Captives in 18th Century Diplomacy: Austrian Captives in the Ottoman Empire after the Treaty of Karlowitz

Abstract

The 18th century emerges as an era in which the interstate relations of diplomacy emerged in the world. Diplomacy began to rise during the process started after the Treaty of Westphalia, which ended thirty years’ wars. The changing conditions were reflected in the treaties with the Ottoman Empire and the European states. The Treaty of Karlowitz, which was signed after long wars, became a treaty in which this diplomacy was applied. The most important clause of the treaties was the captives of war. In this sense the Treaty of Karlowitz was the beginning. The situation of captives of war was handled mutually and the extradition of captives was included in the treaty text. But there was a problem. A captive of war was also a spoils of war. This was not only true for the Ottoman Empire, but also for the European states. From the moment the spoil was distributed among the soldiers, it was transferred to the property of the person. Interference with personal property was out of the question. In fact, these people could have already sold the captive and even changed a few hands. The state found the solution in paying the cost of the captives to their owners. Thus, the person who took the captive would not be financially damaged. However, there was only one rule in the treaties that was followed by the state. The captive should not have changed his/her religion during this period. If the captive had changed his/her religion that is, accepted Islam, he/she could no longer be returned.

In this article, our aim was to examine the situation of Austrian captives who were captured in the wars with Austria from the Treaty of Karlowitz signed in 1699 to the Treaty of Sistova in 1791 and to evaluate the return process of captives within the framework of the changing rules of diplomacy. First of all, since the Ottoman Empire was an Islamic state, the issue of the return of captives was addressed in the changing process in the 18th century after the situation of captives in Islamic law was discussed. The main problem of the article was which method was followed, how the problems experienced in the return of the captives were reflected in the relations with Austria, how the captives in the hands of the citizen were followed. Therefore, the measures taken by the state were emphasized. In order to reveal this process, first of all, Ottoman archive documents and books and works written by the scholars of the period were used.