispersed across Nuevo Espana after taking oaths of allegiance to the Spanish king. Regarding the Bay of Espiritu Santo, neither Barrotto and Romero nor Echagarai’s expeditions had discovered it, but a long length of the Gulf coast remained unmapped between the ending points of these two expeditions. Echagarai and Palacios had already planned an expedition to finish the map and hopefully find the sought-after bay. They were just waiting for Monclova to arrive so that they could receive the necessary authority and make their final preparations. Finally, regarding the issue of corsairs, Governor Cabrera in La Florida had solved that. France’s two most feared corsairs, Michel de Grammont and Nicolas Brigaut had chosen to attack San Augustin in April 1686. But soon after they landed to the south of San Augustin they were ambushed by the Spanish and forced to flee. Bad weather then brought the French right back to the Spaniards. Forced ashore, the disheveled Frenchmen were butchered by the Spanish. Grammont and Brigaut were both captured and under interrogation corroborated the stories about Rene Robert’s colony but confirmed that there was no corsair base on the Gulf coast. Both corsair captains were hung. Another attack against the Spaniards came from the English of Carolina but this was fended off too. The Spanish American colonies had once more shown their toughness and the major reinforcement that Monclova had brought with him seemed unnecessary.
As Paredes sailed home a hero, Monclova took it upon himself to make his own name as a viceroy. With the French taken care of, Monclova’s remaining task was to uncover the Bay of Espiritu Santo and establish a new fortress to control it. For this purpose, Moncolva immediately enlisted Echagarai and Barroto. Between the two of them, almost the entire northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico had been explored. Only the space between Rene Robert’s colony and the Rio de la Palizada remained unmapped. The natural conclusion was that the sought-after bay remained in between. The next expedition was supposed to depart in December 1686 but weather and supply mishaps delayed the expedition until March 1687. But even unhindered by weather or worries about Frenchmen, Echagarai and Barroto failed to find the Bay of Espiritu Santo. They first charted the remaining sector of the Gulf coast. When they did not find the bay there, Echagarai jumped to the conclusion that Barroto must have missed it on his voyage from Florida. Yet as Echagarai pushed eastward, he found no great bay. Mabilas and Panzacola could make for decent ports and forts, but searches of both bays failed to uncover the Rio del Espiritu Santo. Somehow the two Spaniards had missed it and between the two of them, they could not understand why.
The disappointing conclusion of the expedition put Echagarai in a tough position. His financial sponsors in Spain were expecting him to find and settle the Rio del Espiritu Santo. For his crucial role in defeating Rene Robert’s colony, the King would probably grant him indemnity from his backers’ financial claims. Still, Echagarai was trying to embark on a career as a rich colonist and merchant rather than a poor but glorified soldier. So when Echagarai returned to Veracruz his report to Monclova did not focus on the failure of the expedition but instead on the potential of a future expedition. Echagarai fully admitted his failure to find the Rio del Espiritu Santo but he remained convinced that it existed based on the accounts of Hernando de Soto and the captured Frenchmen. It was with the help of the latter that Echagarai suggested the bay and the river could be found. No living Spaniard had knowingly observed the Rio del Espiritu Santo or its bay, in fact, only a handful of Europeans had. Several of that handful were currently in the Monclova’s dungeons. Rene Robert had traversed the Rio del Espiritu Santo and although he clearly missed the river on his return journey, his knowledge was invaluable to Spain. So far, the former Jesuit had remained close-lipped and had provided only vague accounts during his interrogations. Echagarai knew that Rene Robert had more to offer and he begged Monclova to make use of the Norman explorer. Much like Echagarai, Monclova did not want to disappoint those back in Spain.
The viceroy contemplated using more advanced interrogation methods on Rene Robert but was advised against it. The French had destroyed their papers and maps before the Spanish could put their hands on them, which left most of the knowledge concentrated in Rene Robert’s head. The Spanish could not risk losing that knowledge in botched torture. Instead, Monclova tried to entice the Norman with the possibility of a pardon and quiet life in Mexico City rather than languishing in imprisonment. But the arrogant and stubborn explorer refused to retire into private life and help someone else claim the glory of his discoveries. On top of Rene Robert’s natural inclinations, he was still clinging to his loyalty toward France. Only at the most ridiculous prices was Rene Robert willing to contemplate betraying France and Monclova both felt that Rene Robert’s demands were too much and worried that granting those demands exceeded his brief as viceroy. Although Monclova had been given extraordinary powers to destroy the French colony and find the Bay of Espiritu Santo, that task had already been accomplished. Who was to say that those powers persevered with the French colony neutralized? Monclova could have risked guessing that answer but in the end, choosing the more cautious option, he referred the matter to Madrid.
Even if the Spanish discovery and settlement of the Rio del Espiritu Santo were delayed by the sails of messenger ships and the gears of bureaucracy, the fact remained that the Spanish colonies were safe once more. Even if the mother country was shuttering into decline after successive defeats, the colonies were still fighting on. While the Spanish colonies experienced defiant success, their English allies had more challenging times. In 1686, the English colonies welcomed thousands of new settlers and several new governors. After spending a year in prison camps, the thousands of Monmouthites whose executions had been commuted to indentured labor in the colonies were finally being sent on their way to the colonies. Many of them went to the Caribbean where they guaranteed hard lives under the bright sun and the heavy air of the tropics. With them came three new governors, Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle; James Stapleton, 2nd Baronet; and Sir James Kendall. Monck was headed to Jamaica with the majority of the Caribbean Monmouthites while Stapleton and Kendall went to the Leeward Islands and Barbados, respectively. As a consequence, of the large number of former rebels going to the Caribbean, Albemarle was accompanied by several hundred English soldiers who the Parliament had been reluctant to retain in England. These soldiers allowed Albemarle to take charge of the situation in Jamaica without too much difficulty. He quickly dismissed Hender Molesworth from the government and ended his harassment of Henry Morgan, an old drinking companion of Albemarle. Next, Albemarle focused on auctioning off the Monmouthites to plantations across Jamaica to line his own pockets off of King James II’s gift. The other wave of Monmouthites was directed toward Pennsylvania where the threat of hard labor was less intense and the thought of auctions was unimaginable. In William Penn’s Pennsylvania, the Monmouthites were welcomed as new colonists rather than taken in as slaves. As Non-Conformists, they were no different from their Quaker proprietor-governor, William Penn, and as rebels, Penn reminded everyone that Christ had taught forgiveness. The Pennsylvania Monmouthites were invited to join Penn’s “utopia” with new plots of land. But with Penn still in England, the colonial administrators in Pennsylvania were careful not to give away the best plots to England’s rebels. Instead, the majority of Monmouthites found themselves placed on the periphery of the colony where they would be the first line against French and Native American raids.
