Reporting of Federici Studies Center
The Battle of Vienna, In the year of the Lord 1683
The political-military scenario in the second half of the seventeenth century – rather troubled century – appears dark and full of uncertainties. The Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), devastating religious war, it was also a political-military confrontation between the French ruling House of Bourbon and that of the Habsburgs. The intent was to remove the Habsburgs' hegemony over Germany, which derived from their imperial authority. To achieve this goal Armand du Plessis, better known as Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642), inaugurating a policy based on mere national interest to the detriment of a European and Catholic vision, allied himself with the Protestant princes. The Treaties of Westphalia of 1648 sanctioned the definitive weakening of the Holy Roman Empire. That's how it is about Germany, devastated, divided between Catholics and Protestants and politically separated, the hegemony of the king of France is established, Louis XIV (1638-1715). He does not hesitate to even seek the alliance of the Ottoman Empire, completely opposed to every Christian and European ideal. At the end of the century, therefore, Europe was prostrate, divided within itself between religious factions and dynastic struggles, with an economic and demographic crisis resulting from the war, which made her more vulnerable than ever.
The Islamic offensive
The Ottoman Empire, which had conquered the Balkan countries up to the Hungarian plain, on August 1st 1664 it had been temporarily blocked by the imperial armies led by Raimondo Montecuccoli (1609-1680) in the Battle of San Gottardo, in Hungary. Shortly after though, under the strategic guidance of the Grand Vizier Qara Mustafā (1634-1683), the offensive resumes, paradoxically encouraged by Louis XIV and his casual anti-Habsburg policy. There could not have been a more favorable moment for a victorious campaign and now the heart of Europe was within the reach of the Ottoman armies. Almost isolated, only the Republic of Venice prevents the Turks from gaining dominion in the Aegean, in Greece and Dalmatia. However, it was now an unequal struggle, Indeed, culminated in the loss of Candia in 1669, despite the heroic deeds of Francesco Morosini (1618-1694). In the 1672 in Podolia – a part of present-day Ukraine – is taken from Poland and in January of 1683, ad Istanbul, the Ottoman armies head towards Hungary. It is an immense army that is marching towards the heart of Europe, under the leadership of Qara Mustafā and Muhammad IV (1641-1692). The design they attempted to create was that of a sort of “greater European and Muslim Türkiye” of which Vienna was to be the future capital; a city which in turn would have been a bridgehead towards the rest of Europe, besieged and destined for defeat. The few remaining Imperial forces – reinforced by the Hungarian militias led by Duke Charles V of Lorraine (1643-1690) – they tried in vain to resist. The great leader in the service of the Habsburgs took command, although recovering from a very serious illness, from which – he said to himself – the prayers of a Capuchin father had saved him, known to many as Father Marco da Aviano. Father Marco had been sent by Pope Innocent XI to the Emperor to plead the cause of the anti-Turkish crusade. Father Marco's first act was to ask that the image of the Mother of God be shown on all imperial insignia. Since then, Austrian military flags will always carry the effigy of the Madonna for the next two and a half centuries. Only Adolf Hitler had them removed after his rise to power.
The beginning of the decisive battle
On July 8th 1683 the Ottoman army advances towards Vienna, arriving there on 13 July and besieging it. It was a march of conquest that did not spare the regions it crossed, vowing to destroy cities and villages, churches and convents, massacring and enslaving the populations thus subjugated. Emperor Leopold I (1640-1705), after having entrusted the military command to Count Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg (1638-1701), he decided to leave Vienna and reached the city of Linz to organize Germany's resistance. The sounds were now ringing in the empire “bells of the Turks”, as had already happened in 1664 and in the previous century, and the mobilization of all available forces began. The emperor feverishly began negotiations to gather all the princes, Catholics and Protestants, attempting to counter the diplomatic work of Louis XIV and Frederick William of Brandenburg (1620-1688). Thus he also asked for the intervention of the Polish army, appealing to the supreme interest of the salvation of Christianity.
