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Revision as of 22:23, 10 December 2005
The Battle of Vienna in 1683 (Turkish: İkinci Viyana Kuşatması) (as distinct from the Siege of Vienna in 1529) was the first large-scale battle of the Habsburg-Ottoman Wars, yet with the most far-reaching consequences. The battle pitted a Habsburg army of about 100,000 troops and their allies, led by Charles V, Duke of Lorraine, a 30,000-man relief force under Jan III Sobieski, King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, against the Ottoman army, commanded by Grand Vizier Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha, which numbered approximately 200,000 men, although a large number of them played no part in the battle. The siege itself began in July 14, 1683, and the decisive battle took place on September 12, 1683, when the Muslim armies were defeated at the Gates of Vienna.
The battle marked the turning point in the 300-year struggle between the forces of the Central European kingdoms, and the Ottoman Empire. Over the sixteen years following the battle, the Habsburgs of Austria, and their allies gradually occupied and dominated southern Hungary and Transylvania, which had been largely cleared by the Turkish forces.
Prelude
To capture the city of Vienna had long been a strategic aspiration for the Ottoman Empire, due to its inter-locking control over Danubean (Black Sea-to-Western Europe) southern Europe, and the overland (Eastern Mediterannean-to-Germany) trade routes. During the years preceding the second siege, under the auspicies of grand viziers from the influential Köprülü family, the Ottoman Empire undertook extensive logistical preparations this time, including the repair and establishment of roads and bridges leading into Austria, and logistical centers, as well as the forwarding of ammunition, cannons and other resources, from all over the Empire to these logistical centers, and into the Balkans.
On the political front, the Ottoman Empire had been providing military assistance to the Hungarians and to non-Catholic minorities, in Habsburg-occupied portions of Hungary. There, in years preceding the siege, widespread unrest had became open rebellion, upon Leopold I's insistent pursuit of Counter-Reformation principles, and his burning desire of crushing Protestantism. In 1681, Protestants and other anti-Habsburg forces, led by Imre Thököly, were reinforced with a significant force from the Ottomans, who recognized Imre as King of "Upper Hungary" (eastern Slovakia and parts of northeastern present-day Hungary, which he had earlier taken by force of arms, from the Habsburgs). This support went so far as explicitly promising the "Kingdom of Vienna" to the Hungarians, if it fell into Ottoman hands.
Yet, before the siege, a state of peace had existed for twenty years between the Habsburgs and the Ottoman Empire, as a result of the Peace of Vasvár. In 1681 and 1682, clashes between the forces of Imre Thököly and the Habsburgs' military frontier (which was then northern Hungary) forces intensified, and the incursions of Habsburg forces into Central Hungary provided the crucial argument of Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha in convincing the sultan, Mehmet IV and his Divan, to allow the operation of the Ottoman Army. Mehmet IV authorized Kara Mustafa Pasha to operate as far as Győr (Turkish: Yanıkkale, German: Raab) and Komarom (Turkish: Komaron, German: Komorn) castles, both in northwestern Hungary, and to besiege them. The Ottoman Army was mobilized on January 21, 1682, and war was declared on August 6, 1682. However, the forward march of Ottoman Army elements did not begin until April 1, 1683 from Edirne, in Thracian Anatolia. This strategic mistake provided ample time (almost 15 months) for Habsburg forces to prepare their defense, and to set up alliances with other Central European rulers.
Pre-Siege Movements
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Siege
The Viennese had demolished many of the houses around the city walls and cleared the debris, leaving an empty plain that would expose the Turks to defensive fire if they tried to rush the city. Kara Mustafa Pasha solved that problem, by ordering his forces to dig long lines of trenches directly toward the city, to help protect them from the defenders as they advanced steadily toward the city. One goal of this digging was to decrease the stability of the walls around Vienna. Additionally, the Ottoman siege cut virtually every means of food-supply into Vienna, and the population began to starve. (For example, the Viennese cavalry had to start killing their own horses for food. After the later retreat of the Turkish army, the Polish army reported many horse thefts.)
