Siege of Vienna 1529 - Ottoman Wars DOCUMENTARY

[Music] the year was 1526 and the Ottoman Empire had wiped their once mighty Hungarian foes of the map the Catholic world looked on in suspense as the ambitious sultan suleiman and his elite Janissaries pushed deeper into europe than any islamic empire ever had but as they expanded westwards they encountered another formidable opponent the Habsburg dynasty of Austria the struggle between these two powers would soon escalate and resulted in a Turkish army pointed at the heart of the Holy Roman Empire welcome to our video on the first Ottoman siege of Vienna the zenith of Suleiman's European conquests with the Ottoman victory at mow hatch the Hungarian army was annihilated and its government decapitated king louis ii had perished in the battle and with him sunk the future of his kingdom a power vacuum engulfed hungary and in its wake two claimants to the throne arose in late 1526 the native aristocrat jones apoyo was elected by the hungarian lower gentry the following year the higher nobility elected Ferdinand to the first the Archduke of Austria and brother of charles v king of germany and inheritor of the Habsburg monarchy Ferdinand was quick to act sweeping in to establish control over the northwestern territories of the kingdom establishing a capital in Posner's II meanwhile as a poet consolidated himself in Transylvania he knew that he would need support against his Austrian rivals and their powerful Habsburg allies and thus had no choice but to turn to Suleiman the Hungarian would be king and his rump state became a vassal territory of the Sultan Ferdinand asserted his claim to the throne by launching a military campaign into the Hungarian heartland at the head of an army of 18,000 German mercenaries Sequoyah found himself bogged down in a slovonic peasant uprising in his southern territories and was taken by surprise when Ferdinand took the city of Buda with little resistance he quickly rallied a force of 7,000 men mostly Hungarians Transylvanians and Serbs and marched out to meet the German host in the fall of 1527 Ferdinand decisively defeated Sequoyah at the Battle of Todd sow the Austrian Archduke followed up his success by smashing Zappo a yet again the following spring at the Battle of Xena by the end of his campaign Ferdinand and his mercenaries had seized control over much of the Hungarian heartland and his claim to the throne of Hungary was looking evermore solidified sipar had fled to poland licking his wounds from there he sent desperate correspondences to suleiman beseeching his suzerain to intervene and drive the Germans out of Hungary on his behalf the Sultan was quick to respond in the spring of 1529 campaigning season had begun once again and the Ottomans started mustering a massive army in Bulgaria comprised of 125,000 men and 20,000 camels and significant amounts of cannons as always the Turkish army included soldiers of all the Empire's Christian and Muslim ethnic groups Suleiman's colossal army began its northward march but it was not without hardship the spring rains bucketed down turning the dirt to mud many ottoman cannons had to be abandoned the camels - not used to the soaking conditions began to perish on mass by the 18th of August the Ottoman army had returned to the mow hatch plain supplier was sitting there with a host of 6000 Hungarian cavalry men and joined forces with his overlord despite the hardships the Ottoman swept through Hungary like a tidal wave dismantling Ferdinand's Gaines town by town most of which put up little to no resistance on the 8th of September Suleiman seized the capital of Buda and placed it firmly in the hands of John Sequoyah Suleiman then continued to assert his dominance in the following weeks he conquered gran Tata Kamara and Rab delivering blow after blow to the Habsburgs European sources claimed that the Ottomans laid a path of destruction behind them murdering and pillaging as they marched onwards committing numerous atrocities the Sultan's campaign had brought him within striking distance of the heart of his great enemy and thus the Ottoman Sultan marched his armies past the Hungarian border and into Austrian territory towards Vienna the trek was arduous and the torrential downpour continued to torment the troops Ottoman sources claimed that yet more horses and camels were swept away by the water many men drowned in the river while more were forced to climb onto trees and spend two days and nights there to avoid being washed away by now Western Europe had become more and more aware of the existential threat the Turks posed the reformer Martin Luther who previously had been against resisting the Ottomans now published a book compelling the Habsburg crown to defend the Empire from Suleiman's expansion in which he stated it is a fact that the Turk is at our throat and even if he does not will to march against us this year yet he is there armed and ready any hour to attack us Christendom was aware that a strike upon Vienna was likely the city would not be taken by surprise knowing that an army encroached upon their city Ferdinand had fled and taken refuge in Bohemia the Viennese population was left leaderless but began mustering a rabble militia made up mostly of peasant farmers ready to defend their home fortunately for the defenders emperor charles v sent a contingent of 17,000 mercenaries to defend the city this force was made up mostly of lands connects elite professional soldiers mostly from Germany known for their flamboyant dress a symbol of wealth and power at their head was nikolas south a 70 year old soldier who had made a name for himself at the Battle of pavia seven years earlier Sam would assume command of the city's defense Sall immediately sets to bolstering Vienna's fortifications the city walls surrounding the city's main cathedral of st. Stephan's were nearly 300 years old they were reinforced heavily and the gates were bricked shut meanwhile the suburbs outside the main Citadel were demolished eliminating any cover for the Ottoman forces great earthen bastions were built along the walls to provide defenders with a greater radius of fire the city's largers were restocked