A fourth English governor arrived in the colonies in November 1686, Percy Kirke. Originally appointed by Charles II to become the governor of a planned “Dominion of New England”, Percy Kirke’s commission was put on hold while he fought off Monmouth’s Rebellion. The focus on punishing those rebels further delayed Kirke’s dispatch to the Americas since he was among those tasked with rounding up the rebels. While Kirke helped Judge Jeffreys and the Marquis de Roncherolles in quenching the sentiment of treason in the West Country, he came under attack in London. His participation in the brutal suppression of Protestant Englishmen was not appreciated by most. However, most of the blame fell on Roncherolles and Jeffreys rather than Kirke, which allowed Kirke to avoid the full weight of outrage and weather the offshoots that were sent his way. Still, a sour image of the former Tangerine hero formed. By the end of the rebellion episode, Kirke’s reputation although damaged was not ruined. The sentiment was that Kirke was a good soldier and in a time when the English were fearful of good soldiers being used against them, many wished that was back in the lost Tangiers. James II secretly approved of Kirke’s due diligence in stomping out the rebellion and felt as if Kirke had proved his loyalty. All of these threads tied themselves together when James II gave Kirke’s commission as Governor of New England the final approval. Sending Kirke away pleased several English politicians who considered Kirke to be "short-tempered, rough-spoken, and dissolute”. At the same time, James II placed a loyal and determined soldier atop the unruly New England colonies [2].
When Kirke arrived in New England, he found Edward Randolph and Joseph Dudley had been running things in his absence. All in all, Randolph and Dudley had not accomplished much. The day-to-day life in the colonies had not dramatically changed. Rhode Island had submitted to the governance of Boston, Boston flew the Cross of Saint George and had seen its assembly disperse, but Connecticut had failed to answer the royal request for the surrender of its charter. The greatest achievement of Randolph and Dudley was perhaps their establishment of Anglican services in Boston, which the Puritan colonists hated. In many ways, the colonists had been allowed to get away with much of what the royal government had sought to put under control. As administrators, neither Randolph nor Dudley had the strength and resolve to break the colonists. No one could question whether Kirke had either. Kirke had spent his life in the army and had spent years enduring the toughest of assignments, Tangiers. He had overseen the final days of Tangiers, each day under horrible siege. Being a military governor had taught Kirke to be firm and hard for any deviation could result in catastrophe. Kirke had no appreciation for dissent and discord and he had shown as much when he helped weed out the Monmouthite rebels. Even before he arrived in Boston, the rumors of his tyrannous and cruel nature had spread throughout New England. Many of these stories emerged from the Pennsylvania Monmouthites who had been put in chains by Kirke.
As expected Kirke’s arrival heralded a new and harder era of the nascent Dominion of New England. Backed by a company of Tangerines, Kirke marched not walked into Boston [3]. He and his veterans were the first true English soldiers that Boston had ever seen and they were frightening sight. Immediately, Kirke took the reins from Randolph and Dudley although he allowed them to remain on the council of governance. Kirke’s first issue with Boston arose when the Puritan meeting houses refused to allow him and his soldiers to use them for Anglican services. After the final refusal, Kirke issued a declaration that if upon the next Sunday that he and his soldiers were not allowed into a meeting house then they break the doors down. Disgruntled and aggravated the Bostonians may have been but scared too. The next Sunday, Kirke got his wish and had his Anglican services at one of the meeting houses. Each Sunday afterward, he marched into a different meeting house and forced it to endure an Anglican service. Kirke’s next challenge arrived when Randolph and Dudley were attempting to design new tax laws for the dominion. Since Massachusetts had none, the council recommended and pushed through a duty on alcohol. These new taxes resulted in protests that Kirke could not stand. With an angry fist he struck down these protests and threw anyone who continued to challenge the new laws into prison. The protesters were ultimately released after paying fines, but Kirke punished them still. The town meetings in which the Puritans had planned these protests were outlawed. With the exception of one annual meeting for electing colonial officials, town gatherings were no longer permitted. Afterward, the Bostonians continued to chafe under Kirke’s chokehold but they learned not to speak out so publicly.
With Boston subdued, Kirke was finally able to march on Connecticut where Governor Robert Treat and the other colonists were dilly-dallying in negotiating their accession to the Dominion of New England. Kirke made it clear that he wanted the founding charter surrendered to him and the crown and that future governance of the colony would come as the crown pleased. When Kirke reached Hartford, the colonists meet him with the charter in a dimly lit room. In a wild event, the candles were all blown out by some “act of God” and when the candles were lit anew, the charter was gone. Kirke refused to play this game and arrested every colonist in the room. He demanded that the charter be returned to him, otherwise, these arrested colonists would be executed on account of treason. For three days, the colonists held out and Kirke’s searches failed to locate the charter. On the fourth morning, Kirke stopped searching and instead, his Tangerines began to bring pieces of lumber into the town square. By midday, they began to construct something. By afternoon, it was clear what they were building, gallows. Kirke had been empowered to bring law and order to the colonies and he would not flirt with disrespect and insubordination. On the day of the gallows’ completion, the charter reappeared at the doorstep of the town hall. Kirke released the colonial officials later that day after they all signed oaths of allegiance to the crown and agreed to exorbitant fines. Although Kirke was able to put New England in order, it was clear that every single one of his subjects hated him [4].
