![]() The siege ranks as one of Europe’s most significant Sliding Doors moments. Reproduced with permission under the terms of Creative Commons License CC BY-SA 4.0.) 7957 Photo courtesy of and © Belvedere, Wien. Sobieski in front of Vienna, undated, oil on canvas, 228 x 448 cm, Belvedere, Wien, Inv.-Nr. (Johann Nepomuk Höchle, Emperor Leopold I. Historians consider it the major turning point in the long conflict between the two powerful factions, one that saw the Ottomans eventually beaten back to their more traditional borders. The end of the siege marked the beginning of the end for Ottoman incursions and rule in Europe. Remarkably, the fortifications and the Viennese held firm long enough for a relief army to arrive in early September, led by the Polish king, Jan Sobieski.įorces from the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth, various states within the Holy Roman Empire, and Habsburg territories defeated the Ottoman army comprehensively. Leopold’s departure hardly counted as a ringing endorsement of Vienna’s defensive prospects things looked grim for the city. The Habsburg emperor of the time (Leopold I) had already left town with a hastily-assembled overnight bag and an urgent appointment somewhere with fewer people likely to point sharp objects at him. To cut a long story short, Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha laid siege to the city on July 14th, 1683, with an army that far outnumbered the defenders. 111017/5 excerpt reproduced with permission under the terms of the CC0 licence) 5 in a series from 1683–1684, Wien Museum Inv.-Nr. (The battle at the Burg bastion by Romeyn de Hooghe (Artist), Nicolaes Visscher (II.) (publisher) Nr. After a less than stellar first few decades in the 1600s, they found themselves on the up again in the 1680s.Īnd so the Ottomans sought to succeed where Suleiman failed and set off to capture Vienna: a true jewel of the continent and a vital strategic and trade asset. ![]() Like most empires, the Ottomans went through peaks and troughs of size, power and influence. Suleiman failed to breach the defences and, with winter coming, called it quits and returned home.īut the second siege of Vienna interests us more, being a rather pivotal event in European and Viennese history. The Ottomans, centered in modern-day Turkey, conquered large chunks of southeastern Europe during that time, including various Habsburg dominions.įor example, Suleiman the Magnificent’s military endeavours saw the Ottoman empire expand to include much of today’s Hungary and took him right to the city limits of Vienna in 1529 (the first Siege of Vienna). One of the great disputes in European history was the war between the Habsburgs and the Ottoman empire, an on-off conflict that began in the early 16th century and lasted almost 300 years. Reproduced with permission under the terms of Creative Commons License CC BY-SA 4.0. 2731 Photo courtesy of and © Belvedere, Wien. (Karl von Blaas, The Defence of Vienna against the Turks 1683, from around 1685, oil on canvas, 65 x 48 cm, Belvedere, Wien, Inv.-Nr.
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