Posted on 09/12/2013 6:22:49 AM PDT by markomalley
The Holy Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire were at war. Vienna had been under siege for months. On 11 September a coalition of Christian forces, a Holy League blessed by Bl. Pope Innocent XI, arrived with Jan III Sobieski, King of Poland, to lift the siege.
When he saw that the Turks were about to breach the walls of the city, Sobieski attacked earlier than he had intended.
On 12 September at 4 am the battle was closed. Sobieski had called on the protection of Our Lady of Czestochowa before the battle.
He sent his forces of 81,000 against the Turks’ 130,000. In the afternoon Sobieski led a downhill charge which broke the Turkish line and then seized the abandoned tent of the Ottoman general who had fled.
The Battle of Vienna halted the spread of the Ottoman Empire eastward into the rest of Europe.
Bl. Innocent XI commemorated the victory at Vienna by extending the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary, which had been observed in Spain and by the Carmelites, to the whole Latin Church. One of the pair of churches in Rome near the Forum of Trajan is dedicated to the Name of Mary.
Today is the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary, which in part commemorates the defeat of the Islamist Ottoman Turks by Jan Sobieski at the walls of Vienna.
Concede, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus: ut fideles tui, qui sub sanctissimae Virginis Mariae Nomine et protectione laetantur; eius pia intercessione a cunctis malis liberentur in terris, et ad gaudia aeterna pervenire mereantur in coelis.
Perhaps you readers can offer your accurate yet smooth versions.
Holy Mary, Mother of God…
Sts. Nunilo and Alodia…
Jan III Sobieski arrived at Vienna on 9/11. Hmmmm.
The Battle of Vienna was incredible, real life is always more interesting than fiction.
As Napoleon once said, “If your objective is to take Vienna, then take Vienna.”..................
Lancers against unformed infantry was a bad, bad deal for infantry, before firearms.
On 11 September a coalition of Christian forces... arrived with Jan III Sobieski, King of Poland, to lift the siege. When he saw that the Turks were about to breach the walls of the city, Sobieski attacked earlier than he had intended... He sent his forces of 81,000 against the Turks' 130,000. In the afternoon [of the 12th] Sobieski led a downhill charge which broke the Turkish line and then seized the abandoned tent of the Ottoman general who had fled...
The Battle of Vienna halted the spread of the Ottoman Empire eastward
into the rest of Europe.
Interesting news feed for remembrance of 9/11
Gates of Vienna News Feed 9/11/2013
At least they recognized the number of bikers in DC yesterday. Unlike the MSM.
Well.......
The Siege of Vienna was not before firearms. Matchlock guns and cannon had been in use for over two centuries, and the flintlock had been invented about sixty years earlier. And the Turks went in for firearms in a big way.
However, I don’t think the Turks had ever taken up the pike-and-musket square which most European powers in that era had used to nullify the advantage of cavalry (hedgehog of pikes pointing outward with musketeers firing outward from between the pikemen), and Sobieski had the advantage of attacking an army engaged in a siege, rather than drawn up for battle.
Yes, I’m still waking up. I should have said before modern firearms.
Lancers were still very effective against unformed infantry through the Napoleonic period. It took rifled weapons and the Minié ball to give infantry firearms the range to really make themselves almost impossible for cavalry to deal with. And then the lever-action repeater really was the death knell for cavalry in other than a dragoon (mounted infantry) and scouting role.
Wow! So, this is an anniversary date. Pretty cool.
Holy Mary, Mother of God…
***
Pray for us who have recourse to thee.
Different battle: Son and I were watching high-def Syrian Army tank/Rebel battle videos last night. Both sides were blowing the hell out of each other and the surrounding neighborhoods where complete rubble.
We both had a simultaneous conclusion that this is the same damn war they’ve been fighting for 1000 years only the weapons have changed.
There is no possible way to have peace with Islam. IF the muzzies agree to peace it’s only to give themselves time to re-supply before attacking again.
I was listening to a podcast on Ghenghis Khan. I had no idea that he obliterated the muslims in 1219.
Ghengis Khan leveled a city in one of the ‘stans that refused to yield then had one of his son’s chase its escaping Emir hundreds of miles across Iran. The Emir managed to stay one day ahead and wasn’t in the clear until he got a boat and headed out into the Caspian sea only hours before the Mongols arrived at the shore.
At the National Shrine in D.C., there is a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Poland and there is a tapistry of Jan III Sobieski and September 12, 1683.
It was one of the first class battles of all time, not merely due to the outcome.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vienna
The battle started before all units were fully deployed. Early in the morning, at 4h, the Ottomans attacked, seeking to interfere with the deployment of the Holy League troops. Charles of Lorraine moved forward with the Imperial army on the left and the other Holy Roman Empire forces in the center.
Mustafa Pasha launched a counter-attack with most of his force, but held back some of the elite Janissary and Sipahi units for a simultaneous assault on the city. The Ottoman commanders had intended to take Vienna before Sobieski arrived, but time ran out. Their sappers had prepared another large and final detonation under the Löbelbastei, to breach the walls. While the Ottomans hastily finished their work and sealed the tunnel to make the explosion more effective, the Viennese “moles” detected the tunnel in the afternoon. One of them entered and defused the load just in time.
At that time, above the “subterranean battlefield”, a large battle was going on, as the Polish infantry launched a massive assault upon the Ottoman right flank. Instead of focusing on the battle with the relief army, the Ottomans continued their efforts to force their way into the city.
There was a moment during the battle where Kara Mustafa personally ordered the execution of 30,000 Christian hostages.
After twelve hours of fighting, the Poles held the high ground on the right. On the flanks, it is recorded that out of the forest the Polish cavalry slowly emerged and received a cheer from the onlooking infantry who had been anticipating their arrival. The Holy League cavalry waited on the hills, and watched the infantry battle for the whole day. At about 17h, the Polish King ordered the cavalry attack in four groups, one of the Holy Roman Empire and three Polish. Twenty thousand horsemen charged down the hills (the largest cavalry charge in history). Jan III Sobieski led the charge at the head of 3,000 Polish heavy lancers, the famed “Winged Hussars”. The Lipka Tatars who fought on the Polish side wore a sprig of straw in their helmets to distinguish themselves from the Tatars fighting on the Ottoman side. The charge broke the lines of the Ottomans, who were tired from the long fight on two sides. In the confusion, the cavalry headed straight for the Ottoman camps, while the remaining Vienna garrison sallied out of its defenses and joined in the assault.
The Ottoman troops were tired and dispirited following the failure of both the sapping attempt and the brute force assault on the city. The arrival of the cavalry turned the tide of battle against them, sending them into retreat to the south and east. In less than three hours after the cavalry attack, the Christian forces had won the battle and saved Vienna.
After the battle, Sobieski paraphrased Julius Caesar’s famous quote (Veni, vidi, vici) by saying “Venimus, Vidimus, Deus vincit” – “We came, We saw, God conquered”.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Battle-of-Vienna/102289036491517
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