PETROVARADIN FORTRESS

On the right bank of the Danube, by the city of Novi Sad, on a rocky range of Mt. Fruška Gora, a mighty bastion has been rising for centuries – Petrovaradin Fortress. According to archeological data and historical sources from the Neolithic until the 13th century, the ’pre-history’ of the monumental building complex is hidden behind many hypotheses, legends and guesses...

The fortified Roman border (limes) on the Danube’s banks is associated with the possible existence of a military fortification Cusum (or Militum) on the site of the present-day fortress, stretching toward the slopes of Mt. Fruška Gora and the town of Kamenica. There is a reference to the establishment of the Roman Veste Cusum dating from the year 30 BC.
Throughout the early medieval history, Petrovaradin Fortress indubitably had a tempestuous history, yet it has remained unknown and insufficiently explored. In mid-5th century, the Huns broke southward of the Danube, took hold of numerous towns sacking them, and in 448 AD burned down a major center of the Empire in this part of the Balkans – Sirmium. It was at that time that the Huns seized Cusum to take the advantages of its excellent geographical and strategical situation.
The fall of the Western Roman Empire implied the retreat of the Roman legions from the Danubian parts; the new-coming peoples settled the areas along the Danube and found the ruins of the Roman fortifications there. During the Byzantine rule, Petrovaradin – that is, Petrikon, as the place was then named – gained even more in its military-strategic significance. This became particlularly clear in the second half of the 12th century.
The rise of the Hungarian state during the reign of Béla IV and the events following the Mongol penetration into the Pannonian Plain brought about changes in the history of Petrovaradin Fortress.
In the year 1237, Petrovaradin was granted by Béla IV to the Cistercian monastery that held its parish on the territory of the present-day town of Petrovaradin.
The fortification erected by the Cistercian monks between 1247 and 1252 became the first war-intended fort which, as some sources suggest, was unconquerable. From mid-13th century, Petrovaradin had a new master. The expansion of the Serbian medieval feudal state included the area into the state of the Serbian rulers.
Toward the end of the 14th century, the Turkish onrush to the Balkan Peninsula was not  merely another stage in military campaigns but a base for a wide network of strongholds to be used for further advancing northward, toward Central Europe.

During the 15th century, all of the South-Slavic feudal states were conquered. After the fall of Constantinople and the collapse of the Serbian Despotate, two large rivers of the Balkan Peninsula, the Sava and the Danube, were the last barriers against Turkish penetration into Europe. As strongholds on the frontier-rivers, Belgrade and Petrovaradin fell in the early decades of the 16th century. The until then largest and best organized Turkish army ever, under the command of one of the greatest rulers of the Ottoman Empire – Suleiman the Magnificent – took hold of Belgrade in 1521. The all-out offensive which deplored more than 100,000 Turkish troops with three hundred cannons, had set out from Constantinople in the direction of Belgrade. The Grand Vizier Ibrahim led an army of 40,000 onto Petrovaradin.  The first to be seized were the towns of Zemun, Mitrovica, Kupinovo, and Slankamen, then followed some additional forts, and on July 12, 1526 the Turkish force stood at the foot of Petrovaradin Fortress. In spite of the heroic defense which endured until July 15, the weak and unprepared fortification manned with 1,000 soldiers, fell into Turkish hands. This first battle fought for Petrovaradin Fortress marked the beginning of the Turkish rule over this strategic point of the Danubian lands. Throughout the agelong domination of the Turks, Petrovaradin Fortress did not play any military role and therefore was not built as a fortification of particular significance. It was an ordinary fort of temporary importance, with a permanent garrison that counted some 800 men. Not a single building theron was made of durable material. Neither the Turks, controlling the Danube upstream to Buda, worked on fortifying Petrovaradin. Thus, the fort partly preserved its medieval shape. When the Turks suffered defeat at Harsanyi in 1687, the Petrovaradin garrison left the Petrovaradin post, and the Srem was ceded to the Austrians. The defeat in the 1691 Battle of Szalankemen/Slankamen meant the termination of the Ottoman rule over Petrovaradin as well. In the aftermath of the Fall of Belgrade (1690), the major Turkish losses in the battles and a certain decline of their imperial power caused abrupt changes in the military balance related to the struggle for the Danubian lands.

A major turning point occurred then in the history of Petrovaradin Fortress. The remains of the medieval (Hungarian and Turkish) fort were pulled down, and the construction of a massive, modern fortress designed in accordance with the Vauban system began. It was one of the largest in Central Europe. The works started on the south side where the first in a series of bastions was erected – the Upper Fortress (Leopold Bastion). Other bastions followed (bearing the names of Innocent, Joseph, Ludwig, Theresa). In the year 1694, during the first stage of construction, a fierce battle was waged there, as one of the last Turkish attempts to take hold of Petrovaradin. Commanding twenty-six thousand troops, Caprara managed to defend the fort and stop the Turkish penetration northward under the leadership of Ali-Pasha. This event, as well as some new conflicts between the Turks and the Austrians, impeded the continuity and intensity of construction works. As a result of the 1699 Treaties of Karlowitz/Karlovci, the Turks finally retreated from the area, yet they kept their presence in the eastern vicinity, which raised the strategic role of Petrovaradin Fortress.
During the subsequent period of relative peace and convenient circumstances until 1728, the Upper Fortress was expanded with bastions, ravelins and counterscarps. At that time, parts of the Lower Fortress were built, too, as well as the triangular trench of the bridgehead on the opposite, left bank of the Danube (Brückenschanze) – Petrovaradinski šanac; a quadrangular citadel on the river isle (Inselschanze), and, finally – Hornwerk, a two-horned bulwark structure facing the south side, the most threatened one. On the side along the Danube, a crownwork (Kronwerk) was built.

