Timișoara Fortress (, , , , ) is a historical fortress in western Romania around which the town of
Timișoara
Timișoara (, , ; , also or ; ; ; see #Etymology, other names) is the capital city of Timiș County, Banat, and the main economic, social and cultural center in Western Romania. Located on the Bega (Tisza), Bega River, Timișoara is consider ...
was built.
It is presumed that there was an earlier
earthworks fortification built by the
Avars, but the first written record is from the 13th century. At the beginning of the 14th century
Charles I of Hungary
Charles I, also known as Charles Robert (; ; ; 128816 July 1342), was King of Hungary and Croatia in the union with Hungary, Croatia from 1308 to his death. He was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou and the only son of Charles Martel of A ...
built the first stone fortification, the Angevin fortress. In 1443
John Hunyadi
John Hunyadi (; ; ; ; ; – 11 August 1456) was a leading Kingdom of Hungary, Hungarian military and political figure during the 15th century, who served as Regent of Hungary, regent of the Kingdom of Hungary (1301–1526), Kingdom of Hungary ...
restored
the castle and the surrounding walls, which had been destroyed by an earthquake. The fortress was captured in 1552 by the
Ottoman Turks
The Ottoman Turks () were a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group in Anatolia. Originally from Central Asia, they migrated to Anatolia in the 13th century and founded the Ottoman Empire, in which they remained socio-politically dominant for the e ...
, who held it till 1716 when it was taken by the
Habsburgs
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 ...
. The Habsburgs reconstructed it, making it much bigger in the style of
Blaise Francois Pagan, a precursor of the
Vauban system. The Habsburg fortress was besieged only once, during the
Hungarian Revolution in 1849.
The increased effectiveness of
artillery
Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...
with
explosive shells at the end of the 19th century
rendered the walls ineffective. As the
walls
Walls may refer to:
*The plural of wall, a structure
* Walls (surname), a list of notable people with the surname
Places
* Walls, Louisiana, United States
* Walls, Mississippi, United States
*Walls, Ontario
Perry is a township (Canada), ...
and the area around them (the ''non-aedificandi'' area) hindered the development of the town, the walls were demolished and the
ditches
A ditch is a small to moderate trench created to channel water. A ditch can be used for drainage, to drain water from low-lying areas, alongside roadways or fields, or to channel water from a more distant source for plant irrigation. Ditches a ...
were filled in.
At the beginning of the 21st century the only remains of the Habsburg fortress are the
Huniade Castle
The Huniade Castle (; ; ) is the oldest monument in Timișoara, Romania, built between 1443 and 1447 by John Hunyadi and Paolo Santini de Duccio over the old royal castle dating from the 14th century (built during the reign of Charles I of Hungar ...
, one
bastion
A bastion is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fire from the ...
the
Theresia Bastion
Theresia Bastion (), named after the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa, is the largest preserved piece of defensive wall of the Austrian-Hungarian fortress of Timișoara. It covers about 1.7 hectares of the city center. It was built between 1732 and 1 ...
, an important tourist attractiona
casemate
A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armoured structure from which guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary
When referring to antiquity, the term "casemate wall" ...
of the
ravelin
A ravelin is a triangular fortification or detached outwork, located in front of the innerworks of a fortress (the curtain walls and bastions). Originally called a ''demi-lune'', after the ''lunette'', the ravelin is placed outside a castle a ...
of the Vienna Gate, a portion of the Eugeniu bastion and a small part of the
curtain wall between the Eugeniu and Elisabetha bastions. All these vestiges form the
historic monument
A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...
"Timișoara Fortress".
Early fortresses
Roman Castrum
In the
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of Roman civilization
*Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
period there was a
castrum
''Castra'' () is a Latin language, Latin term used during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire for a military 'camp', and ''castrum'' () for a 'Fortification, fort'. Either could refer to a building or plot of land, used as a fortified milita ...
at
Tibiscum, although the Castrum Temesiensis has been located in
Jupa, not in modern Timișoara, and it is registered on the
List of Historical Monuments.
[With LMI Code CS-I-s-A-10805.][Forțiu, Sorin.]
''Falsele denumiri ale orașului Timișoara''
, banat.ro. Retrieved 2 April 2017 It was claimed that there had been two villages named "Tibiscum", one located in Jupa, and the other in Timișoara in 1976, although this was disproved the following year. Even though it is known that the old centre of Timișoara was crossed northeast–southwest by a ''
vallum
Vallum is either the whole or a portion of the fortifications of a Roman camp. The vallum usually comprised an earthen or turf rampart ( Agger) with a wooden palisade on top, with a deep outer ditch (fossa). The name is derived from '' vallus'' (a ...
''an earthen or turf
rampart
Rampart may refer to:
* Rampart (fortification), a defensive wall or bank around a castle, fort or settlement
Rampart may also refer to:
* LAPD Rampart Division, a division of the Los Angeles Police Department
** Rampart scandal, a blanket ter ...
and that the Austrian topographical engineer Heinrich Kematmüller made a controversial claim regarding the existence of a castrum, there is no certain
documentary
A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...
,
archaeological
Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...
or
epigraphic
Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...
evidence that one existed near the site of the Timișoara fortress.
[
]
Avar Fortress
In the 15th century the Italian architect Paolo Santini de Duccio claimed that he had built fortifications in Timișoara over old Avar earthworks.[Hațegan, ''Prin Timișoara…'', pp. 16–19] The idea that such a fortification existed was repeated by Nicolae Ilieșiu, who identified it with Zambara. It has since been proven that Zambara never existed, the name was a misspelling of ''Zanbara'', which in turn is a misspelling of the name Zurobara. Zurobara is older than the Avar periodit was mentioned by Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...
in the 2nd century and it has been located near Unip
The United National Independence Party (UNIP) is a political party in Zambia. It governed the country from 1964 to 1991 under the socialist presidency of Kenneth Kaunda, and was the sole legal party in the country between 1973 and 1990. On 4 Ap ...
, from Timișoara.[Halunga Otilia,]
''Noi descoperiri arheologice în adâncurile Zurobarei, singura cetate dacică de câmpie''
''Agerpres'', 30 July 2015. Retrieved 3 April 2017
Angevin Fortress
The name ''Castrum Tymes'' (Thymes, Temes, Castrum Temesiensis, Castrum Temesvariensis[) is found for the first time in documents in the 13th century.][Opriș, ''Monografia…'', pp. 25–27] After his first visit to Timișoara, in the fall of 1307, Charles I of Hungary
Charles I, also known as Charles Robert (; ; ; 128816 July 1342), was King of Hungary and Croatia in the union with Hungary, Croatia from 1308 to his death. He was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou and the only son of Charles Martel of A ...
built the first stone fortress ([) between 1308 and 1315, on the site of an existing clay fortress, using Italian craftsmen.][Szentkláray, ''A kővár építése'', ''A vár helye''][Hațegan, ''Timișoara…'', p. 34][Hațegan, ''Istoria…'', vol. I, pp. 17–18] The reason for choosing this site was that the Mureș and Tisza
The Tisza, Tysa or Tisa (see below) is one of the major rivers of Central and Eastern Europe. It was once called "the most Hungarian river" because it used to flow entirely within the Kingdom of Hungary. Today, it crosses several national bo ...
rivers, the 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 ...
and the mountain pass
A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since mountain ranges can present formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human and animal migration t ...
es of western Romanian Carpathians
The Western Romanian Carpathians (, ), along with the Eastern Romanian Carpathians and the Southern Carpathians is one of the three main mountain ranges of Romania. Their name is given based on their geographical position, west, to the Transylvan ...
prevented surprise attacks.
Paul Niedermaier and Mihai Opriș have speculated that the fortress was composed of two rectangular
In Euclidean plane geometry, a rectangle is a rectilinear convex polygon or a quadrilateral with four right angles. It can also be defined as: an equiangular quadrilateral, since equiangular means that all of its angles are equal (360°/4 = 90 ...
parts of about 170 x 110 m, having a total area of about 2 hectares.[Opriș, ''Mică monografie…'', pp. 10–11][Opriș, ''Monografia…'', p. 10]
The fort was situated within the perimeter of the current Alba Iulia – Dimitrie Cantemir – Carol Telbisz Streets and Huniade Square. Paul Niedermaier believes that the street network of the fortress was rectangular and that there were two main streets, one from north to south and the other from east to west. The north–south street was a commercial road which joined the two gates and it was situated between the current Alba Iulia and Lucian Blaga Streets. The east–west street was situated near the current János Bolyai Street. A castle was built in the southern part, in a similar perimeter, on the site of the previous Hunyadi castle. The castle was Charles I's royal court and residence between 1315 and 1323. During this period Timișoara was the capital city of the Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...
. The ''Water Tour'' (Water Tower) was built to defend the bridge between these two fortified areas. Later the tower became one of the symbols on the coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...
of Timișoara. There was an inhabited rural area with irregular plots north of the fortress.[
On 19 June 1404 Filippo Scolari became the ]Ispán
The ispánRady 2000, p. 19.''Stephen Werbőczy: The Customary Law of the Renowned Kingdom of Hungary in Three Parts (1517)'', p. 450. or countEngel 2001, p. 40.Curta 2006, p. 355. (, , and ),Kirschbaum 2007, p. 315. deriving from title of župan, ...
(count) of Temes County
County of Temes ( Hungarian: ''Temes'', Romanian: ''Timiș'', Serbian: ''Тамиш'' or ''Tamiš'', German: ''Temes'' or ''Temesch'') was an administrative county ( comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now in southwestern ...
.[ He found the Angevin fortress in poor condition and in need of major restoration. During his reign the areas exposed to attack were restored and strengthened with palisades. The castle was also restored and Scolari used it as his residence until his death in 1426. At the same time various public edifices in the city were erected or rebuilt, which led to the revival of the city's economic life.