As Albemarle and Kirke used their soldiers to gain a firm grasp on their colonies, another English colony found itself in sore need of every soldier it had. Across the Saint Lawrence River, Jacques-Rene de Brisay de Denonville, Marquis de Denonville and Governor of New France, had repeatedly assured his fellow Catholic, Thomas Dongan, Governor of New York, that King Louis XIV had no wish for war in the Americas between France and England. All Louis XIV wanted was to bring Christianity to the savage Native Americans. Dongan knew this to be a lie and he fortified his colony against the danger of New France. However, Dongan’s New York was not the target. In 1686, Denonville agreed to send a military expedition against England’s Hudson’s Bay Company at the behest of its French rival, the Compagnie du Nord. Under the command of Captain Pierre de Troyes, Chevalier de Troyes, a hundred French and Canadian soldiers and volunteers were gathered. Included in this number were three brothers, Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, Jacques le Moyne de Sainte-Helene, and Paul Le Moyne de Maricourt, all skilled fighters and frontiersmen. Departing from Montreal in March, the expedition reached the French Fort Temiscamingue in May and then traversed the uncharted woods to the north until they found the English post of Moose Factory. Defended by just sixteen men the English were heavily outnumbered and after two hours were overpowered by the French. While a third of the men stayed at Moose Factory, Troyes led the rest of the French and Canadians to Rupert House and captured it from a sleeping garrison. Fort Albany came next. When, in 1687, English reinforcements arrived in the form of two warships, they found the whole of Hudson Bay under French control. In a matter of months, the French had wrestled control of the valuable fur trading colony completely away from the English. The English chose not to attack as they did not wish to be the ones to start a war. However, war increasingly seemed on the horizon.
[1] In OTL, Spain did prepare a significant reinforcement for the colonies in response to La Salle's expedition. In TTL, that reinforcement is even larger due to the extra sense of security provided by the English alliance, especially the Irish Brigade's existence and presence in the Spanish Netherlands. The Irish Brigade although only a few thousand men is evidence of a binding Anglo-Spanish alliance. The Irish Brigade being on the frontline in essence makes the Spanish think that they are guaranteed English support in any war against France.
[2] In OTL, Percy Kirke's appointment was rescinded at Randolph's request and due to Kirke's controversial role in suppressing the Monmouthites. In TTL, Kirke did as much or worse than he did OTL. However, some of the heat is taken away by the fact that the rebellion was dangerous. More of it is taken away by the fact that there is a Catholic Frenchman who everyone wants to blame. This means that Kirke comes away tarnished but not blackened. Additionally, James II has a greater appreciation for Kirke's ruthlessness because of how close Monmouth got to winning. The ultimate consequence is that Kirke is sent to New England instead of Edmund Andros.
[3] Kirke unlike Andros takes a company of English soldiers with him. The reason that Kirke gets a company is because of his military commission warranting his possession of at least a company, his greater prestige also doing the same, and finally, because the added security that James II feels having destroyed Monmouth's Rebellion so thoroughly and having an Irish Brigade and Spanish alliance across the English Channel. James II feels he can afford to give up one single company and Kirke wants to take a company of his men with him.
[4] Andros like Kirke was a soldier and disciplinarian, but Andros was not as hard-nosed as Kirke and did not push as hard as possible. Kirke is going to push harder. That is Kirke's personality and his training. Unlike Andros, Kirke has never been an American colonial administrator. Instead, Kirke's colonial experience was at the command of a besieged military outpost. Kirke does not tolerate ill discipline.
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Another great update. Will Denonville still be attacking the Seneca as IOTL? I grew up in the area of the Denonville Expedition so it was point of local history when I was in school.
With Kirke nearby with English soldiers under his command would that give Denonville second thoughts about planning an attack on New York or just escalate tensions and make an attack more likely?
With Kirke nearby with English soldiers under his command would that give Denonville second thoughts about planning an attack on New York or just escalate tensions and make an attack more likely?
I'm not sure if Kirke is enough to give Denonville pause, Kirke adds just 1 more English company to the region where the French have hundreds more soldiers already. Additionally, Kirke's focus will be on New England until he is given control of New York as well.
1.20: On to Belgrade
XX: On to Belgrade
The Battle of Sabac (1687)
The Battle of Sabac (1687)
Buda was often heralded as the key to the Ottoman Empire and the crux of Hungary. Once Buda fell, the rest of Hungary was expected to follow quickly and then so too would Belgrade and Constantinople. Although the belief that the Ottomans would be ejected from Europe just based on the reconquest of Buda was more than slightly lofty, the importance of Buda to Hungary’s defense was immense. Before the siege of Buda, Abdi Pasha had withdrawn almost all the Ottoman garrisons within the next couple hundred miles from their posts to augment his army. This move in itself meant that with Buda’s fall and Ibrahim Pasha’s surrender, the immediate expanse of Hungary surrounding Buda was entirely defenseless. However, Buda’s role goes beyond just guarding the heart of Hungary. As a central Danubian city, Buda was often used as a military depot for all Ottoman operations in Hungary. Buda’s position allowed it to support either offensive operations by sending supplies up the Danube or to provide for other fortifications by sending munitions downstream. The veracity of this fact and the enormity of its importance can only be illustrated through the numbers. of wares captured at Buda. At the fall of Buda, the Christians found the Ottoman defenders had in their possession at least four months' worth of food and ammunition; a considerable number of harnesses, saddles, and amount of hay for horses; enough muskets to provide for 30,000 men and an innumerable amount of swords and halberds; and 400 pieces of artillery, of which 170 were in perfect condition, being fully mounted and without damage. The arsenal of Buda was capable of sustaining a full war effort all by itself, even after defending against an army of 75,000 men for 75 days.
