At the Edge of the Ottoman Empire

From April 29-May 8, I took a long trip through Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, and Serbia.  I had first planned to take this trip in the winter, but since certain incidents had occurred in December and January, I was forced to push this trip back to spring.  With all of the work involved with LIS and realizing the OGX EPs, I really needed a break to get away from Macedonia and see the rest of Europe.

Until now, all of the countries that I visited within Europe were once part of the Ottoman Empire.  Therefore, it was only appropriate to start this vacation at the fringe of the Ottoman Empire- Vienna.  Vienna was a major city of the Holy Roman Empire during that time, and it was a major strategic and symbolic goal for the Ottomans in their European conquests.  Both the Holy Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire claimed to be the inheritors of the Ancient Roman Empire, and thus conquest over all of the former Roman territory was the aim of both powers.

Although many historians will jest that the Holy Roman Empire was neither “Holy” nor “Roman”, and while the Ottoman Empire and the Byzantine Empire shared the same capital (albeit under a different name), neither empire seemed to have the right to claim the dynasty of the ancient Roman Empire.  Funny enough, Vienna was never really a major part of the Roman Empire, but most likely a small military outpost in what was then known as Vindobona.  Therefore, the clash between the Ottomans and the Holy Roman Empire was likely an incident of power politics.

Vienna was almost first sieged by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1529.  Suleiman I had succeeded in annexing vast territory for the Ottoman Empire, including much of North Africa (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia), Rhodes, and the Christian centers of Belgrade and Hungary.  Much of Ottoman domination and stability relied on two tenets.  Trade was central, as the Ottoman Empire served as the bridge between the East (for Indian and Chinese goods including spices, silk, etc.) and the West.  Thus their control of the Mediterranean (contested by Venice and Spain, which was also part of the Habsburg Empire) and other waterways (conquests of the Danube linked much of the Balkans and Central Europe to Istanbul through the Black Sea) were essential.

Their second source of income came from looting the lands of which they conquered.  Christian lands were even more tantalizing as Christians were taxed much more heavily than Muslims (but they were allowed to practice Christianity and continue their customs in exchange).  Thus Vienna would be a huge prize for the Ottomans, adding to the bounty collected from the siege of Belgrade and much of Hungary.  However, Suleiman I failed to capture Vienna in 1529 as much of his troops were exhausted from the conquest of Belgrade, Buda, and from the long, rainy march through the Balkans.

About 150 years later, Mehmet IV followed his ambitions to finally conquer Vienna.  A few attempts were made to weaken the forts leading to Vienna, including a disastrous attack at St. Gotthard when the Ottoman forces lost many of their Janissary forces.  Finally, in 1683, the Ottomans delivered an attack on Vienna.  With a force estimated up to 300,000 troops, including Crimean Tatars and Hungarian allies, the Ottomans attempted to take Vienna that summer.  However, a very severe winter created a very marshy path through the Balkans and across the Drava river into Hungary, thus reducing the amount of siege weapons available to the Ottomans during the battle.  Therefore, even though the Austrians defending Vienna were outnumbered 20:1, their impenetrable walls and advantage in number of cannons enabled them to fend off the Turks.  Fortunately, the Polish king Jan II Sobieski relieved the Austrians with a force of about 60,000 troops.  As the Ottomans continued to attack the city, the Polish troops were able to surround the Ottomans and beat them back.

Afterwards, the Ottomans retreated, and after subsequent battles, lost further territory in Europe, including Hungary, parts of Northern Serbia, and Transylvania.  The Habsburgs, who then claimed territory spread across the world, including Spain, Belgium, parts of Italy, and all of the subsequent colonies, were a major world power.  After resisting Napoleon and Revolutionary France in the 1800s (but creating peace through the marriage of Marie Louise to Napoleon), the Holy Roman Empire became the Austrian Empire, which later evolved into a dual monarchy in 1867 known as Austria-Hungary.  Not only was the power of this empire shared “equally” among the Austrians and the Hungarians, but it incorporated many other ethnicities, including Italians, Slovenes, Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, Slovaks, Czechs, Romanians, and Poles.  As most people know, Austria-Hungary (now allied with the Ottomans) lost World War I and was forced to break up their empire into smaller nation states. 

The diversity of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was reflected in the diversity of Vienna.  As soon as I arrived, I caught a cab that was driven by a Serbian transplant.  Walking around Vienna my first night, I was surprised to find many Chinese restaurants, probably indicating the intrigue of the Viennese in the cuisine.  Throughout my whole stay in the city, I saw natives who were ethnically African, South Asian, East Asian, Middle Eastern, and from all other parts of Europe.  Supposedly around 40% of the inhabitants of Vienna have a migrant background, and the population of Vienna increased by 10% over the past decade.  Overall, it felt like I was in a smaller, more European version of New York City during my visit.

Despite its diversity, Vienna was the most European-looking city that I had ever visited.   Everything just seemed so Baroque, and the larger old city seemed to be filled with revitalized buildings.  I almost wish that I had background music of Mozart or Strauss as I strolled the city.

Vienna- Back in the Western World

My trip through Central Europe started with a bit of a crisis.  I arrived in Skopje early so that I could take the airport shuttle, which is cheaper, but unfortunately the only shuttle that would get me to the airport on time left Skopje at 11AM.  As I was contemplating my travel logistics and eating a burek at the bus station, all of a sudden my front tooth broke.  Panicked and with less than 5 hours before my flight would leave, I called Peace Corps Medical, who was able to sneak me in with the dentist before my flight.  Luckily my front tooth was fixed, but unfortunately, I had to pay for a taxi to arrive to the airport on time.

My plane landed into Vienna just before sunset, and I exited the airport shuttle to take a taxi to the hostel.  Westend Hostel was very quiet and on the outskirts of the old city, so I spent most of my first night walking around the commercial boulevard.  On the second day, I decided to visit the Schonbrunn Palace, which was the former hunting lodge of the Habsburgs.  The orange palace was magnificent and large, but the overpriced (21 Euro) audio tour through the rooms did little to shed its light on the living styles of the emperors.  But the history lesson was nice.  More impressive than the interior were the extensive gardens, which included well cut trees and bushes that served as walls, as well as a nearby forest and plenty of Mediterranean and tropical fruit trees. 

After visiting a refugee food truck and enjoying some local beers, I visited AIESEC Vienna’s Youth to Business Forum where I met other AIESEC members.  I was reunited with one friend that I had met last year at a conference in Bulgaria, and it was great to discuss and connect on our challenges and opportunities regarding our AIESEC committees.  They invited me to hang with them in the park when their forum ended, and I agreed to meet them there after I stop at the hostel to refresh.  Unfortunately, I was unable to find them in the park, but I enjoyed seeing a reggae band perform in German in front of one of Vienna’s historical buildings.

Reading and eating food-truck food

Youth-to-Business Forum with AIESEC Vienna

Outdoor German Reggae concert

Danube

Night out with others from the hostel

On Friday, I decided to explore the old center and ended up walking to the Danube River.  With fatigued legs, I returned to the hostel to find the common area filled with tourists who were visiting for the long holiday weekend.  We all decided to visit a local bar, which played 80s music and was pretty hipster-ey compared to anything I had experienced in a while. Cutting my night short in order to leave on time for my trip to Bratislava the next day, I returned to my hostel for my final night of sleep as my brief trip to Western Civilization was coming to an end.