Page 52 - 100 Events That Made History

The siege of Vienna

When Vienna said “nein!” to the
mighty OTTOMAN empire

By the 1500s, the Ottoman Turks
ruled the Middle East and most of
eastern Europe. But when they
headed west to take the city of Vienna
in 1529, it all started to go wrong...

Islamic conquerors
Vienna
Black Sea Caspian Sea The Ottoman empire was
Constantinople FOUNDED IN ANATOLIA
(modern-day Turkey) in about
1300 by an Islamic warrior named
Mediterranean Sea
Baghdad
Cairo Osman. In just over 200 years, it had
Jerusalem
become one of the world’s most
powerful empires, thanks to its
Ottoman empire Red Sea superior military and infighting in
Major sites the lands they conquered.

Suleiman the Magnificent

Suleiman I was the tenth Ottoman
Did you know? sultan. He was a brilliant general who
Throughout its 600-year
history, the Ottoman empire AND GOLDSMITH who spoke five
personally led his troops into battle.
was ruled by sultans who
He was also a POET, ART-LOVER,
were all descendants of
the same family.
languages. The Ottoman empire
reached its furthest extent during
his 46-year rule, and by 1529 Suleiman’s
reign was the
Vienna stood in the way of its
longest of
expansion into western Europe.
any sultan.

What came before…

In 1200, Vienna built FORTRESS-LIKE The Ottomans often used MASSIVE
CITY WALLS, to keep out invaders. In CANNONS called bombards in their
1485, the Hungarians laid siege sieges. Their firepower helped them
to Vienna for six months, until the capture the Byzantine capital,
citizens were forced to surrender. Constantinople, in 1453.

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