Naturally, the capture of Buda was followed by the immediate capture of the surrounding lands and towns, which as mentioned before were defenseless. However, the loss of Buda’s war supplies meant that even the next set of fortifications could barely stand up to the Christian army. The lack of abundant ammunition and dearth of artillery meant that these fortifications could not mount a serious and prolonged defense like Buda had done so. Nor could these fortifications support the Grand Vizier’s retreating army. Instead, the Christian army was able to advance in two columns led by Maximilian Emanuel and Charles of Lorraine respectively. The western column of Max Emanuel captured Pecs in less than a week after destroying its aqueduct, which left it without water. Then Max Emanuel continued on to Siklos, which also fell in a matter of days. Meanwhile, Charles of Lorraine was just as successful. Marching on the eastern side of the Danube, Charles of Lorraine pursued the Grand Vizier across Hungary, which ensured that he could do nothing to repair Hungary’s collapsing defense. Indeed, in spite of the Grand Vizier’s army, Charles of Lorraine laid siege to the city of Szegedin. Charles of Lorraine was fully confident that the Grand Vizier was incapable of doing anything to help Szegedin, and if he did try anything then Charles was confident of victory. Sari Suleyman Pasha chose the former option. The Ottoman field army had been given no respite since it observed the fall of Buda. The army was exhausted, its morale in an even worse state, and its supplies were naught after the long retreat.
Only when Sari Suleyman Pasha received fresh reinforcements from the Crimean Tatars, did he turn his army around in hopes of surprising Charles of Lorraine and breaking the siege of Szegedin. However, Charles of Lorraine’s Hungarian scouts had already spotted these reinforcements and had been tracking them ever since. Although Charles of Lorraine might have been able to fall upon the reinforcements before they joined the main Ottoman army, he reasoned that the fast and fluid Crimean Tatars could easily escape his grasp. Instead, Charles of Lorraine allowed them to join the Grand Vizier and then waited on the road from Belgrade to Szegedin for the Grand Vizier to come. Charles of Lorraine read the Grand Vizier’s intentions expertly and caught the Grand Vizier outside of Zenta while he was still in march. Charles of Lorraine’s cavalry descended upon the Ottoman column and wreaked havoc on the army before it could even set its feet properly to stand its ground. In a matter of a few hours, the Ottoman army was put into flight and several thousand of its men were left dead on the road. The only thing that saved the Ottomans from greater calamity was the good conduct of the Crimean Tatars in matching Charles of Lorraine’s cavalry when they tried to chase after the broken Ottoman army. Following this swift victory for Charles of Lorraine, he returned to Szegedin and earned its surrender to close out his campaign of 1686.
To the west, Max Emanuel had not ended his campaign at Siklos. Instead, Max Emanuel decided to march into Slavonia with the goal of taking Essick, which commanded the most important crossing of the Drava River [1]. In the previous year, Count Jacob Leslie had successfully taken the town of Essick but could not take the citadel before an Ottoman relief army arrived. This year, Maximilian Emanuel did not have the same concern as he knew the Grand Vizier’s army was on the other side of the Danube. Thus, Maximilian Emanuel’s only concern was the winter. However, in his first semi-independent command, Max Emanuel would not allow the elements to deny him an opportunity at glory. Instead, Max Emanuel decided to avoid the issue of being caught out in the cold during winter by bringing the siege of Essick to a fast conclusion. After bombarding Essick’s citadel for just one week, Maximilian Emanuel ordered an assault on the citadel. The defenders of Essick did not give ground easily. Unlike their Christian opponents, Essick’s garrison had not endured a long and brutal campaign that took them from one edge of Hungary to the other with the only real stop being the grueling second siege of Buda. In the face of Essick’s resolute determination and under the weathering fire of its defenders, the Bavarian and Saxon attackers wavered. But once their commander, Max Emanuel rode up to the front and jumped down to join the assault himself, the Germans rallied and broke through the breach. The Ottomans held on with all the toughness they could muster for the next few hours, but in the end, the citadel fell and the Christians opened the road into Bosnia.
With the fall of Essick, the Ottoman Empire had successively lost Buda, southern Hungary, and one of Slavonia’s chief citadels in a matter of months. All that the Ottomans retained in Hungary was a scattering of strong, but isolated fortresses, while Bosnia, Serbia, and Transylvania were now all vulnerable to the next wave of Christian campaigns. This unmitigated disaster of a year forced another change in Ottoman leadership and the Ottomans deposed their second Grand Vizier in just as many years. In December 1686, Sari Suleyman Pasha was asked to resign as Grand Vizier. Unlike his predecessor, Kara Ibrahim, there was no delay in Sari Suleyman’s execution. In his place, Sultan Mehmed IV had a number of acceptable choices but the obvious one was Sheitan Ibrahim Pasha, who among all the Ottoman generals was the only one to have won a victory over the Germans yet. Sheitan Ibrahim immediately began to plan for the next’s campaign. The new Grand Vizier imagined that the next target of the Christians had to be Belgrade, which after Vienna and Buda was the next most important city on the Danube. If the Christians took Belgrade then they would be able to campaign deep into the Balkans and might even threaten Rumelia and Constantinople. For this purpose, Sheitan Ibrahim asked for and received the funds to raise a new army that could actually match the Christian army.
On the other side, just as Sheitan Ibrahim had predicted, Max Emanuel and Charles of Lorraine were suggesting to Emperor Leopold that the 1687 campaign should focus on Belgrade. Although the two men agreed on the target of this campaign, they disagreed on who should lead it. Even though Max Emanuel and Charles of Lorraine had reconciled through the last weeks of the siege of Buda, their rivalry and animosity toward one another resurfaced the moment Buda was taken. The two generals had gotten into disputes over the rights to loot and glory, which is why their separation and the division of their armies in late 1686 had been necessary. However, a campaign against the formidable fortress of Belgrade would necessitate their armies reuniting. When they did so, Max Emanuel requested that Emperor Leopold give him the supreme command. This request outraged Charles of Lorraine who as the current supreme commander felt that it was only right for him to keep his position. Additionally, fresh off defending Sari Suleyman at Zenta, Charles of Lorraine felt that any doubts over his competence and leadership should have been vanquished. By this point, Charles of Lorraine had collected a number of great victories by this point, only marred by his failure at Buda in 1684 and his defeat at Ezstergom in 1685. In contrast, although Max Emanuel had been a key element of all but two of Charles of Lorraine’s victories, Max Emanuel only had one victory of his own to his name, his defeat of Sari Suleyman at Buda. Nevertheless, there was a legitimate debate between members of the Hofkriegsrat over whether to keep Charles of Lorraine or give Max Emanuel command. The main criticism of Charles of Lorraine was led by Hermann of Baden, whose nephew Ludwig of Baden was another rival of Charles of Lorraine. These criticisms revolved around Charles of Lorraine’s inconsistent daring that either allowed opportunities to escape him or exposed his allies to danger. Meanwhile, the main arguments in support of Max Emanuel had little to do with his actual skills and more to do with the strength and quality of the Bavarian army. Some members of the Hofkriegsrat feared that if Max Emanuel was denied supreme command that he would abandon the army. With the Brandenburgers having already left the Imperial army, there was a legitimate question of whether a Belgrade campaign was possible without Bavaria. Of course, this question did not even factor in the possibility of the Saxons following their Bavarian friends in exiting the campaign. Bavaria’s army needed to be retained.
