Europe’s debt to Croatia

Re: Austria Is Still Turkey’s Nemesis, Gerald Owen, Oct. 8. Gerald Owen has correctly analyzed Central Europe’s antipathy to Turkish reintegration into Europe. The realpolitik of previous centuries is indeed impacting current events today. However, while he correctly cites the European sacrifice and heroism at the gates of Vienna in repulsing the Turkish Sultan’s armies, Owen underestimates both the Austrian and European debt to Croatia.

While the Balkans languished under Ottoman servitude, heroic Croatia constituted the vanguard in Austria’s defence against the Turkish scimitar. For five centuries in battle after epic battle, Croatia spilt its blood in defence of Christian Europe, in battles such as Mohac, Köszeg, Sisak and Sziget, to name just a few.

During the siege of Sziget in 1566, Croat Nikola Subic Zrinski entered the annals of military history with his 2,500 brave soldiers (mostly Croats) against an army of 90,000 Turks. During this battle, the frustrated Suleiman the Magnificent died in a furious apoplectic seizure. His underlings were obliged to carry his corpse about the field of battle on a litter, in a subterfuge to bolster Turkish morale. Decades later, Cardinal Richelieu, the famed minister to King Louis XIII, observed the following:

“ A miracle was necessary for the Habsburg Empire and Europe to survive. And the miracle happened in Sziget.”

Europe, this week, would do well to remember this debt of gratitude as Croatia begins negotiations for entry into the EU.