1683 and All That: Leftists Seek to Erase the History of the Siege and Battle of Vienna
In our collectivist and ignorant time and days, the next push against the history of Europe--back then known as Christendom--is commencing on an old battleground
As I mentioned quite frequently in these pages, the notion of historical memory is highly controversial in Central Europe, in particular in its two supposedly ‘Western’ manifestations, Germany and Austria.
Today, I’ll bring you some more evidence about a subject that has been lingering for over a decade, it concerns—not merely ‘technically speaking’—all Europeans.
I’m, of course, talking about the Second Siege of Vienna in 1683, in particular the decisive battle on 12 Sept. of that year when a combined Imperial-Polish, or Polish-Imperial, force led jointly by Duke Charles of Lorraine and King Jan III Sobieski of Poland lifted the siege.
Here’s the main take-away from Wikipedia’s de facto ‘official™’ version (references omitted):
The Battle of Vienna took place at Kahlenberg Mountain near Vienna on 12 September 1683 after the city had been besieged by the Ottoman Empire for two months. The battle was fought by the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monarchy) and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, both under the command of King John III Sobieski, against the Ottomans and their vassal and tributary states. The battle marked the first time the Commonwealth and the Holy Roman Empire had cooperated militarily against the Ottomans. The defeat was a turning point for Ottoman expansion into Europe, after which they would gain no further ground. In the ensuing war that lasted until 1699, the Ottomans would cede most of Ottoman Hungary to Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor.
The proximate origin for today’s posting isn’t my 10+ years of research into this era (which culminated in my Habilitationsschrift, which will be published by McGill-Queen’s UP in a few weeks) or the academic debates about this (which I’ll be writing a book about due in 2026/27):
Some historians maintain that the battle marked a turning point in the Ottoman–Habsburg wars, a 300-year struggle between the Holy Roman and Ottoman Empires. During the 16 years following the battle, the Austrian Habsburgs would gradually conquer southern Hungary and Transylvania, largely clearing them of Ottoman forces. The battle is noted for including the largest known cavalry charge in history.
If, at this point, you’re interested in visiting the Austrian Museum of Military History to learn about the 17th century in Central Europe, I’ll re-direct you to my vintage postcard posting, which shows, inter alia, a few images from that exhibition:
With the stage thus set, here’s the current ‘debate™’ in Austria about the commemoration of this momentous even that occurred 341 years ago.
As always, translation, emphases, [snark], and bottom lines mine.
Vienna finally says no to Sobieski statue on Kahlenberg
The City of Vienna does not want to create a stage for ‘Islamophobic or anti-Turkish resentment’
By Markus Sulzbacher, Der Standard, 7 Nov. 2024 [source]
After years of controversy and delays, the City of Vienna has now drawn a line in the sand: the Polish King John III Sobieski will not get a giant equestrian statue on the Kahlenberg. The responsible city councillor [Stadtrat, but since Vienna is a federal (city) state, this function is a de facto cabinet-level position], Veronica Kaup-Hasler (SPÖ), explained the decision on Wednesday as not wanting to erect a stage for ‘xenophobic agitation or Islamophobic or anti-Turkish resentment’ [note, first, that none of the states that existed in 1683 are with us any longer: neither the Habsburg nor Ottoman empires exist today, and even allowing for certain continuities across time and space, the Polish state of today is similarly not the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of the 17th century].
The construction of the monument to Sobieski began over eleven years ago. Sobieski is regarded as the liberator of Vienna, who defeated the Ottoman troops on 12 September 1683 on the Kahlenberg and thus ended the second siege of Vienna [this is, by all accounts, a thoroughly sanitised and much-abridged version of history, but the author of this piece, one Markus Sulzbacher, is a renowned and very easily agitated far-left ‘investigative journo™’ whose main drive is to find ‘NAZIS™’ everywhere he deigns to look; as a professional historian, if you’d mention something like this in your exam, you’d fail]. This put an end to the expansion of the Ottoman Empire in Europe. The foundation for the monument was laid in 2013, but five years later the installation of the already completed equestrian statue was cancelled by the Monument Commission at Vienna City Hall. The eight-metre-long and three-tonne statue could potentially be a ‘target for controversy’, it was said at the time. Since then, the FPÖ and the far-right Identitarians have repeatedly campaigned in favour of the Sobieski monument [of course they do], and most recently the ÖVP and parts of the [small, libtard faction currently governing as the SPÖ’s sidekick] NEOS have also spoken out in favour. The Polish embassy is also in favour.