Ultimately, Emperor Leopold resolved the question of leadership by firmly supporting his brother-in-law over his ambitious son-in-law. Firstly, as much as Emperor Leopold might disagree with Charles of Lorraine’s military decisions at some points, Emperor Leopold still believed that Charles of Lorraine was the superior general. However, more importantly, Emperor Leopold did not want Max Emanuel to command the Imperial army and possibly win the love and affection of the whole Holy Roman Empire. Already, far too many people were talking about the courageous and noble Max Emanuel. However, Emperor Leopold viewed Max Emanuel with suspicion. Max Emanuel was a glory-hungry, opportunistic, and vain man. Even if Emperor Leopold had been the one to offer Max Emanuel the Spanish Netherlands, Max Emanuel had lapped up the offer. When that scheme fell through Max Emanuel had demanded an incredible bribe to marry Emperor Leopold’s daughter and from what Maria Antonia had told her father, the marriage had not been without difficulties. Max Emanuel apparently was distant and infrequent, preferring to be with mistresses rather than his wife. Worse yet, Max Emanuel did not seem to listen much to Maria Antonia and instead remained in a circle of French-educated individuals and including one French officer, Claude Louis Hector de Villars. So even though Max Emanuel was supposed to be the loyal son-in-law, Emperor Leopold regarded him as not just a rival to Charles of Lorraine but possibly to himself.
With supreme command of the army remaining with Charles of Lorraine, Max Emanuel showed his true character. Rather than abandon the army as some feared or even expected, Max Emanuel affirmed that he and his soldiers would continue to campaign in the name of the Emperor and would do so as subordinates to Charles of Lorraine. Even if Max Emanuel wanted the prestige and renown of commanding the army for himself, he was willing to settle for that of a subordinate. Max Emanuel would take his glory as he could. To both placate Max Emanuel and out of recognition of the large contribution of men he was making, Emperor Leopold confirmed Max Emanuel would remain as Charles of Lorraine’s second in command. With these issues being settled, Max Emanuel opened the 1687 campaign by leaving Essick and capturing Pozega, Kostajnica, and Gradiska to secure a path across the Sava River. Crossing the Sava was necessary for an army to reach Belgrade from the south, which was the only landward side of Belgrade. The other sides of Belgrade were guarded by the Sava and Danube rivers, which made Belgrade practically unassailable. For this reason, Belgrade was the central defense of northern Serbia and guarded this stretch of the Danube. In a series of skirmishes, Max Emanuel held his position along the Sava until Charles of Lorraine joined him.
Once the two generals were reunited, their combined army crossed the Sava together with the help of more than sixty boats. As soon as they were across the Sava the two began their march on Belgrade. Even though the new Grand Vizier, Sheitan Ibrahim, commanded an army just as large as the army of Charles of Lorraine and Max Emanuel, he feared the consequences of a battle. Sheitan Ibrahim remembered how close the battle of Esztergom had been to being an Ottoman defeat and also recognized that neither the superb Bavarians nor the fearsome Saxons had been present at Esztergom. Having heard reports of their toughness and skill at Buda, Sheitan Ibrahim wondered if his own army would be able to stand up to the Christian army, especially with how many of Sheitan Ibrahim’s men were new recruits. So Sheitan Ibrahim retreated in the face of the Christian advance toward Belgrade, leaving only a small garrison to hold back the Christians at Sabac. However, just like the towns before it, Sabac fell after only a short siege. Finally near Belgrade, Sheitan Ibrahim chose to dig in using the hills to Belgrade’s south to develop a fortified position. When Charles of Lorraine saw these lines, he immediately grew discouraged because he saw how stout and well-manned they were. However, Max Emanuel and Ludwig of Baden urged Charles of Lorraine not to give up yet and instead to allow them to test the lines. Over the course of the next week, Max Emanuel and Ludwig of Baden proceeded to probe the Ottoman defenses. Although some minor successes were secured such as the young Prince Eugene of Savoy capturing an Ottoman standard, no gap in the defense could be found or created. In light of this fact, Charles of Lorraine ordered a retreat over the dissent of Max Emanuel and numerous others.
At first Sheitan Ibrahim remained stationed behind his lines while the Christians withdrew because he feared that the Christian movement was a half-hearted retreat meant to draw him out of his lines as Charles of Lorraine had done at Esztergom. When the Christians kept marching away, however, Sheitan Ibrahim began to accept the honesty of this retreat. More than that, Sheitan Ibrahim began to speculate that something had happened to the Christian army to trigger its retreat such as a collapse in morale or an outbreak of disease. So despite Sheitan Ibrahim’s earlier misgivings about a battle, he decided to now seek one out. Sheitan Ibrahim hoped to inflict a defeat upon the Christians that could at least help him recover Essick and restore Slavonia if not open the road back to Buda. Charles of Lorraine failed to take notice of Sheitan Ibrahim’s pursuit due to Sheitan Ibrahim’s delayed departure from Belgrade. As a consequence, once Charles of Lorraine reached Sabac he decided to use his boats to recross the Sava there rather than returning all the way to Gradiska. Charles of Lorraine’s reasoning for crossing at Sabac was sound. Crossing at Gradiska would have entailed marching many more miles on the same side of the Sava as Sheitan Ibrahim and would have involved crossing back over land that the Christian army had already drained of food and supplies. In contrast, crossing at Sabac would allow the Christian army to put a river between itself and Sheitan Ibrahim’s army more quickly while also giving it a new region to exploit and plunder. However, had Charles of Lorraine known that Sheitan Ibrahim was coming after him then he would have known better than to split his army up as it laboriously crossed the Sava River. Naturally, on August 8-9, 1687 Charles of Lorraine and his men crossed the Sava first as Charles of Lorraine held precedence over Max Emanuel. On August 10, Max Emanuel and his Bavarian and Saxon army were supposed to follow.
