Thread by @LandsknechtPike

The story of Nicholas of Salm and his defense of Vienna against the Ottomans in 1529 is one of the most epic stories of European history yet totally forgotten and untold. Therefore It deserves the most epic battle thread from me so far to present this truly heroic and noble tale!

The First Siege of Vienna in 1529 is unjustly in the shadow of the more famous Second Siege of Vienna in 1683 due the spectacular hussar charge, even though the first one was even more heroic and even more crucial for the future of Europe and required a display of epic bravery.

Nicholas of Salm represented the best of European warrior aristocracy and of chivalry. His entire life was marked with war. He first fought at age of 17 during the Burgundian wars in 1476 and until the 1529 Siege of Vienna there was hardly a year of peace in his life in between.

His ancestry was illustrious too. One of his ancestors was Hermann of Salm, the rebellious German anti-King who from 1081-1088 fought against the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV of the Salian dynasty, dying on the battlefield. This is how far back Salm's noble warrior lineage went.

Nicholas of Salm served the Habsburgs with distinction. For them he fought against the Hungarian Black Army of Matthias Corvinus, against the Venetian Republic, the Swiss in Swabian Wars, the French in Italian Wars, against rival German noblemen and the rebellious peasants.

One of the finest triumphs Salm took part in was the famous victory at Pavia in 1525 against the French during the brutal Italian Wars, a crucial victory! Salm commanded a cavalry unit and under some accounts, it was him that took part in capturing the enemy King Francis I.

Victory at Pavia had many heroes. The legendary Imperial commanders Georg von Frundsberg, Fernando d'Avalos, Charles de Lannoy and Charles of Bourbon put everything on the line and won this brutal and chaotic battle for the Empire of Charles V against the hated French.

But just as the Habsburg Empire seemed to be at the height of its glory its enemies joined forces in the League of Cognac formed by the Pope who made an alliance of France, England and various Italian states against Emperor Charles V. Another war in Italy soon followed.

Outside of Italy the Protestant reformation weakened the Habsburg Empire from within while the French made an alliance with the Ottoman Empire and incited it to invade Europe to cripple the Habsburgs in Central Europe. Seeing the turmoil in Europe, the Ottomans happily obliged.

In 1526 the Ottomans invaded the Kingdom of Hungary which was the last bastion of Christianity standing between them and Habsburg Austria. The Kingdom of Hungary, which was a shadow of what it once was, decisively lost at Mohács where the Hungarian King Louis II died in battle.

This led to division of Hungary between the Habsburg and the anti-Habsburg Hungarian nobility as both the Habsburg Archduke of Austria Ferdinand (brother of Charles V) and John Zápolya (supported by anti-Habsburg Hungarian nobility) claimed to be Kings of Hungary simultaneously.

The Habsburg Empire was thus drawn in another war, this time against the Hungarian nobility. The Habsburg Archduke of Austria Ferdinand won in two crucial battles at Tarcal (1527) and Szina (1528), claiming large part of Kingdom of Hungary for himself as the new King of Hungary.

The other pretender to the title of King of Hungary John Zápolya who was losing the war against the Habsburgs decided to turn to Ottomans for help and became their vassal. In spring 1529 the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman was ready to help him and assembled a huge army to invade.

Justifiably confident from success at Mohács and the victory at the Siege Rhodes in 1522, the mighty Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent wanted to not just conquer Vienna but boasted that he would not lay down his arms until he reached the Rhine river with his huge army!

The Habsburg Empire was in a really weak position to defend itself. The endless Italian Wars were taking its toll despite Imperial victories. The money was running out and the unpaid angry Landsknecht mercenaries were running wild, famously sacking Rome in 1527.

The charismatic commander of Landsknechts Georg von Frundsberg suffered a stroke and died in 1528. The other heroes of Pavia Fernando d'Avalos and Charles de Lannoy had also died of natural reasons by then while Charles of Bourbon was killed during Siege of Rome.

Emperor Charles V was busy with conflicts in Western Europe and left the defense of the east of his Empire entirely to his brother Archduke of Austria Ferdinand who could only rely on local troops for defense against the imminent Turkish threat as the Ottoman army approached.

15.000 men was all Ferdinand could recruit from Austria and Bohemia to defend Vienna which was still a rather small town at the time. Against the 125.000 strong Ottoman army that was approaching, the strongest army that had ever invaded Europe up until that point!

The situation was beyond desperate. All the famed Imperial commanders from the Italian Wars were dead. There was only one of the heroes of Pavia left that could help Ferdinand to save Austria and entire Holy Roman Empire from this invasion... the old veteran Nicholas of Salm!

