120,000 soldiers to 65,000 soldiers during 60 days of siege with around 60 guns[3] 90,000 to 40,000 soldiers during 60 days of siege[3]
150,000 as of 10 September 1683,[4] down from 170,000 at the start of the campaign, according to documents on the order of battle found in Kara Mustafa's tent.[5][Note 1]– alternative estimates
The battle was won by the combined forces of the Holy Roman Empire and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the latter represented only by the forces of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland (the march of the Lithuanian army was delayed, and they reached Vienna after it had been relieved).[22] The Viennese garrison was led by Feldzeugmeister of the Imperial Army (Holy Roman Empire)Ernst Rüdiger Graf von Starhemberg, an Austrian subject of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I. The overall command was held by the senior leader, the king of Poland, John III Sobieski, who led the relief forces.
The opposing military forces were those of the Ottoman Empire and its vassal states, commanded by Grand VizierMerzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha. The Ottoman army numbered approximately 90,000[6] to 300,000[7][8][9][10] men (according to documents on the order of battle found in Kara Mustafa's tent, initial strength at the start of the campaign was 170,000 men[5]). They began the siege on 14 July 1683. Ottoman forces consisted, among other units, of 60 ortas of Janissaries (12,000 men paper-strength) with an observation army of some 70,000[23] men watching the countryside. The decisive battle took place on 12 September, after the arrival of the united relief army.
Some historians maintain that the battle marked a turning point in the Ottoman–Habsburg wars, a 300-year struggle between the Holy Roman and Ottoman Empires. During the 16 years following the battle, the Austrian Habsburgs would gradually conquer southern Hungary and Transylvania, largely clearing them of Ottoman forces. The battle is noted for including the largest known cavalry charge in history.
^ abcdeBruce Alan Masters, Gábor Ágoston: Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire, Infobase Publishing, 2009, ISBN1438110251, 584.
^ abHarbottle, Thomas (1905), Dictionary of Battles, E.P. Sutton & Co, p. 262
^ abClare, Israel (1876), The Centennial Universal History: A Clear and Concise History of All Nations, with a Full History of the United States to the Close of the First 100 Years of Our National Independence., J. C. McCurdy & Co., p. 252
^ abDrane, Augusta (1858), The Knights of st. John: with The battle of Lepanto and Siege of Vienna., Burns and Lambert, p. 136
^ abAmerican Architect and Building News. 29.767 (1890): 145. Print.
^ abcPodhorodecki, Leszek (2001), Wiedeń 1683, Bellona, p. 83
^ abcdŞakul, Kahraman (2021). II. Viyana Kuşatması Yedi Ejderin Fendi (in Turkish). İstanbul: Timaş Publishing. pp. 394–395. ISBN978-6050835663.
^Podhorodecki, Leszek (2001), Wiedeń 1683, Bellona, p. 106
^Podhorodecki, Leszek (2001), Wiedeń 1683, Bellona, p. 105
^Podhorodecki, Leszek (2001), Wiedeń 1683, Bellona, pp. 83, 106
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