Den Krieg legitimieren: Die Habsburgischen Manifeste gegen die Osmanen im 18. Jahrhundert

Legitimizing the War: the Habsburg Manifestos against the Ottomans in the 18th Century

Bulgarian Historical Review, 53 (2025), No. 4, pp. 69-93
DOI: https://doi.org/10.71069/BHR4.25.MB03

Maria Baramova

Assoc. Prof. Maria Baramova, Ph.D. - St. Kliment Ohridski Sofia University, Faculty of History, 15 Tzar Osvoboditel Blvd, Sofia 1504, Bulgaria, ORCID: 0000-0001-7438-4412, E-mail: baramova@uni-sofia.bg

Abstract: The article investigates how, in the second half of the seventeenth and throughout the eighteenth century, the Habsburg monarchy legitimized wars against the Ottoman Empire and how the transformation of that legitimization was reflected in wartime and peacetime messages addressed to different audiences — their own subjects, allies, and the Christians in the Ottoman provinces in the Balkans. Through an analysis of imperial manifestos and proclamations, it traces the shift from the traditional concept of bellum iustum and crusading rhetoric 93 to rationalized, legally and pragmatically grounded Kriegserklärungen premised on breaches of peace treaties and the balance of power. Propaganda practices — appeals to Orthodox and Catholic communities in the Balkans, calls for “liberation,” and later promises of religious freedom and humanity for potential Muslim subjects — are interpreted as instruments for legitimizing Habsburg expansion and for mobilizing local support. A comparative approach also reveals the influence of Russian rhetoric and the role of the press in shaping public opinion. The study demonstrates that sustaining a successful military-political presence in the Balkans required deliberately constructed public messages that synthesized legal, religious, and diplomatic arguments.

Keywords: Habsburgs, Holy Roman Empire; Ottoman Empire; declaration of war, propaganda; the Balkans.

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