Workshop Program
Mobilizing Nature: The Environmental History of the Ottoman Danubian Frontier
Vienna, 12-13 March 2026
12 March 2026
Workshop Opening
16:00-16:15
Yavuz Köse (Head of the Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of Vienna)
Onur İnal (Project Manager, DANFront, University of Vienna)
DANFront: An Environmental History of the Early-Modern Ottoman Military Frontier in the Middle and Lower Danube
Project Presentation
16:15-16:45
Onur İnal (Project Manager, DANFront, University of Vienna)
Deniz Armağan Akto (Project Researcher, DANFront, University of Vienna)
Panel 1: The Danube in Early Ottoman Logistics
17:00-18:30
Faisal H. Husain (Penn State University, USA)
River Systems and Imperial Strategy in Early Modern Ottoman History
Gábor Ágoston (Georgetown University, USA)
The Danube in Ottoman Strategy and Logistics
Dino Mujadžević (Croatian Institute of History, Croatia)
Ecological Impacts of Ottoman Military Actions in the Sava-Drava-Danube Interfluve
Workshop Dinner
19:00-21:00
***
13 March 2026
Panel 2: Fortifying the Danube: Military, Economic, and Ecological Aspects
09:00-10:30
Göksel Baş (Social Sciences University of Ankara, Turkey)
Securing the Danube Frontier: Ottoman Garrisons, Finance and River Fleets (1521-1541)
Mihai Anatolii Ciobanu (A. D. Xenopol Institute of History of the Romanian Academy, Iaşi Branch, Romania)
Environmental History of Ottoman Fortresses in the Lower Danube. Case Studies of Yergöğü, Hârșova, İbrail and Tulça in the 18th-19th Centuries
Olivier Bouquet (Université Paris Cité, France)
Bridges and Carts: Mobilizing Timber in 17th-Century Danubian Warfare
Rositza Gradeva (American University in Bulgaria, Bulgaria)
The Ottoman Danube, Late 14th to Early 18th century: A View from Vidin and Rusçuk
Panel 3: Crossing the Danube: Obstacles and Opportunities
11:00-12:30
M. Fatih Çalışır (Istanbul University, Turkey)
Mapping the Frontier: Ebū Bekr b. Behrām ed-Dimaşḳī and the Environmental Imagination of the Ottoman Danube
Dilek Seniha Cenez Ülker (Istanbul Aydın University, Turkey)
The Operational Role of the Danube in the 1697 Expedition: A Study of Logistics, Strategy, and Geographical Constraints
Seyfullah Aslan (Kırklareli University, Turkey)
Echoes of the River: Nature’s Dynamics and Logistics along the Ottoman Danube (17th Century)
Kahraman Şakul (Istanbul Medeniyet University, Turkey)
The Danube and the Köprülü Campaigns
Lunch
12:30-14:00
Panel 4: Perspectives from Across the Ottoman Danube
14:00-15:30
András Vadas (Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary)
Plague in Early Modern East Central Europe: The Case of the Hungarian-Ottoman Frontier
Marian Coman (University of Bucharest, Romania / Nicolae Iorga Institute of History of the Romanian Academy, Romania)
Pre-emptive Strikes Against the Ottomans on the Lower Danube.
Michal Celnar (Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia)
The Danube as a Diplomatic Artery in the Ottoman-Hungarian Borderlands (16th–17th Centuries)
Discussion and Closing
15:30-16:00