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War and Revolutions up until WWII

Topics including Heeresgeschichtliches museum, Turkish Invasion of 1683, and WWI

Heeresgeschichtliches

There are so many letters I just say Heere.... and then fill it in with whatever German sounds come to mind. The Heeresgeschichtliches was built in 1849 as a huge propaganda scheme by imperial powers following the revolution of 1848. Following this revolution Franz Joseph I was instated as Emporer and was nervous about meeting the same fate as his uncle, Ferdinand I. So he decided to build a giant arsenal, used to store soldiers and weapons so that the city of Vienna could be swarmed in minutes to put down any civil unrest that may occur. Franz Joseph also built the big middle section as a museum to demonstrate the power and victories of the Holy Roman Empire. From the outside, this building resembles the arsenal in Venice which is the most famous and at the time, the most powerful. I will continue to refer to this museum throughout this page as there were some crazy things to see here.

Turkish Invasion of 1683

This huge painting in the Heeresgeschichtliches depicts the last battle of the Turkish invasion of 1683 where the hero, the King of Poland, is saving the city of Vienna and chasing away the Turks. This battle was a turning point in the conquest of the Turks, and these forces chased them farther east than they had been in a while. The King of Poland and the Holy League Infantry were camped out on a hill(that we got to visit!) (it is right there<--) waiting for a sign it was time to attack, and that sign would come, however as it was 1683 they had no form of communication. One Viennese guy dressed up as a Turk, pretended to be drunk and mumbled a few Turkish phrases that he knew to make it past the Turkish lines and up to the King of Poland to coordinate the date and time that this last battle would occur. This same strategy helped him to return safely too. I like to think if it had not been for this one dude Vienna would have fallen to the Turks. He is my war hero.

On the left are the Ottoman weapons that were left behind after they fled. In contrast to these bows and arrows, the Holy Roman Emperor used more modern weaponry. Handguns were used not as a movement towards modernity but because they could produced quickly, and cheaply, and soldiers could be trained faster.

Although the Polish King was depictured as the hero of that painting, the true Viennese hero was Prince Eugene of Savoy.

THE Car

Here lies THE car and THE outfit that Franz Ferdinand was shot in on June 28, 1918, igniting the spark for WWI. Up close you can see the bullet holes in the car that went through hitting the abdomen of his wife, as well as the bullet hole through the neck of his jacket.

I have to admit that all of us were fangirling a little bit over the car. We had no idea that this important historical artifact was going to be here! And we just turned the corner and boom, the car. It is just so cool that they brought it all the way back from Croatia and that it is still here today. 10/10 experience, this was the highlight of war museum by far.

Featuring our tour guide Gretl

Prince Eugene of Savoy

Prince Eugene of Savoy was a savvy military leader who is credited for the victory against the Turks in 1683. He took more land from the Turks for the Austrian Empire than ever before. To celebrate this victory, he had the Belvedere Palace built, which became his place of permanent residence. He was and remains today one of the most highly-held military leaders in Austrian history, and you can see tributes to him throughout the city of Vienna.

Okay, now to the interesting stuff. Prince Eugene of Savoy is from France, so he began in the Court of Louis XIV. It is to have been so ugly, under five feet tall with buckteeth, that Louis XIV sent him away so he didn't have to look at him. This ended up working out for Austria as he was so wildly militarily successful. He was also most certainly very gay however, it is the 17th century, and one is not allowed to be gay. In order to convince everyone around him he liked women, he would attend a pretty public brothel and have naked women march in front of him, almost as if he were inspecting his troops. Very convincing, Eugene, but nice try!

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