John III Sobieski

John III Sobieski was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1674 to 1696, celebrated across Christian Europe as the 'Savior of Vienna' and to the Ottoman Turks as the 'Lion of Lechistan'. A brilliant field commander who had spent decades battling Cossacks, Tatars, and Swedes during the Commonwealth's 'Deluge', Sobieski was elected king by the Polish nobility following his smashing victory over the Turks at the Battle of Khotyn in 1673.

Sobieski's defining moment came in the summer of 1683, when an Ottoman army of over 140,000 men under Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa besieged Vienna, threatening to break into the heart of Central Europe. Honoring his mutual defense alliance with Habsburg Emperor Leopold I, Sobieski marched 30,000 Polish troops across the Danube. On September 12, 1683, commanding a relief coalition of 70,000 Polish, Austrian, and German soldiers, Sobieski launched the Battle of Vienna. Personally leading 18,000 Polish heavy cavalry—including the terrifying Winged Hussars—in history's largest recorded cavalry charge down the Kahlenberg heights, Sobieski completely shattered the Ottoman lines, rescuing Vienna and halting the Ottoman advance into Europe forever. Writing to Pope Innocent XI, he paraphrased Caesar: Venimus, vidimus, Deus vicit ('We came, we saw, God conquered').