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WHY 9-11?
R. A. Schultz
What happened in world history that made September 11 so important to Osama bin Laden and his fellow radical Islamists? In 1683, it witnessed the beginning of the end of the Siege of Vienna, the “high watermark” of the earlier Muslim invasion of Europe. Osama evidently wanted to capture the attention of his “Great Satan” with a stunning victory on a date his “religion” had suffered an ignominious defeat.
On July 17, 1683 the army of the Ottoman Turkish empire laid siege to the city of Vienna, the capital of what is now Austria. Weeks passed until, on September 11, 1683 the battle was joined with a massive cavalry charge, when some 30,000 Polish and Lithuanian cavalry, including the fearsome Polish “Winged Hussars,” led by King Jan III Sobiecki of Poland, descended upon the besieging Turks and routed them. The battle and siege ended on September 12, with the Ottoman Turks in full retreat to the south.
