Product Description

The capture of the Hapsburg city of Vienna was a major strategic aspiration for the Islamic Ottoman Empire, desperate for the control that the city exercized over the Danube and the overland trade routes between southern and northern Europe. In July 1683 Sultan Mehmet IV proclaimed a jihad and the Turkish grand vizier, Kara Mustafa Pasha, laid siege to the city with an army of 150,000 men. In September a relieving force arrived under Polish command and joined up with the defenders to drive the Turks away. The main focus of this book is the final 15-hour battle for Vienna, which peaked with a massive charge by three divisions of Polish winged hussars. This hard-won victory marked the beginning of the decline of the Islamic Ottoman Empire, which was never to threaten central Europe again.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #270326 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

About the Author
Simon Millar was born in Malaysia in 1957. He joined the British Army in 1977, and having retired in 1994 subsequently rejoined his regiment, the Irish Guards, in 2001. He has previously written Kolin 1757: Frederick the Great's First Defeat, and Assaye 1803: Wellington's first and 'bloodiest' victory for the Osprey Campaign series. Simon lives in Wiltshire, UK.

Customer Reviews

Disappointing effort...
I was looking forward to this entry to the "Campaign" series - a fascinating campaign fought by wonderfully distinctive armies, as recounted by a (usually) very good author (his Seven Years War titles in this series are of an exceptional standard). Unfortunately, it's all a little flat. Whilst well written, the text fails to capture the imagination for some reason. The description of the armies is thin (the Imperial contingents are mentioned only in passing). The order of battle -usually one of the strengths of this series - is particularly poor, being very sparse and generalized. Even the colour plates are missing something - whilst technically very well executed, the battle scenes lack atmosphere, and the figures depicted (in terms of dress and equipment) are essentially swiped straight from other Osprey publications (fine if we are talking about regulars with detailed codes of dress, but not the gorgeous winged hussars, or Turkish "hordes"!)
Whilst I can't agree with an earlier reviewers comments that Osprey only really deal well with British subjects, this is certainly a missed opportunity - maybe Millar should stick to the 18th century!

Yawn...
Rather boring book. Deals more with the campaign before and after the siege than with actual subject.
Climatic and pivotal charge of Polish winged hussars presented so boring in the book that I nearly fell asleep at that point.
I think that says all about this book, that touches a very interesting chapter of military history, but just doesn't get the message through to the reader.
Osprey does well on Britsh history subjects but fails to deliver on nearly all foreign projects they tackle. Just no true interest behind the research and presentation... just £££££ signs in the eyes of the sales team.
Save your money for a better book on the Vienna subject.
Overpriced as all Osprey books.