Siege of Belgrade (1787–1788) 1787
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 2 December 1787 – 18 January 1788 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1787 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | Serbia | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Austro-Turkish Wars | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Habsburg monarchy, Ottoman Empire | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 44.8167, 20.4667 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
There were attempts by the Austrian army to besiege Belgrade, a strategically important city on the Habsburg–Ottoman border, on 2–3 December 1787 and 18 January 1788 that failed. Austria planned to take Belgrade by surprise, before a declaration of war. The operation of taking Belgrade without a fight was always part of Austrian tactics throughout the 18th century.
Emperor Joseph II tasked major general József Alvinczi with taking Belgrade without battle. Alvinczi went to Zemun (opposite Belgrade, Habsburg territory) and conspired with Orthodox priest Nikola Radomirović, Živko Milenković and Jovan Novaković Čardaklija to open the Nebojša Gate, Dizdar Gate in the lower fort and Defterdar Gate between the forts, which they did, on the night of 2–3 December 1787. Serbian Free Corps commander Radič Petrović and Austrian captain Mack with 200 Serb volunteers arrived at the fort foundations with boats on the Sava. The planned 12 Austrian battalions with artillery at Zemun, who were to disarm the Ottoman soldiers sleeping in the barracks and capture the Vizier, never reached due to heavy winds stopping their chaikas. The trio at the gates waited until morning and then saw Austrian signals for aborting the mission. They fled to Syrmia after sabotaging the nearby bastion cannons.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Siege of Belgrade (1787–1788) (revision 1366233884), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Siege of Belgrade (1521) 1521 · 0 km
- Siege of Belgrade (1456) 1456 · 0 km
- Siege of Belgrade (1789) 1789 · 0 km
- Siege of Belgrade (1688) 1688 · 0 km
- Siege of Belgrade (1690) 1690 · 0 km
- Fall of Belgrade (1915) 1915 · 1 km
Other battles of the Austro-Turkish Wars
Browse more: battles in Serbia · Europe · Early modern battles