Download Free The Sieges Of Vienna By The Turks Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online The Sieges Of Vienna By The Turks and write the review.

The Siege of Vienna in 1683 was one of the turning points in European history. It was the last serious threat to Western Christendom and so great was its impact that countries normally jealous and hostile sank their differences to throw back the armies of Islam and their savage Tartar allies. The consequences of defeat were momentous: the Ottomans lost half their European territories and began the long decline which led to the final collapse of the Empire, and the Hapsburgs turned their attention from France and the Rhine frontier to the rich pickings of the Balkans. The hot September day that witnesses the last great trial of strength between Cross and Crescent opened an epoch in European history that lasted until the cataclysm of the First World War in 1914.
While European powers were at war with the Ottoman Empire for much of the eighteenth century, European opera houses were staging operas featuring singing sultans and pashas surrounded by their musical courts and harems. Mozart wrote The Abduction from the Seraglio. Rossini created a series of works, including The Italian Girl in Algiers. And these are only the best known of a vast repertory. This book explores how these representations of the Muslim Ottoman Empire, the great nemesis of Christian Europe, became so popular in the opera house and what they illustrate about European–Ottoman international relations. After Christian armies defeated the Ottomans at Vienna in 1683, the Turks no longer seemed as threatening. Europeans increasingly understood that Turkish issues were also European issues, and the political absolutism of the sultan in Istanbul was relevant for thinking about politics in Europe, from the reign of Louis XIV to the age of Napoleon. While Christian European composers and publics recognized that Muslim Turks were, to some degree, different from themselves, this difference was sometimes seen as a matter of exotic costume and setting. The singing Turks of the stage expressed strong political perspectives and human emotions that European audiences could recognize as their own.
In 1683, two empires - the Ottoman, based in Constantinople, and the Habsburg dynasty in Vienna - came face to face in the culmination of a 250-year power struggle: the Great Siege of Vienna. Within the city walls the choice of resistance over surrender to the largest army ever assembled by the Turks created an all-or-nothing scenario: every last survivor would be enslaved or ruthlessly slaughtered. The Turks had set their sights on taking Vienna, the city they had long called 'The Golden Apple' since their first siege of the city in 1529. Both sides remained resolute, sustained by hatred of their age-old enemy, certain that their victory would be won by the grace of God. Eastern invaders had always threatened the West: Huns, Mongols, Goths, Visigoths, Vandals and many others. The Western fears of the East were vivid and powerful and, in their new eyes, the Turks always appeared the sole aggressors. Andrew Wheatcroft's extraordinary book shows that this belief is a grievous oversimplification: during the 400 year struggle for domination, the West took the offensive just as often as the East. As modern Turkey seeks to re-orient its relationship with Europe, a new generation of politicians is exploiting the residual fears and tensions between East and West to hamper this change. The Enemy at the Gate provides a timely and masterful account of this most complex and epic of conflicts.
*Includes pictures *Includes a bibliography for further reading In terms of geopolitics, perhaps the most seminal event of the Middle Ages was the successful Ottoman siege of Constantinople in 1453. The city had been an imperial capital as far back as the 4th century, when Constantine the Great shifted the power center of the Roman Empire there, effectively establishing two almost equally powerful halves of antiquity's greatest empire. Constantinople would continue to serve as the capital of the Byzantine Empire even after the Western half of the Roman Empire collapsed in the late 5th century. Naturally, the Ottoman Empire would also use Constantinople as the capital of its empire after their conquest effectively ended the Byzantine Empire, and thanks to its strategic location, it has been a trading center for years and remains one today under the Turkish name of Istanbul. In the wake of taking Constantinople, the Ottoman Empire would spend the next few centuries expanding its size, power, and influence, bumping up against Eastern Europe and becoming one of the world's most important geopolitical players. It would take repeated efforts by various European coalitions to prevent a complete Ottoman takeover of the continent, and one of the most important battles among those efforts took place at Vienna in 1529. At the time, the Ottomans were led by one of their most famous sultans, Suleiman the Magnificent, and different chroniclers have analyzed Suleiman's behavior in different ways. There is a plethora of opinions as to his motives for attempting the takeover of Vienna, a well-guarded city far away from his empire's center. Had he intended to conquer the whole of the Holy Roman Empire? Had he intended to strengthen his borders? Had he acted in accordance with King Francis I's needs in the West? No matter the reason, Suleiman did not halt in his advances, despite the fact circumstances were not favorable for the Ottomans. The summer rains had already begun when he set out for Vienna, making most of the roads inaccessible both for cavalry and moving the heavy pieces of artillery needed for a successful siege. The camels brought from Anatolia proved too sensitive for the cold, constant rain and died in large numbers, and many of the soldiers shared the same fate. By the time they arrived around Vienna in late September, the Ottoman forces were heavily depleted, and many siege armaments had been left behind when stuck in the mud. The population of Vienna had seen the enemy coming, giving them plenty of time to reinforce, strengthen, and prepare. When they launched the siege, the Ottoman forces lacked conviction, making it easy to fight back during the initial attacks. After making no real progress, the soldiers lost their motivation when the weather took a turn for the worse shortly into the siege. Suleiman's supply of food and water diminished, and the troops were close to mutiny. In a final "all or nothing" attempt, the Ottomans attacked with all the strength they had left, trying to break Vienna's fortifications, which refused to yield. Suleiman accepted defeat, gathered his men, and returned to Anatolia. The hasty departure from Vienna resulted in the loss of heavy armaments, as well as troops and prisoners in the heavy snowfall. Modern historians speculate as to why Suleiman persisted with the siege even though the Ottoman forces were evidently weaker than the forces in Vienna upon their arrival. As an experienced, strategic warrior, it is most likely he realized his disadvantage and the full scale of his potential losses. It was also probable that the last burst of attacks was merely a means with which to weaken the city walls for a future siege. The second attempt, in 1532, was met with the same mix of bad luck and good defenses, and Vienna marked the limit of Ottoman advances in the West.
