Editing Battle of Vienna (section)

== Prelude ==
[[File:OttomanEmpire1683.png|left|thumb|The Ottoman Empire in 1683]]
Capturing the city of [[Vienna]] had long been a strategic aspiration of the Ottoman Empire, due to the control the city had over the Danube and the overland trade routes to Germany and the Eastern Mediterranean. During the years preceding the siege, the Ottoman Empire, under the auspices of the Grand Vizier [[Kara Mustafa Pasha]], undertook extensive logistical preparations, including the repair and establishment of roads and bridges leading into the Holy Roman Empire and its logistical centers, as well as the forwarding of ammunition, cannon, and other resources from all over the Empire to these centers and into the Balkans. The [[Siege of Szigetvár]] in 1566 blocked the advance of [[Sultan]] [[Suleiman the Magnificent]]'s towards Vienna and stopped the Ottoman advance towards Vienna that year. Vienna was not threatened again until 1683. In 1679 [[Great Plague of Vienna|plague]] had been raging in Vienna.<ref>Nähere Untersuchung der Pestansteckung, p. 42, Pascal Joseph von Ferro, Joseph Edler von Kurzbek, royal publisher, Vienna 1787.</ref>

[[File:Kuruc labanc összecsapás.jpg|thumb|left|Skirmish between Hungarian anti-Habsburg [[Kuruc]] rebels and Habsburg loyalists]]
On the political front, the Ottoman Empire had been providing military assistance to the Hungarians and non-Catholic minorities in Habsburg-occupied portions of [[Royal Hungary|Hungary]]. There, in the years preceding the siege, widespread unrest had grown into open rebellion against [[Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor|Leopold I]]'s pursuit of [[Counter-Reformation]] principles and his desire to suppress [[Protestantism]]. In 1681, Protestants and other anti-Habsburg [[Kuruc]] forces, led by [[Imre Thököly]], were reinforced with a significant military contingent from the Ottomans,<ref name=Tucker/>{{rp|657}} who recognized Thököly as King of "[[Upper Hungary]]" (the eastern part of modern-day [[Slovakia]] and parts of northeastern [[Hungary]], which he had earlier taken by force from the Habsburgs). This support included explicitly promising the "Kingdom of Vienna" to the Hungarians if it fell into Ottoman hands. Yet before the siege, a state of peace had existed for 20 years between the Holy Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire as a result of the [[Peace of Vasvár]].

In 1681 and 1682, clashes between the forces of Imre Thököly and the Holy Roman Empire (the border of which was then northern Hungary) intensified, and the incursions of Habsburg forces into central Hungary provided the crucial argument of Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha in convincing Sultan [[Mehmed IV]] and his [[Divan]] to allow the movement of the Ottoman army. Mehmed IV authorized Mustafa Pasha to operate as far as [[Győr]] (then known as ''Yanıkkale'', and in German as ''Raab'') and [[Komárom]] (in [[Turkish language|Turkish]] ''Komaron'', ''Komorn'' in German) Castles, both in northwestern Hungary, and to besiege them. The [[Military of the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman army]] was mobilized on 21 January 1682 and war was declared on 6 August 1682.

Logistically, it would have been risky or impossible to launch an invasion in August or September 1682, since a three-month campaign would have taken the Ottomans to Vienna just as winter set in. But the 15-month gap between mobilization and the launch of a full-scale invasion provided ample time for Vienna to prepare its defense and for Leopold to assemble troops from the Holy Roman Empire and form an alliance with Poland, [[Republic of Venice|Venice]] and [[Pope Innocent XI]]. The defensive alliance of the Holy Roman Empire with Poland was concluded in the 1683 Treaty of Warsaw, by which Leopold promised to support [[John III Sobieski]] if the Ottomans attacked [[Kraków]], and in return, the [[Military of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Polish army]] would come to the relief of Vienna if it were attacked.<ref name=Tucker>{{cite book |last=Tucker |first=Spencer |title=A Global Chronology of Conflict |volume=Two |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1MhaAAAAYAAJ |publisher=Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, LLC |isbn=978-1851096671 |date=2010 |access-date=14 September 2021 |archive-date=25 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231125172447/https://books.google.com/books?id=1MhaAAAAYAAJ |url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|656, 659}}

