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One of the key reasons why the Ottomans were defeated before the walls of Vienna was the intervention of the Pope. He used his extensive resources to help the Hapsburg’s to form an alliance. The Pope used his status as a spiritual leader to persuade Catholic German princes to join what he called the Holy League. Without the intervention of the Papacy these princes would not have helped the Austrians whom they distrusted. Instead, they reinforced the Imperial Army near Vienna. They provided some excellent troops who were disciplined and well-trained<ref> Eoin Duffy, The history of the Papacy (London, Osprey, 1998), p. 215</ref>. The Papacy could use it extensive funds to pay the Polish army. At one time, the money from the Pope helped to persuade many Imperial soldiers to remain and fight. During the early modern period, unpaid soldiers often mutinied. The support of the Papacy for the Holy Alliance was very important. It is also highly likely that the backing of the Pope prevented Louis XIV and France from taking advantage of the Turkish onslaught and invading Germany, which would have benefitted only the Ottomans.

The Sultan’s army was huge and well-armed and had learned much from the European armies during the ‘military revolution’ of the period <ref>Ágoston, Gábor (2014). "Firearms and Military Adaptation: The Ottomans and the European Military Revolution, 1450–1800". Journal of World History. 25: 85–124</ref>. However, the Ottomans strategy was poor. It was too slow, they did not mobilize quickly enough and they waited until they had assembled a huge force. The glacial pace of the Turkish advance allowed the Viennese to bolster their defense and allowed the commander to build up the city’s garrison. The slow pace of the Ottoman attack allowed the Viennese crucial time to prepare and to withstand the initial assault<ref> Palmer, p. 324</ref>. One Turkish tactic that failed was the use of terror to intimidate the defenders. The massacre of civilians by the Ottomans only made the Viennese more determined to fight to the death, as they knew that they would not be shown any mercy. The commander of the Muslim army, Vizier Kara Mustafa made several tactical errors. He failed to provide a sufficient force to guard his flanks and he relied too much on the Crimean Tartars who were ill-disciplined and wild. Perhaps the greatest weakness of the Vizier was that he was too confident and that he simply expected the city to fall and had not prepared for the possibility of a Christian alliance. Perhaps the greatest mistake he made was to attempt to take Vienna while fighting the Imperial army and the Poles. On the other hand Charles V, the Duke of Lorraine developed a strategy that sought to squeeze the Ottomans between Vienna, the Imperial army and the Poles which proved to be very effective.