Antonije Znorić ( sr-cyr, Антоније Знорић; 1689 – September 21, 1695) was a military officer (colonel) of the

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

army and the commander of the Serbian Militia during the

Great Turkish War The Great Turkish War () or The Last Crusade, also called in Ottoman sources The Disaster Years (), was a series of conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy League (1684), Holy League consisting of the Holy Roman Empire, Polish–Lith ...

Early life

He was born in Vnorovy,

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...

, at the beginning of the 17th century. He had a brother, Strahinja.

Great Turkish War

Background

During the Great Turkish War Serbs gave big support to Austrian side. The

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

had suffered partial military collapse against the Austrians in the 1680s, most notably at the Battle of Vienna in 1683, and the loss of Belgrade to Maximilian II of Bavaria in 1688 and

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

in 1689. However, with the beginning of the Nine Years War in the west, the early 1690s were to see an end to Habsburg conquests in the Balkans and a partial Ottoman recovery.McKay & Scott. ''The Rise of the Great Powers 1648–1815,'' p.75 Despite the Ottoman recovery and weakening of the Habsburg military presence on the Danube (most Habsburg soldiers were sent to fight against the

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in the

War of the Grand Alliance The Nine Years' War was a European great power conflict from 1688 to 1697 between Kingdom of France, France and the Grand Alliance (League of Augsburg), Grand Alliance. Although largely concentrated in Europe, fighting spread to colonial poss ...

) Habsburg supreme command planned offensive activities against Ottomans, heavily relying on the Serb soldiers of Serbian Militia and Serbian rebels on the Balkans. In 1689 Louis William was appointed as chief commander of the Imperial army in its invasion of Serbia. Before the invasion Louis William recruited Serb rebels all over Serbia, whose infantry units were called ''hayduks'' while cavalry units of Serb rebels were called ''Serb hussars''.

Invasion of Serbia (1689–1690)

On September 24, 1689, the Austrian army captured

Niš Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names of European cities in different languages (M–P)#N, names in other languages), less often spelled in English as Nish, is the list of cities in Serbia, third largest city in Serbia and the administrative cente ...

after defeating the Ottomans at the Battle of Niš. Following the plan of their supreme command, Austrian army was then split on two parts. One part under command of Louis William headed toward Vidin, while remaining part of 3,700 soldiers under command of general Piccolomini went from

via Prokuplje to Kosovo Vilayet in the middle of October 1689. Major part of his soldiers were members of Serbian Militia under command of Antonije Znorić. Ottoman forces defeated Habsburg army in the region of

Dragoman A dragoman was an Interpreter (communication), interpreter, translator, and official guide between Turkish language, Turkish-, Arabic language, Arabic-, and Persian language, Persian-speaking countries and polity, polities of the Middle East and ...

on October 29 and headed toward

Prizren Prizren ( sq-definite, Prizreni, ; sr-cyr, Призрен) is the second List of cities and towns in Kosovo, most populous city and Municipalities of Kosovo, municipality of Kosovo and seat of the eponymous municipality and District of Prizren, ...

. The whole Habsburg garrison, consisting of Piccolomini's regiment and 2,500 Serbs of Serbian Militia under the command of Antonije Znorić, retreated before the Ottoman troops reached Prizren. Znorić and his Serbian Militia first retreated to

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

and then came back to Niš following Piccolini's order. During his retreat Znorić burned down Prokuplje. On January 23, 1690, Znorić won the battle against the Ottoman unit of around 3,000 men, and on March 15 he attacked

Peć Peja or Peć, ), is the fifth most populous city in Kosovo and serves as the seat of the Peja Municipality and the District of Peja. It is located in the Rugova (region), Rugova region on the eastern section of the Accursed Mountains along the ...

. After he returned from Peć to Niška Banja Znorić won the battle against Ottoman units in

Pernik Pernik ( ) is List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, a town in western Bulgaria (about south-west of Sofia) with a population of 70,285 . Pernik is the most populated town in western Bulgaria after Sofia. It is the main town of Pernik Province an ...

near

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on March 20, and returned to Pirot with spoils of war.

Banat (1690–1695)

After Austrian troops retreated from Serbia to

Banat Banat ( , ; ; ; ) is a geographical and Historical regions of Central Europe, historical region located in the Pannonian Basin that straddles Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. It is divided among three countries: the eastern part lie ...

in 1690, Znorić was appointed for the commander of Caransebeş, which became his place of residence, with Serbian Militia still under his direct command. Friedrich von Veterani recommended Znorić for promotion and salary increase on August 28, 1691. At the beginning of September 1691 Znorić won the battle against an Ottoman company in the area of Danube's Iron Gate and another one in the area of Caransebeş in November 1691. In spring 1694 Serbs were successfully mobilized and cavalry unit of 2,000 Serbs was put under the command of Antonije Znorić, who was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel ( Oberstleutnant) on May 11, 1694. At the beginning of July 1694 Znorić and his unit invaded territory of the Ottoman Empire (today part of

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

) and destroyed a bridge on the river Morava, robbed five Ottoman ships which sailed on

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

loaded with army supplies and sank two Ottoman ships. Austrian War Council sent instructions to Znorić for his further combat activities on July 31, and he complained that he had only 1,000 soldiers left after some of his men deserted him because they have not received their salaries. After Znorić's complaint War Council paid overdue salaries to Serb soldiers. Znorić was killed in the

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force co ...

against the Ottomans near

Lugoj Lugoj (; ; ; ; ; ) is a list of cities and towns in Romania, city in Timiș County, Romania. The Timiș, Timiș River divides the city into two halves: the "Romanian Lugoj" that spreads on the right bank, and the "German Lugoj" on the left bank. Th ...

on September 21, 1695. Despite the heroism displayed by Znorić, Captain Strahinja and their men during the battle, they were unable to overcome the onslaught of the numerically superior Turkish Army. He was commander of the units of Serbian Militia within the Austrian army that day.

Commanders

* Jovan Monasterlija * Pavle Nestorović Deak * Subota Jović * Vuk Isaković * Jovan Tekelija

References

External links

''Notes and Reflections on the Glorious Arms of Imperial Forces in 1689'' - an anonymous German-language manuscript preserved at the Military Archives (Kriegsarchiv) in Vienna, Austria, published on the website
of Robert Elsie {{DEFAULTSORT:Znoric, Antonije Year of birth unknown 17th-century Serbian people Serbian military leaders 1695 deaths Serbian Militia Serbian soldiers Habsburg Serbs People from Hodonín District