]
Hunyadi Fortress
In 1441 John Hunyadi
John Hunyadi (; ; ; ; ; – 11 August 1456) was a leading Kingdom of Hungary, Hungarian military and political figure during the 15th century, who served as Regent of Hungary, regent of the Kingdom of Hungary (1301–1526), Kingdom of Hungary ...
became the county executive of Timiș.[ On 5June 1443 a powerful earthquake severely damaged the city walls, the castle and other buildings.][Szentkláray, ''Elemi csapások''] Hunyadi restored the fortress by reusing stones from the walls and supplemented them with materials from the quarries
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to manage their safet ...
in Vršac
Vršac ( sr-Cyrl, Вршац, ) is a city in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. As of 2022, the city urban area had a population of 31,946, while the city administrative area had 45,462 inhabitants. It is located in the geographical ...
. Between 1443 and 1448 the walls were rebuilt higher and stronger, except the west side which remained as Scolari had built it because it was less exposed to attack due to the swamp stretching approximately .[Szentkláray, ''Hunyadi a várat helyreállítja''][Hațegan, ''Istoria…'', vol. II, p. 12, citing Castaldo: "''a mile and a half'', where Castaldo used the Italian mile, about .] From the north to the current Eugeniu of Savoia Street, the fortifications were extended with an earthen wall reinforced with palisade
A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a row of closely placed, high vertical standing tree trunks or wooden or iron stakes used as a fence for enclosure or as a defensive wall. Palisades can form a stockade.
Etymo ...
s and a moat
A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...
.[Hațegan, ''Prin Timișoara…'', pp. 30–32][Ilieșiu, ''Timișoara…'', pp. 32–33] All of these defended the inhabited zone to the north of the Angevin fortress and this eventually became the core of the city.[Ottendorf, ''De la Viena…'', pp. 11–14] To the north of the town a large rural area, the ''Palanca Mare'' (verbatim the "Big Palisade", meaning "alongside the long palisade"), developed.[Ottendorf, ''De la Viena…'', p. 7]
Hunyadi also restored the castle, keeping the wall on the west in its initial position, but extending the castle to the east by about .[ The castle had its own spring and reserves of water. An ]artillery
Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...
battery was installed in the Water Tower. There was an inhabited, but weakly fortified, island to the south of the castle: ''The Island'', ''Palanca Mică''[ (verbatim "The Small Palisade", meaning "alongside the short palisade"). The island and the swamps to the east and the west protected the castle from cannon fire. To the north the castle was defended by the fortress. Thus, even if the castle was not inside the fortress, it acted as a ]keep
A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residen ...
.[Hațegan, ''Prin Timișoara…'', pp. 44–48] During the reign of Hunyadi the fortress had four gates: the Arad Gate, the Gate of Lipova (Praiko), the Ardeal
Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border are the Carpathian Mountains and to the west the ...
Gate, and the Water Tower Gate.[
]Ladislaus the Posthumous
Ladislaus V, more commonly known as Ladislaus the Posthumous (; ; ; ; 22 February 144023 November 1457), was Duke of Austria and King of Hungary, King of Croatia, Croatia and King of Bohemia, Bohemia. He was the posthumous birth, posthumous son ...
borrowed 20,000 Florin
The Florentine florin was a gold coin (in Italian ''Fiorino d'oro'') struck from 1252 to 1533 with no significant change in its design or metal content standard during that time.
It had 54 grains () of nominally pure or 'fine' gold with a pu ...
s (1 Florin contained about 3.4 grams of fine gold) from John Hunyadi for his military operations. In 1453, when Ladislaus was coming of age, John retired and Ladislaus gave him the Timișoara Fortress to cover his debt. The deed of gift, dated 20August 1455, was recognised by the chapter
Chapter or Chapters may refer to:
Books
* Chapter (books), a main division of a piece of writing or document
* Chapter book, a story book intended for intermediate readers, generally age 7–10
* Chapters (bookstore), Canadian big box bookstore ...
of Cenad
Cenad (, during the Dark Ages ''Marosvár''; , archaically ''Maroschburg''; ; ) is a commune in Timiș County, Romania. It is composed of a single village, Cenad. The village serves as a customs point on the border with Hungary. Today's village ...
on 3September 1455 and it reconfirmed him as a king on 7April 1456.[ Initially the restoration work on the fortress was carried out at the expense of the royal treasury. Once it became the property of the Hunyadis they maintained it from their own funds.][ The castle was enlarged; a second floor was built and the old keep was built up to a height of . The guards, the knights' room, the prison and the ]stable
A stable is a building in which working animals are kept, especially horses or oxen. The building is usually divided into stalls, and may include storage for equipment and feed.
Styles
There are many different types of stables in use tod ...
s were situated downstairs. The royal rooms, the guest rooms and a chapel were situated upstairs.[
Huniade Castle was used as a headquarters by ]Pál Kinizsi
Pál Kinizsi ({{langx, la, Paulus de Kenezy; {{langx, ro, Paul Chinezu; 1432–1494) was a Hungarian general in the service of Hungarian army under king Matthias Corvinus. He was the Count of Temes County (in the historical Banat region, in the ...
, county executive of Timiș from 1478 to 1494. It came into his full possession in 1489 and, like his predecessors, he also strengthened the walls and the bastions.
On 15June 1514 the fortress, defended by Stephen VII Báthory, was besieged by a peasant army led by György Dózsa
György Dózsa (or ''György Székely'', Romanian: ''Gheorghe Doja''; – 20 July 1514) was a Székely man-at-arms from Transylvania, Kingdom of Hungary who led a peasants' revolt against the kingdom's landed nobility during the reign ...
. To capture the fortress Dósza attempted to reduce the swamps surrounding it by diverting the Timișel River into the Timiș River
The Timiș or Tamiš (, , , ) is a river that flows through the Banat region of Romania and Serbia and joins the Danube near Pančevo, in northern Serbia. Due to its position in the region, it has been labeled as the "spine of the Banat".
N ...
. He ordered the digging of a channel
Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to:
Geography
* Channel (geography), a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water.
Australia
* Channel Country, region of outback Australia in Queensland and pa ...
from the area of the current Fabric Quarter to the vicinity of the modern Giroc
Giroc (; ) is a commune in Timiș County, Romania. It is composed of two villages, Chișoda and Giroc (commune seat). It is located near Timișoara, south of the city. Location
Giroc is a suburban commune of Timișoara, located three kilometers ...
, it was not completed before John Zápolya
John Zápolya or Szapolyai (; ; ; ; 1487 – 22 July 1540), was King of Hungary (as John I) from 1526 to 1540. His rule was disputed by Archduke Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand I, who also claimed the title King of Hungary. He wa ...
’s army arrived and defeated the peasants on 15July.[Hațegan, ''Istoria…'', vol. I, pp. 36–37]
After the Battle of Mohács
The Battle of Mohács (; , ) took place on 29 August 1526 near Mohács, in the Kingdom of Hungary. It was fought between the forces of Hungary, led by King Louis II of Hungary, Louis II, and the invading Ottoman Empire, commanded by Suleima ...
in 1526, Timișoara was constantly threatened by 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 ...
. In 1550, following the treaty with John Zápolya's widow, the Habsburgs took over the city of Timișoara and brought in Italian architects, such as Martino de Spazio, who reinforced the walls, fortified the Water Tower for harquebusier
The harquebusier was the most common form of cavalry found throughout Western Europe during the early to mid-17th century. Early harquebusiers were characterised by the use of a type of carbine called a "harquebus". In England, harquebusier was ...
s and built bastions to strengthen the city against the threat posed by the Ottomans, despite the previous good relations between the Habsburgs and the Ottomans. The Ottomans, by supporting John Zápolya as voivode of Transylvania
The Voivode of Transylvania (;Fallenbüchl 1988, p. 77. ;Zsoldos 2011, p. 36. ; ) was the highest-ranking official in Transylvania within the Kingdom of Hungary from the 12th century to the 16th century. Appointed by the King of Hun ...
, considered 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 ...
to be under their suzerainty.
Ottoman Fortress
Ottoman siege of 1551
Timișoara was strategically positioned to resist the expansion of the Ottoman Empire into the Habsburg Empire. The main route of the Ottoman attack was along the right bank of the Danube towards 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 ...
, Buda
Buda (, ) is the part of Budapest, the capital city of Hungary, that lies on the western bank of the Danube. Historically, “Buda” referred only to the royal walled city on Castle Hill (), which was constructed by Béla IV between 1247 and ...
and Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
. In Serbia forts were established or reinforced in Golubac
Golubac ( sr-Cyrl, Голубац, ; ) is a village and municipality located in the Braničevo District of eastern Serbia. Situated on the right side of the Danube river, it is bordered by Romania to the east, Veliko Gradište to the west and ...
, Smederevo
Smederevo ( sr-Cyrl, Смедерево, ) is a list of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Podunavlje District in eastern Serbia. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube, about downstream of the Serbian capital, ...
, Kovin
Kovin (, ) is a town and municipality located in the South Banat District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The town has a population of 11,623, while the municipality has 28,141 inhabitants (2022 census).
Other names
In Rom ...
, 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 Petrovaradin
Petrovaradin ( sr-Cyrl, Петроварадин, ) is a historic town in the Serbian province of Vojvodina, now a part of the city of Novi Sad. As of 2011, the urban area has 14,810 inhabitants. Lying on the right bank of the Danube, across the m ...
. As there was a bottleneck on the Danube at the Iron Gates
The Iron Gates (; ; ; Hungarian: ''Vaskapu-szoros'') is a gorge on the river Danube. It forms part of the boundary between Serbia (to the south) and Romania (north). In the broad sense it encompasses a route of ; in the narrow sense it only ...