Right-Wing Extremist Transfiguration of History
The work by sculptor Piotr Zapart was subsequently publicly erected in Krakow—and the City of Vienna appointed a group of Austrian-Polish experts [time and money well spent]. This group also confirmed reservations about a ‘heroic monument’, as was ‘customary at the end of the 19th century’. They recommended ‘refraining from any form of heroising monument’. [if I had the time, I’d read their 2017 assessment in full, but it has never been published…]
In the end, the foundation for the planned monument became a monument to Sobieski in 2018. It was given an inscription ‘emphasising peace and international understanding in German, English, and Polish’ [but, apparently, not Turkish, which is quite…well, pick your pronouns and value-judgements]. A monument to Sobieski today must be ‘a sign of peace and international understanding that rejects the rhetoric of victory’, according to City Councillor for Culture Kaup-Hasler [what would that ‘understanding’ say about Istanbul’s 29 May University whose name commemorates the conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed II in 1453, by the way?].
The reason for rejecting the expansion of the memorial was the concern about an increase in right-wing extremist marches around Remembrance Day on 12 September. The Identitarians have already used the date and the Kahlenberg for marches in the past. The Battle of Kahlenberg in 1683 was glorified as a war between Christian and Muslim civilisations instead of acknowledging the scientific facts that two strong European powers fought for dominance and influence here.
Decoding the Deceptions
I’m mightily glad that Mr. Sulzbacher (whose X/Twitter feed is a pain in the proverbial but, not unlike a car accident, it’s hard not to check it out every now and then) didn’t push this any further.
Yes, there are certain elements, often connected to what Mr. Sulzbacher considers his personal political opponents, who commemorate the Battle of Vienna each 12 Sept. in this most august and prominent spot, as seen below:
At this junction, I would like to offer two insights here, one related to the way Mr. Sulzbacher presents—frames—the argument (sic) and the other to the history surrounding this event.
While Austrian state broadcaster ORF quickly jumped on the above-related piece and merely linked to Mr. Sulzbacher’s content (sic), there is a much longer and way less ideologically driven version available: Stadträtin Kaup-Hasler’s press release. It reads, in part, as follows:
Almost 200 monuments in Vienna commemorate the Ottoman wars. And no other historical event is commemorated more often in Vienna's cityscape than the Second Ottoman Siege of 1683... Alongside a number of other memorials, a monumental granite stone commemorates the Polish King Sobieski and the events of 1683...
‘The question of the Sobieski memorial has been analysed in depth, scientifically, and against the background of other memorial discourses’.
So far, so informative, and while I cut sizeable segments (due to overlap with the parts Mr. Sulzbacher elected to use for his piece), the press release has both references and a quite substantial ‘historical embedding’, which is relevant here:
Sobieski is extensively commemorated in Vienna. On the Kahlenberg, in addition to the aforementioned monument, the Sobieski Chapel in St Joseph’s Church, three memorial plaques—on the outside and in the church—and a memorial stone commemorate the Polish king. The Schwechat Spherical Cross, a memorial plaque at St Augustine’s Church, Sobieskigasse and Sobieskiplatz are also dedicated to the memory of the commander-in-chief of the relief army. The Turkish Liberation Monument [Türkenbefreiungsdenkmal] in St Stephen’s Cathedral, on the other hand, was damaged by the falling Pummerin [Austria’s largest bell] on a night of bombing in 1945; part of it was restored, but the depiction of Sobieski has been missing ever since.
So, if you wish to see the monument, you’d need to go to this German Wikipedia entry on it, from which I’ve taken a few lines for you. For context, St Stephen’s caught on fire as Soviet troops entered the city, due to civilian looters torching nearby shops and buildings. The Pummerin came crashing down and because the monument is on the ground level of the bell tower, it was severely damaged. A few statues were put back together but Sobieski’s equestrian statue was lost.
Upon its re-dedication, Paula Preradović, who wrote the text for the current Austrian national anthem, penned the following lines, which also grace the restored monument:
Mary once came to the rescue from Turkish distress. Proud figures in stone bore witness to their city’s gratitude. Now that the most terrible war destroyed the cathedral and the monument, only the Virgin, Emperor, and Pope alone were spared by the fire [note that mention of emperor Leopold I and pope Innocent XI is omitted by both Mr. Sulzbacher and Ms. Kaup-Hasler]. Behold Innocent the Eleventh and Leopold the First, kneeling they admonish you: do not give up hope! Never in future storms will their faithful Vienna leave them. Austria’s mother, she helps, if only you are strong and faithful.
I’ve bolded the final segments to set the stage for my second, largely scholarly, point: additional information about the event is warranted to understand it.
On a primary plane, note that the Habsburg rulers were strongly Catholic, with Leopold I (r. 1658-1705) and his two sons Joseph I (r. 1705-11) and Charles VI (r. 1711-40) being responsible for the re-dedication of many churches, monasteries, cities, and towns all over Central Europe. Furthermore, the Virgin Mary was considered the Patron Saint and Protector of the realm—the Schutzfrau Österreichs—,and apart from her depiction in St Stephen’s, there are countless churches and monuments dedicated to Mary Victorious (Maria vom Siege) all over Central Europe.
Upon presentation of their findings, you know what happened next, though:
The completion of the study coincided exactly with the outbreak of the Covid pandemic and put a stop to further considerations regarding the memorial. Almost simultaneously, in spring 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement sparked a highly charged global debate about commemoration and monuments in public spaces, which continues to this day—including in Vienna.
