Treaty of Karlowitz
The Treaty of Karlowitz was signed on January 16, 1699. This treaty was signed in response to the Ottoman wars with the Habsburgs, the Venetians, the Poles and the Russians. The Treaty of Karlowitz ended a fifteen-year period of war in the aftermath of the Ottomans' failed siege of Vienna in 1683. The peace negotiations began only after numerous and urgent Ottoman requests for peace and diplomatic efforts by England and the Dutch Republic. The Ottomans had been desperate to end the war after “the army under the sultan was annihilated by Eugene of Savoy in open field confrontations.” (Battle of Zenta)The treaty outlines the post-war agreements between the Ottomans, the Venetians, the Poles and the Habsburgs. (A peace treaty with Russia was not signed until July 1700). The Treaty of Karlowitz forced the Ottomans to surrender a significant amount of territory to the Habsburgs and the Venetians. The Habsburgs gained Hungary, Croatia and Transylvania from the Ottomans. The Venetians received Dalmatia and Morea. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth gained Podolia. These territorial losses had drastic effects on the geopolitical power of the Ottoman Empire. “With the Treaty of Karlowitz, the Ottoman Empire ceased to be a dominating power in Central and Eastern Europe and began to take a defensive position to its Christian neighbors.”