On the morning of the 10th, as Max Emanuel began to organize his men to cross the Sava, his preparations were suddenly interrupted by a Bavarian trooper barging in and announcing that the Ottoman army was close at hand. Without hesitation, Max Emanuel threw out any thought of running across the river and ordered his men to return to the trenches and short walls that they had put together to protect themselves during the crossing. At the same time, Max Emanuel aborted the plan to blow up Sabac’s fort and instead told his men and remount Sabac’s guns in preparation for an Ottoman attack. Finally, Max Emanuel sent a messenger to Charles of Lorraine demanding immediate support against an oncoming Ottoman assault. Charles of Lorraine, however, was still under the impression that the main Ottoman army was lying dormant near Belgrade. So rather than sending reinforcements, Charles of Lorraine asked if Max Emanuel could clarify and verify the extent and nature of the Ottoman attack. Charles of Lorraine half-expected that Max Emanuel was blowing an Ottoman reconnaissance in force out of proportion. The Bavarian youth was desperate for some action and Charles did not wish to waste time satisfying that desperation. Max Emanuel did not get the opportunity to reply to Charles’s request as moments before the messenger could reach him, thousands of Ottoman sipahis emerged on the horizon and charged toward the Bavarian position. The Elector of Bavaria threw himself into the front lines alongside his men to meet this attack. Elector Max was joined by many of his officers and in the chaos of the moment, Charles' messenger failed to find someone of sufficient authority to deliver Charles’s questions to. Meanwhile, across the river, Charles of Lorraine was not blind. The Lorrainer saw the Ottoman charge. Quickly, Charles of Lorraine put aside his doubts about Max Emanuel's concerns and ordered his army to immediately began making its way back across the river. However, the army was ill-prepared to do this as they had done everything to make way for the Bavarians to cross the river in the other direction. Thus, Charles of Lorraine’s men and some of Max Emanuel’s men had to frantically reposition boats to implement a re-crossing. Charles of Lorraine’s artillery suffered its own problems as little of it was battle-ready and some of it was even dismounted for transport.
In this critical moment, Max Emanuel and his third of the army found themselves essentially alone. However, just as during the Battle of Buda a year before, Max Emanuel showed no fear and instead met adversity with ferocious aggressiveness. After helping his infantrymen survive the initial shock of the Ottoman cavalry charge, Max Emanuel decided to take his own cavalry and counterattack the Ottomans before their infantry and the dreaded Janissaries joined them. Together, Max Emanuel and one of the Empire’s best cavalry generals, Pierre de Mercy, led the few thousand horsemen they had available to them against a force more than twice their size. The Germans hit the Sipahis from the left and through sheer strength of will they rattled the Sipahis and disrupted their attack on the Bavarian defenses. Caught between dealing with this counterattack and trying to break through the Bavarian-Saxon lines, the attack of the Sipahis was ground to a halt and then finally repulsed. With the Sipahis pushed back, Max Emanuel considered chasing after them but already he could see more, many more, Ottomans descending on Sabac, so the Bavarian elector and the cavalry returned behind the lines where they prepared to meet the next wave of Ottoman assailants.
The arrival of more Ottoman soldiers gave the Sipahis the room to recover, rally, and rejoin the struggle. The Sipahis together with the Janissaries and other Ottoman soldiers formed an army that numbered twice as many men as Max Emanuel had available to him. This time, Max Emanuel avoided the heroics of a counterattack and instead focused on holding his lines and nothing more. However, against this many Ottoman soldiers, holding the line was no easy task but rather something approaching a Herculean feat. With all the rashness of a young man, Max Emanuel again joined his soldiers in the trenches with his sword drawn. Although Max Emanuel did not shy away from using a pistol or a musket to fire at the approaching Ottomans, more often he found himself locked in a melee duel with an Ottoman Janissary. Even though Max Emanuel was the Elector of Bavaria and son-in-law of the Holy Roman Emperor, he fought duel after duel on his own. But that was not the fault of any of his men as they too were engaged in duels. No man avoided the fray nor could any man have with thousands of Ottomans climbing up fortifications that had never been meant to last more than a few days. Pierre de Mercy and the cavalry were constantly moving up and down the line charging against Ottomans who had broken through and pushing them back out of the Bavarian-Saxon lines. The artillerists had to rotate between spraying the Ottomans with grapeshot and tackling a dismounted Sipahi before he got on his feet and wielded his saber against them. Even the soldiers blasting the Ottomans from Sabac’s permanent fort had to grapple with Ottoman soldiers trying to climb over the wall. Anywhere and everywhere the Bavarians and Saxons were embattled by Ottomans.