, there were numerous fortresses in the Clisura Dunării: Turnu Severin
Drobeta-Turnu Severin (), colloquially Severin, is a city in Mehedinți County, Oltenia, Romania, on the northern bank of the Danube, close to the Iron Gates. It is one of six Romanian county seats lying on the river Danube. "Drobeta" is the name ...
, Ada Kaleh
Ada Kaleh (; from , meaning "Island Fortress"; or ; Serbian and Bulgarian: Адакале, ''Adakale'') was a small island on the Danube, located in Romania, that was submerged during the construction of the Iron Gates hydroelectric plant i ...
, Orșova
Orșova (; ; ; ) is a port city on the Danube river in southwestern Romania's Mehedinți County. It is one of four localities in the Banat historical region situated just above the Iron Gates where the Cerna River meets the Danube.
History
...
, Dubova (Peci), Svinița
Svinița (, , ) is a commune in Mehedinți County, Romania, located on the Danube (in the area of the Banat known as Clisura Dunării – ''Banatska Klisura'' in Serbian). It is composed of a single village, Svinița. It is one of four localiti ...
and Drencova.[
]
One of the routes used by the Ottomans for military intervention was along the Mureș, where almost all the riparian routes were fortified. The main fortresses were Szeged
Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...
, Cenad
Cenad (, during the Dark Ages ''Marosvár''; , archaically ''Maroschburg''; ; ) is a commune in Timiș County, Romania. It is composed of a single village, Cenad. The village serves as a customs point on the border with Hungary. Today's village ...
, Arad and Lipova.[ Timișoara itself had to be protected. One of the routes to access it was through Timiș and Cerna. Here there were fortresses at ]Mehadia
Mehadia (; ; ) is a small market town and Commune in Romania, commune in Caraș-Severin County, Banat, Romania. It lies on the European route E70, in the Cerna River (Danube), Cerna River valley. The town is located on the site of the ancient An ...
, Caransebeș
Caransebeș (; ; , Hungarian pronunciation: ) is a city in Caraș-Severin County, part of the Banat region in southwestern Romania. One village, Jupa (), is administered by the city.
The city is located at the confluence of the Timiș River with ...
, Jdioara and 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 ...
. From Transylvania, Timișoara was defended by the fortresses of Făget
Făget (; ; or ''Fatschet'') is a town in Timiș County, Romania, with a population of about 6,600. The town administers ten villages: Bătești, Begheiu Mic, Bichigi, Brănești, Bunea Mare, Bunea Mică (depopulated), Colonia Mică, Jupânești ...
and Hațeg
Hațeg (; ; ) is a town in Hunedoara County, Romania with a population of 8,793 as of 2021. Three villages are administered by the town: Nălațvad (''Nalácvád''), Silvașu de Jos (''Alsószilvás''), and Silvașu de Sus (''Felsőszilvás''). I ...
. There were also fortresses in the territory of Ilidia, Vršac
Vršac ( sr-Cyrl, Вршац, ) is a city in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. As of 2022, the city urban area had a population of 31,946, while the city administrative area had 45,462 inhabitants. It is located in the geographical ...
, Cuiești and Ciacova
Ciacova (; ; ; ) is a town in Timiș County, Romania. It administers four villages: Cebza, Macedonia, Obad and Petroman. When it was declared a town in 2004, the villages of Gad and Ghilad, which it administered up to that point, were split off to ...
.[
As Timișoara is situated almost in the middle of the Banat, it could support all these towns, which is why the Ottoman ]bey
Bey, also spelled as Baig, Bayg, Beigh, Beig, Bek, Baeg, Begh, or Beg, is a Turkic title for a chieftain, and a royal, aristocratic title traditionally applied to people with special lineages to the leaders or rulers of variously sized areas in ...
s on the Danube stated that ''"whoever conquers Buda conquers a town, while whoever conquers Timișoara conquers a country"''.[Ottendorf, ''De la Viena…'', pp. 15–16] As a result, the Ottoman reaction to the takeover of Timișoara by the Habsburgs was not long in coming. In September 1551 Sokollu Mehmed Pasha
Sokollu Mehmed Pasha (; ; ; 1505 – 11 October 1579) was an Ottoman statesman of Serb origin most notable for being the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire. Born in Ottoman Herzegovina into an Orthodox Christian family, Mehmed was recruited a ...
, the beylerbey
''Beylerbey'' (, meaning the 'commander of commanders' or 'lord of lords’, sometimes rendered governor-general) was a high rank in the western Islamic world in the late Middle Ages and early modern period, from the Anatolian Seljuks and the I ...
of Rumelia
Rumelia (; ; ) was a historical region in Southeastern Europe that was administered by the Ottoman Empire, roughly corresponding to the Balkans. In its wider sense, it was used to refer to all Ottoman possessions and Vassal state, vassals in E ...
, began his campaign. He led an army of 8,000 janissaries
A janissary (, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops. They were the first modern standing army, and perhaps the first infantry force in the world to be equipped with firearms, adopted du ...
, 100,000 akıncılar and 13 sanjak-bey
''Sanjak-bey'', ''sanjaq-bey'' or ''-beg'' () was the title given in the Ottoman Empire to a bey (a high-ranking officer, but usually not a pasha) appointed to the military and administrative command of a district (''sanjak'', in Arabic '' liwa’' ...
s with their troops. To hold Transylvania he relied on the rulers
A ruler, sometimes called a rule, scale, line gauge, or metre/meter stick, is an instrument used to make length measurements, whereby a length is read from a series of markings called "rules" along an edge of the device. Usually, the inst ...
of Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia (; ; : , : ) is a historical and geographical region of modern-day Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians. Wallachia was traditionally divided into two sections, Munteni ...
and Moldavia
Moldavia (, or ; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ) is a historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester River. An initially in ...
and on the Tartars
Tartary (Latin: ''Tartaria''; ; ; ) or Tatary () was a blanket term used in Western European literature and cartography for a vast part of Asia bounded by the Caspian Sea, the Ural Mountains, the Pacific Ocean, and the northern borders of China ...
. To isolate Timișoara, Sokollu Pasha started from Belgrade and advanced up the Tisza River by conquering Novi Bečej
Novi Bečej (, ) is a town and municipality located in the Central Banat District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The town has a population of 10,967, while Novi Bečej municipality has 19,886 inhabitants (2022 census).
Name ...
(19September) and Zrenjanin
Zrenjanin ( sr-Cyrl, Зрењанин, ; ; ; ; ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Central Banat District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The city urban area has a population of 67,129 inh ...
(25September). He continued along the River Mureș to Lipova, occupying the fortresses of Dudeștii Vechi
Dudeștii Vechi (until 1964 Beșenova Veche; Banat Bulgarian dialect, Banat Bulgarian: ''Stár Bišnov''; ; ; ) is a communes of Romania, commune in Timiș County, Romania. It is composed of three villages: Cheglevici, Colonia Bulgară and Dudești ...
, Cenad
Cenad (, during the Dark Ages ''Marosvár''; , archaically ''Maroschburg''; ; ) is a commune in Timiș County, Romania. It is composed of a single village, Cenad. The village serves as a customs point on the border with Hungary. Today's village ...
, Igriș, Felnac
Felnac (; ) is a commune in Arad County, Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia ...
, Zădăreni, Nădlac
Nădlac (; ; ) is a town in Arad County, western Romania. A former part of the town lies across the border with Hungary; this village is called Nagylak. An international border town, Nădlac is the main border crossing into western Romania from H ...
, Ciala, Arad, Mândruloc, Păuliș
Păuliș () is a commune in Arad County, Romania, It is composed of four villages: Barațca (''Pálosbaracka''), Cladova (''Kalodva''), Păuliș, and Sâmbăteni (''Szabadhely'').
Geography
The commune lies on the banks of the Mureș River and i ...
and Chelmac. Lipova was occupied without a fight on 5October by Ulama Pasha, who remained there as sanjak-bey of the fortress.[Hațegan, ''Cronologia…'', vol. II/1, pp. 348–362]
From Lipova, the Ottoman armyreduced because it had to leave garrisons in the occupied townsheaded for Timișoara, where the vanguard
The vanguard (sometimes abbreviated to van and also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force.
...
of 600 cavalry arrived on 13October and the rest of the army, 18,000 strong, the following day.[Preyer, ''Monographie…'', p. 165] The garrison of the fortress, led by , consisted of 200 hussar
A hussar, ; ; ; ; . was a member of a class of light cavalry, originally from the Kingdom of Hungary during the 15th and 16th centuries. The title and distinctive dress of these horsemen were subsequently widely adopted by light cavalry ...
s from Ardeal, 600 Spanish,[Under the command of Casparo Castelluvio of ]Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...
, Bernard Aldana, Alphons Perez and Rodriguez de Villandrando German and Italian mercenaries
A mercenary is a private individual who joins an War, armed conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rath ...
and Hungarians
Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an Ethnicity, ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common Culture of Hungary, culture, Hungarian language, language and History of Hungary, history. They also have a notable presence in former pa ...
, Romanians
Romanians (, ; dated Endonym and exonym, exonym ''Vlachs'') are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking ethnic group and nation native to Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Sharing a Culture of Romania, ...
and Serbs
The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of Serbia, history, and Serbian lan ...
; altogether more than 2,000 cavalry and 1,500 infantry.[
The siege of the fortress began on 18October. The Ottomans began digging ]trenches
A trench is a type of excavation or depression in the ground that is generally deeper than it is wide (as opposed to a swale or a bar ditch), and narrow compared with its length (as opposed to a simple hole or pit).
In geology, trenches res ...
in the area that would become Palanca Mare and placed two siege gun
Siege artillery (also siege guns or siege cannons) are heavy guns designed to bombard fortifications, cities, and other fixed targets. They are distinct from field artillery and are a class of siege weapon capable of firing heavy cannonballs o ...
s to bombard the fortifications from the north, but the intervention of the defender's cavalry prevented the attack. The defenders repulsed multiple attacks before the weather turned on 25October and rain flooded the trenches. After 26October the Janissaries
A janissary (, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops. They were the first modern standing army, and perhaps the first infantry force in the world to be equipped with firearms, adopted du ...
