Battle of Vienna
The Battle of Vienna took place at Kahlenberg Mountain near Vienna on 12 September 1683 after the city had been besieged by the Ottoman Empire for two months. The battle was fought by the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monarchy) and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, both under the command of King John III Sobieski, against the Ottomans and their vassal and tributary states. The battle marked the first time the Commonwealth and the Holy Roman Empire had cooperated militarily against the Ottomans. The defeat is often seen as a turning point for Ottoman expansion into Europe, after which they would gain no further ground. In the ensuing war that lasted until 1699, the Ottomans would cede most of Ottoman Hungary to Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor.
| Battle of Vienna | |||||||||
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| Part of the Great Turkish War, the Ottoman–Habsburg wars, and the Polish–Ottoman War | |||||||||
Battle of Vienna, 12 September 1683 | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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Ottoman Empire Vassal states:
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Holy League:
Wallachia (secretly) Sweden (1,500 support troops) | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha Kara Mehmed of Diyarbakir Ibrahim of Buda Abaza Sari Hüseyin Pasha of Karahisar Murad Giray George Ducas (POW) Michael I Apafi Șerban Cantacuzino |
John III Sobieski Stanisław Jan Jabłonowski Mikołaj Hieronim Sieniawski Marcin Kątski Charles of Lorraine Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg Georg Rimpler † John George III Georg Friedrich of Waldeck Julius Francis, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg Maximilian II Emanuel of Bavaria Eugene of Savoy Livio Odescalchi Șerban Cantacuzino (secretly) Nils Bielke Otto Wilhelm Königsmarck | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
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120,000 soldiers to 65,000 soldiers during 60 days of siege with around 60 guns |
Viennese garrison:
Relief force:
According to Podhorodecki:
Total:
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
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Casualties during the siege: 48,544 killed, 25% desertion and unknown number of deaths from diseases Casualties during the battle: 8,000–20,000: 661 |
Casualties during the siege: 12,000 Casualties during the battle: 4,500: 661 3,500 dead or wounded (1,300 Poles) | ||||||||
The battle was won by the combined forces of the Holy Roman Empire and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the latter represented only by the forces of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland (the march of the Lithuanian army was delayed, and they reached Vienna after it had been relieved). The Viennese garrison was led by Feldzeugmeister of the Imperial Army (Holy Roman Empire) Ernst Rüdiger Graf von Starhemberg, an Austrian subject of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I. The overall command was held by the senior leader, the king of Poland, John III Sobieski, who led the relief forces.
The opposing military forces were those of the Ottoman Empire and its vassal states, commanded by Grand Vizier Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha. The Ottoman army numbered approximately 90,000 to 300,000 men (according to documents on the order of battle found in Kara Mustafa's tent, initial strength at the start of the campaign was 170,000 men). They began the siege on 14 July 1683. Ottoman forces consisted, among other units, of 60 ortas of Janissaries (12,000 men paper-strength) with an observation army of some 70,000 men watching the countryside. The decisive battle took place on 12 September, after the arrival of the united relief army.
Some historians maintain that the battle marked a turning point in the Ottoman–Habsburg wars, a 300-year struggle between the Holy Roman and Ottoman Empires. During the 16 years following the battle, the Austrian Habsburgs would gradually conquer southern Hungary and Transylvania, largely clearing them of Ottoman forces. The battle is noted for including the largest known cavalry charge in history.