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The Cabinet June 27, 2026 · Kahlenberg, Vienna

The Ottoman Siege of Vienna That Was Broken on 12 September 1683 by the Largest Cavalry Charge in History

The Ottoman Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha besieged Vienna from 14 July 1683 with approximately 150,000 troops. The relief army arrived on the Kahlenberg ridge on 11 September. The Polish king Jan III Sobieski led approximately 20,000 cavalry — including 3,000 Polish Winged Hussars — in a downhill charge against the Ottoman positions on the afternoon of 12 September. It is the largest single cavalry charge in recorded history. The Ottoman northwestern expansion ended.

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The Cabinet June 27, 2026 · Vienna General Hospital

The Hungarian Obstetrician Who Proved Doctors Were Killing Mothers and Was Driven to an Asylum for Saying So

Ignaz Semmelweis demonstrated in 1847 that the catastrophic maternal mortality of the Vienna General Hospital's First Obstetric Clinic was caused by doctors arriving from the dissection room with unwashed hands. Handwashing in chlorinated lime substantially eliminated the mortality. The European medical establishment rejected the finding. Semmelweis was committed to an asylum and beaten to death there in 1865.

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