Both notions are BS, but the latter one is more insidious in terms of memory and identity: like elsewhere, this fake ‘debate’ has derailed the discussion and rendered the decision by the City Gov’t virtually inevitable.
We note, in passing, that the memorial was erected in 1894 in St Stephen’s, that is to say, it is the de facto official Austro-Hungarian monument.
Back in the late 19th century, the city’s burghers were not as ignorant and brainwashed as they are today, and to make their point, the city gov’t, representing the middle classes and well-to-do bourgeois segments of Vienna, commissioned their own monument to commemorate the city’s siege(s): behold the Liebenberg Monument, situated across the Ringstraße from Vienna University. If you’re asking who Mr. Liebenberg was, well, he was Vienna’s mayor from 1680-83 and the city’s burghers in the late 19th century desired to make the point of commemorating ‘one of their own’ and ‘not just’ the Virgin Mary, emperor Leopold I, and king Jan Sobieski of Poland.
Think about that—a monument to civic heroism, urban pride, and the unsung heroism of many a citizen who suffered, fought, and died in 1683 to keep the Ottoman forces at bay.
I’m at this point in my life where I’m going for—of course, that kind of commemoration fits neither the collectivist activism of Mr. Sulzbacher nor the top-down far-left identity politics by the current city gov’t.
Tell me: are you surprised yet? I’m profoundly disgusted, but I’m not surprised.
Bottom Lines
This entire charade is BS, no two ways about it.
Mr. Sulzbacher’s piece is a shameful advertorial/agit-prop while the official (sic) city gov’t’s position is equally ignorant and wilfully blind.
Then there is the entire ‘this is Islamophopic’ and reeks of a ‘clash of civilisations’ charade. I don’t mean to imply this isn’t what the repeated wars between Islam and Christendom were about—for centuries.
Virtually from the moment the former was created, Islam sought—and still seeks—to subdue all other places, and the frontlines of their jihad are now not only in the banlieux of Europe and North America, but a sizeable chunk, if not the majority, of historians and academics have been mesmerised by this falsified and largely fake history.
For the record, Islam was founded around 630 A.D.
Even allowing for the 11th century origins of what eventually became known as Reconquista, the first of Christendom’s crusades commenced, conventionally dated, in 1095.
We note, in passing, that the last of these crusades was the so-called ‘Great Turkish War’ of 1683-99. While officially at war, the French, self-styled ‘Most Christian King’ Louis XIV, ceased hostilities against his Habsburg adversary emperor Leopold I while the latter’s residence—Vienna, in 1683—was under siege from what contemporaries for centuries labelled ‘Christendom’s hereditary enemy’ (Erbfeind des Christenthums). No doubt, these sentiments were mutual.
Following the Battle of Vienna in September 1683, a pan-Christian coalition—that was neither ‘German’ nor ‘Polish’ fought an Ottoman host whose multi-national and poly-confessional composition belies the notion of ‘they were all Moslems’ hence any monument commemorating this or that event would be ‘Islamophobic’.
Both considerations are highly misleading and, frankly, maddeningly dishonest.
The army commanded by Eugene of Savoy was, first and foremost, a Catholic force; this is borne out by the present—a captured Ottoman standard—Eugene sent to Rome as a token of Christian victory in the 1690s.
Note, as an aside, that this comment shall not be misconstrued as whitewashing the significant abuses visited upon esp. local Calvinist and Lutheran communities by these Catholic forces in the service of the emperor. See esp. Georg Michels’ astounding The Habsburg Empire Under Siege (McGill-Queen’s UP, 2021) on this subject.
Yet to misconstrue ‘1683’ as an epic civilisational war—while, at the same time, omitting all the other conflicts before, after, and esp. the ‘Great Turkish War’—more than misses the point.
Oh, lest I forget, click here if you wish to see a picture of this ‘controversial’ equestrian monument of the Polish king.
Epilogue, or: A Historian’s Lament
Why can’t we do some positive remembrance for a change?
I mean, Karl Liebenberg, mayor of Vienna, and his descendants in the late 19th century makes precisely this point: the population’s contribution could be commemorated, as they intended, to highlight another way.
Alas, it won’t happen anytime soon.
Given the many more or less subtle memorials to ‘1683’ (see here, albeit in German only), what will happen—most likely in the run-up to the anniversary in 2033—is another round of iconoclasm that will seek to destroy what remains of Central Europe’s history, warts and all.
This has gone on for way too long.
Let’s not give these revolutionaries and iconoclasts any more leeway.
Let’s tear down the monuments of mass-murderers and other 20th-century collectivist maniacs before we do anything else: let’s do away with avenues named after Marx, Rosa Luxemburg, or the like.
Or at least mention the death toll and crimes committed by them.
Thanks for the link to the statue - I was hoping you would provide one.