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12 September 1683

The siege of Vienna

For two months an Ottoman army besieged Vienna. Then a relieving army came over the hills of the Vienna Woods and broke the siege in a day.

Place: Vienna and the KahlenbergEra: The Great Turkish War

An engraving of a vast battle in a river valley, hills on the left, a walled city with a tall spire in the distance
The relief of Vienna. Anonymous, 1694. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Public domain (CC0).

In July 1683 the largest Ottoman army in a generation reached Vienna. The emperor left the city; Count Starhemberg stayed to defend it with its garrison and citizens.

Two months

Ottoman engineers dug mines under the walls and blew breaches in them, and the defenders closed each one. By September the city was close to falling.

The relief

On 12 September a relieving army of imperial, German and Polish troops came down from the Kahlenberg, the hill above the city. By evening the siege was broken. Printers all over Europe sold pictures of the day for years.

Timeline

  1. 14 July 1683

    Vienna surrounded

    Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa's army surrounds the city.

  2. Summer 1683

    Mines and walls

    Ottoman sappers dig under the walls; the defenders under Count Starhemberg hold on.

  3. 12 September 1683

    The relief

    The relieving army attacks from the Kahlenberg and the siege breaks by evening.

    An engraving of a vast battle in a river valley, hills on the left, a walled city with a tall spire in the distance

Further reading

  • Andrew Wheatcroft, The Enemy at the Gate (London, 2008)

Questions

Why is it here?

These pages follow events across Central Europe told through the prints made of them, and Vienna's siege was one of the most printed stories of its century.

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