Vienna 1683: Christian Europe repels the Ottomans: No. 191 (Campaign)

Excellent review of the period and campaign. Highly recommended

I am unable to review this item as it was bought for a gift for my son. He has , however, had these books previously and has always enjoyed reading them. He has quite a collection now

Spent our holidays in Vienna last year and you simply cannot escape the the story of the siege. This book was great and as always Osprey marshall the available information in a very accessible and enjoyable format.

The Vienna campaign is one of the most important events in World History and a subject that has fascinated me for many Years, my interest recently rekindled due to wargaming the period again, led me to purchase this book, I already own a few good titles on the subject but thought I would give this a whirl just for a bit of new reading matter. The writers description of Emperor Leopold seems quite accurate however he states that Leopold was "destined to lead his Country through the turmoil of the Thirty Years War", "and then go on to deal with Louis the fourteenth and the Ottoman threat at the end of the Century" HOW !!! ? Leopold was only eight years old when the thirty years war ended in 1648, Ferdinand was Emperor during that war, and as a boy Leopold was groomed for the Church; not the Battlefield, the other stupid thing is mentioning Azab infantry as part of the Ottoman army and having a colour picture of them advancing toward the enemy, again this is not so, the Turks stopped recruiting this type of soldier along with the Akinji Cavalry in the previous Century, all other Historians agree on this point, so a little more care in the research of the Ottoman Army was needed. Apart from these silly errors the book isn't that bad, the summing up of the other commanders is accurate, as is his narrative of the siege and subsequent field engagements, giving full credit to the Austrian and Saxon forces instead of concentrating on Sobieski and the Hussars as many like to do, the Order of Battle is poor and undetailed, and the statement that the vast majority of soldiers of the time used the matchlock as the flintlock "did not come into regular service until 1699" is just pure nonesense, The Austrians were a bit backward in this respect but the Saxon troops like the Danish and smaller German contingents of the Imperial Army were mostly using the flintlock by this time. overall three stars.

for the size of the book it had a lot of info but lacked the spaced to go into greater detail be informative

Tbf I thought this book would give me inspiration for wargaming this period after visiting the "Hill" in real life. Unfortunately the books description of events fell flat for me an it felt hard to follow the actual strategy of each moment of the battle. Positive some nice illustrations of the the Austrians ,poles and ottomans

Rather boring book. Deals more with the campaign before and after the siege than with actual subject. Climatic and pivotal charge of Polish winged hussars presented so boring in the book that I nearly fell asleep at that point. I think that says all about this book, that touches a very interesting chapter of military history, but just doesn't get the message through to the reader. Osprey does well on Britsh history subjects but fails to deliver on nearly all foreign projects they tackle. Just no true interest behind the research and presentation... just £££££ signs in the eyes of the sales team. Save your money for a better book on the Vienna subject. Overpriced as all Osprey books.

This book really doesn't cut the mustard. It fails to describe the "military" aspects of the campaign, and thus fails in its key remit. It was clearly written from secondary (or even tertiary) works, and shows no deep understanding of the period nor of the armies involved. In Osprey books the visual aspects are crucially important, and here the author clearly has little clue about how the armies of this period looked and fought. The artwork simply borrows (or should that be steals) from other Osprey publications, even the cover artwork is little more than a reworking of plates in other Osprey books. I can only compare this book to the recent debacle that was the supposedly epic 2012 film: "The Day of the Siege: September Eleven 1683", which gets all of 3.1 stars (out of 10!) on IMBD. That is probably more than it deserves, as are the two stars I give this book.

All in all, this is another comprehensive and well written volume in the Osprey campaign series. The author, Simon Millar, does a nice job of presenting a concise but comprehensive look at this campaign. The narrative moves quickly and flows in an easy-to-follow chronologic manner. The book has seven 2D maps and one 3D map. They provide just the right amount of geographic and tactical information without being cluttered by excessive detail. Overall, they are a very nice compliment to the narrative. In addition to the usual full color battle scenes, the book has numerous color and black & white illustrations. These illustrations definitely help the reader visualize the events depicted in the narrative. The author does an excellent job of describing the key figures and commanding officers on both sides of the conflict. These descriptions are extremely insightful. They not only connect these individuals to the origins of the campaign; they also explain the political drivers that motivated them. Bottom Line: This book provides both a concise and informative overview of this forgotten but very important battle.

Difficult to get enthused by a very dry recounting of dates and events leading up to the siege, without any background on the reasons for the various pieces of the puzzle. An endless list of names and dates with almost no explanation. Some pages contain pictures of personalities and battles which are completely absent from the text, which makes the story even more dense and opaque. I'll return it.

Excellent Historical Topic Reading Material @ a Great Price !! Highly Recommend !!

And a show of heroism and determination for both sides of the conflict. It definitively made a good book in this concise "essay" from Simon Millar. Competently he describes the background of the campaign, not only in the Imperial habsburg eastern front but also the western with Louis XIV France and how it influenced the reluctance of certain princes to be in the relief force. The author doesn't forget the Ottoman side of the border; the necessity of Mehmed IV to obtain a victory after a succession of deposed sultans (some murdered) and the near ending of the peace treaty with the Empire. There is a short summary of the troop types (complemented with a few very well portrayed black and white drawings), a short CV of the main characters (John III Sobieski, Starhemberg, Leopold, Kara Mustafa pasha, Rackoksi) a a discussion of strengths and weaknesses of both combatants, including Montecocculis reforms, the weak artillery science of the Ottomans (although they had good pieces) compensated by the excellent Turkish miners, etc. The campaign is well detailed with marching routes, skirmishes and supported by good maps. The Siege is divided by "main events" and well structured with the politic events outside Vienna. It culminates on the Kalehmberg confrontation outside the city, where the Imperial and Polish army fought and Routed the Ottoman army. The author doesn't forget the aftermath battles of Parkany and future implications of the failed siege. This work, although good, isn't perfect. The CV's should concentrate on the leaders of the siege and battle, not the political rulers. Although it has very good maps of the armies movements, it has only one birds-eye view map of the battle (it usually has 3)! The numbers involved aren't very well detailed. The art is very good! Both the three coloured plates like the black and white line drawings. Congratulations to the artist Peter Dennis. Recommended but can be improved.

Being of Polish extraction I have read much about the military feats of King John Sobieski, who by the way was also the maternal grandfather of Bonnie Prince Charlie. Whilst those readings focussed on Sobieski, his march towards Vienna, his concern that his Lithuanian forces would not arrive in time (which they did not) to support his Polish contingent, and the famous Polish calvary charge itself, this book provides a good overview of the siege, including all of the key players, from its beginning to its end. I am also looking forward to the Polish/Italian film production depicting the battle. I believe 30,000 horseman were used in making the film on location in Romania. From the trailers I have seen on Utube it is dubbed in English, and is being played in the theatres of 50 countries, but not here in Australia. I hope Amazon will have that DVD version available once it has been released. The sooner the better.