Europe Was Falling... Then ONE King Changed Everything

[00:00:00]Vienna was days from falling. Europe was finished.

[00:00:05]Then one king showed up and changed everything.

[00:00:10]Summer of 1683, 170,000 Ottoman troops surrounded Vienna.

[00:00:17]The city had only 16,000 defenders.

[00:00:22]Weeks of siege, food gone, walls crumbling.

[00:00:26]Surrender was hours away.

[00:00:30]Jan Sobieski, king of Poland, had made a promise.

[00:00:34]If Vienna fell, all of Europe would follow.

[00:00:38]So he marched through enemy territory against every military instinct.

[00:00:44]On September 6th, he crossed the Danube [music] with 20,000 men.

[00:00:49]Six days to save a continent.

[00:00:53]September 12th, his cavalry held a holy mass on the hill above Vienna, then stormed down at full speed.

[00:01:02]He took command of 75,000 allied troops and broke the Ottoman army in a single afternoon.

[00:01:10]Vienna survived.

[00:01:12]Europe survived.

[00:01:14]That cavalry charge was so legendary, it inspired Tolkien to write the Rohirrim [music] scene in Lord of the Rings.

[00:01:22]One king, one day, one charge.

[00:01:27]Europe never forgot.