The 70 year-old Salm's health was not in best condition at the time as he was recovering from unspecified "weakness of body" in Baden, but he answered the call to war. This would be the last time he would go to battle...

Salm arrived to Vienna with 1000 elite Landsknecht mercenaries and around 800 Spanish troops, hardened veterans of Italian Wars! In Vienna, he immediately used his authority to make some unpopular but necessary decisions as he had 800 buildings razed to have clear line of fire.

Salm had to transform Vienna with its outdated defenses into a fortress in short time. Fortunately for him the Ottoman army was delayed by heavy rains and horrible weather. The Ottomans showed a lot of resolve to push through this. They were hungry for blood and conquest!

At Mohács, the site of their glorious victory 3 years earlier, the Ottomans were joined by the John Zápolya and Hungarian nobility, now reduced to mere vassals of the Ottomans and at their service. Just like the French, they betrayed Christendom to weaken the hated Habsburgs.

News of great atrocities arrived to Vienna as people were fleeing in terror from the advancing Turkish army. Salm and the hardened veterans of Italian Wars were unphased as they knew what to expect. In wars like this, no mercy was shown and no mercy was expected.

When the Sultan finally arrived to Vienna in September he watched the humble city that looked unsuited for defense, especially compared to the previous Ottoman conquests of Belgrade and Rhodes. The only imposing sight was the magnificent st. Stephen's cathedral towering over it.

The two sides started with the mind games. The Sultan sent Bohemian prisoners with a taunting message for the defenders that given their small number they could use some more Bohemians to help them. The defenders sent back Turkish prisoners saying they had enough men.

Next the Sultan threatened that in case if Vienna doesn't surrender to him he will massacre the entire city including children in mother's wombs! He boasted that he will have breakfast in st. Stephen's Cathedral withing two weeks and turn it into mosque!

Salm responded by sending more Turkish prisoners back to Sultan but this time without any message. The time of words was over and they were ready for battle. The Ottomans could not bring their artillery due to rain so they relied on sappers to dig tunnels and undermine walls.

Salm was ready for this. He was an old veteran who knew every trick in the book. 53 years of experience of war on top of centuries and centuries of warrior ancestry. To locate the Turkish sappers he had defenders place peas on drums in cellars and took note when they vibrated.

When the Turkish tunnels were located, the defenders would send their own troops to the tunnels and brutal subterranean fighting followed in the dark where the elite Landsknecht contingents excelled and repelled the attackers. Defenders also sallied out and attacked Ottoman camp.

The experienced Salm was a master of psychological warfare and ordered the people of Vienna to celebrate each one of successful operations as loudly as possible to give impression that defenders were more numerous than they were.

Salm spread false rumors in Turkish camp that the entire Austrian and Bohemian nobility was in the city which the Sultan believed as evidenced by his diary where he wrote that "It is said that all the important nobles of the Kingdom are behind the walls."

Word spread among Ottomans that the defenders were commanded by a very capable man. The Grand Vizier Ibrahim Pasha took notice and promised rewards of a lot of gold to whoever would bring him the head of Salm!

Salm also counted on his experienced pikemen veterans of Italian Wars. They mastered the warfare with long pikes that the Ottomans weren't used to. As the Ottomans inevitably breached the weak walls, another wall awaited them - the wall of long pikes of Landsknecht mercenaries!

The Ottomans had a huge numerical advantage and were no doubt brave and motivated, but in the narrow streets of Vienna they could not overwhelm the discipline formation of Landsknecht pikemen. They were introduced to European pikes the hard way and suffered huge casualties!

The defenders repelled many Ottoman attacks while suffering few casualties themselves. The weather was getting worse too and morale was falling fast in the Ottoman camp. Sultan had to whip his own demoralized soldiers to get them back to fight!

The Ottoman attacks were proving to be futile as the pike formations of the defenders could not be broken nor overwhelmed. Soon not even whips worked as soldiers lamented they would rather die of Turkish whip than the dreaded Austrian pikes!

Nicholas of Salm decided to finally respond to the Sultan from days ago. On the day when the Sultan was supposed to have breakfast in the cathedral of st Stephen according to his boasts, Salm had his messengers deliver a laconic message to him, "Your breakfast is getting cold."

The Ottoman army had no choice but to abandon the siege. They burned their camp and threw the prisoners in the fire, including women and children, and retreated. Meanwhile the defenders celebrated their victory with ancient chant Te Deum.

The hero of the siege, Nicholas of Salm, was badly wounded during the siege and did not live long afterwards. In May 1530 suffering from wounds he asked Ferdinand to dismissis him from position of Feldhauptmann. Few weeks after his dismissal he died.