During the 1715-18 war between Austria and Turkey, one of the decisive battles was fought on the slopes of Petrovaradin's hillside. The famous battle of August 5, 1716 was a gigantic conflict between the empires in their agelong struggle for the Danubian lands. Toward the battle in question, a massive Turkish army, led by Grand Vizier Damad Ali-Pasha, crossed the Sava River aiming to seize Petrovaradin Fortress. The fortress garrison counted about eight thousand men. The Turkish advance on Petrovaradin was counterstruck by the Austrian greatest military leader of the day Eugene of Savoy with some seventy-six thousand troops concentrated in a huge camp at Futog. The Grand Vizier left his encampment at Banovci and as early as in the evening of August 2 the Turkish army was developing its formations on the hill range between Karlovci and Petrovaradin. Their general staff, girdled with a double ring of chariots, was encamped on the hill near the present-day church at Tekije. It was the Austrians who made the attack, at 7 a.m. The great battle, which took changeable course and brought victory to the Austrians, came to an end at 11 a.m. The outcome implied a huge war triumphs gained by the Austrian army: one hundred and seventy-two cannons, one hundred and fifty-six banners, five horse tails, the Grand Vizier's tent, two thousand camels; an imposing quantity of war material and the Turkish treasury were left in the swampland between the Danube and Petrovaradin. After the victory at Petrovaradin, Eugene of Savoy took hold of Timişoara, and then, in 1717, Belgrade; in 1718, the Treaty of Passarowitz/Požarevac was signed. The new situation and the supremacy of Austria brought some essential changes in the growth of the Fortress, for it lost in significance now, falling into the shadow of another, now much more significant fortification to Austria – Belgrade Fortress at the confluence of the Sava and the Danube.

