In the following years the Imperial Habsburg armies under Charles of Lorraine drove the Ottomans back, conquering many fortresses (such as Esztergom, Vác, Pest).

In contrast, 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.

At the end of July the Imperial army was able to make a bridgehead on the shores of the river and stood in battle array, to challenge the Ottomans.

[citation needed] The move was interpreted by the Ottoman Grand Vizier as a sign of a loss of morale by the Habsburg troops, so he decided to follow them.

On the morning of 12 August the Duke of Lorraine decided to move to Siklós, because the position and the hard ground there made it more appropriate as a battleground.

However, to gain the initiative, the Elector of Bavaria and Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden persuaded him to order a large-scale counterattack.

At that same time Sari Süleyman Paşa decided to attack again alongside Mustafa Pasha of Rodosto, the Janissary Agha.

At the forefront of this Imperial penetrative attack on the Ottoman fortifications were troops under the command of the generals Ludwig Johann Graf Bussy-Rabutin and Prince Eugene of Savoy.

Grand Vizier Sari Suleyman Pasa became frightened that he would be killed by his own troops and fled from his command, first to Belgrade and then to Constantinople.

[citation needed] When the news of the defeat and the mutiny arrived in Constantinople in early September, Abaza Siyavuş Pasha was appointed as the commander and as the Grand Vizier.

Sultan Mehmed IV appointed the commander of Bosphorus Straits Köprülü Fazıl Mustafa Pasha as the Grand Vizier's regent in Constantinople.

The Imperial armies took over most major settlements, namely the towns of Osijek, Petrovaradin, Sremski Karlovci, Ilok, Valpovo, Požega, Arad, Timisoara, Palota and Eger.

For a year the Ottoman Empire was paralysed, and Imperial forces were poised to capture Belgrade and penetrate deep into the Balkans.