Sobieski, the King of Poland, began planning a relief expedition to Vienna during the summer of 1683 (warned ahead of time by the Turkish declaration of war a year earlier), when the hard-pressed Turks launched an all-out offensive against Austria. The Ottoman Empire and the Habsburgs had clashed repeatedly for more than 150 years, and Kara Mustafa Pasha planned an expedition to put an end to this situation. Starting in March, the Turkish Army moved toward the city, and finally invested it on July 14. The previous winter, the Habsburgs and Poland had concluded a treaty in which the Leopold would support Sobieski if the Turks attacked Kraków; in return, the Polish Army would come to the relief of Vienna, if and when it came under attack.
The Polish king honored his obligations to the letter; going so far as to leave his own nation virtually un-defended. He covered this with a stern warning to Imre Thököly, the leader of Hungary (then an Ottoman satellite), whom he threatened with destruction if he tried to take advantage of the situation.
The battle began with the Turkish forces tunneling trenches towards the city walls, as Kara Mustafa Pasha managed to take part of the walls of Vienna by exploding mines under them. He entrusted defence of the rear to the Khan of Crimea and his cavalry force, which numbered about 30,000.
One Ottoman historian writes that due to their previous confrontations and his subsequent humiliation in previous War Councils, Murat Giray Khan of Crimea did not make dispositions to defend the rear against Sobieski. According to this account, after learning of the arrival of the Poles, the Khan instead withdrew his forces. This left vital bridges undefended and allowed passage of the combined Habsburg-Polish army, which arrived to relieve the siege.
Critics of this account say that it was Kara Mustafa Pasha, and not the Crimean Khan, who was held responsible for the failure of the seige. On 25 December 1683, Kara Mustafa Pasha was executed in Belgrade by order of the commander of the Janissaries.
Battle
At 4 in the morning, on September 12, the Austrian army on the left, and the German forces in the center moved forward, in an attack (which was aimed at preventing another long siege) against the Turks. Mustafa Pasha launched a counter-attack, with most of his force. Then the Polish infantry launched a massive assault upon the right flank. After 12 hours of fighting, Sobieski's Polish force held the high ground on the right.
At about five o'clock in the afternoon, four cavalry groups, one of them Austrian-German, and the other three composed of Polish hussars, totaling 20,000 men in all and led by the Polish king, charged down the hills. In the confusion, they made straight for the Ottoman camps, while the Vienna garrison sallied out of its defenses, and joined in the assault. In less than three hours, the Habsburg and Polish forces won the battle, as the Turkish army beat a hasty retreat to the south and east.
The Turks lost about 15,000 men in the fighting, compared to approximately 4,000 for the Habsburg-Polish forces.
Aftermath
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Significance
Although no one realized it at the time, the battle shaped the outcome of the entire war as well. The Ottomans fought on for another 16 years, before giving up. The Ottomans lost control of Hungary and Transylvania in the process, which was finalized by the Treaty of Karlowitz.
In honor of Sobieski, the Austrians had erected a church atop a hill of Kahlenberg, north of Vienna. Also, the train route from Vienna to Warsaw is named in Sobieski's honor.
The Battle of Vienna is seen by many historians as marking the beginning of the decline of the Ottoman Empire. The Battle also marked the historic end of Turkish expansion into southwestern Europe.
- One legend is that the croissant was invented in Vienna, either in 1683 or in an earlier siege in 1529, to celebrate the defeat of the Turkish siege of the city, as a reference to the crescents on the Turkish flags. However, this is likely to be untrue; as there is no evidence that croissants existed before the 19th century.
- Another legend from Vienna, made the first bagel as being a gift to King Jan Sobieski to commemorate the King's victory over the Turks that year. The baked-good was fashioned in the form of a stirrup, to commemorate the victorious charge by the Polish cavalry. The truth of this legend is more uncertain, as there is a reference in 1610 to a similar-sounding bread, which may or may not have been the bagel.
- After the battle, the Austrians discovered many bags of coffee in the abandoned Turkish encampment. Using this captured stock, Franciszek Jerzy Kulczycki opened the first coffeehouse in Vienna and the third in Europe.