Kids in the Museum

The Siege of Vienna

They woke up in an army camp. There seemed to be tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of men, tents, and horses in the camp, and they were on a hill overlooking a walled-city. It did not smell great. Their clothes had been changed into long robes, and they all had quite large hats.

"Well, you were not lying about time travel from the looks of things," said Vincent. "Where- and perhaps more importantly, when are we?"

"I believe that is Vienna," said Victoria. "I recognize the Hofburg, and some of the mountains around here from our trip there two summers ago. But the city is so much smaller now than it was when we went before."

"Wait, could this be the Siege of Vienna?" Cameron said.

"What do you mean?" asked Vincent.

"What year was the Battle of Hastings?"

"It was 1066, everyone knows that," said Melanie, showing off.

"And what year was the Maastricht Treaty that formed the European Union?" asked Cameron.

"I believe that was 1992," said Melanie. "I know because I literally just read that back in the museum."

"What is 1992 plus 1066?" Everyone quietly did the math in their heads. "Victoria, if your hypothesis is right, it is 1992 plus 1066, which is 3058, divided by two which is 1529. 1529 is when Suleiman the Magnificent sieged Vienna. We are at the famous siege of Vienna! Wow, so crazy!"

Victoria seemed very proud her hypothesis was correct, but also concerned. "So how are we going to get back?"

"Well, I think we can either siege the city with the Ottomans, or we can be sieged with the Habsburgs and the Holy Roman Empire," Cameron said.

"The who? The what? The where and the holy roman what?" Melanie said.

"It's a lot to explain all of this, but, basically, we can stay outside the walls or we can try to go inside the walls," Cameron said.

"Well, I think these clothes are Turkish, not Austrian," said Victoria.

"Quite right," said Vincent.

"Can someone please explain what is going on like I am five years old?" said Melanie.

"Okay, well, we are outside Vienna, it is now in Austria, but at the time Austria was part of the Holy Roman Empire. These people in this camp are Ottoman Turks. Their Empire is centred around modern day Turkey, but it stretched far and wide back at this time," explained Cameron.

"What on earth is the Holy Roman Empire?" asked Victoria. "I thought the Roman Empire ended like in 500 AD?"

"Well, that's half right," explained Vincent. "The Roman empire split in two starting in the 4th century, the Western half, centered in Roman, was effectively eliminated in 476."

"And the Eastern half, centered in Constantinople, Modern day Istanbul, lasted all the way until these same Ottomans conquered it in 1453," Cameron explained. "Actually, the leader of this army is Suleiman the Magnificent, his great-grandfather was Mehmed the Conqueror, he was the leader in 1453."

"Ok, so what is a Holy Roman Empire doing in 1529?" asked Victoria.

"Well, after the end of the Roman Empire, a group called the Franks established an Empire in whats now France, Germany, Italy, and the so-called Low Countries, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. The greatest of these Emperors, Karl the Great, or Charles the Great, or Charlemagne, had the Pope declare him Emperor of the Romans in the West. See, the only Emperors that had really been called that were Roman Emperors. This country evolved over time but came to be known as the Holy Roman Empire, and ruled different parts of Central Europe from 800 AD until Napoleons time in 1806," Cameron explained. "At this point in time, the Holy Roman Empire is starting to become mainly a German concern. So it's Holy because of the Pope, Roman because they wanted to be considered Emperors."