This book is dedicated to Metin Kunt, which primarily examines diverse cases of changes throughout Ottoman history. Both specialist and non-specialist readers will explore and understand the complexities concerning the longevity as well as the tenacity of the Ottoman Empire.
During the seventeenth century Hungary's diverse population of peasants, townsmen, soldiers, and county nobles rose up against the violent imposition of the Counter-Reformation, the Habsburg military occupation, and exhorbitant war taxes. In The Habsburg Empire under Siege Georg Michels explores the little-known grassroots revolts that threatened the Habsburgs' hold over the Hungarian borderlands. Based on extensive research in Hungarian, Austrian, and Dutch archives, this revisionist study shifts attention away from high politics, diplomacy, and military confrontation to the popular revolts that took place during the two decades before the 1683 siege of Vienna. Michels reveals a complex environment in which Calvinist Hungarians, Lutheran Slovaks, Lutheran Germans, and Orthodox Ukrainians worked to defend their religion against brutal Habsburg Counter-Reformation campaigns. Challenging preconceived notions of European, Middle Eastern, and East European history, this book tells a dramatic story of Reformation and Counter-Reformation violence, covering proxy wars, guerrilla warfare, refugee flight, migration from Hungary into Ottoman territory, and largely unknown Christian-Muslim encounters. Offering a trans-imperial perspective that reassesses the complex relationship between Hungarians, Habsburgs, and Ottomans, The Habsburg Empire under Siege portrays the resistance of ordinary men and women and their hopes for liberation from Habsburg oppression, reclaiming their place in history.
Osprey's study of a battle that was part of a triple conflict: the Polish-Ottoman War (1683-1699), the Great Turkish War (1667-1698), and the Ottoman Hapsburg Wars (1526-1791). The capture of the Hapsburg city of Vienna was a major strategic aspiration for the Islamic Ottoman Empire, desperate for the control that the city exercised over the Danube and the overland trade routes between southern and northern Europe. In July 1683 Sultan Mehmet IV proclaimed a jihad and the Turkish grand vizier, Kara Mustafa Pasha, laid siege to the city with an army of 150,000 men. In September a relieving force arrived under Polish command and joined up with the defenders to drive the Turks away. The main focus of this book is the final 15-hour battle for Vienna, which climaxed with a massive charge by three divisions of Polish winged hussars. This hard-won victory marked the beginning of the decline of the Islamic Ottoman Empire, which was never to threaten central Europe again.
This book is in many ways a sequel to the 4 vols. of Setton's "Papacy & the Levant (1204-1571)," although the emphasis has shifted northward from the Holy See to Venice & Austria. Includes such topics as: Austrians & Turks in the Long War (1592-1606); the Bohemian Succession, & the Outbreak of the 30 Years' War; Gustavus Adolphus, Cardinal Richeliu, & the Hapsburgs; the Increasing Importance of France; The Treaties of Westphalia; Venice, Malta, & the Turks; The Long War of Candia; The Turco-Venetian War (1646-1653); Naval Battles at the Dardanelles (1654-1657); the Cretan War; Papal Aid to Venice; Surrender of Venice to the Turks; Turco-Venetian Relations (1670-1683) & the Turkish Siege of Vienna; The Conquests of the Austrians in Hungary, the Revolt of the Turkish Army, & the Venetians in the Morea (1684-1687); the Invasion of Attica, & the Destruction of the Parthenon; The Venetians' Withdrawal fron Athens; the Removal of Antiquities; Louis XIV, the Turks, & the War of the League of Augsburg; the Turkish Reconquest of the Morea; the Victories of Eugene of Savoy; & Venice as a Playground of Europe.
“A great book that summarizes pieces of Roman military history that are often not mentioned or difficult to find sources for . . . an entertaining read.”—War History Online As Rome grew from a small city state to the mightiest empire of the west, her dominion was contested not only by the civilizations of the Mediterranean, but also by the “barbarians”—the tribal peoples of Europe. The Celtic, the Spanish-Iberian and the Germanic tribes lacked the pomp and grandeur of Rome, but they were fiercely proud of their freedom and gave birth to some of Rome’s greatest adversaries. Romans and barbarians, iron legions and wild tribesmen clashed in dramatic battles on whose fate hinged the existence of entire peoples and, at times, the future of Rome. Far from reducing the legions and tribes to names and numbers, The Roman Barbarian Wars: The Era of Roman Conquest reveals how they fought and how they lived and what their world was like. Through his exhaustive research and lively text, Ludwig H. Dyck immerses the reader into the epic world of the Roman barbarian wars. “I was reminded, as I picked up this superb book, of that magnificent scene from Gladiator when they unleashed hell on the Barbarian hordes at the beginning of the film. Dyck has produced a book that celebrates the brilliance of the Roman commanders and of Rome itself from its foundation to its eventual demise.”—Books Monthly “Dyck’s details of ancient battles and the people involved provide as much sword-slashing excitement as any fictional account.”—Kirkus Reviews “His vivid prose makes for a gripping read.”—Military Heritage