The Siege of Vienna: The Last Great Trial Between Cross & Crescent

The Siege of Vienna: The Last Great Trial Between Cross & Crescent

John Stoye

Pegasus (2008)

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Tags: History, Middle East, Turkey & Ottoman Empire

Historyttt Middle Eastttt Turkey & Ottoman Empirettt

"In his splendid study
The Siege of Vienna
, the Oxford historian John Stoye provides a detailed account of the intricate machinations between the Habsburgs and the Ottomans. Mr. Stoye's description of the siege itself is masterly. He seems to know every inch of ground, every earthwork and fortification around the Imperial City, and he follows the action meticulously."--
The Wall Street Journal

"Worthy of the pen of Herodotus. . . . It is a measure of the fascination of Mr. Stoye's subject that one should think of comparing his treatment of it with the work of the greatest historians."--
The Times Literary Supplement

"John Stoye is the master of every aspect of his subject."--
Daily Telegraph

The siege of Vienna in 1683 was one of the turning points in European history. So great was its impact that countries normally jealous and hostile sank their differences to throw back the armies of Islam and their savage Tartar allies.

The consequences of defeat were momentous: The Ottomans lost half of their European territories, which led to the final collapse of their empire, and the Habsburgs turned their attention from France and the Rhine frontier to the rich pickings of the Balkans. That hot September day in 1683 witnessed the last great trial of strength between the East and the West-and opened an epoch in European history that lasted until the First World War.

**

About the Author

John Stoye is a Fellow in Modern History at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he lives. He has written several books including Europe Unfolding: 1648-1666, Marsigli's Europe: 1680-1730 and English Travellers Abroad: 1604-1667. 

The Siege of

VIENNA

The Last Great Trial Between

Cross & Crescent

John Stoye

PEGASUS BOOKS

NEW YORK

Contents

Illustrations

Maps and Places

Some of the Principal Personages

1 T
HE
O
RIGINS OF THE
O
TTOMAN
A
TTACK

I
The Ottoman army enters Hungary

II
The Ottoman constitution

III
The defences of the Ottoman Empire

IV
Ottoman policy in eastern Europe 1656–82

V
Kara Mustafa’s objectives 1682–3

2 L
EOPOLD
I
AND THE
C
ITY OF
V
IENNA

I
The Emperor and his court

II
The Hofburg and the Herrengasse

III
The fortifications of Vienna

IV
The municipality of Vienna

V
Burghers and noblemen

3 T
HE
D
EFENCE OF
H
ABSBURG
I
NTERESTS IN
E
UROPE

I
The condition of the Empire

II
Money and men

III
Treaties with Bavaria and Hanover

IV
Thököly, and the treaty with Poland

4 T
HE
T
HREAT TO
V
IENNA

I
The campaign in Hungary

II
Crisis in Austria

III
The flight from Vienna

5 T
HE
S
IEGE

I
The first week

II
Counterscarp and ravelin

6 O
UTSIDE THE
C
ITY

I
The Tartars

II
North of the Danube

III
The messengers to and from Vienna

IV
The government at Passau

7 W
ARSAW,
D
RESDEN,
B
ERLIN AND
R
EGENSBURG

I
Sobieski’s journey to the Danube

II
John George’s journey to the Danube

III
Frederick William’s refusal

IV
Leopold defies Louis XIV

8 T
HE
R
ELIEF OF
V
IENNA

I
Leopold’s journey down the Danube

II
The Turks close in on the city

III
The crossing of the Danube and the Wiener Wald

IV
12 September, 1683

9 T
HE
C
ONSEQUENCES OF
V
ICTORY

I
Rejoicing and disenchantment

II
The death of the Grand Vezir

III
Thököly and Sobieski

IV
The Holy Alliance of 1684

V
The fall of Luxembourg

VI
Vienna after the siege

Notes and References

Index

Illustrations

I
The Ottoman Frontier: Esztergom and Neuhäusel

From pen-and-ink sketches by Dr Edward Browne in Additional
MS.
5233 of the British Library

II
The Habsburg Frontier: Komdárom and Petronell

Engravings by G. Bodenehr and C. Beutler

III
Emperor Leopold I

By Michel Noël, drawn in Frankfurt in 1658, and by Elias Heiss

IV
Charles V Duke of Lorraine

Engraved by J. C. Sartorius in 1677

V
The Burgplatz in Vienna

From the painting by Samuel Hoogstraten, dated 1652

VI
The Hofburg and the Turkish Siege-Works

Drawn by Daniel Suttinger in 1683, and here reproduced from
Vienna Gloriosa, id est peraccurata & ordinata Descriptio
(Vienna, 1703)

VII
Vienna in the Seventeenth Century

From engravings in E. Francisci,
Vor-Blitz dessfortstralenden Adler-Blitzes . . . und zu Beleuchtung des jetzo wütenden türckischen- und frantzösischen Waffen dienlichster Vorbericht
(Frankfurt, 1691)

VIII
Tartars and their Prisoners Crossing a River

From L. F. Marsigli,
L’état militaire de l’empire ottoman, ses progrès et sa décadence
(The Hague, 1732)

IX
The Siege at its Height

Drawn by Daniel Suttinger in 1687 and engraved by M. Bodenehr in 1688

X
Koltschitzki in Disguise

Frontispiece to
Das heldenmüthige wiewol gefährliche Unterfangen Herrn Georg Frantzen Koltschitzky
(Nuremberg, 1683)

XI
The Danube and the Wiener Wald

Engravings by M. Merian, in his
Topographia Provinciarum Austriacarum
(Frankfurt, 1649), and by an unnamed artist

XII
The City of Passau

An engraving dated 1576, by L. Abent

XIII
Starhemberg

Engraved by L. Gomier, and published in Rome

XIV
Sobieski

Published by C. Allardt in Amsterdam

XV
An English Broadsheet, 1684

The original is printed in red ink

The following authorities have kindly given permission for the reproduction of these plates: The Trustees of the British Library for nos. I–IV, VI, VII, IX–XI and XIV–XV, the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, for no. V, the Curators of the Bodleian Library for no. viii, and the Ashmolean Museum for nos. XII-XIII

Maps and Plans

Eastern Europe in 1683

The Danube in 1683

Germany in 1679

The Fortification of the City

Tartar Raids in Austria, 1683

The Routes to Vienna, July–August 1683

The Wiener Wald, September 1683

Some of the

Principal Personages

Mehmed IV,
Sultan

Kara Mustafa,
Grand Vezir

Michael Apafi,
Prince of Transylvania

Serban Cantacuzene,
Prince of Wallachia

George III Duka,
Prince of Moldavia

Murad Ghiraj,
Khan of the Crimea

Imre Thököly,
‘King’ of Hungary

Louis XIV,
King of France

John III Sobieski,
King of Poland

Charles XI,
King of Sweden

Leopold I,
Emperor

Eleanor of Pfalz-Neuburg,
Empress, Leopold’s third wife

Eleanor of Mantua,
Dowager Empress, Leopold’s step-mother

Eleanor,
Leopold’s half-sister, who married Charles Duke of Lorraine

Frederick William,
Elector of Brandenburg

John George III,
Elector of Saxony

Max Emmanuel,
Elector of Bavaria

Charles V,
Duke of Lorraine

Herman, Margrave of Baden,
President of the War Council in Vienna

Lewis of Baden,
his nephew

Philip William,
Count Palatine of Pfalz-Neuburg

Ernest Augustus,
Duke of Hanover-Calenberg