An Ottoman capture of Vienna is proposed as a turning point that could expand Ottoman influence in Europe. A competing expectation is that Vienna's political importance would draw the German princes and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth into a large coalition to recover it. England and Spain are suggested as additional participants, while the Ottoman army would be far from its power base. Paying and supplying such a large counterattacking force could encourage further conquest, potentially as far as Constantinople. A claim that control there would remove the incentive to seek western trade routes is challenged because voyages to the New World had already begun. The exchange leaves the particular siege's date unsettled.
Notable Point · 8:50:48-8:54:32
An Ottoman Vienna and the cost of a European counterattack
The Vienna counterfactual weighs Ottoman expansion against a coalition response, the expense of campaigning, and a challenged trade-route consequence.