The Battle of Vienna

The Battle of Vienna, fought on September 12, 1683, was a pivotal conflict between the Holy Roman Empire, allied with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Ottoman Empire. The battle marked the end of the Ottoman Empire’s expansion into Europe. The combined forces, led by King John III Sobieski of Poland, successfully lifted the Ottoman siege of Vienna, decisively defeating the Ottoman army. This victory not only safeguarded Vienna but also shifted the balance of power in Europe, leading to the eventual decline of Ottoman influence in the region.

Vienna—The Great Ottoman Siege

Introduction

On August 6, 1682, outside one of the gates to Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, seven standards were planted in the earth, indicating that the sultan was poised to embark on a campaign. This sultan was Mehmed IV of the mighty Ottoman Empire, and the military expedition thus begun was one of the most significant in Ottoman history. Its goal was to capture Vienna, a city that had stood for centuries as a fortress, protecting the eastern flank of Europe from Ottoman expansion. Vienna had repulsed one great Ottoman onslaught in 1528. Mehmed was determined to end these centuries of defiance, to place his name among the legendary Ottoman conquerors of the past, and to bring Vienna to its knees.

The Opponents

• (1) Clearly, a primary motive for the campaign to take Vienna was Mehmed IV’s ambition to go down in history as one of the great conquering sultans. Early in his reign, he had achieved successes both in the Mediterranean and in Europe, but he needed one spectacular military victory to cement his reputation.
• (2) Mehmed’s grand vizier at the time of the attack on Vienna was Kara Mustafa Pasha. His origins are somewhat mysterious. By virtue of either talent or personality, he rose quickly from messenger to military commander to minor vizier and, eventually, was appointed commander of the imperial fleet. In this role, he directed the conquest of several Aegean islands, leading to his appointment as deputy grand vizier and, finally, grand vizier.
• (3) The Ottoman Turkish army had long enjoyed a reputation for innovation and excellence, but its tactics were beginning to stagnate.
  (a) In keeping with its steppe traditions, it still included a large contingent of heavily armored sipahi horsemen who could fight with a variety of weapons.
  (b) These were augmented by units of Tatar light cavalry, who still fought, like their Mongol ancestors, as horse archers practicing hit-and-run tactics.
  (c) The infantry included engineers and artillerymen, as well as foot soldiers.
• (4) The elite troops of the Ottoman Turks remained the Janissaries, trained like the Mamluks in military academies, where they were converted to Islam and raised to be fanatically loyal and well-trained soldiers. They were highly flexible troops, able to fight with swords, bows, or guns.
• (5) One weakness of the Ottoman army was its artillery. Although the Turks possessed large cannons well-suited to battering down fortifications, heavy rains had made hauling them along the roads to Vienna logistically impracticable. Thus, they had to subdue Vienna using medium-sized cannon firing 24-pound balls.
• (6) The Turks hoped to make up for this defect with the excellence of their sapper corps, which tunneled beneath the walls and set off mines to demolish them. The Turks were particularly skilled at this sort of warfare, and the attacking army contained a large number of experienced miners and engineers.
• (7) Facing this threat was Leopold I, the ruler of Austria and the Holy Roman Emperor. He was a member of the Hapsburg family, which controlled many countries; Leopold knew multiple languages and was an avid reader and student of history. Probably his greatest defect as a leader was vacillation.

The Campaign

• (1) The Ottoman army that set out for Vienna in October 1682 probably consisted of around 100,000 men. By the end of June 1683, the Turkish force had moved into enemy territory and bore down on Vienna.
• (2) As the Turkish army steadily advanced, Leopold and his advisors dithered over what the Turks’ objective was, thus preventing any decisive steps to defend Vienna. When Leopold was indecisive, he relied heavily on prayer; during the crucial last month before the Turks arrived, rather than fortifying the defenses or bringing in reinforcements, Leopold ordered that prayers be recited in St. Stephen’s Cathedral 24 hours a day and that all members of the city’s guilds attend.
• (3) Leopold not only attended services but continued his normal routine, even going hunting outside the city as late as July 6. The next day, new reports testifying to the rapid approach of the Turks, confirmed by hordes of refugees fleeing in front of them, finally broke through. Suddenly acknowledging the reality and proximity of the threat, Leopold abruptly announced that the royal family and court would flee that very night.
• (4) Leopold left so quickly that the army officer he had appointed to defend Vienna, Rudiger von Starhemberg, was still in the field and had to be summoned. Von Starhemberg faced a daunting task: the Turks would arrive in six days, the garrison numbered only about 2,000 men, the fortifications were in a state of neglect, and the city had not been fully prepared for a siege.
• (5) By the time the Turks arrived on July 14, Vienna’s garrison numbered about 15,000 men, and more than 300 cannons of various sizes were available to the defenders.
• (6) The defenders’ greatest concern was the city walls.
  (a) The arrival of large cannons on the battlefield rendered obsolete the high stone walls of medieval fortresses, which proved too brittle to resist the smashing effects of cannonballs. As a result, fortifications, such as Vienna’s, had been rebuilt to feature extremely thick but relatively low earthen
  embankments that could absorb a cannonball’s impact.
  (b) Also, the straight walls of medieval castles had been replaced with star-shaped fortresses whose sides were studded with projecting triangular bastions. They also commonly featured detached triangular outworks, called ravelins, situated beyond the main walls. All these were built along carefully calculated geometric lines so that shots fired from the cannons and muskets mounted on the projecting bastions and ravelins created interlocking fields of fire, with the gunners in one section able to blast away any attackers threatening a neighboring section.
  (c) But Vienna’s fortifications did not conform to this mathematical ideal. Some stretches of the wall were soundly designed, but others constituted weak spots certain to draw the attention of a knowledgeable attacker. Unfortunately for the defenders of Vienna, the Turks were experienced at siege warfare.

