1683 Siege of Vienna

(Taken from Wikipedia) The Seige and Battle of Vienna in 1683 (as distinct from the Siege of Vienna in 1529) marked the final turning point in a 250-year struggle between the forces of Christian Europe and the Islamic Ottoman Empire. Over the 16 years following the battle Christian forces would permanently drive the Turks south of the Danube River, where they never again posed a serious threat to central Europe. The battle, which took place on September 12, 1683, pitted a large Austrian and German army of about 100,000 troops and their allies, a 30,000-man relief force under Jan III Sobieski, King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, against their Turkish besiegers. The Turks, commanded by Pasha Kara Mustafa, numbered approximately 140,000 men, although a large number of them played no part in the battle. Before the siege, the Viennese had demolished many of the houses around the city walls and cleared the debris, leaving an empty plain that would expose the Turks to defensive fire... Read more