Annals: Series on History and Archaeology (Academy of Romanian Scientists) (Nov 2015)
A SUCCESSFUL HABSBURG EXPERIMENT. THE MILITARIZATION OF THE BORDER BETWEEN AUSTRIA AND TURKEY
Abstract
The defeat of the Turks at the siege of Vienna sparked the campaign waged by the Habsburg Empire for the Reconquista of theterritories occupied by the Ottomans. The gradual ousting of the Ottomans from the territories in Hungary, Serbia, the Banat and Transylvania shifted the boundaries of the Empire to these places. The Austrian-Turkish wars and the peace treaties that accompanied them changed the boundaries, which were to stabilize after the Peace of Belgrade. In the liberated territories, the emperors of the House of Habsburg colonized Christians from the Balkans, refugees because of the Turks, and used them primarily for military purposes. To strengthen Austria’s border with Turkey, important parts of the border territory were militarized, under the direct leadership of the Aulic War Council. To this end, the Slavonic, Croatian, Banat, Tisza-Mureş military borders were created. Border guards became free men and enjoyed a higher social status than those in the civil province. The institution of the military border was efficient because it relied on its own resources and offered an armed force that proved very useful in the wars Austria waged in the 18th and the 19 th centuries.
