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With the capture of Constantinople in 1453 AD and the fall of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire the Turks (Osmans) took on the status of a superpower.  During the reign of Sultan Suleiman I (1520-1566 AD), a contemporary of the Habsburger Emperor Charles V, there was a massive expansion into the west.  The Hungarian Empire was defeated in 1526 AD (at the battle of Mohács) and Suleiman’s troops first besieged Vienna in 1529 AD.  The freezing winter and the plague halted the siege.  In the period following this war was commonplace.  A myriad of coalitions were formed to drive back the Islamic Turks and safeguard Christianity.  In 1683 AD a second attempt was made by the Turks to capture Vienna, after months of warfare the city was saved at the last moment under the command of the Polish King Jan III Sobieski

 

kasteelruinesdonau1The tide of the Ottoman advance in Europe was reversed during the following period.  By contrast the commoners were not markedly anti-Turk.  They had been granted a certain level of autonomy in education, religion and domestic affairs.  The farming communities were quite happy to live under the Turkish rule for the intervening 150 years.  The heavy feudal taxes of the prior Hungarian Empire had largely disappeared.  Even so, the Turks were driven back and replaced by the Austrians.  From 1718 AD Slatina-Timis belonged to the Habsburg Monarchy as we in the Southern Netherlands also belonged.  We remained compatriots until 1794 under the rule of the Imperial Court in Vienna.  Slatina-Timis was situated in the border region and regularly formed the theatre for battles during the Austro-Turkish war; in fact Slatina-Timis often housed partisans fighting against Austrian rule.

 

Compiled from “The History of Slatina-Timis” by Gheorghe Zeicu, history professor. Slatina-Timis: The rebellion of Slatina-Timis against the Austrians (1736-1739 AD).

 

The wild and sparsely populated Banat was now populated by colonists who received the best plots of land.  The feudal exploitation and hefty taxes only fueled unrest.  Above this all the spectre of war still hung.  The Turks were never very far away.  Primarily the better treatment of the colonists in favour of the native inhabitants caused tempers to flare.  The abuses committed by the Austrian army, that was quartered in the village, were worse than those experienced during the Turkish occupation.  In 1737 AD there were already several skirmishes between farmers and the Austrians.  These attacks lasted throughout the winter (1737-1738).  There were actual battles fought in Lugoj, Caransebes and Slatina-Timis.  The Austrian army was drafted in subdue the rebels.  The farmers had dug in in the hills towards Trei Ape.  On 23rd January 1739 the Austrians fielded 400 cavalry and 700 infantry against the entrenched farmers and won a decisive battle.  The major also sided with the rebels, Slatina-Timis was razed to the ground and the food reserves were seized.  The surrounding villages (Golet, Petrosnita, Bolvasnita, Borlova) suffered the same fate.  A tragedy for the surviving widows, elders and children, left homeless and starving in the cold winter. jozefIIa

 MariatheresiavanOostenrijkIIa

Maria-Theresa sent her son Joseph II to the region (3 times) to provide an objective report of the situation.  Much abuse and harassment by the Austrian administration came to light.  However no lasting solution was implemented even when Joseph II himself became Emperor

 

 

 

 

Slatina-Timis continued to be hotbed of resistance during the next period.  In the annals of the Roman Catholic parish pastor Joseph Nowak wrote:

As a result of the harsh administration many had retreated to the forests.  They occasionally skirmished with the Austrian rulers.  Their captain was Petru balan, brother of the mayor at the time, who enjoyed support in Golet and Slatina-Timis.  The Austrian prefect Megyeri, who lived in Slatina-Timis, invented a clever ploy to catch the group.  Maria-Theresa was to pardon them if they attended the mass on 20th November 1770. They fell for the trick and were executed.  Petru Balan was sentenced by his brother the mayor.  2 prisoners escaped into the forests once more.  1 year later on 1st November 1771 they returned with 50 sympathisers, surrounded the the barracks and set fire to the prefect’s residence.  The prefect Megyeri, his wife and children, were killed