Early Modern Forests and the Habsburg-Ottoman Wars

Abstract

Scholarship traditionally emphasises the destructive nature of wars on landscapes, with the impact of military activities on forests referred to most frequently. Modern weapons and, consequently, modern warfare have undoubtedly had a tremendous impact on landscapes. The American Civil War, the two World Wars and the Viet Nam War all fundamentally changed the landscape of the areas where they were fought. Two distinct problems regarding the impact of pre-modern warfare on forests are discussed in contemporary literature; the deliberate destruction of forests — that is scorched earth tactics — and the different war-related industries. The article approaches the second problem using the example of the western part of the Carpathian Basin in the early modern period. The area in question was affected by a period of war between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg Empire (including the Kingdom of Hungary) that lasted approximately one and a half centuries. During this period (ca. 1540−1690), the Ottomans gradually expanded their power to part of this area. In order to secure the hinterlands on both sides, major fortification works began in the middle of the sixteenth century. According to the scholarship, this had a devastating impact on the forest resources in the area as most of the fortifications were built of wood. The article offers a methodology to study the impact of fortification works on forest resources, which, with some limitations, can be applied to other case study areas as well. The timber requirement of an individual earth and wood fortification can be estimated relatively easily, and by gathering a database on the fortifications in a certain area, drawn from existing scholarly opinion, the most important new sphere of timber consumption can be understood with at least a rough approximation. In this article, I will argue that the Habsburgs’ measures to protect the forests in the Kingdom was most probably not a sign of resource scarcity but in fact shows the beginning of conscious forest management.