' period of service ended, so Sokollu Pasha had to raise the siege and retreated towards Bečej
Bečej (, ; , ) is a town and municipality located in the South Bačka District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The town has a population of 19,492, while the municipality has 30,681 inhabitants.
History
Bečej was mentioned f ...
.[
The troops of the garrison went on the attack and on 29October they reconquered Cenad Fortress. On 4November the Imperial troops commanded by arrived in Lipova and, after a two-week siege, the town surrendered. According to the tradition of the time, the surrender was conditional on the Ottomans being allowed free passage. However, troops did not respect the agreement and slaughtered the garrison. Ulama Pasha was injured, but managed to escape. This event had repercussions on the conquest of Timișoara the following year. By the end of November, all the fortresses occupied by the Ottomans during the 1551 campaign had been recovered.][
]
Ottoman capture of the fortress
The Ottoman campaign began on 22April 1552 when the Ottoman troops commanded by Kara Ahmed Pasha, the second vizier, left Adrianople
Edirne (; ), historically known as Orestias, Adrianople, is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the Edirne Province, province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, Edirne was the second c ...
and headed for Belgrade. They crossed the Danube together with the army of Rumelia commanded by Sokollu Pasha and reached Timișoara on 24June with a vanguard of 1,500 horsemen. The siege began on 28June. Sokollu Pasha was positioned on the east side of the fortress, and Hassan Pasha, the beylerbey of Anatolia
Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...
, on the west side. The Ottomans had 16 basilisks (large siege cannons). The garrison of the fortress was about 2,500 menincluding 1,000 Hungarians, 400 Spanish, 200 Austrians, 300 Czechsand 17 cannon
A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during th ...
, Losonci István was still in command.[Hațegan, ''Cronologia…'', vol. II/1, pp. 368–377][Hațegan, ''Prin Timișoara…'', pp. 48–62]
The siege lasted until 25July. Turkish attacks took place on 29June (on the island), 3July (from the north), 6July (on the island) and 12July. On 6July the Ottomans demanded surrender for the first time. The Turkish cannon constantly bombarded the fortress and eventually the defenders were no longer able to repair the damage. On 18July there were discussions with the Ottomans regarding a surrender, but the defenders’ views were divided. The local inhabitants demanded the surrender of the fortress, but the soldiers, hoping for help from Castaldowho did not arrivewanted to continue the fight and used the two days truce to repair the fortifications as much as they could. Meanwhile, Ottoman artillery had increased and they deployed up to 30 cannon, organized in three batteries. On 20July the Ottomans recommenced the bombardment, and the bastions and walls were destroyed over the following days. On 24July the Water Tower was destroyed and captured by the Ottomans, but with heavy lossesover 2,000 fighters. With the loss of the Water Tower communications between the castle and the town were broken. On 25July the last assault took place and the inhabitants demanded again that the fortress surrender. On 26July the Spanish and Austrian mercenaries admitted that the town could no longer be defended and they capitulated.[
On 27 July, in accordance with the surrender convention, the garrison left the town through the Praiko Gate. Nevertheless, as a reprisal for the massacre of the Lipova garrison the previous year, the Ottomans violated the armistice conditions and launched an attack that led to the murder of the defenders, including István Losonci.][Hațegan, ''Timișoara…'', pp. 98–99]
17th century
After the conquest of the fortress, most of the Banat became the Temeşvar Eyalet
The Province of Temeşvar () was a first-level administrative unit (eyalet) of the Ottoman Empire. It existed from 1552 to 1716. Provincial administration was centered in ''Temeşvar'' (today's Timișoara) from 1552 to 1659, and again from 1693 t ...
, ruled by Beylerbey Kasam Pasha.[ Timișoara has been considered to be the capital of Banat since the establishment of Temeşvar Eyalet.][ There is little information regarding the growth of the town. Published maps and ]vedute
A ''veduta'' (; : ''vedute'') is a highly detailed, usually large-scale painting or, more often, print of a cityscape or some other vista. The painters of ''vedute'' are referred to as ''vedutisti''.
Origins
This genre of landscape originated ...
were based on information from before the Ottoman conquest. For example, Matthäus Seutter
Matthäus Seutter (20 September 1678 Augsburg – March 1757 in Augsburg) was a German map publisher of the 18th century.
Biography
Seutter started his career as an apprentice brewer. Apparently uninspired by the beer business, Seutter left his ...
's 18th-century map showed the Island and Fabric areas as smaller than they were; nevertheless, the map was popular due to the author's fame and its use of colour. Another inaccurate vedute was published in 1656 by Nicolas Sanson
Nicolas Sanson (20 December 1600 – 7 July 1667) was a French cartographer who served under two kings in matters of geography. He has been called the "father of French cartography."
Life and work
He was born of an old Picardy, Picard family ...
or ; there were many others.[Opriș, ''Mică monografie…'', pp. 12–13]
A sketch closer to reality was made in 1602 by . This sketch was the basis of a veduta painted by Ludwig Förster
Ludwig Christian Friedrich (von) Förster (8 October 1797 – 16 June 1863) was a German-born Austrian architect. While he was not Jewish, he is known for building Jewish synagogues and churches.
Ludwig Förster studied in Munich and Vienna. ...
in 1836. In the painting the city is seen from the northeast. We can see the castle and the wall with bastions surrounding it, the Water Tower, the irregular shape, and the city walls with their bastions and the Pasha's house.
In mid-December 1662 Leopold I sent a diplomatic mission to the Pasha of Belgrade. The mission was led by the Baron of Goëss, and Henrik Ottendorf was part of it. The real purpose of the visit was to observe the Ottoman military. While praising the purpose of the visit, the Ottomans diverted it to Timișoara, where at that time they were few Ottoman troops. The mission was left to wait and only in the summer of 1663 was it received in Belgrade. Although in Timișoara they were always accompanied by Ottoman officials, Ottendorf took advantage of the delay, making notes of what he saw. However, they were not allowed access everywhere, for example, not in the fortified area of the souththe old Angevin fortress and the castle. The 1663 notes were systematized in a 1667 document of 97 pages with 24 drawings, of which two (a veduta and a plan) are of Timișoara. The plan is considered approximate, but the veduta is considered much more accurate than anything else from the time, and is the only view of the fortress () in the second half of the 18th century made by an eyewitness.
During the Turkish occupation, Timișoara was divided into three parts: the fortress, the town and the suburbs. The fortress was the area where the castle and the headquarters of the vali (governor) and the kaymakam
Kaymakam, also known by #Names, many other romanizations, was a title used by various officials of the Ottoman Empire, including acting grand viziers, governors of provincial sanjaks, and administrators of district kazas. The title has been reta ...
were located. The town was the fortified area on the north side of the fortress. In the middle of the town there was the bazaar
A bazaar or souk is a marketplace consisting of multiple small Market stall, stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, Central Asia, North Africa and South Asia. They are traditionally located in vaulted or covered streets th ...
, the centre of commerce. The suburbs (''Palanca Mare'') were, in turn, divided into the ''Rascian Town'' (Rascians
Rascians ( / ''Raši, Rašani''; ) was a historical term for Serbs. The term was derived from the Latinized name for the central Serbian region of Raška (; sr-Cyrl, Рашка). In medieval and early modern Western sources, exonym ''Rascia'' was ...
was the name given by the Habsburgs to the orthodox Serbs) and the ''Island'' (other than the one that protected the castle from the south) to the east, in front of the Water Gate. In front of the castle, towards the city, there was the Water Tower. The castle was surrounded by another four defensive towers, linked by walls.[Hațegan, ''Timișoara…'', pp. 107–109] Only the Ottomans inhabited the town. The Catholics and the Serbs lived in the suburbs where they had their own churches.[
File:Ottendorf - Timisoara otomana veduta.jpg, Ottendorf's veduta, a view from the north side of the fortress.]
Here: ''a–h'' indicate 8 minaret
A minaret is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generally used to project the Muslim call to prayer (''adhan'') from a muezzin, but they also served as landmarks and symbols of Islam's presence. They can h ...
s of mosques; ''i'' — the tower of Azap
Azebs, azabs, or azaps (, from Arabic, literally ''unmarried'', meaning ''bachelor''), also known as Asappes or Asappi, were irregular soldiers, originally made up of unmarried youths. They were conscripted among reayas and served in various rol ...
s gate (P); ''k'' — the Water Gate tower (Q); ''l'' — the Rooster Gate tower (O); ''m'' — four of them are the towers of the castle, and one is the Water Tower; ''n'' — the tower of the Blood Gate (S).[
File:Planul cetatii otomane Timisoara 1716.png, The plan of Ottoman Fortress Temişvar, on Perrette's map (see below). The notations are those used by Opriș.][Opriș, ''Monografia…'', p. 18]
Red numbers are bastions, blue markers are gates and green letters are mosques.
The town was cordoned off by tall earthen walls reinforced by palisades made of tree trunks tied with wickerwork. The walls on the west, north, and east were protected by a counterguard with a palisade. The wall to the south was protected by the castle, and the walls on the southeast and southwest were protected by swamps. There were deep moats in front of the counterguard, in front of the walls and between them.[Capotescu, ''Arhitectura…'', pp. 85–93]
The walls of the town had five gates:[Hațegan, ''Istoria…'', vol. I, p. 52]
* ''Horos Kapî'' ([Biyik, Ömer (2015).]
