Balkan Wars

James D. Tracy is emeritus professor of history at the University of Minnesota.

• Maps Introduction Prologue: Ottoman Expansion in the Balkans1 Hungary and Venice Defeated2 The Ottoman Advantage: Advances in Slavonia, Croatia, andDalmatia3 Diplomacy and Kleinkrieg4 War by Consultation vs. War by Command5 War in a Time of Peace6 Two Wars and Three BordersConclusion Glossary Bibliography

The Habsburg-Ottoman battle to dominate the Mediterranean world in the 16th century has received considerable scholarly attention, with many accounts portraying this as a ‘clash of civilizations.’ What has been overlooked was the fight for the Balkans. Tracy remedies that with his portrayal of this three-way struggle for Balkan ascendancy among the Habsburgs, the Ottomans, and the Venetian Republic. Like a chess master, Tracy details the strategic and military roles of the three powers and their proxies. He relies extensively on Hungarian and Turkish sources and provides considerable insight into these strategic attempts to dominate the region. More significant was the role of the Venetian Republic, which challenges a ‘clash of civilizations’ argument. Venetian merchants, predominantly Christian, maintained good relations with the Ottomans to preserve access to the spice markets, and La Serenissima’s rulers often undercut Habsburg efforts to launch a crusade against Islam. Summing Up:Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.