The Battle of Vienna
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
The Kahlenberg (meaning "Bald Mountain") is not actually a mountain, but a hill less than 500 meters high. Located on the outskirts of Vienna, it is part of the Vienna Woods, and a popular destination with day-trippers.
It is also the site of a famous event, the (Second) Battle of Vienna.
For two months, since July 14, 1683, the Ottoman Turks and their vassal states, numbering around 170,000 men, had laid siege to Vienna. The city at that time not a capital per se, but
held strategic control over a conjunction of trade routes: a river route down the Danube, from the Black Sea to Western Europe; and an overland route from the Eastern Mediterranean to Germany. This made it a coveted prize for the Turks.
The defenders of the city faced numerous challenges: 150-year-old outer city walls, which they reinforced by knocking large trees into the ground; and a disruption of vital food supplies. The troops were so fatigued that their commander ordered that soldiers caught sleeping on watch were to be shot.
Coming to their aid was a coalition composed of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, on this occasion represented only by Poland, which also provided Polish King John III Sobieski as Supreme Commander (the Lithuanian army was delayed by attacks, and arrived after the siege was lifted); the Holy Roman Empire; and Habsburg Hungary. The three fielded around 90,000, though some of those were assigned to peripheral areas during the battle.
They arrived on September 6. Two days later, the Ottomans effected serious breaches in the city walls, so the newly-formed relief army had to organize themselves and act quickly.
On September 11, the Ottomans turned their effort toward the troops camped on the Kahlenberg, reserving some units for a final assault on the city. In the afternoon, the allies caught the attackers in a pincer movement, and at six p.m. King John order 18,000 horsemen to charge into the Turks. It was the largest cavalry charge in history.
Less than three hours later, the battle was won. Vienna was saved. The Ottomans later executed their failed commander by strangulation.