C. Wayne Dawson's Blog, page 10

Part 5: Vienna’s outer defenses

                                                Map, courtesy of Robert Hall Vienna’s defenses reflected the growing influence of the trace italienne, a system of fortification that evolved in Italy between 1450-1520s and included angled walls and arrow-shaped bastions. This superseded the medieval style of turrets placed on the ends of walls. Bastions not […]

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Part 6: Ottoman Strengths and Weaknesses

In an attempt to explain the Habsburg victory at Vienna, many have pointed to the weakening of the Ottomans Janissary system in the earlier part of the 17th century. True, the system did suffer when the Sultan rescinded the requirement that the “new” soldiers no longer had to come from Christian (often Serbian) parents and […]

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