The sack of Sarajevo took place on 23 October 1697 and was committed by raiding Austrian troops led by Prince Eugene of Savoy.

The intrusion into Ottoman Bosnia and the subsequent sacking of Sarajevo left the city plague-infected and burned to the ground.

However, the Polish king John III Sobieski, along with his Christian alliance won the Battle of Vienna (1683), forever stalling Ottoman expansion into Europe.

After the capture of Buda by the Christian forces in 1686, many Serbs from the Pannonian Plain decided to join the troops of the Habsburg monarchy.

The battle was the most decisive engagement of the Great Turkish War: it saw the Ottomans suffer an overwhelming defeat by an imperial force half as large sent by Emperor Leopold I.

In a surprise attack, Habsburg Imperial forces commanded by Prince Eugene of Savoy engaged the Turkish army while it was crossing the Tisza river.

Prince Eugene's forces inflicted thousands of casualties, including the Grand Vizier Elmas Mehmed Pasha.

[3] On 6 October, Prince Eugene left Osijek in Slavonia with 6,500 warriors (4000 spearmen, 2500 infantry with rifles, 12 small cannons and, two mortars).

After the victory at Doboj, Prince Eugene's army marched to the town of Maglaj where they encountered less resistance and captured it quickly.

The weaker arms and smaller size of the resistance forces in Zenica let Prince Eugen conquer it on 20 October.

The letter he sent to the Sarajevo authorities stated:[5] "I, Eugen Prince, Duke of Savoy and Piedmont, General Field Marshal of His Majesty the Emperor of Rome and King of Hungary and Bohemia, Commander-in-Chief of a Dragoon Regiment and Commanding General of His Majesty's main army, which is at war with the Ottoman Porte, do hereby give for the information of the excellent citizens and all the inhabitants, that since by God's grace we with this same army on September 11th of this year defeated the great sultan in the camp near Senta on the Tisza, we are here in the province of Bosnia and that we are near the noble city of Sarajevo, since we with the victorious weapons of His Imperial and Royal Majesty, our most gracious master, have successfully conquered all the positions and fortresses we encountered, and that as a result our further penetration has the less obstacles, as we have already reached the Sarajevo plain.

We did not come to this land with the intention of sacrificing more human blood to the righteous imperial weapon, but to take care of those who seek mercy and submit to the Roman emperor with love and kindness, we decided out of special consideration for Sarajevo to send this letter with a note, if you want to save yourself from evil, send us one or more envoys, but immediately, because otherwise we will continue our march without hesitation, and then we will not consider anything, because there will not be time to come to an agreement.

This admonition of ours was made in good faith, but we declare, heeded, and if you remain persistent, that our kindness will turn into severity, and we will destroy everything with sword and fire.

The Prince Eugene's attack and subsequent burning of Sarajevo is documented in his diary: October 23, 1697: "I opened a front line on the right side of the city and sent one division to loot and plunder: the Turks have brought all their valuables to security, but we could still find enough spoils.

By then, the seat of the Bosnian government had already been transferred to Travnik, meaning that Sarajevo lost its status as the main city of Bosnia.