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For the 25th day of White History Month we celebrate European Unity at the Battle of Saint Gotthard and the Great Turkish War!
In 1526, the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent had crushed the Hungarian army at the Battle of Mohács, killing their King Louis II and subjugating the kingdom. At that time Europe was badly divided. The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V had been too preoccupied dealing with rebellions and wars with France, to provide sufficient forces to Hungary. Now the Ottoman Empire was on the borders of the Reich. Taking advantage of the wars in Europe, Suleiman went on to besiege Vienna in 1529. The key fortress city holding the Ottomans out of central Europe. The fall of Vienna could have lead to the collapse of the badly divided German and Italian states, who were warring with each other. Then all of central Europe may have fallen to the Turks.
The defense of the city was given to Nicholas, Count of Salm. At age 17, Nicholas fought the Battle of Morat 1476 against Charles the Bold. In 1488 he fought in Flanders and was made an Imperial Colonel. In 1509 he fought in Italy under Georg von Frundsberg and conquered Istria. At the Battle of Pavia in 1525 Nicholas of Salm played an important role in taking King Francis I of France prisoner. The following year he crushed the Peasants' Revolt in Tirol and conquered Schladming. Now aged 70, he was tasked with the defense of Vienna. For 2 weeks and 4 days, the 17,000 Christian defenders held out against 125,000 Turks. In the non-stop fighting they killed 15,000 and lost only 1500. While civilian casualties were much higher. Eventually Suleiman called off the siege. During the siege, Nicholas was badly wounded, and died a few months later from his wounds.
European division continued until 1648, with the end of the last great war of religion known as the Thirty Years War. The Peace of Westphalia was signed, which finally restored Christian unity. On August 1st 1664, the Ottoman army led by Grand Vizier Ahmed Pasha attempted to cross the Austrian border to march on Vienna. At the crossing of the Rába River, near the monastary of Saint Gotthard, the Turks numbering 150,000 and 360 guns were met with the League of the Rhine. A Christian coalition of 28,000 French, German, Italian, and Swiss soldiers with only 24 guns. The Christians held the crossing, which the turks attacked through, becoming surrounded on three sides. The enormous army continued pouring into the battle and began pushing the Christians back. The Turks fully overran the river crossing. The battle was then narrowly won by a sudden charge made by 6,000 French soldiers which surprised the advancing Turks and routed them into the river where they were cut down or drowned.
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John III Sobieski, King of the Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuanian, could see another Ottoman invasion was coming. The Ottoman sultan Mehmed IV was building his forces and securing his other frontiers. An attack would come soon, on either Krakow or Vienna. In a controversial move for his government, The King extended an offer of alliance to his greatest rivals. The Tsar of Russia Peter the Great, the King of Sweden, and the Habsburg Emperor Leopold. All of whom had taken land from Poland in Sobieski's lifetime during the Deluge from 1648-1666.
On July 14th 1683, Six months after the alliance was signed, the Ottoman army besieged Vienna. 170,000 Turks under Grand vizier Mustafa Pasha with 150 guns. The city was garrisoned with only 11,000 soldiers and 5,000 civilian volunteers. For 60 days, the cities defenders fought back the onslaught of Turks. Falling back through two rings of defenses until they were in the final citadel. The city was on the brink of surrender. Then on September 12th, the relief army arrived. 65,000 Poles, Germans, Swiss, and Cossacks with King Sobieski and his 3000 Winged Hussars in the vanguard. The Polish King led 18,000 cavalry on the largest charge in human history. Smashing into the Turkish army, then numbering around 120,000. The Turkish army broke and fled. 30,000 Turks were cut down in the charge. The Grand Vizier was executed by the Sultan for his failure.
The Great Turkish War had begun. The Christian Alliance of Spain, Russia, Sweden, The Holy Roman Empire and Polish-Lithuania, drove the Turks all the way back to the former borders of Hungary and Bulgaria. All the territory lost in the devastating Battle of Mohacs was now under Christian Habsburg dominion. King John III Sobieski was awarded the title of Defender of the Faith by the Pope, for his heroic actions which saved all of Europe, turning the tide once and for all in the struggle against the Turks.
In 1821, the Greeks launched an independence war against the Ottoman Empire. With support primarily from the Russian Tsar Nicholas I, as well as France and the UK. They forced the Ottomans to accept Greek autonomy in the Treaty of Adrianople and semi-autonomy for Serbia and Romania. After nine years of hard sacrifice on the part of Greece, it was finally recognized as an independent state. Ending a centuries long occupation by the Turks. In 1912, the Balkan nations Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia and Montenegro rose up in defiance of the Turks. They won the First Balkan war in seven months, May 30th 1913, finally driving the Turks back to Thrace.
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Bonus post for Unity Day of White History Month; Vasily Arkhipov, the man who saved the world.
Born a peasant near Moscow in 1926, Vasily Arkhipov began his life in absolute poverty. Conscripted into the Soviet navy during WWII, Vasily served as a mine sweeper in the Soviet-Japanese War. During which time 75% of all Soviet ships sank were minesweepers. Having survived WWII, Vasily began serving aboard experimental nuclear-submarines during the Cold War.
In July of 1961, the nuclear submarine Vasily was serving aboard, designated K-19, began having a meltdown in its nuclear reactor. In order to repair the reactors coolant systems, Vasily along with the engineering crew, exposed themselves to extreme levels of radiation. Due to the exposure, every member of the engineer crew died within one month and 15 more crew members died over the next two years but Vasily survived. As a result of his fearless sacrifice, Vasily’s reputation skyrocketed, earning him the rank of Flotilla Commander.
On October 27th 1962, Vasily was serving as Flotilla Commander aboard a Nuclear Submarine in international waters near the coast of Cuba, when a group of eleven US Navy destroyers and an aircraft carrier detected his vessel and began pursuit. Attempting to force the submarine to surface for identification, the Americans began dropping depth charges.
Tensions between these Nuclear superpowers were at an all time high. Far from radio contact, the Captain onboard the Soviet submarine, who the Flotilla Commander is 2nd-in-command to, interpreted this as an attempt to sink their vessel and assumed war had been declared between the US and USSR. Some historians attribute his clouded judgement to the very low levels of oxygen present in submarine cabins.
The Captain ordered a Nuclear torpedo launch on the American aircraft carrier. 3 keys were needed for launch, the three men were Captain Savitsky, Political Officer Maslennikov, and Flotilla Commander Arkhipov. An argument broke out between the three of them, with only Arkhipov against the launch. It is said that 2 of the keys were in. Vasily had no idea whether war had been declared but regardless refused, demanding they surface and possibly face imprisonment.
Ultimately it was Vasily's reputation earned aboard the K-19 which won him the argument. They surfaced, were interrogated and released. Upon return home they faced court-marshal for failing to maintain the secrecy of their mission. In 1998, aged 72, Vasily Arkhipov died of cancer. Few knew in his lifetime of the gravity of his choices but it is very likely that this one man's will prevented a global nuclear war.
Fash-E :windmill_of_friendship:
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