Between a ‘Brilliant Retreat’ and a ‘Tragic Defeat’: Ottoman Narratives of the 1529 and 1683 Sieges of Vienna

Type:

Book Chapter

Author:

N. Zeynep Yelçe

Published:

2021

In this chapter, N. Zeynep Yelçe decontextualizes the Ottoman campaigns of 1529 and 1683 to reveal the basic features of two large military operations. The strategic decision-making underlying the two sieges of Vienna by the Ottomans are explored through the contemporary writings of Ottoman authors and then current European sources. Ottoman claims to universal kingship are traced through the two campaigns, both seemingly vindictive and punitive in their discursive justifications. While each siege has been widely studied by historians, an overall comparative view remains incomplete. This void largely stems from the conventional periodization of Ottoman history, which confines the expertise and/or interest of the historian to either the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries. Such confinement, while allowing for comprehensive treatment of a particular event, isolates the subject of study as a unique instance in time. To overcome this obstacle, Zeynep Yelçe cross-examines the strategic elements and discursive justifications involved in these sieges. She aims to to understand why one siege is hailed a victory and the other a defeat when both ended in retreat.

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