The intensity of the Ottoman attack only mounted as more Ottoman soldiers arrived at the battle. However, the intensity of Sabac’s defense rose in parallel. Although the incredible personal bravery of Max Emanuel and the excellent training of the Bavarian army carried this defense for the first few hours soon enough some Christian soldiers had made their way from the northern bank of the Sava. Once these soldiers reached the southern bank, they rushed to jump into the trenches and into the fight alongside their Bavarian and Saxon brothers. The first of these men was Ludwig of Baden and his Swabians. Soon after came the soldiers of Cologne. Still, much of the Christian army remained on the other side of the river, which kept those to the south at a numerical disadvantage. Yet as the battle dragged on that disadvantage lessened as the defenders put their martial superiority on full display and slew more and more Ottoman soldiers relative to their casualties. This stubborn and unshakable defense horrified Sheitan Ibrahim who saw his army being ground into nothingness as it threw itself again and again into the teeth of the Bavarian and Saxon lines. Sheitan Ibrahim had read the reports of Buda and knew of Max Emanuel’s tenacity but he did not truly grasp the significance of Max Emanuel until that day on the banks of the Sava. Finally, Sheitain Ibrahim called his attack back. However, this did not constitute a full retreat and withdrawal from the battlefield. Instead, Sheitain Ibrahim hoped to regroup his army and either punch through the Bavarian and Saxon lines in a pointed assault or lure out an ill-advised Christian counterattack.
As soon as Max Emanuel sensed the Ottomans falling back, he sent word to Charles of Lorraine of his intent to launch a counterattack. When Charles heard this, he was horrified. Charles has witnessed just how much punishment the army had endured as the boats that carried soldiers to Max Emanuel returned with hundreds of injured men. Charles seriously doubted that Max Emanuel’s men were in any condition to go on the offensive. Also, with many of Charles of Lorraine’s men still on the north side of the river, Charles knew that the numbers on the south side remained in favor of the Ottomans. Finally, Charles rightly suspected that Sheitain Ibrahim was hoping to draw the Germans out of their defenses by pulling back. With all of these considerations, Charles of Lorraine explicitly ordered Max Emanuel to hold his lines and absolutely under no circumstances launch a counterattack beyond those lines. When Charles of Lorraine messenger reached Max Emanuel, he found the Elector mounting a white horse with his illustrious blue coat splattered with blood and in tatters. Even caked with mud and blood, the man was instantly recognized. The messenger realized that Max Emanuel was preparing to ride out to attack the Ottomans and brusquely told him that Charles of Lorraine’s orders were to stand down. Max Emanuel’s immediate response was that he could not hear the messenger as the constant blasts of muskets and cannons had left him deaf. So the messenger unfolded Charles of Lorraine’s written instructions and approached Max Emanuel so that he might read them. To this, Max Emanuel replied by rubbing his eyes and saying that the smoke of musketfire and cannonfire had left him blind. Max Emanuel could neither hear nor read whatever message the messenger had for him and he handed the message back to the messenger. Max Emanuel ended by saying that he would be launching an attack on the Grand Vizier shortly and hoped that after he defeated the Ottoman menace that God would bless him with the restoration of both his hearing and his sight. As Max Emanuel put his feet into his horse’s side he trotted toward the frontline as the messenger desperately tried to call him back.
When Charles of Lorraine learned of Max Emanuel’s insubordination he was irate but the Bavarian had left him without choice. If Charles of Lorraine stood still then Max Emanuel would be destroyed and the Christian army would be crippled. As Charles damned the Elector for his arrogant youth he order the rest of his men to cross the Sava as quickly as possible and by whatever means possible. Charles of Lorraine expected that his men would be necessary for Max Emanuel to avoid defeat or if Max Emanuel’s brazenness was rewarded with catastrophe then at least Charles of Lorraine might save the army from being wiped out. Charles of Lorraine’s concerns soon saw some validation. Max Emanuel’s decision to launch a swift all-out counterattack allowed him to catch the Ottoman army as it was still trying to regroup. While units were being reorganized and reformed, Max Emanuel’s counterattack crashed into the Ottomans and stopped them in their tracks. Max Emanuel’s men immediately began to push back the center of the Ottoman army as Max Emanuel personally drove toward the standard of the Grand Vizier. The Elector of Bavaria imagined that if he took out the Grand Vizier that the Ottomans would collapse and he would win a far greater victory than Charles of Lorraine had ever won. In making this push, Max Emanuel advanced deep into the Ottoman ranks but did so before breaking the rest of the Ottoman army. This allowed the Ottoman flanks to turn against the smaller Christian army and nearly envelop it. Max Emanuel’s youth had given him vitality and eagerness but not wisdom and patience. Sheitan Ibrahim could sense victory and sent his cavalry and reserve to hit the flanks of Max Emanuel’s army. Once the flanks collapsed, Sheitan Ibrahim knew he could encircle Max Emanuel fully and snatch total victory from the clutches of a major victory.
After Charles of Lorraine finally crossed the river himself and saw this situation his breath became short as all he saw before him was the cataclysm of the Christian army. Indeed, for that moment and several more, it seemed as if Max Emanuel had overstepped and thrown himself into an unending abyss of Ottoman soldiers. However, a few more moments passed and then an entirely new situation presented itself. On one side of the battlefield, Pierre de Mercy once again out-muscled the Ottoman Sipahis and this time he broke and routed his exhausted opponents. Pierre de Mercy’s cavalry chased the Sipahis for a bit before he turned them around and came down on the back of one wing of the Ottoman flanking maneuver. At the same time, Ludwig of Baden and Prince Eugene of Savoy had held out against the other Ottoman pincer so stoutly that rather than the Germans being pushed back, the Ottomans were reeling backward. However, the key to the battle lay in the center, where from Sabac, Charles of Lorraine could witness the Grand Vizier’s banner flag go down to be replaced by the personal banner of Max Emanuel. Suddenly, the Ottoman army shattered like a vase thrown from a high tower, the pieces were sent flying in any which direction.
Charles of Lorraine found Max Emanuel a little more than an hour later sitting on the Grand Vizier’s palanquin surrounded by rich tapestries and bags of gold. The Elector of Bavaria looked at Charles of Lorraine with a smirk and pointed to two Ottoman prisoners. The first, Max Emanuel declared to be one of the famed eastern medicine men to whom Max Emanuel attributed the return of his hearing and sight. The second Max Emanuel announced to be the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, Sheitan Ibrahim Pasha. Sheitain Ibrahim had failed to flee in time because he failed to realize how easily Max Emanuel’s men were cutting through the center of his army. He had only seen the larger picture he wanted to see, which was a German prince recklessly putting himself in the center of an Ottoman army. Sheitan Ibrahim had not seen the real picture, which was a collection of Europe's finest and most battle-hardened soldiers tearing through the barely trained replacements for the armies that those same Europeans had wiped at Vienna and Buda. Not wishing to be executed like his predecessor, Sheitain Ibrahim had attempted to go down fighting as Abdi Pasha had. Instead, Max Emanuel had already instructed his men to due to their utmost to capture the Grand Vizier. Although one of Max Emanuel’s soldiers took a nasty cut, they successfully grappled the Grand Vizier to the ground and disarmed him. Now, he knelt before Max Emanuel as a conquered foe.