On 31 March, another declaration{{snd}}sent by Grand Vizier Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha on behalf of Mehmed IV{{snd}}arrived at the Imperial Court in Vienna. The next day the forward march of Ottoman army elements began from [[Edirne]] in [[Rumelia]]. Ottoman troops reached [[Belgrade]] by early May. They were joined by a [[Principality of Transylvania (1570–1711)|Transylvanian]] army under Prince [[Mihaly Apafi]] and a Hungarian force under Imre Thököly; they laid siege to Győr and the remaining army of 150,000 moved toward the city of Vienna.<ref name=Tucker/>{{rp|660}} About 40,000 [[Crimean Khanate|Crimean Tatar]] troops arrived {{convert|40|km}} east of Vienna on 7 July,<ref name=Tucker/>{{rp|660}} twice as many as the Imperial troops in the area. Emperor Leopold fled Vienna for [[Passau]] with his court and 60,000 Viennese, while [[Charles V, Duke of Lorraine]], withdrew his force of 20,000 towards [[Linz]].<ref name="Wheatcroft2009">{{cite book |author=Andrew Wheatcroft |title=The Enemy at the Gate: Habsburgs, Ottomans and the Battle for Europe |page=120 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HCmwFM8_QCoC |year=2009 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-1-4090-8682-6 |access-date=5 November 2020 |archive-date=9 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240809034243/https://books.google.com/books?id=HCmwFM8_QCoC |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Tucker/>{{rp|660}} The main Ottoman army arrived at Vienna on 14 July; the city's only defense force was now that of Count [[Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg]]'s 15,000 men.<ref name=Tucker/>{{rp|660}} Saxon engineer [[Georg Rimpler]], who had been employed by the empire to prepare for war with the Turks, began to prepare Vienna for the upcoming siege – much of Austria's pre-war plans had calculated on fighting the Turks near the city of Győr, a plan made untenable by the Turkish advance.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Duffy |first=Christopher |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nuioCgAAQBAJ&q=georg+rimpler&pg=PA14 |title=The Fortress in the Age of Vauban and Frederick the Great 1660–1789 |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-40859-8 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="EickhoffEickhoff2009">{{cite book |author1=Ekkehard Eickhoff |author2=Rudolf Eickhoff |title=Venedig, Wien und die Osmanen: Umbruch in Südosteuropa 1645–1700 |page=354 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i-aVLji2FzMC |year=2009 |publisher=Klett-Cotta |isbn=978-3-608-94511-9}}</ref>

The King of Poland, John III Sobieski, prepared a relief expedition to Vienna during the summer of 1683, honoring his obligations to the treaty, and would depart from Kraków on 15 August. During this time most of Poland would be largely undefended, and taking advantage of the situation, Imre Thököly would attempt an invasion. [[Kazimierz Jan Sapieha]] delayed the march of the Lithuanian army, campaigning in the Hungarian Highlands instead, and arrived in Vienna only after it had been relieved.<ref name="Davies, Norman 1982"/>

Immediately, tensions rose between Poland and the various German states – especially Austria – over the relief of the city. Payment of troops' wages and supplies while marching would be the predominant issue. Sobieski insisted that he should not have to pay for his march to Vienna, since it was by his efforts that the city had been saved; nor could the Viennese neglect the other German troops who had marched. The Habsburg leadership found as much money as possible to pay for these and arranged deals with the Polish to limit their costs.<ref name="ReferenceA">Stoye, John. ''The Siege of Vienna: The Last Great Trial between Cross & Crescent''. 2011 {{ISBN?}}{{page needed|date=September 2023 }}</ref>