The Hapsburg Emperor had previously fled the city. By September 1683, a small relief force of the Imperial army had arrived. The city walls were in a state of disrepair, but the garrison and the citizens improvised and strengthened the fortifications. The Turks had excellent artillery, and they employed almost 150 pieces of cannon, and they also dug tunnels under the Hapsburg walls to place mines under the fortifications. In response, the Ottomans established a network of trenches. This created a free-fire zone for the Imperial troops. The city's defenders had cleared the area around the surrounding city walls. The Ottomans cut off the city from the rest of the Hapsburg lands. The Viennese and the garrison vowed to fight on as earlier the Turks had massacred the inhabitants of a town that had surrendered on terms. On the same day, commander Kara Mustafa demanded the surrender of the city. The main Ottoman army arrived outside the gates of Vienna on 14 July. However, the winter meant that the actual invasion was delayed, giving the Austrians some time to prepare. The Ottoman Viziers had long planned for this invasion, and they had laid meticulous plans. Some 40,000 Crimean Tartars also joined the army of the Ottoman Empire. Some 150,000 Turkish troops entered Austrian territory, and they were allied with the Hungarians. They wanted the city to control vital land trade routes and potentially fatefully weaken the Hapsburgs. The Hapsburg intervention into Hungary was the perfect opportunity for the Turks to capture Vienna. They had reformed the army and had built up the infrastructure of the Empire. Since Suleiman's death, the Magnificent the Ottomans had been in decline, but a series of energetic Viziers had reversed this. This move into Hungary gave the Ottomans the excuse that they had long wanted to drive their armies into the heart of Europe. The Catholic forces moved into an area of Hungary that had been a de facto buffer zone between the Hapsburgs and the Ottomans. However, the Catholic Hapsburgs distrusted and occasionally persecuted many of their Hungarian subjects who were Protestants. This has also led to the partition of Hungary between the Turks and the Hapsburgs. In 1529 the Ottomans had laid siege to Vienna but had been beaten back. The Hapsburg Empire and the Ottomans had long contested central Europe's control and for the control of Hungary. This was a large empire that was centered on the German-speaking lands of modern Austria and its capital was Vienna. By the 1680s, the main defense against the Ottomans was the Hapsburg Empire. Successive Sultans had launched repeated attacks or jihads on Europe's Christian kingdoms for many centuries. They had captured Byzantium in 1453 and ended the Byzantine Empire. In the seventeenth century, the Ottomans ruled a vast empire that encompassed the Balkans, modern-day Turkey, and much of the Middle East. It focuses on the main reasons why the great Ottoman Empire failed to seize Vienna. This article discusses the prelude to the siege and describes the actual events of 1683. The defeat of the Turkish army outside the gates of Vienna is widely seen as the beginning of the Ottoman Empire's long decline and played a significant part in the rise of Europe. It is widely accepted that if the Muslim Empire had been successful at the Battle or Siege of Vienna in 1683, it could have dominated Europe and changed not only European history but also world history. The Ottoman Sultan ruled an Empire from Persia to Central Europe. In the early modern period in Europe, Ottoman Turkey was arguably the greatest military and political power. Ottoman and Polish cavalry clashing outside Vienna
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