The Siege

• (1) Arriving in Vienna on July 14, Kara Mustafa erected his tent opposite the most vulnerable point. The defense of this section depended on two bastions projecting from the walls and an outwork just in front of them. The defenders knew that this was their weak spot, and roughly half the garrison was assigned to defend it.
• (2) Kara Mustafa sent an envoy to the defenders bearing a demand for surrender. It was rejected, and the siege began. About 20,000 of the Turks were directly engaged in the siege, while the other 70,000 cut off the city from outside aid and ravaged the countryside. Meanwhile, the Tatar light cavalry engaged in long-range raids, traveling hundreds of miles into enemy territory.
• (3) Within 24 hours, the Turkish engineers had dug protected positions for their cannons, made an observation bunker for Kara Mustafa overlooking the key zone, and begun a series of trenches toward the walls. By July 22, the trenches had advanced within a few feet of the defenses, and the first serious assaults began.
• (4) The Turkish miners had also burrowed a series of tunnels. The first mine was set off on July 23, followed by a larger one on July 25 that blew up part of a bastion. Janissaries poured into the breach but were slaughtered by heavy gunfire and grenades.
• (5) On August 12, the Turks exploded two especially large mines, blasting a clear pathway into the outwork. Despite desperate efforts by the defenders, the Janissaries flooded into the gap and, after a battle lasting several hours, succeeded in capturing the ravelin. The first key strongpoint had fallen.
• (6) Von Starhemberg took an active role in the defense, personally leading a countercharge against some Turks who had gained a foothold on the walls and organizing sorties to harass the Turkish digging parties. On August 25, one of these was so successful that it managed to briefly capture one of the main Turkish batteries of cannons. The Viennese could not disable the guns, however, and
  retreated, having suffered 200 casualties.
• (7) On August 27, von Starhemberg ordered that rockets be discharged from the spire of St. Stephen’s Cathedral to signal that the garrison could not hold out much longer. By September 8, both the bastions were so heavily damaged that their effectiveness was greatly reduced, and the number of fit soldiers to man the defenses was down to 4,000.
• (8) While Vienna stubbornly resisted, Leopold had formed an alliance with Poland-Lithuania and had been assembling a relief army led by King Jan Sobieski and Charles, duke of Lorraine. They had amassed a force of around 60,000 that was especially strong in heavy cavalry.
• (9) The Turks had neglected to establish strong defenses against an outside force; thus, Sobieski and Charles were able to infiltrate through the Wienerwald to the outskirts of Vienna before dawn on September 12. Kara Mustafa hurriedly assigned about half his army to meet this new threat, orienting them into a battle line.
• (10) The result became known as the Battle of Kahlenberg. It unfolded in a confused series of encounters as the two sides advanced along a four-mile front over rough terrain. By late afternoon, the allied army had nosed forward onto the plains leading to Vienna, and both Charles on the left and Sobieski on the right sensed that the crucial moment had arrived. Both ordered their men to the attack.
• (11) Although the Turks resisted bravely, this charge proved decisive, and the Ottoman lines disintegrated. Kara Mustafa escaped, taking with him what was left of the army’s treasury, but most of his army was destroyed. In the campaigns that immediately followed, the Ottomans lost a chunk of their European territory, including, most importantly, Hungary.
• (12) Much of the previous 200 years of European history had been dominated by Turkish attempts to expand their reach into Western Europe, resulting in a series of epic sieges and battles. Vienna decisively marked the end of these attempts and was the turning point in Ottoman history.

Conclusion

The Battle of Vienna stands as a critical juncture in European history, marking the end of the Ottoman Empire’s ambitious expansion into the heart of Europe. The decisive victory by the Holy League, spearheaded by King John III Sobieski of Poland, not only safeguarded Vienna but also shifted the geopolitical landscape in favor of European powers. This battle catalyzed the decline of Ottoman influence, setting the stage for the eventual liberation of much of Central and Eastern Europe from Ottoman control. The Battle of Vienna is remembered as a triumph of unity and strategic brilliance that reshaped the course of European history.

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