Time Astra

Schematic plan · Austro-Turkish War

Battle of Vienna

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A schematic plan, generated from the statistics of the CAA Database of Battles: the armies' size and width, the hours of fighting, the plan of attack and the outcome are as recorded; the ground and the positions are not.
Rolling, Mixed groundHorseHorseHorseHorseCentreLeft wingRight wingCentreReserveLeft wingRight wingReserveGunsGuns02 km4 kmN

Holy Roman Empire (Imp Allied Army, 76,000 men under Lorraine & Sobieski) attacked Ottoman Empire (Turk Army, 107,000 men under Kara Mustafa) in Austria. The CAA Database of Battles records 12.5 hours of fighting on a front of 8.8 km, a single envelopment, right flank against hasty defense and prepared defense, and that Holy Roman Empire won. Losses: Holy Roman Empire 2,000 (3%), Ottoman Empire 10,000 (9%).

This plan is generated from those figures. It shows the shape of the battle the database describes: the size and width of the armies, the plan of attack and the outcome. It does not show where the units actually stood.

The armies

Holy Roman Empire

Lorraine · Sobieski

UnitArmMen
Holy Roman Empire left wingInfantry9,410
Holy Roman Empire centreInfantry12,547
Holy Roman Empire right wingInfantry9,410
Holy Roman Empire reserveInfantry7,842
Holy Roman Empire cavalry of the leftCavalry17,000
Holy Roman Empire cavalry of the rightCavalry17,000
Holy Roman Empire artillery (186 guns)Artillery2,790
Lorraine & SobieskiCommander—
In this plan75,999

Ottoman Empire

Kara Mustafa

UnitArmMen
Ottoman Empire left wingInfantry12,600
Ottoman Empire centreInfantry16,800
Ottoman Empire right wingInfantry12,600
Ottoman Empire reserveInfantry10,500
Ottoman Empire cavalry of the leftCavalry23,500
Ottoman Empire cavalry of the rightCavalry23,500
Ottoman Empire artillery (500 guns)Artillery7,500
Kara MustafaCommander—
In this plan107,000

What the sources report

Holy Roman EmpireOttoman Empire
Strength, this plan76,000107,000
Losses, this plan2,00010,000

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 32, “Vienna”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
12.5 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense, Prepared defense
Front width
8.8 km (attacker), 8 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Holy Roman Empireattacker76,0002,00034,000186Single envelopment; Right flank; Breakthrough; Pursued
Ottoman Empiredefender107,00010,00047,000500Defensive plan; Withdrew

Attacker’s advantages leadership +1 · training +1 · initiative +1 · surprise +2 · combat effectiveness +1

CDB90 (US Army Concepts Analysis Agency, 1990), tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold; data under ODC-BY 1.0.

Notes

On this reconstruction

Generated automatically from the statistics in CDB90. Frontages, depths, distances, the order of events and the terrain are schematic: they follow the recorded strengths, front widths, hours of fighting, tactical plan and outcome, not maps or accounts of the battle. The sources give no hours; the timing is conjectural.

Sources

Facts gathered from Wikidata (CC0), Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikimedia Commons (licence per file); the plan and its text are timeastra’s own.