The Battle of Mohács was a battle between the forces of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed IV, commanded by the Grand-Vizier Sari Süleyman Paşa, and the forces of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, commanded by Charles of Lorraine. The result was a crushing defeat for the Ottomans.

The Ottoman army of about 60,000 men under the command of the Grand Vizier Sari Süleyman Paşa, stayed in front of the main River Drava crossing with its 8 km long wooden bridge at Osijek in order to protect it and then fortified this position. When the Imperial Habsburg army arrived, the River Drava divided the two sides. At the end of July the Imperial Habsburg army was able to make a bridgehead on the shores of the river and stood in battle array, in order to challenge the Ottomans. However, the Ottoman army remained passive and was satisfied with artillery bombardments of the weirs on the Drava, the bridges and the riverside. Through skilful manoeuvring in early August, he forced the Habsburg army back toward Mohács and towards an Ottoman fortified position. The Ottomans had also built a fortified position at Darda, but this was skilfully hidden among the thick bushes so that it was not visible to the Habsburg army. For this reason Duke Charles of Lorraine did not suspect the presence of the Ottoman army in the vicinity. The Habsburg right wing moving westward began to march through a densely forested area. Sari Süleyman Paşa decided that this was just the chance he was waiting for. He ordered an attack with his entire army on the imperial army's left wing, which under Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria was still in its earlier position, and which according to the Habsburg battle plan was also to start marching west. The Ottoman army caught the imperial army near Nagyharsány and the nearby Nagyharsány Hill, with its heavily wooded steep slopes. The Ottoman cavalry made up of 8000 Sipahis tried to outflank this Habsburg army wing from the left. The commander of the wing, the Elector of Bavaria, immediately sent a courier to the Commander Duke of Lorraine, informing him that this wing was under threat. Orders were given and sent quickly and positions were taken immediately to resist the attack of the superior Ottoman forces, which had twice the numbers of the defenders. The Imperial infantry held their position, and General Enea Silvio Piccolomini with some of his cavalry regiments successfully counterattacked and stopped the attack of the Ottoman Sipahi cavalry.Throughout the battle only the left wing of the Imperial Habsburg army saw the main action. There was a dense forest in front of the Imperial Habsburg army's right wing, which prevented it from attacking. Despite this, it attempted a bypassing manoeuvre on the right to force the relocation and withdrawal of the Ottomans, but its columns lost their way in the forest. The losses of the Habsburg Imperial army were very light, about 600 men. The Ottomans army suffered huge losses with an estimated 10,000 deaths, as well as the loss of most of its artillery (about 66 guns) and much of its support equipment. The splendid command tent of the Grand Vizier and 160 Ottoman flags fell into Imperial hands. It is reported that the value of the share of the bounty that was given to the Elector of Bavaria surpassed two million golden ducats. The destruction of the Ottoman army allowed Imperial Habsburg armies to conquer Osijek, Petrovaradin, Sremski Karlovci, Ilok, Valpovo, Požega, Palota and Eger. Most of present-day Slavonia and Transylvania came under Imperial rule. On 9 December 1687 there was organised a Diet of Bratislava, and Archduke Joseph was crowned as the first hereditary king of Hungary, and descendant Habsburg Emperors were declared the anointed kings of Hungary. For a year the Ottoman Empire was paralysed, and Imperial Habsburg forces were poised to capture Belgrade and penetrate deep into the Balkans.