Buda liberated: The Ottoman crescent falls from the ancient royal seat

At three o’clock on the afternoon of Sept. 2, 1686, the Christian army besieging Buda began the assault that would reshape the history of Hungary. The forces of the Holy League had arrived outside the ancient royal seat earlier that summer, seeking to retake a city the Ottoman Empire had held since 1541.

The assault was presented as a historic reckoning after the catastrophe at Mohács a century and a half earlier. When the Vienna Gate was blown open, Hungarian soldier János Fiáth was said to have reached the top first. In a bloody hand-to-hand fight, he defeated the Ottoman guards, tore down the horse-tail crescent standard and threw it into the depths.

Fiáth then raised a Hungarian military flag bearing the Virgin Mary. Thousands of Christian soldiers below responded with a thunderous cheer, while across Europe church bells rang at the news of Buda’s liberation.

The campaign had followed the failed Ottoman attempt to take Vienna, led by Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha under Sultan Mehmed IV. After further Christian victories, including the Battle of Párkány and the recapture of Esztergom, the route opened toward the liberation of the Hungarian territories under Ottoman rule. Kara Mustafa fled to Belgrade, but Mehmed IV later sent him the silk cord that signaled the sultan’s order for his execution.