Customer Reviews

SIEGE OF VIENNA: New Edition

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The last gasp of Turkish expansion into Europe took place in 1683, when the Ottomans advanced into Hungary and Austria and besieged Vienna. This expert history goes into great detail about the political and diplomatic context, with particular attention to the Habsburg obsession with Louis XIV's France. The relatively brief sections on the actual fighting will be enough for most readers, but may be disappointing to military history buffs. The book includes some black and white plates and several maps. Fine scholarship, though not light reading.

This book really isn't about the siege of Vienna at all. It's really about the political events leading up to the Ottoman invasion of Austria. The siege itself and the ensuing battle are given scant attention, which was a huge disappointment for me. The political environment is an interesting subject, but the military events themselves are almost completely ignored. That's too bad, because that means only half the story is told in this book. Making matters worse is the fact that the book is a slow, dry read that failed to captivate me in any way. I'm unaware of any other books on this subject though, so I'm afraid this may be the only gig in town.

In summer of 1683, the powers of Europe put aside their differences to repel the last real Muslim threat to the West. Even France, while not contributing troops to the anti-Ottoman forces, stayed its hand while its traditional enemy the Hapsburgs were preoccupied with the defense of their Austrian capitol.

This is an epic story, and John Stoye conveys the momentous nature and scope of events. The gathering of the Ottoman armies, the franctic Hapsburg efforts to find military allies, the tightening noose of the siege, and the eventual military relief -all are covered in stunning detail. As C.V.Wedgwood wrote of John Stoye when this book was first published over 40 years ago -"the master of every aspect of his subject". Any criticisms are minor, but 1) more detail on the Ottoman governmental structure (ie the relationship between the Sultan and the Grand Vizier) and 2)a fuller explanation of 17th century siegecraft, would have been helpful.

Finally, compare the threats we face today to the days when Turkish cavalry prowled the Vienna Woods, and Europe trembled at the coming of the Turk.

John Stoye has created a masterful piece of scholarship in this exposition. This is the work to consult if someone is looking for a rich amount of detail on the siege, including diagrams of the siege works and a good collection of maps rarely found in other books. It is a sometimes difficult read and could do better in terms of sequencing the dates of events.The author could also give the reader a more satisfying summation of the significance of the siege. I would also have liked a greater amount of information regarding the decision making behind the Muslim council that agreed to the invasion and a clearer total of the numbers of troops involved. But, on the whole, Stoye does provide a wealth of information in most other areas. --C. Wayne Dawson [...]

Despite a potentially fascinating topic, this is by far the worst-written history book I have ever come across. I put it aside years ago as unreadable, but recently I picked it up again, thinking -- hey, interesting topic, it can't be as bad as I remember it. It is, and even worse. And I see that this view is echoed in the reviews of Stoye's 2007 rehash of the same topic.

It seems as if Stoye assembled a pile of note cards without a coherent thought on any card, and then threw them together, exponentially multiplying his incapacity for coherent thought and narrative. How could any self-respecting editor allow this kind of stuff to go through? The answer has to be that Stoye's writing is beyond editorial salvage.

An interesting book about the Siege of Vienna and how the Turks almost managed to change the course of history. The Ottoman Empire was a powerful Empire in the world and made an attempt to dominant the life of Central and Eastern Europe. On September 11-13, 1683, Poles, Austrians, and Germans routed them on the outskirts of Vienna. After the battle, the Turk Empire became the Sick Man of Europe. The Turks and Islam came very close to upsetting the balance of power in Europe. A few more days of siege may have forced Vienna to surrender.

Stoye does a good job of showing the politics of how this siege and the resulting battle took place. Louise XIV of France was the mortal enemy of the Hapsburg and Spanish Empire. His efforts helped the Turks make a decision on the showdown with the Hapsburgs. Turkish court politics as well as John III's position in Poland are also discussed. The resulting combination of Hapsburg, Saxon, Bavarian, and Poles in confronting the Turks is also reviewed throughly. The result was the successful Allied effort in confronting the Turks.

As one of the reviewers has already mentioned, only two of the nine chapters dealt with the siege and battle. The rest was the history of the politics of this conflict. The first part of the book drags, but I managed to learn a few things about this famous conflict. This book is not for the beginning historian.