By Dr. Rick Chromey
Some dates live in infamy — and some dates should.
Most Americans remember September 11 as the day in 2001 when Islamic terrorists brought terror to U.S. soil, toppling the Twin Towers and striking the Pentagon. But far fewer know about another pivotal September 11, more than 300 years earlier, when Islamic expansion into Christian Europe met a decisive and dramatic defeat.
It was September 11, 1683, when the city of Vienna stood on the edge of collapse. The mighty Ottoman Empire had battled its way into the heart of Europe, aiming to conquer the Holy Roman Empire and force a continent to bow to Islam.
The Ottoman threat
For centuries, the Ottoman Turks had advanced steadily into Christian lands. They had conquered Constantinople on May 29, 1453, transforming the Byzantine Christian capital into Istanbul and turning the iconic Hagia Sophia into a mosque.1 The Ottomans swept through the Balkans, seized Hungary, and reached the borders of Austria.
Europe trembled. The Islamic Caliphate proved persistent and powerful.
By 1683, the Ottomans under Sultan Mehmed IV were determined to strike a final, fatal blow. Mehmed IV dispatched an army of over 138,000 troops, led by the ruthless and experienced Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha.2
Their target: Vienna, Austria. At the time, Vienna was lightly defended — only 11,000 Austrian and Habsburg troops stood guard over the city. In July, the Ottomans laid siege to the town. They tunneled beneath Vienna’s massive walls and starved its citizens and defenders. After two months, the situation grew desperate. The Ottomans repeatedly called for surrender. Sultan Mehmed IV even sent an ominous threat to the Austrian Emperor Leopold I, who had fled to the west for safety: “Await us in your residence… so we can decapitate you.” 3
But Vienna refused to surrender. The Austrians held on, waiting for help that might never come.
A savior from the north: Jan Sobieski
Help finally arrived with Jan Sobieski, King of Poland, a seasoned warrior and devout Catholic. With papal blessing and coordination of Habsburg and German princes, Sobieski led an 81,000-strong relief army — 30,000 Polish, 18,500 Austrians, and 8,000 Germans — through the Vienna woods.
On the morning of September 11, 1683, Sobieski’s forces launched a surprise attack from the high ground of the Kahlenberg hills. It proved the turning point.
After hours of intense fighting, Sobieski ordered one of the most significant and most daring cavalry charges in recorded history. At approximately 5 p.m., 38,350 mounted troops — including the famed Polish Winged Hussars — descended the slopes in a thundering charge that shattered Ottoman lines. These hussars wore wooden frames with feathered wings attached to their backs. As they galloped, the wings produced a terrifying whistling roar, designed to strike fear into enemy hearts. It worked like magic on the Muslim army.
Caught off guard and overwhelmed, the Ottoman forces panicked and fled. Mustafa Pasha abandoned his command tent in hasty disgrace, leaving behind not only his war chest but also his military strategy and lofty ambitions.
Vienna was saved.
Satan’s drink: from kafir to coffee
In a legendary, if not mythic story, Sobieski’s troops ransacked the Ottoman encampment and discovered a strange treasure — sacks upon sacks of dark brown beans. On each sack was scrawled the Arabic word “kafir” (or infidel).
The beans originated from Ethiopia, a country that, despite Islamic expansion in Africa, remained a citadel of Christianity. While the Islamic caliphate often showed little respect for Christian “infidels,” the beans — confiscated or stolen in various raids — had quickly become a popular stimulant among Muslim marauders. That’s why each bag was labeled as “kafir” (or infidel) beans. It served as a reminder to the Muslim troops of their origins in Christian Ethiopia. The Ottomans used coffee for energy during long campaigns. It helped them stay alert in battle, awake in prayer, and prepared for siege warfare.
But on that day, the bean changed allegiances.
Catholic clergy initially viewed “kafir” (Anglicized as “coffee”) with suspicion, calling it “Satan’s drink” because of its Islamic roots. However, according to popular tradition, Pope Clement VIII tasted a hot cup of joe and declared: “This devil’s drink is so good, we should cheat the devil by baptizing it.”4
Whether the story is legend or fact, what is certain is that in the wake of Vienna’s deliverance, one of Sobieski’s officers — Jerzy Franciszek Kulczycki — opened Vienna’s first coffeehouse using the captured beans. The beverage quickly spread across Europe, igniting the continent’s love affair with coffee. Vienna became its unofficial European capital, and the café culture was born.
Aftermath and legacy
King Sobieski returned to his troops with news of total victory. He sent a letter to Pope Innocent XI, borrowing from Julius Caesar’s famous phrase: “Veni, vidi, Deus vicit,” …or “I came, I saw, God conquered.”
Mustafa Pasha did not escape punishment. Upon learning of the humiliating defeat, Sultan Mehmed IV ordered his execution. Pasha’s head was cut off and returned to the Sultan in a velvet sack — a final sign of the Caliphate’s crushing loss.
The victory at Vienna was more than just a military triumph — it was a turning point in world history. It marked the end of the Ottoman aggression and proved the high-water mark of Islamic military expansion into the Christian West. Historians like Hilaire Belloc emphasized the significance of this event:
“Less than 100 years before the American War of Independence a Mohammedan army was threatening to overrun and destroy Christian civilization… Vienna was almost taken and only saved by the Christian army under the command of the King of Poland on a date that ought to be among the most famous in history — September 11, 1683.” 5
Indeed, in a chilling historical echo, Osama bin Laden would choose September 11 for his symbolic attack on Western civilization in 2001.
To radical Islamists, the Battle of Vienna represented a bitter memory of defeat, but to the West, it stood as a memory of unity, courage, and Divine Providence.
Today, Jan Sobieski is rightly remembered not just as a Polish hero but as the “Savior of Western Civilization.” His leadership on that September day turned the tide of history.
To this day, the bells of Vienna still ring with the memory.
Sources:
1 Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume 6 (J. B. Bury, editor, Methuen & Co., 1898 edition): pp. 150–160
2 HammerPurgstall, Joseph von. Histoire de l’Empire ottoman, vol. 13. C. A. Hartleben, Vienna/Pest, 1843. Public domain; PDF available via Internet Archive Wikipedia+7ResearchGate+7Scribd+7Scribd+7Internet Archive+7ResearchGate+7.
3A Defiance and Indiction of War sent by Sultan Mahomet IV to Leopald, Emperour of Germany. London: Printed for A. Banks, 1683. Early English Books Online. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/A51285.0001.001?view=toc
4 While Pope Clement VIII’s papal blessing of coffee did help popularize coffee across Europe, there are no contemporary 17th or 18th century document records to confirm the phrase he reportedly stated: “This devil’s drink is so good, we should cheat the devil by baptizing it.”
5 Hilaire Belloc, The Great Heresies, (London: Sheed and Ward, 1938).
Dr. Rick Chromey is a historian and theologian who speaks and writes on matters of religion, culture, and history. He’s also a Lewis and Clark historian for American Cruise Lines (Columbia and Snake rivers). Rick and his wife Linda live in Star, Idaho. www.rickchromey.com