The work of Pope Innocent
In this distressing moment, the European and Eastern policy wisely promoted by the Holy See for many years bore fruit. The credit went largely to Cardinal Benedetto Odescalchi (1611-1689), elected Pope in 1676 (with the name of Innocent XI) and beatified in 1956 by Pope Pius XII. Convinced supporter of the crusade, the Pontiff, who as cardinal and governor of Ferrara had earned the title of “father of the poor”, initiated a far-sighted policy aimed at creating a system of balance between the Christian princes to direct their political action against the Ottoman Empire. Making use of exceptional personalities such as the nunzi Obizzo Pallavicini (1632-1700), Francesco Buonvisi (1626-1700), father Marco da Aviano and others, managed to settle the conflicts within Europe, to pacify Poland with Austria and even to encourage rapprochement with Brandenburg (Protestant) and with Orthodox Russia. All divisions within Christianity had to disappear in the face of the defense of Europe from Islam. That's how it was, despite it all, In the 1683 the Pope managed to create a large Christian coalition and find the necessary resources to finance a political and military undertaking of enormous proportions.
The siege of Vienna
Meanwhile, heroic resistance to the siege began in the city. It is estimated that approximately 6.000 soldiers and 5.000 men of the civic defense were able to face the Ottoman Army, strong with good 300 cannons. In the city, only the bell of Saint Stephen, now called Angstern (anguish), with its chimes it called the defenders together. The assaults on the walls and isolated clashes were almost continuous, while help was still far away. Requested by the Pontiff and the Emperor, King John III Sobieski of Poland (1624-1696), at the head of the army, he moved in forced stages towards Vienna, who had already twice saved Poland from the Turks. Finally the 31 August his contingents joined those of Duke Charles of Lorraine, who later assumed supreme command. The Christian army, all the forces of that Europe so prodigiously reunited, he set off towards Vienna, where the situation was now dramatic. The Turks had opened breaches in the bastions and the surviving defenders, after repelling dozens of attacks and carrying out numerous sorties, they were at the end of their strength. Ottoman troops had almost free access to Austria and Moravia. On September 11th, Vienna experienced what seemed like its last night with anguish. Von Starhemberg sent Charles of Lorraine a last desperate message: “Don't waste any more time, most gracious Lord, don't waste any more time”.
The final battle
It's the dawn of 12 September 1683, when Father Marco da Aviano, after celebrating Mass, served by the king of Poland, he blesses and harangues the now deployed army, accompanying them into the open field. Shortly afterwards in Kalhenberg, near Vienna, 65.000 Christians face each other in pitched battle 200.000 Ottomans. At the head of the Christian armies are the princes of Baden and Saxony, the lords of Thuringia and Holstein, in Wittelsbach di Baviera, the Italian general Count Enea Silvio Caprara (1631-1701), the young Prince Eugene of Savoy (1663-1736), together with the Poles and the Hungarians. The battle lasted all day and ended with an epic melee charge, led by Sobieski himself, which finally caused the collapse of the Ottoman Army. The European forces taking the field will suffer the loss of approximately 2.000 men against the beyond 20.000 of the opponent. The Ottoman army fled in disarray, abandoning everything, but not without having cowardly massacred hundreds of Christian prisoners and slaves. The King of Poland sent the captured flags to the Pope accompanied by these words: “Come, look, God has won”. Since then, at the behest of Pope Innocent XI, il 12 September is dedicated to the feast of the SS. Name of Mary, in memory and in thanks for the victory. The following day the Emperor entered liberated Vienna, at the head of the princes of the empire and the confederate troops. In St. Stephen's Cathedral the bishop of Vienna-Neustadt, then cardinal, Count Leopoldo Carlo Kollonic (1631-1707), celebrated a solemn Te Deum of thanksgiving.
I thank you for this article in memory of those who died as soldiers or prisoners in the defense of Christ and his Divinity.
The current moments are even worse than that time but the Most Holy Name of Mary will not abandon us even now.
Marcello