The Historical Significance of the Date September 11

Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Socrates

September 11^th is a significant date in world history. It was not just an arbitrary date chosen by the Muslim terrorists in 2001 who launched a jihad (Muslim holy war) against the United States, using four American airplanes and flying one plane into the Pentagon, another into a field in Pennsylvania, and two other airplanes into the Trade Towers in New York City. It also marks the date in 1683 when the Muslim armies of the Ottoman Empire began their attack on Europe and Christianity with an assault on the city of Vienna, Austria. Unfortunately, the terrorists of 2001 focused on the wrong date. They, like the Muslim Turks in 1683, saw the Christian virtues of mercy and tolerance as weakness. They should have learned the historical lesson from what happened on the day after September 11^th.

The Battle of Vienna was meant to be the opening assault in a jihad that led to the Islamic conquest of Europe and the defeat of Christendom. It was a conquest intended to conclude in an Islamic victory celebrated by taking possession of the center of Christian worship, turning the Vatican into a stable for their horses, and St. Peter's Cathedral into a Muslim mosque. The Turkish army reached Belgrade in late March of 1683. They were joined by Muslim armies that occupied Transylvania and Hungary and laid siege to the region. About 150,000 Muslim troops moved westward toward Vienna where about 40,000 Crimean Tatars joined them. With the addition of the Tartars, the Ottoman army had twice as many soldiers as the Imperial army of Austria.

Meanwhile, Pope Innocent III called for the Christian armies of Europe to defend Vienna. Unfortunately, there was discord among the various German states, Austria, and Poland, on how they should fight the war to defeat the Muslim jihad against Europe. The events of the Protestant Reformation had seriously fractured the unity between the Christian nations of Europe and was another cause for division. The king of Poland promised to come to the aid of Vienna with a combined Polish-Lithuanian army, and Duke Charles V of Lorraine promised to field an army in defense of Vienna. However, Austrian Emperor Leopold fled what he considered to be the doomed city with his court and 60,000 Viennese, and to make matters worse, Charles V Duke of Lorraine withdrew his force of 20,000 towards Linz. Duke Charles's defection left Count Ernst Rudiger von Starhemberg with only 15,000 trained soldiers to defend Vienna. The Pope's emissary, Capuchin friar Father Marco d'Aviano, refused to leave the city and stayed to serve as the spiritual advisor to the people of Vienna and the "Holy League" of the combined Christian forces.

The main Turkish army arrived at Vienna on July 14^th. The Muslims laid siege to Vienna and sent the traditional demand for the city to surrender, renounce Christianity, embrace Islam, and pay the required tax of all conquered people. Count Ernst Rudiger von Starhemberg, with 15,000 troops, 8,700 volunteers, and 370 cannons, refused to surrender. Days earlier, he had received news of the mass murder of a town south of Vienna, where the people had surrendered after a similar offer. Instead of surrendering, von Starhemberg had the people demolish many of the houses around the city walls and remove the debris, leaving an empty area where the Turks would not find refuge from an attack. The Turks immediately began a siege of the city that cut off virtually every means of food supply and continually bombarded the city walls with their cannon as they worked to dig tunnels to undermine the walls.

The city of Vienna had been under siege by the Turks for almost two months when Jan III Sobieski, the king of Poland, prepared to leave for Vienna with a relief expedition during the late summer of 1683. He departed from Krakow on August 15^th, taking almost every soldier in his army, and leaving his nation virtually undefended. The army of Lithuania was supposed to join the Polish king in defense of Vienna, but Jan Kazimierz Sapieha the Younger was delayed by fighting against the Turks in Hungary. Charles V, however, made good on his promise and defeated Muslim forces at Bisambery, 5 km northwest of Vienna, and then joined the defense of Vienna.

The Battle of Vienna that marked the Muslim assault on Europe began in earnest on September 11^th, 1683. The combined Christian forces of the "Holy League" were vastly outnumbered by the Muslim Turks and Tartars, who were confident that they would be able to breach the walls of the city with their cannon after weakening both the people and the walls of the city during the two months of the siege. Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa celebrated the opening day of the battle for Vienna on September 11^th by executing 30,000 Christian captives.

The Viennese forces managed to hold off the Muslims on the 11^th, but the city's defenders knew they could not survive another day of fighting. The tide of the battle turned on September 12^th with the arrival of the army of the Polish king, Jan III Sobieski. He had entrusted his kingdom and the success of his army to the protection of the Blessed Virgin, Our Lady of Czestochowa, whose icon was a Polish national treasure. He accomplished the nearly impossible feat of securing the high ground on the mountain above the battlefield and positioned his cannon to fire down on the Ottoman camp. The battle started before the deployment of all the Christian units when the Ottomans attacked at about 4 AM on September 12^th under the iconic Islamic sign of the crescent moon, seeking to interfere with the deployment of the troops of the "Holy League."

