Jan Sobieski: The King Who Saved Europe

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English translation: John III, by the grace of God King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania, Ruthenia, Prussia, Masovia, Samogitia, Livonia, Smolensk, Kyiv, Volhynia, Podlasie, Severia, and Chernihiv, etc.

Overy, Richard (2014). A History of War in 100 Battles. Oxford University Press. p.58. ISBN 978-0199390717. Vincenzo da Filicaia [47] (1642–1707) wrote a collection of odes or canzoni about the raising of the siege of Vienna by King John III Sobieski titled " Canzoni in occasione dell'assedio, e liberazione di Vienna," published by Piero Matini in Florence in 1684. [48] Stéphane Gaber, Et Charles V arrêta la marche des Turcs, Presses universitaires de Nancy, 1986, ISBN 2-86480-227-9Hol Kulchitsky, a Ukrainian, Saved Vienna From Destruction in 1683" (PDF). Svoboda. 6 October 1933. a b Mirosław Nagielski (1995). Hetmani Rzeczypospolitej Obojga Narodów (in Polish). Bellona. p.227. ISBN 83-11-08275-8. Wheatcroft, Andrew. The Enemy at the Gate: Habsburgs, Ottomans and the Battle for Europe. New York: Basic Books, 2010. ISBN 978-0465020812

The Ottoman defeat at Vienna sparked great celebrations in Safavid Iran; the report was apparently brought in such a spectacular way, that then incumbent Emperor ( Shah) Suleiman I ( r.1666–1694) considered a march to Baghdad, which had been lost in 1639 to the Ottomans by virtue of the Treaty of Zuhab. [54] Ultimately, the Safavids would not conduct a new campaign, for concerned state officials (notably the dominant eunuch faction within the royal court) were aware of the decline in Safavid military strength, and thus did not consider it prudent. [54] The eunuchs, according to Professor Rudi Matthee "were not against the idea of having the Ottomans suffer some humiliation, but they did not want their power destroyed for fear that this would remove a buffer against Christian Europe". [54] Significance [ edit ] Sobieski Sending Message of Victory to the Pope, by Jan Matejko a b Clare, 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 At the end of this report, there is a mention of the siege of Vienna by Turkish troops in 1529. It ended with the withdrawal of Turkish forces from the city.

The Turks, however, did not give up. They continued to fight fiercely, thus constantly harassing the allied Christian armies. The Turks withdrew for two miles and set off in pursuit of Polish troops. Selected units of the Christian army took over posts in the Turkish camp at night to guard their prey. The following day, the King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth agreed to plunder the enemy camp. a b Stoye, John (2011) [2007]. The Siege of Vienna: The Last Great Trial between Cross & Crescent. Pegasus Books. p.175. The emperor replied that he would be willing to spare Thököly and other Hungarians as well as Evangelicals and Protestants residing in Hungary. He also believed that with the help of Christian troops, including Protestant and Evangelical troops, Hungary would regain the desired freedom. He also wants to entrust Hungarians with their churches and allow Evangelicals and Protestants to profess their religion and, at the same time, renew their privileges. No cleric will stop him from doing so, as long as he is the emperor. The Polish king also spoke about the matter and supported Thököly’s initiatives. Kahraman (2021). II. Viyana Kuşatması Yedi Ejderin Fendi (in Turkish). İstanbul: Timaş Publishing. p.393. ISBN 978-6050835663. a b c Matthee, Rudi (2006). "Iraq IV. Relations in the Safavid Period". Encyclopaedia Iranica (Vol. XIII, Fasc. 5 and Vol. XIII, Fasc. 6). pp.556–560, 561.

In the Action there were about Thirty Thousand Turks kill'd; besides Tartars, and One Hundred Thousand Tents taken. Our Souldiers, and the Burghers of Vienna, were Two whole Nights, and One Day, in Rifling their Tents and Body's, and I believe a Week would scarce suffice to finish it. Sobieski's 22-year reign marked a period of the Commonwealth's stabilization, much needed after the turmoil of previous conflicts. [1] Popular among his subjects, he was an able military leader, most famously for his victory over the Ottoman at the Battle of Vienna in 1683. [2] The defeated Ottomans named Sobieski the "Lion of Lechistan", and the Pope hailed him as the saviour of Western Christendom. [3] Suffering from poor health and obesity in later life, Sobieski died in 1696 and was buried at Wawel Cathedral in Kraków. He was succeeded by Augustus II of Poland and Saxony.Sobieski, therefore, though always an admirer of France, shifted away from the French alliance and concluded a treaty with the Holy Roman emperor Leopold I against the Turks (April 1, 1683). By the terms of the treaty, each ally had to support the other with all his might if the other’s capital were to be besieged. Thus, when a great Turkish army approached Vienna late in the summer of 1683, Sobieski himself rushed there with about 25,000 men. Because he had the highest rank of all military leaders gathered to relieve Vienna, he took command of the entire relief force (about 75,000 men) and achieved a brilliant victory over the Turks at the Kahlenberg (September 12, 1683), in one of the decisive battles of European history.

The next day, the king of Poland and Lithuania toured the entire city to see what was left of the enemy troops. Then he went to General Starhemberg, with whom he had dinner, having the Bavarian prince as a companion on his right and the prince von Anhalt on his left. The king joyfully declared during the meal that if he had been given to command again such a great army as he had commanded yesterday, the whole world would tremble for him. During the meal, the king of Poland had the opportunity to see the captured prisoners. They were, among others, noble lords who belonged to the court of the grand vizier. It was Jan III Sobieski who spoke Turkish with them. According to their words, the Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa, seeing the strength of the Christian army, wept, kissed his sons, and said to them: “Now I am lost.” His Majesty, the King of Poland received all the valuable possessions of the grand vizier, among others, his great gold shield set with diamonds, his horse with all his gear, and all his tents, and they were many of them. The charge of winged hussars started at 6 pm, while the battle started in the morning. Different historians counts the overall number of cavalry that took part in it as more or less 20000 of horses, what makes the charge of John III Sobieski the biggest cavalry charge in history. This way the mentioned 3000 were only the heaviest, frontal part of the charge, which was supported by other Polish, Austrian and Bavarian cavalry forces under the command of Polish king. Letter from King Sobieski to his Wife". Letters from King Sobieski to his wife. University of Gdansk, Department of Cultural Studies, Faculty of Philology . Retrieved 4 August 2011.

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Kahraman (2021). II. Viyana Kuşatması Yedi Ejderin Fendi (in Turkish). İstanbul: Timaş Publishing. p.433. ISBN 978-6050835663. James Louis Sobieski (2 November 1667 – 19 December 1737), married Countess Palatine Hedwig Elisabeth of Neuburg and had issue Let's look how Turkish chroniclers were describing this event in 17th century. For them it was a holy war and there was a belief that no "European heathen dogs" could beat warriors of Allah in the field. This way they focused on searching for the reasons of defeat among themselves. A truly good bagel, wrote one critic, should be "a fairly small, dense, gray, cool and chewy delight that gave jaw muscles a Sunday morning workout," not the pillowy monstrosities now preferred by "a public too lazy to chew."