1652–53 ''Tarihli şer’iye sicili'ne göre Temeşvar''
, în ''Karadeniz Araştırmaları'', no. 45, pp. 233–251 (244)) = The Rooster's Gate, to northwest (marked with an O on Perrette's map),
* ''Azab Kapî'' ([) = The Gate of Azaps to the east (P)
* ''Soukapî'' () = The Gate of the Water, to the southeast (Q)
* ''Kuciuk Kalle Kapî'' () = The Little Gate of the Fortress to the south (R) and
* ''Kana Kapî'' () = The Blood Gate to the west (S).
The Counterguard had four gates: the Rooster's Gate (Z), the Sedi Pasha Gate (V), the Osman Aga Gate (X), and Aghas' Pasha Gate (Y).][ Palanca Mare could be entered in through the Gate of the Long Toggle Bridge (in the northwest, in front of the Rooster's Gate), the Forforos Gate (&), the Martoloz Gate (2) and the Customs Gate (in the northeast, 3). Palanca Mică could be entered through the Gate of Belgrade (4).][
The walls and the counterguard had bastionsthe bastion of Arsenal of the Artillery was located in the north-east (5). The Water Gate was defended by the Water Gate Bastion (6). The bastion of Arsenal was flanked by the bastion of Gate of the Azaps (7) and Ali Pasha Bastion (8). Azig Pasha (9) and the Rooster's bastions were located on the north side (10). The Yamak Bastion (11) and the Blood Tower (12) were located on the west side. There were two bastions on either side of the Castle's Small Gate and two other bastions in the southern corners of the walls that protected the castle.][
The fortifications were restored in 1571.][Hațegan, ''Cronologia…'', vol. II/2, p. 71] The garrison was initially composed of about 250 soldiers, of whom 100 were horsemen. As well there were about 150 azapspeasant militia. There were about 20 Martologs (Christian sailors on the Danube who were border guards) and some ''müteferiki'' (various specialists). In the case of military confrontations, other troops would be despatched to the fortress.[Hațegan, ''Timișoara…'', pp. 113–116] Over the years the garrison grew and in 1624 it numbered about 1.000.[
In September 1595, Timișoara was besieged by ]Sigismund Báthory
Sigismund Báthory (; 1573 – 27 March 1613) was Prince of Transylvania several times between 1586 and 1602, and Duchy of Racibórz, Duke of Racibórz and Duchy of Opole, Opole in Silesia in 1598. His father, Christopher Báthory, ruled Transy ...
’s troops, but they withdrew after the arrival of an Ottoman relief force. The following year, in June, the siege reoccurred, but it was again unsuccessful.[Hațegan, ''Cronologia…'', vol. II/2, pp. 108–142] In 1597 the Habsburgs offered an annual tribute of 12,000 ducats (about 40 kg of fine gold) for the restitution of Timişoara, but the Ottomans refused. The siege resumed in October–November, but it was again unsuccessful. In February 1600, the troops of Michael the Brave
Michael the Brave ( or ; 1558 – 9 August 1601), born as Mihai Pătrașcu, was the Prince of Wallachia (as Michael II, 1593–1601), Prince of Moldavia (1600) and ''de facto'' ruler of Principality of Transylvania (1570–1711), Transylvani ...
, under the command of Baba Novac
Starina Novak ( sr-Cyrl, Старинa Новак; ; , meaning "Old Novak") was a Serb ''hajduk'' (brigand and rebel) who distinguished himself in many battles against the Ottoman Empire. He is considered a national hero by both the Serbs and t ...
, attacked Timișoara and burned down the suburbs, but they did not besiege it and moved to Pančevo
Pančevo (Serbian Cyrillic: Панчево, ; ; ; ; ) is a list of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the South Banat District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It is located on the shores of rivers Timiș (ri ...
. In October 1603, it was Giorgio Basta
Giorgio Basta, Count of Huszt, Gjergj Basta or Gheorghe Basta (1550 – 1607) was an Kingdom of Naples, Italian general, diplomat, and writer of Arbëreshë people, Arbëreshë Albanian origin, employed by the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II to com ...
's turn to besiege Timișoara, but again it held out.[
]Evliya Çelebi
Dervish Mehmed Zillî (25 March 1611 – 1682), known as Evliya Çelebi (), was an Ottoman Empire, Ottoman explorer who travelled through his home country during its cultural zenith as well as neighboring lands. He travelled for over 40 years, rec ...
visited Timișoara many times between 1660 and 1664 and also recorded a description of what he saw. The counterguard and the fortifications with palisades were made in the second half of the 17th century. Therefore, it is considered that the names Palanca Mare and Palanca Mică date from this period. In 1686, Timișoara Fortress was prepared for battle. According to an inventory of the weaponry, this included 54 pieces of artilleryof which 3 were basilisks1346 rifles, 402 bows and 11,760 arrow
An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers c ...
s and 5,156 grenade
A grenade is a small explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a Shell (projectile), shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A mod ...
s. In the first half of 1688 the fortifications were repaired. Between the fall of 1689 and the spring of 1690, Timișoara Fortress was subjected to a long siege by the Imperials. During 1692 and 1693 the fortifications were repaired and the fortress was supplied with weapons. In the fall of 1695 Sultan Mustafa II
Mustafa II (; ''Muṣṭafā-yi sānī''; 6 February 1664 – 29 December 1703) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1695 to 1703.
Early life
He was born at Edirne Palace on 6 February 1664. He was the son of Sultan Mehmed IV (1648–87 ...
visited Timișoara and organized an expedition to capture Lipova Fortress. The weapons from the captured fortress, including 6 basilisks, were brought to Timişoara.[Hațegan, ''Timișoara…'', pp. 187–191] In 1696 the Imperials, under the command of the Electorate of Saxony
The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony ( or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356 to 1806 initially centred on Wittenberg that came to include areas around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. It was a ...
Frederic August, besieged Timișoara again. However, they were defeated by the Turkish Army, after which the fortifications were again restored. Although they kept repairing the fortifications, they were of earth with wood-plated parapets, unable to withstand modern artillery. Of the buildings only the castle, the mosques and the walls surrounding the castle and the fortress (the southern part of the city, the Angevin fortress) were made of masonry, the rest of the buildings were made of wood and thatch and so burnt easily.[Opriș, Botescu, ''Arhitectura…'', pp. 43–45]
Habsburg Fortress
Capture by the Habsburgs
During the Austro-Turkish War of 1716–1718, Prince Eugene of Savoy
Prince Eugene Francis of Savoy-Carignano (18 October 1663 – 21 April 1736), better known as Prince Eugene, was a distinguished Generalfeldmarschall, field marshal in the Army of the Holy Roman Empire and of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty durin ...
defeated the Ottoman army at Petrovaradin
Petrovaradin ( sr-Cyrl, Петроварадин, ) is a historic town in the Serbian province of Vojvodina, now a part of the city of Novi Sad. As of 2011, the urban area has 14,810 inhabitants. Lying on the right bank of the Danube, across the m ...
on 5August 1716. He then headed for Timișoara with his army of about 45,000 infantry, over 23,000 cavalry, 50 field guns and 87 siege cannon. The Ottoman garrison was composed of about 16,000 men and 150 cannons.[Preyer, ''Monographie…'', pp. 182–183][Hațegan, ''Istoria…'', vol. I, p. 59]
On 21August fourteen Austrian squadrons commanded by General Rotenhan reached Timișoara. The rest of the Austrian army and Prince Eugene arrived on five days later. The siege started on 31August. Engineering works were carried out between 1 and 5 September: trenches were dug and cannon were emplaced in order to cover the operations. From 16September the bombardment increased in intensity as more guns arrived and were installed. The first breaches in the walls appeared between 20 and 22 September. Meanwhile, another army corps, consisting of 14 squadrons and 4 infantry battalions under the command of General Steinville, arrived from Alba Iulia
Alba Iulia (; or ''Carlsburg'', formerly ''Weißenburg''; ; ) is a city that serves as the seat of Alba County in the west-central part of Romania. Located on the river Mureș (river), Mureș in the historical region of Transylvania, it has a ...
. The Ottomans’ counter-attacks were repelled. There was an intense mutual bombardment on 25September. Ottoman troops attempting to relieve the fortress garrison attacked from the south three times on 26September. They failed to break through as they had not synchronized their attack with the defenders of the fortress. The counterguard was captured on 30September. The guns were moved to new positions during early October. On 11October a massive bombardment of the walls began. A white flag of surrender appeared on 12October on one of the bastions at half past eleven.[Hațegan, ''Cronologia…'', vol. II/2, pp. 307–310][Hațegan, ''Istoria…'', vol. I, pp. 60–62]
According to the terms of surrender, the Ottomans and the kuruc
Kuruc (, plural ''kurucok''), also spelled kurutz, refers to a group of armed anti- Habsburg insurgents in the Kingdom of Hungary between 1671 and 1711.
Over time, the term kuruc has come to designate Hungarians who advocate strict national inde ...
s were allowed to leave the city with their personal possessions. Approximately 1,000 wagon
A wagon (or waggon) is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by Working animal#Draft animals, draft animals or on occasion by humans, used for transporting goods, commodities, agricultural materials, supplies and sometimes people.
Wagons are i ...
s were available for their withdrawal. They were permitted rations for a 10-day trip to Belgrade. Deserter
Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or Military base, post without permission (a Pass (military), pass, Shore leave, liberty or Leave (U.S. military), leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with u ...
s from the Habsburg army were not allowed to leave, and the heavy weapons, the gunpowder
Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...
and the fodder
Fodder (), also called provender (), is any agriculture, agricultural foodstuff used specifically to feed domesticated livestock, such as cattle, domestic rabbit, rabbits, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs. "Fodder" refers particularly to food ...
supplies had to remain.[Preyer, ''Monographie…'', pp. 184–185]
After the Austrians’ conquest of Belgrade in 1718, the Austro-Turkish war ended. The Treaty of Passarowitz
The Treaty of Passarowitz, or Treaty of Požarevac, was the peace treaty signed in Požarevac ( sr-cyr, Пожаревац, , ), a town that was in the Ottoman Empire but is now in Serbia, on 21 July 1718 between the Ottoman Empire and its ad ...
confirmed the transfer of the Banat of Temeswar
The Banat of Temeswar or Banat of Temes was a Habsburg province that existed between 1718 and 1778. It was located in the present day region of Banat, which was named after this province. The province was abolished in 1778 and the following ...