In total, the Battle of Sabac was an incredible and heroic victory for Max Emanuel that promised to make him the favorite of many European courts and historians. Over the course of the battle, Max Emanuel had never once possessed a numerical advantage. Yet he had not only withstood an Ottoman attack but he had thrown his army back at the Ottomans and broken them. The cost of the battle for the Christians was not small. Nearly, 5,000 Christian soldiers lay dead or dying and many were injured. However, Max Emanuel’s men had killed well over twice that number and captured thousands more, including Sheithan Ibrahim. Charles of Lorraine’s cavalry led by Enea Silvio Piccolomini would complete the victory by running down or capturing even more Ottomans that afternoon and in the next few days. In the end, 14,000 Ottomans were killed and perhaps 16,000 were captured. This amounted to half of the Ottoman army. Among this number were many generals and pashas, which left the shattered Ottoman army lacking any serious leadership in the following weeks. The only serious Ottoman fighting force that remained in the region was the garrison of Belgrade. Belgrade’s commander would be able to grab some of the retreating Ottoman soldiers to bolster his garrison, but thousands of others would take weeks to return to any Ottoman army if they ever did.
Outside of the military importance of the victory, the material and symbolic worth of Max Emanuel’s victory was immense. Almost all the Ottoman artillery was captured in the battle, which amounted to around 150 cannons or mortars. Additionally, all the Ottoman ammunition, food, and other baggage were taken. This included the Grand Vizier’s tent. At full size this tent was a league in circumference and nearly a mile across. This tent along with numerous pieces of personal wealth was acquired by Max Emanuel. The other possession that the Bavarians acquired was of perhaps even more importance, a case of letters detailing strategy talks between Sheitan Ibrahim and the pro-Ottoman Prince of Transylvania Mihaly Apafi. Finally, the Grand Vizier’s standard, the personal banners of more than a dozen pashas, and more than a hundred Ottoman war standards were all captured. Max Emanuel was rich beyond belief and Emperor Leopold could have built an entire new wing of Schonbrunn just to house the spoils sent to him.
Although the full extent of this victory would only be realized days later, its enormity was already apparent on the day. Not even Charles of Lorraine could deny Max Emanuel’s accomplishment and what it might mean. When Charles of Lorraine came across Max Emanuel he put aside his rivalry and congratulated him on the most impressive victory any general had won since the Battle of Vienna. Charles of Lorraine said this victory was only possible due to “the inspiring bravery of the Great Maximilian” [2]. Charles of Lorraine’s earnestness in making this statement was evidenced when he repeated the same language in his letter to Emperor Leopold. Charles of Lorraine went so far as to say all the glory for the day belonged to Max Emanuel and prayed that God would give Max Emanuel many more victories of this caliber. For even if these victories were won by Max Emanuel, they were won for all of Christendom. Of note, Charles of Lorraine offered no praise for Ludwig of Baden despite Ludwig’s critical role in being the first of the reinforcements to arrive on the southern side of the river. This exclusion in favor of Max Emanuel is perhaps telling. It is possible that Charles of Lorraine recognized that he would not be able to do anything to undermine Max Emanuel’s victory and so he instead chose to undermine his lesser rival, Ludwig of Baden, by denying him any inclusion in his report to the Emperor.
Max Emanuel himself spent the night following the battle writing a series of letters to many of Europe’s heads of state to announce the victory. Max Emanuel was full of energy and excitement that he did not even sleep that night. On the morning after, August 11th, Max Emanuel sent Claude Florimond de Mercy to Vienna to deliver the official news of the victory to Emperor Leopold. This was an immense honor that Max Emanuel felt Claude Florimond had earned by fighting valiantly alongside both Max and Claude’s father Pierre de Mercy. Marquess Gabrieli was sent to Rome to tell Pope Innocent XI, Chevalier de Beauvan to Louis XIV in France, Colonel Sartory to Max Emanuel’s home court in Munich, Max Emnauel’s page la Chaffonery to Max Emanuel’s uncle Maximilian Henry in Cologne, and Prince Eugene of Savoy to the Imperial Diet in Regensburg. Although Max Emanuel covered himself in glory in these letters, the blood-soaked coat that lay on the back of his chair as he wrote these letters was a powerful reminder of the fact that he had earned every right to laud himself for his efforts. Any suggestions otherwise were utterly devoid of sense or reason. Maximilian Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, had earned a most remarkable victory and had done it with both solid tactics and commendable personal combat. Max could forever count himself among the great conquerors of the Turks.
[1] In OTL, Ludwig Wilhelm of Baden commanded the second column and was less aggressive. In TTL, Max Emanuel's official role as second in command as well as increased tensions with Charles of Lorraine result in him commanding the second column. Given his greater authority, Max Emanuel decides to push further than Ludwig Wilhelm did in OTL by going for Essick.
[2] This is a quote from Charles of Lorraine's OTL praise for Maximilian after the OTL Battle of Mohacs of 1687. In that battle as in this TTL one, Max Emanuel played the critical and leading role in finding victory for the Christian army.
I'm not sure that we would see a full line as the Spanish have to deal with Pueblos and Apaches in Northern Mexico and New Mexico. However, establishing a fort is definitely on the mind of Monclova.
The Christian army did take a beating and Belgrade's garrison is stout, it is also August. So although Belgrade is not ina great position, it will not be an easy nut to crack.
Once again you can expect Louis XIV to be alarmed by the Imperial army's success, so the French will certainly be re-evaluating their approach to the Empire and their time table.