TRENDEAtlas of the Sultans · Wars, battles and treaties
Siege · 1683
The Battle of Vienna took place at Kahlenberg Mountain near Vienna on 12 September 1683 after the city had been besieged by the Ottoman Empire for two months. The battle was fought by the Holy Roman Empire, led by the Habsburg monarchy, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, both under the command of Polish King John III Sobieski, against the Ottomans and their vassal and tributary states. The battle was won by the combined forces of the Holy Roman Empire and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, marking the beginning of their military cooperation against the Ottomans.
| Date | Siege: 14 July – 11 September 1683, (1 month, 4 weeks and 1 day), Battle: 12 September 1683 |
|---|---|
| Location | Vienna, Archduchy of Austria, Holy Roman Empire (now Vienna, Austria), |
| Result | Christian coalition victory |
| Belligerents | Ottoman Empire Vassal states: Crimean Khanate Upper Hungary Moldavia Transylvania Wallachia | Holy Roman Empire Habsburg monarchy Archduchy of Austria Poland–Lithuania Crown of the Kingdom of Poland Wallachia (secretly) |
|---|---|---|
| Commanders | Kara Mustafa Pasha Murad Giray George Ducas Șerban Cantacuzino | John III Sobieski Stanisław Jan Jabłonowski Mikołaj Hieronim Sieniawski Charles of Lorraine Julius Francis of Saxe-Lauenburg John George III of Saxony Georg Friedrich of Waldeck Count Starhemberg (Viennese garrison) Șerban Cantacuzino (secretly) |
| Strength | 120,000 soldiers to 65,000 soldiers during 60 days of siege with around 60 guns 90,000 to 40,000 soldiers during 60 days of siege 90,000 men arrived for the siege; 35,000 detached men left at Győr; ~50,000 during the battle 150,000 as of 10 September 1683, down from 170,000 at the start of the campaign, according to documents on the order of battle found in Kara Mustafa's tent. Approximately 150 cannons | Viennese garrison: 11,000 soldiers + 5,000 volunteers 312 guns but only 141 operational (strength on 10 September 1683) 24,700 16,000 soldiers (10,000 infantry + 6,000 cuirassiers) 8,700 militia Relief force: 70,000 soldiers with 140–200 guns According to Şakul: 18,500 Austrians 28,500 Germans 18,000 Poles 5,000 Hungarians According to Podhorodecki: 27,000 Polish army 18,000 Imperial forces 9,000 Saxon corps 10,500 Bavarian corps 9,500 Swabian corps According to Agoston: 35,000–40,000 Germans 20,000 Imperial forces 20,000 Poles Total: 90,000–104,700 but some left behind to guard bridges near Tulln and camps, plus 2,000 Imperial cavalry (not included above) left behind the Danube. |
| Casualties | Total casualties: 66,000–79,000 Casualties during the siege: 48,544 killed, 25% desertion and unknown number of deaths from diseases Casualties during the battle: 8,000–20,000 Captured: ~10,000 | Total casualties: 16,500–20,000 Casualties during the siege: 12,000 Casualties during the battle: 4,500 3,500 dead or wounded (1,300 Poles) |
Contemporary Ottoman historian Silahdar Findiklili Mehmed Agha (1658–1723) described the battle as an enormous defeat and failure for the Ottoman Empire, the most disastrous since the foundation of Ottoman statehood in 1299. The Ottomans lost at least 20,000 men during the siege, while their losses during the battle with Sobieski's forces amounted to around 15,000 dead (according to Podhorodecki) or 8,000–15,000 dead and 5,000–10,000 captured (according to Tucker). Casualties of the relief force under Sobieski's command were much smaller, amounting to approximately 3,500 dead and wounded, including 1,300 Poles. Tucker's estimate is slightly higher: 4,500.
Took place during the reign of Mehmed IV (1648–1687). Mehmed IV
Open the reign of Mehmed IV on the mapText: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), adapted for the atlas.