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| Battle of Zernest | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part ofGreat Turkish War | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Holy Roman EmpireTransylvania | HungarianKurucs Ottoman EmpireCrimean Khanate Wallachia | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Donat Heissler (POW) Mihály Teleki † | Imre Thököly Constantin Brâncoveanu Cerkes Ahmed Paşa † Ghazi Garay | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 2,000 Imperial cavalrymen 7,000 Transylvanians | 16,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 1,800 Imperials killed, wounded or prisoner | 300 | ||||||
TheBattle of Zernest was fought on 11 August 1690, near the town of Zernest in southeasternTransylvania (todayZărnești, inRomania), between the allied forces of Transylvania and theHoly Roman Empire, and the allied forces of theOttoman Empire,Tatar allies,Wallachians, andHungarian Kurucs.
Imre Thököly aspired to proclaim himselfPrince of Transylvania; allied with the Turks, he had campaigned unsuccessfully in 1686 and 1688 to win the Transylvanian crown. In 1690 he launched another campaign. TheSultan gave him command of a 16,000-men (mostly Ottomans, Tatars, and some Kurucs) army with which he penetrated into Transylvania. He was later joined by WallachianVoivodeConstantin Brâncoveanu with a few thousand troops.
Brâncoveanu was the true master-mind of the campaign and managed to pass the Ottoman army through the Carpathians on barely known mountain-passes and so bypassing theBran Pass which was defended and fortified by the Imperial army. Donat Heissler was as such forced to give battle near the city of Zărnești.
In the battle fought near this city, the combined Ottoman army decisively defeated the united Habsburg–Transylvanian army and captured Donat Heissler. Transylvanian countMihály Teleki was killed in action.
Following this victory, a Diet called inKereszténysziget[dubious –discuss] electedImre Thököly Prince of Transylvania. Nevertheless, he could only maintain his position against the Habsburg armies with the utmost difficulty. In 1691 he quit Transylvania altogether.
Though Imre Thököly's reign was short-lived, it forced the Imperial army to move troops fromSerbia to take back Transylvania, as from Transylvania, Hungary and the Imperial supply and communication lines could have been attacked. This movement of troops made it possible for the Ottomans to push theHoly League's army back across theDanube and even recapture theBanat. As a result, a stable front was made on the Danube river and on theCarpathian Mountains.
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