On September 12, 1683, the two-day battle for Vienna ended. It was reached after the Ottoman Empire had besieged the city for 2 months.
The battle stopped the Ottoman Empire's repeated attempt to capture the Austrian capital. The first was in the distant 1529. The battle marks the beginning of the hegemony of the Habsburg dynasty in Central Europe.
The culprit for the defeat of the Ottomans is the Polish king Jan III Sobieski. He is the commander of the united Polish – Austro-German forces against the Ottoman army, led by the Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha.
This victory not only stopped the expansion of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, but also provided international prestige to Poland, which received the fame of the “front fortress of Christianity“.
The Siege of Vienna began on July 14, 1683. Nearly 90,000 Ottoman troops, including a 12,000-strong Janissary corps, arrived before the city walls.
Before the climax came, the Viennese had demolished the houses outside the city, leaving an empty plain that would expose the Turks to return fire if they tried to storm the city. Kara Mustafa Pasha ordered the creation of a network of trenches through which the Turks gradually approached the city walls. The Turkish guns were outdated and the walls of Vienna were reinforced, so the Turks focused on digging tunnels and laying mines to blow up the walls.
Kara Mustafa Pasha could order an assault on the city by his army, which outnumbered the defenders 20:1, but this would have cost him great losses in manpower, which the Grand Vizier wanted to avoid. According to some historians, Kara Mustafa Pasha wanted to preserve the city's wealth, which would have fallen into the hands of the soldiers if they had been ordered to take the city by storm.
On September 11, 1683, help arrived in the form of a European army of about 84,000 men. The battle is also notable for the largest cavalry charge in history.
The Turks suffered about 15,000 casualties, 5,000 captured along with all the guns. The Allies suffered about 4,500 casualties (killed and wounded). Despite the defeat and retreat, the Turks found time to slaughter their prisoners, with the exception of the nobles, who could bring them a large ransom.
In honor of Jan Sobieski, the Austrians built a church on the Kahlenberg hill, north of Vienna. The railway route from Vienna to Warsaw also bears his name, as does the constellation Scutum Sobieskii (Shield of Sobieski).
Because Sobieski entrusted his kingdom to the hands of the Virgin Mary (Our Lady of Częstochowa or Our Lady of Częstochowa), before the battle Pope Innocent XI declared the feast of the Holy Name of Mary, which was celebrated only in Spain and the Kingdom of Naples, valid for the entire Catholic Church.
It is celebrated on September 12.