ABSTRACT
The Turkish attack on Vienna in 1683 represented the most serious crisis of Leopold’s long reign. For the second and only time since 1529 the Ottomans entered the Reich and besieged the imperial capital. The attack came before Leopold had recovered full control of imperial politics after the setbacks of the 1670s. The fate of his dynasty seemed to hang in the balance, yet by 1699 the situation had been transformed and Austria was well on the way to becoming a great power in its own right.