and the wells filled the enna was ready for a siege the Ottoman army arrived at the city gates on the 24th of September 15:29 they had lost much of their artillery and many of their men were suffering from illness of those fit for combat roughly one-third worthy sapper he horsemen ineffective in siege warfare nevertheless Suleiman still outnumbered his foe by a wide margin sources claimed that his 100,000 strong army with 300 cannons outnumbered the defenders 5 to 1 and the latter only had 72 cannons the Turks were easily able to surround the city walls isolating it from the outside world Suleiman delivered terms to his opponents to the commander and the other inhabitants of the fortress of Vienna let it be known that if you become Muslims nothing will happen to you but if you offer resistance then by Allah the most sublime your city will be reduced to ashes and young and old slaughtered weary of the previous atrocities committed by the Ottomans the garrison refused these terms Suleiman expected as much and readily boasted that within two weeks he would be eating breakfast inside st. stephan's cathedral which he intended to turn into a mosque and so the battle began twice the Janissaries assaulted the city walls and twice they were repelled by the ferocious lands connect mercenaries the ottomans had lost most of their great bombard during their march thus they shelled the city walls with their lighter cannons this artillery was not powerful enough to any significant damage to the walls but some cannonballs sailed over the ramparts tearing up the cobblestone roads and causing much collateral damage in response the Viennese dismantled their streets exposing them to the soil beneath which the cannonballs sunk harmlessly into [Music] however the artillery was a mere distraction to keep the defenders in disarray the Ottoman Safford dubbed deep into the earth creating a network of trenches and tunnels in order to detonate mines beneath the city walls like they had done in Rhodes 7 years earlier the defenders were prepared Sam had a system of water buckets in the cellars along the city walls observing vibrations in the water to see where the Turks were tunneling on October 8th 8000 lands connect sallied out into the ditches killing many Turkish soldiers and detonating many mines before they could reach the city walls this hit-and-run tactic had consequences as the German mercenaries sustained heavy casualties when retreating back into the city through the narrow tunnels despite their efforts one of the mines detonated by the counter siege team exploded too close to the city creating a breach in the walls near the Corinthian gate the Ottomans saw their opportunity and charged the Sultan's Janissaries were elite soldiers but their German opponents were professionals forming a pike wall at the mouth of the breach the lands connect repelled the Turkish assault October 11th marks the holy day of st. Michael and yet more rain tormented the Ottoman camp sickness was epidemic and the Turks had made little to no progress on the city walls the morale of the soldiers was at an all-time low they were running out of food and their commanders had to resort to harsh of forms of capital punishment to keep them from deserting this was the day that Suleiman had boasted he would be eating breakfast inside the Viennese Cathedral instead the defender sent him a letter from inside st. Stephan's with a simple message your breakfast is getting cold [Music] the Janissaries began expressing their discontent and demanded to know if the siege would continue Suleiman convened a council on the 12th of October and decided he would put his cards upon the table he ordered one final massive assault upon the city walls a last-ditch effort to salvage the siege on the 14th of October the full force of the Ottoman army bore down upon the city walls still they were unable to bleach them Austrian Gunners assaulted the attackers from the city walls while the disciplined lands Kinect's held the line with their Stanwood Pike formation and volleys of arquebus fire after only two hours the ottomans began to see the futility in their assault and called a retreat the following morning snowfall swept through the Austrian plains blanketing the Ottoman cap it was clear that the siege could not continue in these conditions for the Christians the miracle of a winter storm in October was seen as divine intervention sure enough the ottomans withdrew and the siege was lifted it is generally accepted that in total the ottomans lost 15,000 men the defenders casualties remain unknown but they are assumed to have been heavy nevertheless Vienna was saved on the March home the Ottoman armies pillaged the Austrian state of Styria although Suleiman had failed to take Vienna he saw and presented the overall campaign as a success after all he had undone the territorial gains of the Habsburgs in Hungary and reasserted his dominance there he claimed that by attacking Vienna his goal had not been to take the city at all but to test the strength of his new rivals Archduke Ferdinand and Charles v [Music] the wars between the Habsburgs and the Ottomans were just starting and we are planning to cover every major battle and campaign they fought so make sure you are subscribed to our channel and have pressed the bell button we would like to express our gratitude to our patreon supporters and channel members who make the creation of our videos possible now you can also support us by buying our merchandise via the link in the description this is the kings and Generals channel and we will catch you on the next one

Channel: Kings and Generals

Views: 1,187,974

Keywords: ottoman empire, full documentary, kings and generals, history lesson, ottoman empire history, ottoman empire documentary, epic history tv, battle of vienna, siege of vienna, john iii sobieski, holy roman empire, world history, animated documentary, documentary film, military history, decisive battles, suleiman, sultan, mohacs, constantinople, kosovo, rhodes, ankara, hungary, hungarian history, vaslui, nicopolis

Id: fWcf9ur542o

Length: 14min 31sec (871 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 28 2019