, including Timișoara Fortress, to the 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 ...
.[
]
Reconstruction
After its capture the fortress was in badly damaged state and the Austrians began to repair and rebuild it. There was not a clear plan and coherence was hampered by the need for it to always remain functional. Many schemes were suggested between 1717 and 1727, but none were executed.[Capotescu, ''Arhitectura…'', pp. 131–138] Just after the conquest the military engineer Captain François Perrette, who had laid out the fortifications in Slavonski Brod
Slavonski Brod (, ), commonly shortened to simply Brod, is a city in eastern Croatia, near the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Being one of the principal cities in the historical regions of Slavonia and Posavina, Slavonski Brod is the 7th lar ...
in 1715, was tasked with making a topographic map
In modern mapping, a topographic map or topographic sheet is a type of map characterized by large- scale detail and quantitative representation of relief features, usually using contour lines (connecting points of equal elevation), but histori ...
of the fortress along with proposals for new fortifications. He made three plans, the first two in October 1716 and February 1717, which were considered very accurate,[Sorin Forțiu,]
''Sieur François Perrette, Capitaine Ingénieur de Sa Maiesté Impériale''
, banat.ro. Retrieved 11 April 2017 and the third, published in 1729, contained plans for the proposed fortifications. The first fortification, built in 1716, was the "New Ravelin", meant to defend Palanca Mică from the south.[Opriș, ''Mică monografie…'', pp. 39–51]
A first proposal was to build bastions along the old wall from the north. The Palanca Mică was to be preserved and barracks were to be built at its eastern end. The problem was the small space inside the walls. However, the project provided configuration of the ''Casemated Barracks'', later known as the ''Transylvanian Barracks'', which would close the fortress perimeter from the southeast. The Palanca Mică area was proposed as a residential area.[
Another proposal was to build a residential area to the southeast of the barracks. It was less exposed to a potential siege due to its location in the swamp. However, the proposed bastions were designed in Italian style, already obsolete, and the form of the fortification was unsuitable for the principles of an ]ideal city
In urban design, an ideal city is the concept of a City planning, plan for a city that has been conceived in accordance with a particular rational or moral objective.
Concept
The "ideal" nature of such a city may encompass the moral, Spiritua ...
. The project indicated that it had already been decided that the fortress would have three layers of fortification.[
Geyer's proposal was to keep the fortress together with the castle, keeping an extension area to the southeast. There were proposals for the extension of this area even after the construction of the first wall was complete, as can be seen in plan no. 3 from 1734. Plan no. 3 is the first official plan that included the entire outline of the fortifications. In it the elements depicted in red were buildings that had already been raised (the Casemated Barracks and the fodder supply warehouse of the Theresia Bastions). The ones sketched in black had their foundations laid, and the ones in yellow represented the proposals to close the curtain wall.][
File:Timisoara SE-KrA-0406-26-025-001.jpg, Proposal with residential area to the southeast. North is down.
File:Original Plan von Temeswar.jpg, Geyer's proposal.
File:Plan no 3 Festung Temeswar.jpg, Plan for enlargement no. 3. North is down.
The foundation stone of the future fortress () was laid on 25April 1723. A zinc plaque inscribed was with ''"Imperante Carolo VI, Duce Eugenio Sabaudiae Principe per cladem Petro-Varadini MDCCXVI a Turcis recuperata Provincia, sub preadisio Claudii Comitis a Mercy anno a patru Virginis MDCCXXIII die XXV. mensis Aprilis Temesvarini moenia fundabantur"'', but the plans indicate that the main work began later. The first work was on the Infantry Casemated Barracks, built between 1727 and 1729. At that time the plan for the fortress had not been finalised.][Opriș, ''Monografia…'', pp. 63–70]
In 1732 a significant part of the fortress was designed and the digging of the moat from the front of the future bastions began. It took one year to excavate the trench and erect the curtain wall and the counterscarp
A scarp and a counterscarp are the inner and outer sides, respectively, of a ditch or moat used in fortifications. Attackers (if they have not bridged the ditch) must descend the counterscarp and ascend the scarp. In permanent fortifications, the ...
. The construction was delayed due to the prior execution of hydrotechnical works to provide the water needed for the Fortress, executed between 1728 and 1732.[
]
The first defensive wall belts of the fortress were finished in 1740. The first wall had 8 bastions (there were 9 eventually) in Pagan
Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...
style (precursor of the Vauban style fortifications) and the curtain walls between them. The second one had eight ravelins placed in front of the inner works of the fortress (the curtain walls and bastions). This gave a clear picture of how the town would look and how long it would be a ''non-aedificandi'' area. In 1744, the sites of the German and Rascian suburbs were approved (the current Iosefin and Mehala quarters).[Opriș, ''Monografia…'', p. 56]
The plan of the fortress in 1808 (see the infobox) shows its final shape, as the three wall belts had already been finished in 1764. The adjacent picture is drawn based on this plan and highlights the details. The various shades of green represent the banquette
A banquette (), rampart walk or parapet walk is a small footpath or elevated step along the inside of a rampart or parapet of a fortification. Musketeers atop it were able to view the counterscarp, or fire on enemies in the moat. Typical they ...
s, the barbette
Barbettes are several types of gun emplacement in terrestrial fortifications or on naval ships.
In recent naval usage, a barbette is a protective circular armour support for a heavy gun turret. This evolved from earlier forms of gun protection ...
s, the covertway
In military architecture, a covertway or covered way (, ) is a path on top of the counterscarp of a fortification. It is protected by an embankment which is made up by the crest of the glacis. It is able to give the fort's garrison a position be ...
s and the glacis
A glacis (, ) in military engineering is an artificial slope as part of a medieval castle or in early modern fortresses. They may be constructed of earth as a temporary structure or of stone in more permanent structure. More generally, a glaci ...
. Blue indicates the trenches, and light blue represents the floodplains in case of siege. Yellow represents the access ways, the bridges and the ramps. In the ''intra muros'' area there were fortified buildings represented in dark red: Hunyadi Castle (1), the Infantry Casemated Barracks (later known as the Transylvanian Barracks), The Barracks of the Fortifications Construction Service (The Engineer's House) (3), Vienna Barracks (later Franz Joseph Barracks) (4), the gunpowder magazine (5), the dermatology hospital (6) and the military hospital (7). There were three squares: The Parade Square (8), The Main Square (9)next to the dome
A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...
(10) and the Rascian Church (11)and a small triangular square (the current St. George Square) where there was a church, the former Great Mosque (12). The ground level is shown in white.
The vertical profile of the fortifications was of Vauban type, with three wall belts, each facing floodplains.[Opriș, ''Monografia…'', p. 69] The first wall belt, whose parapets are represented in red, consisted of nine bastions and curtain walls. The bastions and the ravelins were numbered with Roman numerals, clockwise, beginning with the ones from the northeast (similar to the figures on the dials of the clocks).[Capotescu, ''Arhitectura…'', pp. 188, 190, 219–232] The bastions were:
* I The ''Francisc Bastion'', separated from the ''intra muros'' area; access was by means of a wooden bridge. On the left side it was flanked by an artillery platform and by a tenaille
A tenaille (archaic tenalia) is an advanced defensive-work, in front of the main defences of a fortress, which takes its name from resemblance to the lip of a pair of pincers. It is "from French, literally: tongs, from Late Latin tenācula, pl ...
.[
* II The '']Theresia Bastion
Theresia Bastion (), named after the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa, is the largest preserved piece of defensive wall of the Austrian-Hungarian fortress of Timișoara. It covers about 1.7 hectares of the city center. It was built between 1732 and 1 ...
'', the only one which remains today, was the first defensive structure which was built and it was originally designed as ravelin. It has orillons and a retraction, because it was designed to function independently of the rest of the Fortress, even if it was penetrated.[
* III The ''Joseph Bastion'', which flanked the Transylvania Gate, had one orillon and a curved side.][
* IV The ''Leopold Bastion'' (''Hamilton Bastion'', ''Bastion of the gunpowder magazine'') had no orillorns and it was flanked by tenailles. A ]gunpowder magazine
A gunpowder magazine is a magazine (building) designed to store the explosive gunpowder in wooden barrels for safety. Gunpowder, until superseded, was a universal explosive used in the military and for civil engineering: both applications re ...
was placed on it.[
* V The ''Castle Bastion'', designed to protect the Huniade Castle, had one orillon directed to the Petrovaradin Gate.][
* VI The ''Mercy Bastion'', which flanked the Petrovaradin Gate to the west and protected the barracks of the fortification service and the dermatology hospital. It had orillons and the right flank was protected by an artillery platform.][
* VII The ''Eugeniu Bastion'' protected the military and dermatology hospitals. It had orillons; the one on the left still exists next to Timișoara 700 Square. To the right it was flanked by a tenaille.][
* VIII The ''Elisabetha Bastion'' flanked the Vienna Gate on the left. It had orillons and it was protected on both sides by tenailles.][
* IX The ''Carol Bastion'', which flanked the Vienna Gate to the right, had orillons and was protected on the left flank by a tenaille and on the right flank by an artillery platform.][
The bastions had two levels for artillery: the inferior level from which to fire the cannons through ]embrasure
An embrasure (or crenel or crenelle; sometimes called gunhole in the domain of Age of Gunpowder, gunpowder-era architecture) is the opening in a battlement between two raised solid portions (merlons). Alternatively, an embrasure can be a sp ...
s, and the upper level, which was used to fire the cannons on the barbettes over the parapet
A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...
s.[
The second wall belt, whose parapets are represented in brown, consisted of 7 ravelins flanking the bastions — excepting the Theresia bastion that was flanked by ]redan
Redan (a French language, French word for "projection", "salient") is a feature of fortifications. It is a work in a V-shaped Salients, re-entrants and pockets, salient angle towards an expected attack. It can be made from earthworks or other ...
s — and 9 counterguards of the bastions. The ravelins were flanked by caponiers. The ravelins on the northern side of the fortress were strengthened. Lunettes
A lunette (French ''lunette'', 'little moon') is a crescent- or half-moon–shaped or semi-circular architectural space or feature, variously filled with sculpture, painted, glazed, filled with recessed masonry, or void.
