Thursday, January 10, 2013

“Veni, Vidi, Deus Vicit:” Jan Sobieski Day, September 12

"I came, I saw, God has conquered." September 12 was the day King Jan Sobieski saved Vienna from a large army of Muslims and earned the title, "Savior of Vienna and Western European civilization."
One of the Western world's most important events took place in 1683, as a powerful Ottoman army advanced into Europe. Already having conquered Hungary and Transylvania, 138,000 Ottomans laid siege to the city of Vienna, the gateway to continental Europe. 11,000 troops and 5,000 volunteers declared that they would defend the city to the last man. For almost two months, they held out against the Turkish onslaught, suffering severe casualties as the Turks breached the outer walls of Vienna, digging tunnels and filling them with gunpowder.

Enter Jan III Sobieski, King of Poland, and the husaria, or winged hussars. As the battered Austrians prepared to fight in the streets of Vienna, Sobieski led a relief force of 30,000 Poles, 18,500 Austrians, 19,000 Franconian, Bavarian, and Swabian troops, and 9,000 Saxons. The Turks attacked the relief force, resulting in 12 hours of intense ... more >>
The commonwealth later collapsed because of multiculturalism (from the same article):
A modern democracy, even Kings were elected. Refugees from religious and cultural persecution were welcomed, and it was not uncommon to see Christian churches side by side with Jewish temples and Islamic mosques in major cities ...

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