Charles of Lorraine moved forward with the Imperial army on the left, with the other Holy Roman Imperial forces in the center. The Ottoman commander, Kara Mustafa, launched a counterattack with most of his forces but held back some of the elite units for a planned simultaneous assault on the city. The Ottoman commanders had intended to take Vienna before Jan Sobieski arrived, but time ran out. Their sappers had prepared a large, final detonation to breach the city walls. Ten mines were set to explode, but they were located and disarmed by Viennese soldiers. A large battle commenced as the Polish infantry launched a massive assault on the Ottoman army's right flank. Instead of focusing on the battle with the relief army, the Ottomans continued their efforts to force their way into the city.

After twelve hours of fighting, the Polish troops continued to hold the high ground on the right. On the flanks, the Polish cavalry slowly emerged from the forest to the cheers of the infantry. At about 5 PM, the Polish king ordered the cavalry to attack in four groups, three Polish and one from the Holy Roman Empire. Eighteen thousand horsemen, the famed "Winged Hussars" led by Jan III Sobieski, charged down from the hills; it was the largest cavalry charge in history! The charge broke the lines of the Ottomans, who were exhausted from the long struggle on two fronts. The cavalry headed straight for the Ottoman camp and Kara Mustafa's headquarters. Sensing victory, the remaining Viennese garrison sallied out of its defenses to join in the assault.

At the moment the Polish cavalry attacked, a cloud caused the crescent moon to fade from view; it was an ominous omen for the superstitious Turks. The Ottoman troops were tired and dispirited following the failure of both the attempt at undermining the walls and making an assault on the city. The arrival of the cavalry turned the tide of battle against them, sending the Muslim Turks into a massive retreat to the south and east by nightfall. Less than three hours after the cavalry attack, the Christian forces had won the battle and saved Vienna.

The defeat of the Ottoman Turks at Vienna on the 12^th of September marked the turning point in the 300-year struggle between the forces of the Christian Central European kingdoms and the Muslim Ottoman Empire. It was the last attempt by Muslims to expand their power into Europe, and therefore The Battle of Vienna is considered one of the decisive battles of world history. When lauded for his victory, King Jan III Sobieski responded with a variation of Julius Caesar's famous statement "Vini, Vidi, Vici" ("I came, I saw, I conquered") by replying "Veni, Vidi, Deus Vici" ("I came, I saw, God conquered"), giving credit for his victory to God and the intercession of the Virgin Mary. Ottoman Sultan Mehmet IV blamed Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa, who commanded the Muslim forces, for the defeat of the Muslim armies by the Christian "Holy League" and took his revenge by having the Vizier executed by strangulation for his failure on Christmas Day 1683.

Pope Innocent XI commemorated the victory of the Christian armies over the armies of Islam by giving credit for the victory to the Virgin Mary. He moved the feast of the Holy Name of Mary, which used to be celebrated on the Sunday within the Octave of the Nativity of Mary and only observed in Spain and the Kingdom of Naples, to September the 12^th and made it a feast day to be celebrated by the universal Church in every nation. It is a feast we continue to celebrate on the 12^th of September. Father Marco d'Aviano, who played a spiritual role during the defense of the city of Vienna, was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2003.

The Icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa (also known as the Black Madonna of Czestochowa), to whom King Jan III Sobieski entrusted his nation and gave credit for the success of the Battle of Vienna, is a revered icon of the Virgin Mary and the child Jesus. The origins of the icon and the date of its composition are still hotly contested among scholars, but they do agree that Prince Wladyslaw brought it to the monastery of Jasna Gora in Czestochowa, Poland in the 14^th century. Most art historians believe the original painting was a Byzantine icon created in the sixth or ninth century. In the icon, the Virgin Mary appears as the Hodegetria (the "One Who Shows the Way"). The Virgin directs the viewer's attention away from herself as she gestures with her right hand toward the child Jesus, who is the source of our salvation. In turn, Jesus extends His right hand toward the viewer, offering His blessing while holding a book of the Gospels in His left hand. The scars on the Virgin's face were made by a Hussite raider who tried to destroy the icon in 1430. Many attempts have been made to restore the painting, but the scars always return.

A recommended film depicting the historical events is "The Day of the Siege."