Epic battle, heroic leader, Winged Hussars, it looks to have it all:
I came across this link to a new movie slated to be released in October Titled "The Battle of Vienna"- at least in Polish. Unsurprisingly, it centers on Polish King Jan Sobieski. It looks like the English title will be "September 11th, 1683", interestingly enough. No idea if/when it will be released here, or through what channels. It's nice for us though, that it's in English, with Polish subtitles.
Maybe more 'diversions' like this movie can start to point us back to things that matter instead of a constant stream of inanity from our entertainment-industrial complex.
6 comments:
Well, that looks like something to watch! But I know what my husband will say: what's with the exploding cannonballs?
Quite likely they intend them to be shells. "The earliest record of shells being used in combat was by the Republic of Venice at Jadra in 1376."
Yeah, that's pretty much what he said when I asked him later. I thought shells came along later, but that shows you how much I know! He often objects to Hollywood shells, but presumably only in battles where he happens to know they weren't used.
Having just returned from Vienna (as in less than 24 hours ago), I look forward to seeing the film. Although I still argue that Charles of Lorraine and Rudiger Starhemberg (who commanded the defense of the city) deserve as much credit as Sobieskii does. (Perhaps a tad bit more, given that Charles had to deal with Emperor Leopold, who was not one of the more decisive Habsburgs [which is saying a lot]).
LittleRed1
Medieval artillery, Tex, is really interesting stuff. At the siege of Constantinople, they set up the largest artillery park in human history to that date. The biggest gun had been forged by an experienced bell maker, because in those days metallurgy was such that they had to very carefully control the cooling of the cannon so that it all cooled evenly -- a technique first developed for making bells that would ring with a single tone. It fired balls carved of stone by masons, and could only be fired seven times a day, but it was of incredible power.
Wow, how'd they get F.Murray Abraham for that? Cool.
Ironic that the cannon maker was probably originally a Christian.
Exploding shells are period for the siege of Vienna, you can see the type here on the fronts piece of Vauban's work on sieges, from 1672: (in lower right)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ce/Conduite_des_sieges.jpg/340px-Conduite_des_sieges.jpg
Normally though, such shells would be fired by mortars, like here:
https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8386/8542869425_957f21b909_n.jpg
Heh, somebody has modeled one for the Turks!
http://shop.1-72depot.com/files/2015/05/RB72070_600_zad.jpg
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