• The Battle of Vienna, the Gates of Vienna, Blog # 4: Why Leopold Slept

Louis XIV, king of France, had long sought dominance over the Holy Roman Empire and the extermination of the Habsburg dynasty. He encouraged the Turks to take advantage of a Hungarian rebellion against Habsburg authority, led by Imre Thokoly, and use the opportunity to invade Habsburg lands. Louis even sent money and men to assist Thokoly's rebellion.
Louis succeeded in wooing several of the German states into an alliance and made aggressive moves against the empire's border right up until the last minute in order to distract Leopold from the Muslim threat. Because France had Europe's largest Christian army and seemed the most aggressive, Leopold was more concerned with stopping Louis than preparing for war with the Ottomans who had remained at peace with him for nearly twenty years. It led to near disaster for Vienna.
                                 "The most Christian King", Louis XIV of France.

C. Wayne Dawson: Author, Historian, Professor

• The Battle of Vienna, the Gates of Vienna, Blog# 3: Leopold's Surprise

The Ottoman decision to make war on the Habsburg monarchy took the Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold I, completely by surprise. The Turkish Sultan, Mehmed IV, had observed the Peace of Vasvar for nineteen years until he ripped the treaty up in 1683 by invading Habsburg Hungary. The guiding hand behind this drastic change in Ottoman policy was Mehmed's Grand Vizier, Kara Mustafa, who manufactured fraudulent evidence to silence those in the Ottoman administration who voiced opposition to war.
Leopold and his advisers hoped right up until the last moment that the Turks would content themselves with besieging the Habsburg fortress of Gyor near the Austrian-Hungarian border. Consequently, Vienna's defenders had to make a mad rush to prepare the city's defenses when it became clear that a massive army was moving on them. Why did Leopold underestimate his adversary so badly?
                                                      Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor.
C. Wayne Dawson: Author, Historian, Professor

• The Battle of Vienna, the Gates of Vienna, Blog 2: the Expansion of the Ottoman Empire

                                                                    Growth of the Ottoman Empire
C. Wayne Dawson, Author, Historian, Professor

The 1683 Siege of Vienna

The Battle of Vienna, The Gates of Vienna, Blog #1

Vienna  was ill prepared to face the massive Ottoman army that surrounded it in July, 1683. The city commander had just made last minute completions of the city defenses and set the city's suburbs on fire as the Ottoman army arrived.

 Estimates vary, but the Muslims probably numbered between 130 to 150,000 soldiers. The Christian defenders mustered 11-12,000 men, with no relief force in sight. The eventual triumph of the Habsburg garrison over the Goliath-sized Ottoman army is the subject of this blog.

C. Wayne Dawson:  Author, Historian, Professor