September 27, 2018 • 4 mins
Suleiman's siege of Vienna began on this day in 1529. Learn more in the July 7, 2014 episode of Stuff You Missed in History Class.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to This Day in History Class from how Stuff
Works dot Com and from the desk of Stuff You
Missed in History Class. It's the show where we explore
the past one day at a time with a quick
look at what happened today in history. Hello, and welcome
to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson, and it's September.
(00:21):
Suleiman the Great lay siege to Vienna on this day
in fifteen twenty nine. Suleiman was the tenth Sultan of
the Ottoman Empire, was a major political power stretching all
the way from the Balkans to North Africa, and Suleiman
was extremely well educated. He was a poet and a
goldsmith in addition to being the head of state. He
(00:41):
became sultan after the death of his father in fifteen
twenty when he was about twenty six, so the mon
immediately proved himself as a capable military leader after becoming
sultan in a series of ongoing campaigns against the neighboring
Christian powers and the Mediterranean area and in Central Europe.
Included taking the island of Rhodes, something the Ottoman Empire
(01:03):
had tried and failed to do back in fourteen eighty.
In August of fifteen twenty six, his forces moved into
south central Hungary and in the ensuing battle, Hungarian King
Louis the Second was killed. Two different men lay claim
to the Hungarian throne. After this there was the Archduke
of Austria, Ferdinand, the first of the House of Habsburg.
(01:24):
There was also Janos Zapolia, also known as Lord John
of Transylvania. Suleman favored John aver Ferdinand, and he recognized
John as the ruler of Hungary, although essentially as his vassal.
And then, because of his opposition to Ferdinand and to
the House of Habsburg, he invaded Vienna in fifty nine,
(01:45):
you know, was the capital of the Habsburg Austrian Empire.
Unlike so many of his earlier campaigns, though this one
was not an immediate success. A hundred and fifty thousand
Turks left Ottoman Bulgaria and started moving towards Vienna, but
they ran into so many difficult these along the way.
Some of the roots were completely impassable because of flooding.
(02:05):
The camels that were being used as pack animals weren't
adapted to this kind of weather. A lot of them
got sick and died, people got sick and died too.
Disease was just rampant through his military force. Their gunpowder
became soaked, their artillery became water logged, and there were
ongoing floods which threatens to just wash the men and
(02:27):
their equipment away and which destroyed the available crops. There
are reports of the men spending the nights in trees
to try to weather all of this. The people of
Vienna knew that an attack was coming. They were terrified
already before the Ottoman army got there. And when the
Ottoman army did arrive at the outskirts of Vienna in
late September, their attack was horrifying. They beheaded the men
(02:51):
they captured and enslaved the women and children. As more
troops arrived, Sulei Mon sent enslaved messengers into Vienna to
make it citizens and offer if they converted to Islam
and surrendered, no one would be harmed, but without a
surrender there would be a blood bath. As the Ottoman
army began the siege, they used the cannons that they
had been able to salvage from all the wet weather.
(03:13):
When they started digging trenches that they planned to use
to position explosives that were meant to destroy the city walls,
and Viennes accounts described the actions of the Ottoman Army
as just brutal, but on September, a cold front moved in,
bringing yet more endless rain and frigid weather. In early October,
(03:36):
Vienna deployed troops to attack the tunnelers, who were still
trying to work their way under the city walls to
plant explosives. They took the Ottoman Army by surprise and
did manage to stop that tunneling, but it was at
a cost of many many lives. After having been thwarted
by the weather and thwarted in the tunneling plan, the
Ottoman Army planned one final, last ditch assault on Vienna
(03:59):
on octo Ober twelfth, and their attempt to storm the
city completely failed. At this point, the Ottoman Army was
almost out of food, and over the next two nights
they killed all of their prisoners of war at their
camps outside of Vienna before turning around to march back home,
and their retreat was deadly as well, with more and
(04:20):
more of them dying along the way. Although Celebon failed
to take Vienna, he did cause enough problems for the
Habsburgs that he was able to keep John of Transylvania
as his vassal King and Hungary. You can learn more
about all this in the July episode of Stuff You
Missed in History Class, and you can subscribe to This
Day in History Class on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and
(04:42):
wherever else you get your podcasts. Tomorrow, we have an
unconventional woman and an aircraft that may fly or it
may not
Welcome to This Day in History Class from how Stuff
Works dot Com and from the desk of Stuff You
Missed in History Class. It's the show where we explore
the past one day at a time with a quick
look at what happened today in history. Hello, and welcome
to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson, and it's September.