After decades of conflicts, the Treaty of Belgrade (1739) introduced a long-term settlement between Austria and Turkey. To Petrovaradin Fortress, it meant revival. Following nearly three decades of stagnation (1726-53), the construction works undertaken from 1753 to 1780 rounded off the monumental building complex – "the Gibraltar on the Danube". During that period, the Lower Fortress was extended onto the land toward Suburbium and the present-day Belgrade Gate. The old Turkish cemetery was removed, and their mosque was converted into a gunpowder magazine. On the central plateau on top, the Long Barracks, the Understated Barracks and the Cannon Hall/Mamula Arsenal were erected. Water-supply system was installed, too, and Ludwig Bastion got its clock-tower. The town at the foot also gained its characteristic architectural contours: an urbanized settlement with large buildings that provided accomodation to officers, administration premises, a hospital etc. It had taken nine decades for the ambitious plans to come true. Yet the former wartime experiences advised that it was also necessary to build dungeons and other structures in the subterranean parts of the Fortress. In the year 1764, the War Council adopted the plan to construct a system of underground galleries. The works on this special, large and extremely complicated part of the fortification  began in 1768, to be completed in 1776. The dungeons, underground galleries, were built on four floor-levels. The length of the corridors is about sixteen kilometers. Such a system provided possibilities for planting mine-fields and tearing down or blowing up of selected floors in case of enemy threat. However, such circumstances were never to occur in history, for those who had built this singular military fortification complex never used it for defence, since the struggles for this stronghold ceased toward the end of the 18th century, and that was also the case with some other strongholds in the north of the Balkan Peninsula. It is noteworthy that in the same period the deep-reaching War Well was dug out as well: it was located in the Hornwerk. With a depth of 39 m, the well served as a source for the supply of water in case of siege, and could provide for the whole of the fortress.
With the subterranean system and some smaller buildings completed in 1780, Petrovaradin Fortress gained its final appearance which has been preserved until today. During the Austro-Turkish War of 1788-89, the Fortress was in the background of war events. The only minor conflict there was seizure of twelve šajka gunboats of the Turkish fleet in front of Petrovaradin Fortress. 
Although out of the way of war operations, Petrovaradin Fortress was in early 19th century the most perfect fortification in the Austrian Monarchy. Its garrison counted four thousand men, and two thousand centners of gunpowder was stored in its powder magazines. With four hundred cannons (howitzers and mortars) that made a considerable weapon capacity, the Fortress was truly unconquerable. One interesting detail is worth mentioning: in the time of Napoleonic campaigns, the imperial family chose this fortress to secure their treasury, archives and many valuables therein.
The huge fortress, the construction of which had taken nearly one whole century, was the burial place for thousands of people whose bones were built into the walls of the giant. Some sources provide information on human loss in the time of most intensive works: due to severe climate, poor nutrition, hard forced labor, epidemic diseases – fifty to seventy people would die daily. 'Aliens' Tomb' – that is how the Fortress was referred to in mid-18th century.
At the beginning of the 19th century, especially during and after the First Serbian Uprising, Petrovaradin Fortress played the role of a forefend post and a bastion that was to protect the Empire's interests on the Balkan Peninsula, and a large prison inhabited – in the 19th century - with the convicts or internees who had fought for the ideas of national and social liberation.
Following the failure of the First Serbian Uprising [1804-13], [its leader Djordje Petrović] Karadjordje retreated to Zemun on September 21, 1813, and on October 3, 1813 – at the order of the War Council – he was moved onto the territory of the Petrovaradin Regiment, to be further accomodated at the Upper Fortress. It was until January 22, 1814 that Karadjordje stayed at Petrovaradin Fortress with his family and escort. It has been ascertained that he lived in the Officers' Pavilion under permanent surveillance and with confined area of moving around, his correspondence being controlled.
There are sources from the first half of the 19th century which make it possible to reconstruct the picture of this military fortification which had survived and was gaining a different physiognomy:
"In that time preceding the [Hungarian] Revolt, Varadin had an entirely different physiognomy. Not that it changed externally: the ditches and the buildings remained the same, but life was something else. At that time, Varadin's garrison was extremely large, made up of soldiers with all sorts of arms. A great many artillerymen, pioneers, pontoniers...Varadin had three generals then... The trenches were lined with cannons all the time... The Varadin of today is not comparable to the Varadin of before the Revolt at all. But there was one particularly sad thing at Varadin in that time: the buzzing and rattling of the chains worn by the convicts who were doing various errands in the streets, especially carrying water... Days and nights, the convicts' fetters could be heard rattling..."
(From "Pokojnici"/"The Deceased" by Mihajlo Polit- Desančić)
Over the short period of the revolutionary movements of 1848-49, Petrovaradin was one of the major strongholds of the Hungarian rebels; due to the fact that the garrison was mostly manned with Hungarian soldiers and Commander being a Hungarian himself, it was from this fortress that Novi Sad was disastrously bombarded on June 12, 1849. The Hungarian Revolution being put down, Petrovaradin became an Austrian fortress again, to remain so until 1918.
In the latter half of the 19th century, especially the 1870's and 1880's, owing to the political activities of some prominent figures, new, revolutionary and socialist ideas were related to the history of the Fortress. Following the assassination of Serbia's Prince Mihailo in Belgrade, Austro-Hungary took some measures aimed at prevention of activity and residential status of some leading politicians who were staying in Novi Sad at that time.  Thus, on June 26, 1868, the Government's Commissary issued an order for the arrestment of Vladimir Jovanović and Ljuben Karavelov on the charges of participating in the plot to murder Prince Mihailo. Their apartments being thoroughly searched and their possessions confiscated, Ljuben Karavelov and Vladimir Jovanović were taken into Petrovaradin Fortress.
The national leader Vasa Pelagić, one of the first socialists in Vojvodina, was also imprisoned in the casemates of Petrovaradin. He had been sentenced to 101 years in prison for his national-liberation cause in the enslaved Bosnia, but had managed to escape from a jail in Asia Minor. Having arrived in Novi Sad, he continued to agitate against the Hungarian feudal lords and Serb clergymen. Stigmatized as "a rebel dangerous for all countries", Pelagić was arrested in late November of 1872, put in chains and imprisoned in the underground casemates of the Fortress. After a while, he was set free from there and banished from Hungary. The late-19th-century convicts serving in the prisons of the Fortress included Antun Gustav Matoš who later gained fame as a Croatian writer.
The prisoners also included the patriots who were shot in a trench of the Fortress in 1914 as the victims of the raging and revengful Austro-Hungarian military. Some patriots from the village of Beška, young and talented painter Danica Jovanović being one of them, were shot in a ditch near the gate on the southeastern side of the fortress, on the place now marked by a commemorative plaque.

On the eve of World War One, and later, during the wartime, the Fortress continued to be not only a large garrison and a powerfully armed stronghold but also a prison. A large number of people, not from the Srem only but from other parts of the country as well, were kept imprisoned in the casemates of the Fortress. Among the thousands of the drafted men from Croatia, there was the young metalworker Josip Broz at the moment of the war's outbreak. ("...Anti-war moods spread unusually fast in our regiment. Since I spoke to the soldiers against the war, I was imprisoned at Petrovaradin Fortress for a while.")
As a non-commissioned officer, Josip Broz came to Petrovaradin in the winter of 1914. He publicly expressed his anti-war attitude and admitted to be a socialist with a plan to surrender to the Russians and join them on the Galician [Polish] front. The statement being conveyed further, he was arrested and detained in a cell near what is now called Belgrade Gate. Since his guilt remained unproved, Josip Broz was set free.

Between the two world wars, Petrovaradin Fortress became a peacetime garrison of the inter-war Yugoslavia's army [...]

[Milan Vranić: Petrovaradin, Novi Sad, 1963]