page_title: Battle of Sisak
section_title: Premise
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Sisak / Premise
caption_attribution_description: English: Anonymous modern representation of the successful assault on the Habsburg Croatian fortified town of Bihać (Bihka in Ottoman Turkish) by the Ejalet-i Bosna Ottoman provincial forces led by Gazi Hasan-paša Predojević, in 1592.
context_page_description: The Battle of Sisak was fought on 22 June 1593 between Ottoman regional forces of Telli Hasan Pasha, a notable commander of the Eyalet of Bosnia, and a combined Christian army from the Habsburg lands, mainly Kingdom of Croatia and Inner Austria. The battle took place at Sisak, central Croatia, at the confluence of the rivers Sava and Kupa.
  Earlier in 1591 and 1592 the Ottomans had two failed attempts of capturing the Sisak fortress, but managed to take the strategically important fortress of Bihać in 1592. The Sisak fortress was again besieged by a large Ottoman force on 15 June 1593. The garrison in Sisak was commanded by Blaž Đurak and Matija Fintić, both from the Diocese of Zagreb.
  An army under the supreme command of the Styrian general Ruprecht von Eggenberg was quickly assembled to break the siege. The Croatian troops were led by the Ban of Croatia, Thomas Erdődy, and major forces from the Duchy of Carniola and the Duchy of Carinthia were led by Andreas von Auersperg, nicknamed the "Carniolan Achilles". They made a surprise attack on the besieging forces on 22 June. The ensuing battle resulted in a crushing defeat for the regional Ottoman forces, triggering the Long War.
context_section_description: In August 1591, without a declaration of war, Telli Hasan Pasha, Ottoman beylerbey of the Eyalet of Bosnia and vizier, attacked Croatia and reached Sisak, but was repelled after four days of fighting. Tamás Erdődy, Ban of Croatia, launched a counterattack and seized much of the Moslavina region. The same year Hasan Pasha launched another attack, taking the town of Ripač on the Una River. These raids forced Erdődy to convene a meeting of the Croatian Parliament in Zagreb on 5 January 1592 and declare a general uprising to defend the country. These actions of the regional Ottoman forces under Hasan Pasha seem to have been contrary to the interest and policy of the central Ottoman administration in Constantinople, and due rather to aims of conquest and organized plundering by the war-like Bosnian sipahi, although perhaps also under the pretext of putting an end to Uskok raids into the Eyalet, since the two realms had signed a nine-year peace treaty earlier in 1590.
  In June 1592 Hasan Pasha captured Bihać and directed his forces towards Sisak for the second time. The fall of Bihać caused fear in Croatia since it had stood on the border for decades. Hasan Pasha also successfully captured and burnt the Ban's military encampment in Brest on 19 July 1592, built by Erdődy a few months earlier near Petrinja. The camp had around 3,000 men, while the Ottoman forces had around 7–8,000. On 24 July the Ottomans started besieging Sisak, but lifted the siege after 5 days of fighting and heavy losses, leaving the region of Turopolje ravaged. These events encouraged the Emperor to make more effort in order to stop the Ottomans, whose actions were halted by the winter.
caption: Anonymous modern representation of the successful assault on the Habsburg Croatian fortified town of Bihać (Bihka in Ottoman Turkish) by the Ejalet-i Bosna Ottoman provincial forces led by Gazi Hasan-paša Predojević, in 1592.
exif: {}