• 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