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Published: August 14th 2009
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The Ottomans made two attempts to capture “the city of the golden apple”, as they often called Vienna, but to the relief of Christendom both sieges were unsuccessful. The first one, in 1529, under the command of Süleyman the Magnificent (who died shortly afterwards while still on campaign in the Hungarian plains *), was not so significant in the grand scheme of things, but it did heat up the Habsburg-Ottoman rivalry that would last for centuries. The second siege in 1683 was really the most important, at least from the perspective of the Viennese (and much of the rest of Western Europe). The Habsburg victory was more decisive, not only in terms of defending the city; it also began the long process of pushing the Ottomans out of much of the European territory they had possessed since the 15th/16th centuries.
It might be argued that Vienna became what it did because of those two sieges. After the first siege, the Habsburgs decided to move their seat of power to Vienna, so, of course, wanted to make sure that its defenses were strong. They had a strong wall built around the city, essentially the route now marked by the Ringstrasse as
it circumscribes the Innere Stadt. Then, with their victory in 1683 (and the subsequent ones to come in battles in the Balkans (see below)), the Habsburgs went on something of a building spree, populating the city with opulent baroque, rococo, and later neo-classical buildings, many of which still stand today. What better way to show how powerful you are (or want to be seen as) than creating a cityscape of impressive architecture?
(And how could I forget the coffee? What would Vienna be without its coffeehouses? And where do you think that tradition came from originally, hmm?)
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Defeating the Ottomans in a series of key battles does make one cocky, it would seem. Prince Eugene of Savoy, the Paris-born Habsburg military hero, first participated in the Siege of 1683 and then went on to lead a number of crucial campaigns against the Ottoman Empire. His capture of Belgrade in 1718 ended a long stretch of conflict, but left the Ottomans with a fraction of their Balkan territories. Back in Vienna, Prince Eugene, in honor of his own exploits, built up a complex of baroque palaces and gardens, the Belvedere, that almost outshone those of the Habsburg royalty
sitting over in the Hofburg. Who doesn’t need an upper and a lower palace? The Habsburgs weren’t so pleased with the prince’s uppitiness, but they couldn’t really do anything considering it was under his masterful guidance that the Austrian Empire was now ascendant in the Ottoman-Habsburg rivalry. When the prince died, Empress Maria Theresia quickly snatched up the property for the royal family. The last Habsburg occupant was Archduke Franz Ferdinand…and we know what happened to him!
Now the Belvedere is a museum. The Oberes (Upper) Belvedere is probably the more impressive of the two palaces, plus it houses an astounding collection of Austrian art. The big draw for many are the many pieces by Gustav Klimt, including his world-famous The Kiss (how many college students have a print of this on their dorm-room wall?). I loved the Klimt paintings, but I was also excited to be introduced to a contemporary of his with whom I was unfamiliar, Egon Schiele. In contrast to Klimt’s bright palette and shimmering golds and silvers, Schiele painted in somber, melancholic tones, using broad, angular strokes. He seems a clear forerunner of Lucien Freud. Also intriguing were the collection of busts by Franz Xaver
Messerschmidt, who, despite living and dying in the eighteenth-century, created a series of sculptures showing extreme emotions - mirth, disgust, puzzlement, etc. -now called the “Character Faces”. They look very, very modern, but most were completed before 1780.
There’s not much in the Belvedere complex to show that Eugene of Savoy was the great vanquisher of the “Turks”. But that’s rectified at the nearby Heeresgeschichtliches Museum (Museum of Military History), a touchingly old-fashioned affair that traces Austrian military endeavors from the Thirty-Years War through WWII. For me, the focal points were the Ottoman Campaigns (of course!) and the display on the assassination of Franz Ferdinand (complete with the car in which he and his wife were shot, and the blood-stained uniform he was wearing! - I do teach world history, after all). There are several key pieces of booty taken from their Ottoman opponents, including a number of standards and most impressively an entire tent. There are also prominent displays of Prince Eugene’s personal effects and several large portraits (I am not sure the powdered wig suited him…).
As for the Archduke’s assassination in Sarajevo in 1914 and the ‘Great War’ that followed, ironically these events would lead
to the former imperial rivals becoming allies - unfortunately, for them, on the losing side. After WWI there would be neither a Habsburg nor an Ottoman empire…
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