Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg

Biography

Count Starhemberg was an experienced soldier from one of Austria's oldest noble families who had fought in the wars against France and the Hungarian rebels. When Leopold I fled Vienna in July 1683 — taking most of the court and much of the population with him — he left Starhemberg in command of the city with a garrison of roughly 15,000 men and a set of fortifications that were widely considered inadequate against a modern siege. For two months Starhemberg held the city against perhaps ten times his numbers. He organized countermining operations to detect and destroy Ottoman tunnels, led sorties against the siege works, and maintained discipline and morale despite dwindling supplies, growing casualties, and an epidemic of dysentery. When the Ottomans breached the walls in early September, he organized desperate counterattacks that bought the critical days needed for the relief army to arrive. Starhemberg's defence of Vienna was one of the great defensive actions in military history. His garrison suffered over 5,000 dead by the time Sobieski arrived. After the relief, he continued to serve the Empire in various military and political capacities, but nothing in his later career matched those two months. He died in 1701, respected as the man who held Vienna when it mattered most.

Key Battles