A lunette may also be ...
were placed on the ravelins between Mercy and Elisabetha bastions, and redans on the ones between Elisabetha and Francis bastions.[Capotescu, ''Arhitectura…'', pp. 189, 191]
The third wall belt, whose parapets are represented in purple, was made up of the belt of the ravelins and the counterguards from the second wall belt. The belt was made up of nine other counterguards flanked by nine triple redans.[
Access to the fortress was through three gates: ''The Vienna Gate'' (or ''The Gate of Arad'', ''The Gate of Mehala'') in the north-northwest of the fortress, between Elisabetha and Carol bastions, ''The Gate of Transylvania'' (or ''The Transylvanian Gate'', ''Lugoj Gate'') in the east of the fortress, between the bastions Theresia and Joseph, and ''The Gate of Petrovaradin'' (or ''The Gate of Belgrade'', ''The Josephine Gate'') in the southwest of the fortress, between Castle's and Mercy bastions. The gates were each separated by three bastions, and the fortifications besides them were supplemented. There were 5–6 parapets instead of three parapets at the gates of Vienna and Transylvania, and, at the gate of Petrovaradin, the access was made through a long bridge between the first and the second belts of fortifications.
In 1765 the last fortification work was completed. A new riverbed (the current ]Bega Canal
The Bega Canal or Begej Canal (; ) is a navigation canal of Romania and Serbia. It is the first navigation canal built on the present-day territory of Romania, and serves the city of Timișoara. Its name comes from the Bega river. It crosses the ...
) was dug. Initially, in order not to shelter attacking troops, the bank from the fortress had to continue the slope of the glacis, but over time, the water dug its own bed and the shore offered protection to potential attackers. The result had the same effect as if a parallel trench had been dug. Therefore, the work was considered a mistake, and it was exploited in the siege of 1849.[
]
Siege of 1849
On 13 March the Revolution of 1848
The revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the springtime of the peoples or the springtime of nations, were a series of revolutions throughout Europe over the course of more than one year, from 1848 to 1849. It remains the most widespre ...
broke out in Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
and on 15March in Budapest
Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
. The news reached Timişoara on 18March 1848. Following Ferdinand I of Austria
Ferdinand I ( 19 April 1793 – 29 June 1875) was Emperor of Austria from March 1835 until his abdication in December 1848. He was also King of Hungary, King of Croatia, Croatia and King of Bohemia, Bohemia (as Ferdinand V), King of Lombardy– ...
’s decision on 3October a state of siege was declared in the Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...
. The military commander of the fortress of Timișoara, Lieutenant Field marshal
Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army (in countries without the rank of Generalissimo), and as such, few persons a ...
K.k. Juraj Rukavina Vidovgradski took over command of Timișoara.
The state of siege required the banning of riots, of groups larger than 6 persons and also imposed the surrender of the arms. In response, to the decree of Lajos Kossuth
Lajos Kossuth de Udvard et Kossuthfalva (; ; ; ; 19 September 1802 – 20 March 1894) was a Hungarian nobleman, lawyer, journalist, politician, statesman and governor-president of the Kingdom of Hungary during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, r ...
of 8Octoberwhich demanded the flying of the Hungarian flag and loyalty to Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
the garrison
A garrison is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a military base or fortified military headquarters.
A garrison is usually in a city ...
of the city replied that Kossuth was declared outlaw by the decree of 3October and therefore it was no longer obliged to follow Hungarian orders and would remain faithful to the Emperor and defend the Fortress.[Preyer, ''Monografia…'', pp. 214–218][Ilieșiu, ''Timișoara…'', pp. 96–99]
Although the restoration of Timișoara Fortress was completed, due to the swampy ground the first heavy wall belt had sunk to some extent, making artillery fire difficult without threatening the defenders of the other two wall belts, and also the covertway. In the winter of 1848–1849 the fortress was supplied and reinforcements were sent. At the beginning of the siege the defense forces consisted of 8,851 people. It also had 1,272 horses and 213 functional cannons. There was enough gunpowder, but there were only 312 artillerymen and 17 military engineers.[
On 14 May the attackers occupied Fabric and destroyed the ]drinking water
Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often (but not always) supplied through taps, in which case it is also calle ...
supply pipe
Pipe(s), PIPE(S) or piping may refer to:
Objects
* Pipe (fluid conveyance), a hollow cylinder following certain dimension rules
** Piping, the use of pipes in industry
* Smoking pipe
** Tobacco pipe
* Half-pipe and quarter pipe, semi-circular ...
to the fortress. The defenders could use the 130 fountain
A fountain, from the Latin "fons" ( genitive "fontis"), meaning source or spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect.
Fountains were o ...
s in the fortress but only 13 of them provided drinking water. The lack of clean water led to epidemics.[Preyer, ''Monografia…'', pp. 218–222][Szentkláray, ''Bogma István naplója az ostromról, Az ostrom, Temesvár fölmentése '']
The first bombardment of the fortress took place on 18May. The bombardment intensified on 11June, when the attackers put more guns in the battery. Nearly 2,000 shells landed in the Fortress area and almost all the buildings were hit. They were built of brick, with only Huniade Castle, the barracks, especially Transylvania Barracks, the Military Hospital and the crypts more strongly constructed.[
On 6 July the attackers installed further batteries and bombarded the fortress with about 30 mortars and 30 heavy cannon. On 20July Kossuth visited the siege camp and asked Károly Vécsey, the siege commander, to capture the fortress at all costs. The bombardment continued. During its most intense phase the batteries had 36 mortars, 20 cannons, 13 ]howitzer
The howitzer () is an artillery weapon that falls between a cannon (or field gun) and a mortar. It is capable of both low angle fire like a field gun and high angle fire like a mortar, given the distinction between low and high angle fire break ...
s and 22 field gun
A field gun is a field artillery piece. Originally the term referred to smaller guns that could accompany a field army on the march, that when in combat could be moved about the battlefield in response to changing circumstances (field artillery ...
s, altogether 91 pieces. On 5August a parliamentarian demanded the surrender of the fortress but it was refused.[
On 8August movements were seen in the attackers’ camp, and the following day there was further movement. The sound of cannon fire was heard to the northwest, where the Battle of Temesvár was being fought. The Austrian troops led by ]Julius Jacob von Haynau
Julius Jakob Freiherr von Haynau (14 October 1786 – 14 March 1853) was an Austrian general who suppressed insurrectionary movements in Italy and Hungary in 1848 and later. While a hugely effective military leader, he also gained renown as an agg ...
defeated the Hungarian army commanded by Józef Bem
Józef Zachariasz Bem (, ; 14 March 1794 – 10 December 1850) was a Polish engineer and general, an Ottoman pasha and a national hero of Poland and Hungary, and a figure intertwined with other European patriotic movements. Like Tadeusz Kościus ...
, and Haynau entered Timișoara after 107 days of siege.[
The losses among the garrison were not high: 161 dead, including 6 officers, 376 wounded, including 13 officers, 27 taken prisoner and 213 horses killed. However, the food supplies were exhausted, and ]typhus
Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposu ...
and cholera
Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...
killed 2,000 people; after the siege a further 2,000 ill people died. Most of the buildings in the fortress were destroyed, including Huniade Castle,[Preyer, ''Monografia…'', pp. 222–224] which was rebuilt in 1856, acquiring a totally different look.[
On 14June 1852, Emperor Franz Joseph visited Timișoara, where he laid the foundation stone of the Fidelity Monument][LMI Code: TM-IV-m-A-06330.] in the Parade Square on 15June.[
]
Demolition
With the development of heavier artillery the fortifications became ineffective in the 19th century. Many cities' fortifications were torn down, for example at Vienna (Vienna Ring Road
The Ringstrasse or Ringstraße (pronounced �ɪŋˌʃtʁaːsə ⓘ, lit. ''ring road'') is a 5.3 km (3.3 mi) circular grand boulevard that serves as a ring road around the historic city centre, the Innere Stadt, of Vienna, Austria. The road is bu ...
), or Paris ( Thiers wall) where the Boulevard Périphérique
The Boulevard Périphérique (), often called the Périph, is a limited-access dual-carriageway ring road in Paris, France. With a few exceptions (see '' Structure and Layout''), it is situated along Paris's administrative limit.
The spee ...
appeared. Although the Timișoara Fortress was considered a large fortress, the ''intra muros'' area was too small for the town, the fortifications hindered the flow of traffic, and the esplanade occupied valuable space. The process of demolition began in 1859. At the request of the town, Franz Joseph decreed on 10November 1868 that the ''non-aedificandi'' area be reduced from 500 Klafter
The ''klafter'' is an historical unit of length, volume and area that was used in Central Europe.
Unit of length
As a unit of length, the ''klafter'' was derived from the span of a man's outstretched arms and was traditionally about 1.80 met ...
