THE CHRISTIAN FOE In the crusade to relieve Vienna, the Ottomans' doughtiest opponents were the Imperialists and, for this campaign, their allies the Poles. Deserving an article unto themselves, we shall summarize the main points of the armed forces which represented the "hereditary enemy" in reverse. The Imperialists The Imperialist regiments of foot each numbered some 1200-2000 men, drawn up, due to the lessons of the Thirty Years War and the increased improvements in the musket, in six ranks. The role of the pike was on the decline, being rendered superfluous by the introduction of the plug bayonet which was making its appearance throughout the armies of Europe. Indeed, at this time, the Saxon army had done away with the pike completely, relying solely on fire power. Musketeers were drawn up in close-order and fired by salvo. Certain regiments were already being re-equipped in part with flintlocks. Cavalry, armed with sword, pistols, and carbine, were equipped with metal "lobster" helmet and cuirass. The cavalry were trained to fight in three ranks, still placing undue emphasis on fire power. Austrian cavalry regiments numbered some 800 men on campaign. Their role in the relief of Vienna was to support the infantry, who did most of the attacking. The cavalry were positioned behind the infantry, a device used as late as Waterloo to keep infantry steady and in position. For aggressive cavalry, we must turn to the Polish Army of King John III. The German infantry accompanying the Austrians were well-trained and aggressive, the Bavarians being among the most steadfast and the Saxons maintained the best fire discipline. The Poles Austria's chief ally and, as Polish partisans would point out, Vienna's eventual salvation, was the magnificently attired but ill-disciplined army of King John Sobiewski. Poland at this time was a dual monarchy, the kingdoms of Poland and Lithuania. Each had its own army, though they were similarly equipped and organized. The Polish national army depended more on the winged hussar and native levied infantry, the Lithuanian on German mercenaries. The King was overall commander of both armies and they were integrated into one army on campaign. The Crown Grand Hetman and Crown Field Hetman served as wing commanders, the center being reserved for the King. Overall, the troops raised for campaign came from two main sources. The first was the national army. This was raised from the great noble landowners, their retainers and less gentry. From the national army came the Winged Hussars, Pancerny and Kwarciany (light cavalry). The second great component was the foreign army, a misleading name as it was comprised of the Crown Guard, the infantry, dragoons and artillery. It also included the various allied Cossacks and Tartars and Wallachians. The foreign army drew its recruits from the small standing army, volunteers, a levy of one out of every twelve peasants, and the employment of mercenaries raised from Papal subsidiaries. Allied troops were drawn from the Zaporzhian Cossacks and Tartars who had resettled in Lithuania. Organization for the cavalry was based on the choragiew, a unit consisting of fifty to seventy hussars, or double that number for light troops. In battle they were drawn up in checkerboard formation with the hussars in front and the pancerny and reiters in the se- cond and third line. Occasionally an elite unit of double strength hussars, called an Eliery, would be used as a "forlorn hope" to pierce a hole in the enemy line. Infantry usually composed the reserve line, being organized into brigades, each in turn consisting of several pulks, each of some 400 men. Artillery was light, made up of primarily 31b. battalion guns. The infantry was generally neglected, being armed with a variety of weapons and dressed rather shabily. The best would have sword, axe, and musket, while others would be equipped with axes or maces only. CONCLUSION The failure of the Ottoman Army to capture Vienna lay in the technical and tactical bankruptcy of its armed forces. Though the regular army units were fierce in the assault and personally brave, they were no match for the new disciplined, fire-power oriented armies of the West, tempered by the Thirty Years War into state-run combined armed forces. The Ottomans would continue to battle the Habsburgs off and on for another fifty years, scoring some minor successes, but never taking the lessons of the many defeats to heart. The once-mighty scourge of Europe had begun the decline to the role of "sick man of Europe". APPENDIX 1: THE CHRISTIAN RELIEF FORCE BEFORE VIENNA NATION INFANTRY CAVALRY CANNON POLAND 12,500 12,500 28 AUSTRIA 8,000 10,000 70 GERMANY 20,000 7,000 38 APPENDIX II: THE ARMED FORCES OF THE KINGDOM OF POLAND POLAND LITHUANIA ARTILLERY 4,000 Hussars 1,000 Hussars 24 lb. & under 45 16,000 Pancernes 3,000 Reiters 30-60lb. Morters 7 4,000 Light Cavalry 4,500 Light Cavalry Siege Guns 2 9,000 Infantry 1,500 Dragoons - 3,000 Dragoons 4,400 German Infantry - 4,000 Cossacks 600 Hungarian Infantry - APPENDIX III: AUSTRIAN AND GERMAN REGIMENTS ON THE DANUBE 1683 AUSTRIA Infantry regiments Cavalry regiments Dragoon regiments Starhemberg Rabbatta Styrurn Mansfeld Gondola Castelli Diepenthal Halleweil Herbeville Baden-Grana Pallfy - Strassoldo Dunewald Croats Soouches Caprara 4 companies - Ricciadi Heister Montecculio Hussars Beck Sachsen-Launurg Esterhazy - 8,000 Hungarian & Croatians Wallis Taafe-Gotz - Scharffenberg Dupigney - Neuberg Dhim Wurtemberg Mercy - SAXON REGIMENTS Infantry Cavalry Franconian regiments Electors Foot Guard Trabenten Guard 4 Infantry Regiments Flemming Electors Own 2 Cuirassier Regiments Kuffer Goltzen 1 Dragoon Regiment 8 Coy. of Grenadiers Trautmansdorf - Loben Platow Brunswick Wachtmeister 18 cannon-4 Morters 500 Reiters BAVARIAN REGIMENTS (5) Regiments of Infantry plus units from the Bavarian Circle which may have included: Berlo, Peuch, Degenfeld, Montfort, Perusa, Steinau, Preysing, Foot Guards; Cavalry which may have included: Haracourt, Bartels, Beauvau, Schtz. BIBLIOGRAPHY Barker, Thomas; Double Eagle and Crescent, State University of New York Press 1967 Cacavelas, Jeremias; The Siege of Vienna by the Turks in 1683, Cambridge University Press, 1925 Chandler, David; The Art of Warfare in the Age of Marlborough, Hippocrine Books, New York 1976 Duffy, Christopher; Siege Warfare, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London 1979 Gush, George; Renaissance Armies 1480-1650, Patrick Stevens, Cambridge 1975 Knotel, Richard et. al.; Uniforms of the World, Charles Scribner's Sons 1980 Laskowski, Otton; La campagne de Vienna, Institut des Sciences Militaires 1933 Robinson, H. Russell; Oriental Armour, Walker & Company, New York 1967 Shevket, Mahmud; L'Organization et les Uniformes de l'Armee Ottomanne, Constantinople 1907 Stoye, John The Siege of Vienna, Collins, London 1964 Weissman, Nahum; Les jannissaires, Paris, 1938 More Ottoman Army at Vienna Ottoman Army at Vienna Part 1: Introduction Ottoman Army at Vienna Part 1: Army Organization Ottoman Army at Vienna Part 2: Standards and Flags Ottoman Army at Vienna Part 2: Irregular Forces Ottoman Army at Vienna Part 2: Christian Foe Ottoman Army at Vienna Part 2: WRG Army List Related Turkish Delights: Using the Ottoman Turks in the Napoleonic Period 1795-1815 Using Ottoman Turks on the Wargame Table Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. III #4 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1982 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. 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