THE SICK MAN OF EUROPE 115and live in peace under the sultan as Christians; and if any may prefer, let
him depart peaceably, taking his goods with him! But if you resist, then
death or spoilation or slavery shall be the fate of you all!”
The Ottomans, led by Kara Mustafa Pasha, focused their attention on
the siege of Vienna, while their light cavalry, the Tartars and Hungarians,
dispersed across the Austrian countryside, spreading fear and fire. The
siege progressed steadily. The Turkish soldiery were encouraged by Kara
Mustafa, who gave solemn warnings to them all and ordered each one of
them to do his utmost to bring the enterprise to a successful conclusion,
expending life and property for the true faith.
Kara Mustafa focused too much on the siege and failed to take ele-
mentary precautions such as sealing off the passes through the Wiener
Wald and mountains to the west. Instead, he concentrated his forces
around Vienna. In addition, the bad roads in the Balkans had prevented
him from bringing his heavy artillery. Thus his siege efforts concentrated
on tunneling under the walls of the city, filling the caverns with gunpow-
der, and detonating the charges to bring down the walls to permit an
immediate assault by his infantry.
The combination of heavy fortifications, staunch defense, and the timely
arrival of Leopold’s army prevented the Ottomans from taking the city,
although the Western European army arrived at almost the last possible
minute. As Kara Mustafa had not blocked the approaches to Vienna, the
coalition army cleared the rough terrain and deployed on the plain to the
west of Vienna, driving off the small detachments of Ottomans sent to
face it.
Kara Mustafa badly mismanaged the following battle, sending his
forces to meet the Western alliance in a piecemeal fashion. He had not
mastered the concept of mustering a covering force large enough to defend
his siege works from outside attack. Though the battle was hard fought,
the coalition forces broke the Ottomans and scattered their army. The
Turkish retreat was chaotic; their heavy equipment was abandoned and
their camps left to be pillaged.
The Christian pursuit of the defeated Ottomans was, by the standard of
the day, aggressive. Kara Mustafa sought scapegoats to cover his failure
and started a series of executions that began with Ibraham, the Turkish
governor of Buda, and ended with an additional series of Ottoman officers.
The Tartar khan was deposed and replaced. In spite of these measures, or
because of them, the sultan’s coalition began to disintegrate. Thokoly’s
Hungarians and the Tartars stood by as the advancing Christian army
caught and destroyed elements of the Turkish army. Even within the Ot-
toman ranks, dissent arose. Some wished to continue their flight, while