Eugene was instantly dispatched with an efficient, compact army, disciplined by twelve years of warfare, to resist the Moslem invaders.  The hostile battalions met at Karlowitz, but a few miles from Peterwarden, on the 5th of August, 1716.  The tempest blazed with terrific fury for a few hours, when the Turkish host turned and fled.  Thirty thousand of their number, including the grand vizier who led the host, were left dead upon the field.  In their utter discomfiture they abandoned two hundred and fifty pieces of heavy artillery, and baggage, tents and military stores to an immense amount.  Fifty Turkish banners embellished the camp of the victors.

And now Eugene led his triumphant troops, sixty thousand in number, down the river to lay siege to Belgrade.  This fortress, which the labor of ages had strengthened, was garrisoned by thirty thousand troops, and was deemed almost impregnable.  Eugene invested the place and commenced the slow and tedious operations of a siege.  The sultan immediately dispatched an army of two hundred thousand men to the relief of his beleaguered fortress.  The Turks, arriving at the scene of action, did not venture an assault upon their intrenched foes, but intrenched themselves on heights, outside of the besieging camp, in a semicircle extending from the Danube to the Save.  They thus shut up the besiegers in the miasmatic marshes which surrounded the city, cut off their supplies of provisions, and from their advancing batteries threw shot into the Austrian camp.  “A man,” said Napoleon, “is not a soldier.”  The Turks had two hundred thousand men in their camp, raw recruits.  Eugene had sixty thousand veteran soldiers.  He decided to drive off the Turks who annoyed him.  It was necessary for him to detach twenty thousand to hold in check the garrison of Belgrade, who might sally to the relief of their companions.  This left him but forty thousand troops with whom to assail two hundred thousand strongly intrenched.  He did not hesitate in the undertaking.

CHAPTER XXIII.

CHARLES VI.

From 1716 to 1727.

Heroic Decision of Eugene.—­Battle of Belgrade.—­Utter Rout of the Turks.—­Possessions of Charles VI.—­The Elector of Hanover Succeeds to the English Throne.—­Preparations for War.—­State of Italy.—­Philip V. of Spain.—­Diplomatic Agitations.—­Palace of St. Ildefonso.—­Order of the Golden Fleece.—­Rejection of Maria Anne.—­Contest for the Rock of Gibraltar.—­Dismissal of Ripperda.—­Treaty of Vienna.—­Peace Concluded.

The enterprise upon which Eugene had resolved was bold in the extreme.  It could only be accomplished by consummate bravery aided by equal military skill.  The foe they were to attack were five to one, and were protected by well-constructed redoubts, armed with the most formidable batteries.  They were also abundantly supplied with cavalry, and the Turkish cavalry were esteemed the finest horsemen in the world.  There was but one circumstance in favor of Eugene.  The Turks did not dream that he would have the audacity to march from the protection of his intrenchments and assail them behind their own strong ramparts.  There was consequently but little difficulty in effecting a surprise.