remembering John III Sobieski on his birthday - King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania August 17, 1629: John III Sobieski

John III Sobieski (Polish: Jan III Sobieski; Lithuanian: Jonas III Sobieskis) (17 August 1629 – 17 June 1696)

Considered a national hero for Poland and respected in Lithuania, for some, he is a "Savior of Vienna and Western European civilisation" for his legendary and historic victory over the invading Islamic army of the Ottoman Empire of the Turks seeking to subjugate the European peoples in 1683: When the Islamic Ottoman army besieged Vienna, Sobieski personally led a combined relief force. On September 12, 18,000 heavy cavalry, including 3,000 Polish Winged Hussars, executed the largest cavalry charge in military history, smashing the Muslim Ottoman lines and permanently ending Muslim Ottoman expansion into Europe. The 1683 Battle of Vienna marked the absolute peak of Ottoman military expansion into Central Europe. After 1683, the Islamic Ottomans were still capable of launching localized offensives and reclaiming lost territories in Eastern Europe and the Balkans (like Belgrade and the Morea), but they never again posed a threat to deep Central Europe.

In addition, earlier in his career, he had crushing victory over the Muslim Turks at the Battle of Khotyn in 1673 and earned him such immense popularity that the Polish nobility unanimously elected him King.

Polish history celebrates him as Defensor Fidei, Defender of the Faith, and as a warrior king.

SABATON - Winged Hussars (Official Lyric Video) (from 2016's The Last Stand)