(00:21):
Suleiman the Great lay siege to Vienna on this day
in fifteen twenty nine. Suleiman was the tenth Sultan of
the Ottoman Empire, was a major political power stretching all
the way from the Balkans to North Africa, and Suleiman
was extremely well educated. He was a poet and a
goldsmith in addition to being the head of state. He
(00:41):
became sultan after the death of his father in fifteen
twenty when he was about twenty six, so the mon
immediately proved himself as a capable military leader after becoming
sultan in a series of ongoing campaigns against the neighboring
Christian powers and the Mediterranean area and in Central Europe.
Included taking the island of Rhodes, something the Ottoman Empire
(01:03):
had tried and failed to do back in fourteen eighty.
In August of fifteen twenty six, his forces moved into
south central Hungary and in the ensuing battle, Hungarian King
Louis the Second was killed. Two different men lay claim
to the Hungarian throne. After this there was the Archduke
of Austria, Ferdinand, the first of the House of Habsburg.
(01:24):
There was also Janos Zapolia, also known as Lord John
of Transylvania. Suleman favored John aver Ferdinand, and he recognized
John as the ruler of Hungary, although essentially as his vassal.
And then, because of his opposition to Ferdinand and to
the House of Habsburg, he invaded Vienna in fifty nine,
(01:45):
you know, was the capital of the Habsburg Austrian Empire.
Unlike so many of his earlier campaigns, though this one
was not an immediate success. A hundred and fifty thousand
Turks left Ottoman Bulgaria and started moving towards Vienna, but
they ran into so many difficult these along the way.
Some of the roots were completely impassable because of flooding.
(02:05):
The camels that were being used as pack animals weren't
adapted to this kind of weather. A lot of them
got sick and died, people got sick and died too.
Disease was just rampant through his military force. Their gunpowder
became soaked, their artillery became water logged, and there were
ongoing floods which threatens to just wash the men and
(02:27):
their equipment away and which destroyed the available crops. There
are reports of the men spending the nights in trees
to try to weather all of this. The people of
Vienna knew that an attack was coming. They were terrified
already before the Ottoman army got there. And when the
Ottoman army did arrive at the outskirts of Vienna in
late September, their attack was horrifying. They beheaded the men
(02:51):
they captured and enslaved the women and children. As more
troops arrived, Sulei Mon sent enslaved messengers into Vienna to
make it citizens and offer if they converted to Islam
and surrendered, no one would be harmed, but without a
surrender there would be a blood bath. As the Ottoman
army began the siege, they used the cannons that they
had been able to salvage from all the wet weather.
(03:13):
When they started digging trenches that they planned to use
to position explosives that were meant to destroy the city walls,
and Viennes accounts described the actions of the Ottoman Army
as just brutal, but on September, a cold front moved in,
bringing yet more endless rain and frigid weather. In early October,
(03:36):
Vienna deployed troops to attack the tunnelers, who were still
trying to work their way under the city walls to
plant explosives. They took the Ottoman Army by surprise and
did manage to stop that tunneling, but it was at
a cost of many many lives. After having been thwarted
by the weather and thwarted in the tunneling plan, the
Ottoman Army planned one final, last ditch assault on Vienna
(03:59):
on octo Ober twelfth, and their attempt to storm the
city completely failed. At this point, the Ottoman Army was
almost out of food, and over the next two nights
they killed all of their prisoners of war at their
camps outside of Vienna before turning around to march back home,
and their retreat was deadly as well, with more and
(04:20):
more of them dying along the way. Although Celebon failed
to take Vienna, he did cause enough problems for the
Habsburgs that he was able to keep John of Transylvania
as his vassal King and Hungary. You can learn more
about all this in the July episode of Stuff You
Missed in History Class, and you can subscribe to This
Day in History Class on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and
(04:42):
wherever else you get your podcasts. Tomorrow, we have an
unconventional woman and an aircraft that may fly or it
may not
This Day in History Class News
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