Remembering September 12th

HistoryNet recounts the long march of the Ottoman Muslims into Christendom....the ultimate goal: Rome.

(it was prophecized in the) Hadith, the oral traditions coming down from Muhammad, that the day would come when a Muslim emir would take both Constantinople and Rome.

And then they beseiged Vienna:

The progress of the combined Christian army was slow, but by late Saturday, September 11, it had assembled along the ridges on the edge of the forest....

 The following morning, the army swept down on the largely unprepared and poorly defended Turkish encampments below.... 

First, the Saxons and Imperial troops attacked from the Kahlenberg heights; then additional Imperial troops advanced on the Ottoman center. The Ottomans launched a counterattack, but in twenty minutes they had been beaten back.

Because of deep ravines and other terrain problems, the Poles had been slow to engage, but when they came in on the Christian right, the battle was decided. At about 4 p.m., the various Christian forces advanced on all sides, Sobieski leading his “winged hussars” in what was a decisive charge against the Ottoman cavalry. By late afternoon, the Turkish lines began to waver. A desperate Kara Mustafa led his personal escort into the fray, hoping to withstand the Christian onslaught, but could do no more than rescue the flag of the Prophet.

The Long war of civilizations between the followers of the prophet and the followers of Christ is pretty well forgotten in the west (except for a distorted self hating version of the crusades that one is taught in school).

But in Eastern Europe, the Orthodox churches who suffered under the various conquerers remember.

Do any in the west remember the long history that might be repeating itself today?

Western institutions seem bent on destroying their history but if you look around, you might find a Catholic school or church named "Our Lady of Victory", to commemorate the earlier naval Battle of Lepanto.

But Catholics also celebrate another feast of Our Lady to remember the lifting of the seige of Vienna.

it was the battle that turned around the Muslim threat, and although PC historians scoff at that, it is true that this battle stands as a turning point, in the same way that the Battle of Gettysburg saved the Union or that the Battle of Stalingrad saved Europe from the Nazis.

so except for a few pre Vatican II catholics who remember why we celebrate a feast day for Mary, few in the civilization of the politically correct bother to remember the significance of September 11-12th... or why there are so many terrorist attacks on 9-11...

In Our Time podcast here.

headsup Instapundit