22. A Consequential Setback That Shaped History
What made the Ottoman failure before the walls of Vienna decisive is that it was the closest they ever came to conquering Europe. Politically, Europe in 1529 was rent by wars of religion between Protestants and Catholics. Moreover, European armies had not yet undergone the Military Revolution, with its innovations in tactics and strategy that would give western armies a qualitative edge for centuries to come.
The Ottomans made another unsuccessful and better-known attempt to seize Vienna in 1683. By 1683, however, even if they had managed to seize the city, it is unlikely that they could have advanced much further into Europe, or even held on to Vienna for long. Thus, the failure in 1529 proved to be the Ottoman Empire’s high watermark in the west.