1. When the Ottoman Turks and their allies invaded Austria in 1683, a peace treaty between them and the Austrians was still in effect. When was this treaty going to expire?
From Quiz Vienna 1683: a forgotten siege
Answer:
1684
The map of Europe was very different in those years. In 1664, the Austrians had defeated the Ottomans at Saint Gotthard (Szentgotthard in today's Hungary). The Austrian ruler Leopold I Habsburg was also the elected Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, an entity that covered most of the then-fragmented German lands of Europe. After the Battle of St. Gotthard (1664), Leopold agreed to peace terms that did not reflect the fact that the Austrians were the winners and the Turks were the losers. This infuriated particularly some of the Hungarian nobles, who were hoping to see their lands liberated from the Ottoman Turkish occupation. But Leopold wanted to appease the Ottoman Turks because he feared French pressure in the West. Indeed, King Louis XIV of France (the Sun King) wanted to push the French border to the Rhine! In the years that followed 1664, the Hungarian Protestants in the part of Hungary under Habsburg rule were subjected to appalling persecution by the Catholic authorities. The Hungarian Protestants were so desperate that they asked the Ottoman Turks to come to their help and invade Austria! The Turks hesitated for a while. The Sultan's mother was against it and so were the members of the Ulema (the assembly of the Muslim scholars). They thought it was dishonorable to break the peace but eventually Sultan Mehmed IV and the Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa convinced everybody that Turkey should go to war before the peace expired. Vani Mehmed Effendi, a charismatic holy man who was the preacher of the Turkish Army and a confidant of the Sultan and the Grand Vizier, sincerely believed that Allah punished the Arabs for ceasing to wage war against the Christians and that is why the Ottoman Turks conquered all the Arab lands, except Morocco. Vani also sincerely believed that if the Turks did not continue the Jihad against the Christians, Allah was going to punish them too! Very likely, the Sultan and the Grand Vizier shared Vani's views. Vani was completely wrong! Pursuing the Jihad, as recommended by him, the Turks were defeated at Vienna in 1683 and that defeat was the beginning of the end of the Ottoman Empire. Vani got fired after the defeat near Vienna. The Grand Vizier was executed on orders from Mehmed IV on Christmas Day the same year in Belgrade, then still part of the Ottoman Empire. Mehmed IV himself was deposed only four years later, after more defeats. So much for the guidance given by holy men.
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