(950 m) to 300 Klafter (570 m), allowing the suburbs to get closer to the fortress. However, the suburbs had to have the streets drawn radially towards the fortress to allow good sighting and enfilade
Enfilade and defilade are concepts in military tactics used to describe a military formation's exposure to enemy fire. A formation or position is "in enfilade" if weapon fire can be directed along its longest axis. A unit or position is "in de ...
fire in case of attack. The railway also had to comply with this requirement.
On 5November 1872, based on a decision of the town magistrates, breaches in the walls were made to ease access to the fortress. In May 1891 Mayor Carol Telbisz renewed the request for demolition, which was approved by Franz Joseph on 23April 1892.[Glăvan, ''Defortificarea…'', p. 424, citing Barát, Armin. ''Die königliche Freistadt Temesvár'', Timișoara: 1902, p. 54] Although the negotiations for the purchase of land and buildings owned by the military authorities lasted until 1905, the demolition of the walls began in 1898.
The demolition involved the dismantling of the walls, the filling of the moats with the earthworks above the bastions, and the cleanup of the scrap materials by the municipal authorities. As a result, the town acquired an area of 138,460 m2 and 26 million bricks, of which 19 million were sold and the rest used for the foundations of various administrative buildings. The sale of the bricks covered the costs of demolition.
Plots of land were sold by the city, including plots on the glacis and on the esplanade, worth 1,906,512 Krone (about 570 kg of gold). The proceeds covered the cost of building a camp with barracks, a hay warehouse, a military tribunal and a garrison prison in the north of the city as agreed in compensation, as well as the systematization of the newly available land, the construction of several public buildings and additional economic and urban development of the town.
There is a 3D simulation on how Timișoara would have looked if the fortress had been preserved as it was in the 19th century. The ''intra muros'' area would have been very difficult to access, practically isolated, and the town would not be surrounded by its parks.
File:Cetatea Timisoara 1906.jpg, Eugeniu and Mercy bastions
File:Fortification of Timisoara 3.jpg, Castle's bastion, seen from the east
File:A várfal bontása. Fortepan 4723.jpg, Demolition of the Transylvania Gate
Renovations and archaeological research
Under the management of architect Şerban Sturdza, Union Square was reconditioned in 1988. To mark the occasion a plan of the Habsburg fortress in 1730, with its 9 bastions, was engraved on a pavement stone. At the time it was believed that this was all of the fortification.[Marta, Bogdan.]
''Planul complet de reabilitare a Pieței Unirii. Toate lucrurile necunoscute despre aspectul final al pieței''
tion.ro, 7 August 2015. Retrieved 10 April 2017[Galescu, Otilia.]
debanat.ro, 17 November 2015. Retrieved 10 April 2017
In 2006 excavations for foundations in the Eugeniu Bastion area uncovered the counterguards of the bastion, the trench of the moat between the counterguards and a weir. This was archaeological evidence of the three fortified belts of the Fortress. After being mapped and photographed they were demolished.[Cronica cercetărilor arheologice din România. Rapoarte preliminare de cercetare arheologică: Timișoara , Punct: Piața Timișoara 700 (City Business Center, clădirea E) , Anul: 2014]
, cimec.ro. Retrieved 15 May 2017
In 2014, as part of the "Rehabilitation of public spaces in the historic center of Timișoara" project, a preventive archaeological excavation in Unirii Square confirmed the position of the Ottoman fortifications according to the Perrette map, as well as confirming their composition of earth stabilized with wood.[Cronica cercetărilor arheologice din România. Rapoarte preliminare de cercetare arheologică: Timișoara , Punct: Piața Unirii , Anul: 2014]
, cimec.ro. Retrieved 15 May 2017 As a part of the same project, during excavations at the intersection of the Dimitrie Cantemir Street and Lucian Blaga Street (in the southeast corner of the Liberty Square, stone walls bound with mortar from the northern wall of the Angevin fortress were found. In the southern part of Lucian Blaga Street a mortar floor with fragments of brick was discovered, probably the market mentioned by Evliya Çelebi.[Cronica cercetărilor arheologice din România. Rapoarte preliminare de cercetare arheologică: Timișoara , Punct: str. Lucian Blaga , Anul: 2014]
, cimec.ro. Retrieved 15 May 2017[S.P.D.,]
''Descoperire crucială pe strada Lucian Blaga: zidurile cetății angevine a Timișoarei''
tion.ro, 13 ianuarie 2014. Retrieved 3 April 2017
Condition in the 21st century
The "Cetate" quarter of Timișoara was built on the site of the Habsburg fortress and its glacis. The ''intra muros'' area has been declared a historical monument (national heritage site).[LMI Code: TM-II-s-A-06095.] From the fortifications of the Habsburg fortress there remains the Huniade Castle
The Huniade Castle (; ; ) is the oldest monument in Timișoara, Romania, built between 1443 and 1447 by John Hunyadi and Paolo Santini de Duccio over the old royal castle dating from the 14th century (built during the reign of Charles I of Hungar ...
,[LMI Code: TM-II-m-A-06140.] a bastion, a fragment of another bastion, a casemate, and a small fragment of the courtain wall.[Lista Monumentelor Istorice 2015: Județul Timiș]
, patrimoniu.gov.ro. Retrieved 4 December 2017 All are historic monuments.
The only bastion almost entirely preserved is the Theresia Bastion
Theresia Bastion (), named after the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa, is the largest preserved piece of defensive wall of the Austrian-Hungarian fortress of Timișoara. It covers about 1.7 hectares of the city center. It was built between 1732 and 1 ...
.[LMI Code: TM-II-m-A-06103.03.] This is a major tourist attraction. On the Alexandru Ioan Cuza Avenue[At coordinates ] there is a casemate from the VIII ravelin.[LMI Code: TM-II-m-A-06103.01.] The casemate's role was to flank the Vienna Gate and it was also a gunpowder magazine.
To the north of Coriolan Brediceanu Street, in the Timișoara 700 Market[At coordinates ] there is a fragment from the Eugeniu Bastionthe orillon and the south flank of the bastion.[LMI Code: TM-II-m-A-06103.02.] In the list of historical monuments, the bastions are considered a group.[LMI code: TM-II-a-A-06103.] On Gheorghe Dima Street, in the Botanical Park[At coordinates ] there is still a small fragment of the courtain wall between the Elisabetha and Eugeniu bastions.[LMI Code: TM-I-s-A-06050.][Capotescu, ''Arhitectura…'', pp. 262, 295]
File:Bastion Theresia corp A, B, C, E.jpg, Theresia Bastion
File:Fragment bastion Eugeniu Timisoara 1.jpg, Fragment of Eugeniu Bastion
File:RO TM Gunpowder warehouse fortification fragment.jpg, The casemate of ravelin no. VIII
File:Zid cetate Timisoara, Parcul Botanic 1.jpg, Courtain wall in the Botanical Park
See also
* History of Timișoara
History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...
Notes
Footnotes
References
* Ottendorf, Henrik (2006).
''De la Viena la Timișoara, 1663''
Timișoara: Ed. Banatul, (onlime version)
* Preyer, Johann Nepomuk (1995). ''Monographie der königlichen Freistadt Temesvár – Monografia orașului liber crăiesc Timișoara'', Timișoara: Ed. Amarcord,
* Jenő Szentkláray (1911).
''Temes vármegye története – Temesvár története''
''Magyarország vármegyéi és városai'' cycle, Budapest (online version)
* Ilieșiu, Nicolae (1943). ''Timișoara: Monografie istorică'', Timișoara: Editura Planetarium, 2nd ed.,
* Opriș, Mihai (1987). ''Timișoara: Mică monografie urbanistică'', București: Ed. Tehnică
* Opriș, Mihai (2007). ''Timișoara: Monografie urbanistică'', vol. I: Descoperiri recente care au impus corectarea istoriei urbanistice a Timișoarei, Timișoara: Ed. BrumaR,
* Hațegan, Ioan (1997).
''Filippo Scolari. Un condotier italian pe meleaguri dunărene''
Timișoara: Ed. Mirton, (online version)
* Hațegan, Ioan, Boldea, Ligia and Țeicu, Dumitru (2006).
''Cronologia Banatului: Banatul între 934–1552''
vol. II, part 1, Timișoara: Ed. Banatul, (online version)
* Hațegan, Ioan (2005).
''Cronologia Banatului: Vilayetul de Timișoara''
vol. II, part 2, Timișoara: Ed. Banatul, (online version)
* Hațegan, Ioan (2006).
''Prin Timișoara de odinioară: I. De la începuturi până la 1716''
Timișoara: Ed. Banatul, (online version)
* Hațegan, Ioan (2008).
''Timișoara în Evul Mediu''
Timișoara: Ed. Banatul, (online version)
* Hațegan, Ioan and Petroman, Cornel (2008). ''Istoria Timișoarei'', vol. I, Timișoara: Ed. Banatul,
* Hațegan, Ioan and Petroman, Cornel (2008). ''Istoria Timișoarei'', vol. II, Timișoara: Ed. Banatul,
* Capotescu, Valentin (2008). ''Arhitectura militară bastionară în România'', vol. I: Cetatea Timișoarei, Timișoara: Ed. Bastion,
*Opriș, Mihai and Botescu, Mihai (2014). ''Arhitectura istorică din Timișoara'', Timișoara: Ed. Tempus,
* Glăvan, Ciprian (2013). ''Defortificarea cetății Timișoarei'', in ''Analele Banatului'', s.n., Arheologie – Istorie, XXI, Timișoara, pp. 421–430
External links
''Adevărul''
* Qureshi, Urooj (2014
Unearthing a lost empire
archaeological research on the rehabilitation of the Timișoara Center in 2014, ''Dawn''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Timișoara Fortress
Fortress
A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from L ...
Buildings and structures in Timișoara
Historic monuments in Timiș County
Forts in Romania
Forts in Hungary
Former capitals of Hungary
Demolished buildings and structures in Romania
Buildings and structures demolished in 1898