NEWSPAPER COLUMNS
 ¶ Most Recent
¶ Miscellany
|
COMMENTARY
September 11, 2010
A little history
Next year will be the 10th anniversary of "9/11." Mass planners note: It will fall on a Sunday. There is a considerable accumulation of musical and liturgical material for any Votive Mass to be sung on this occasion, though much of it perhaps too dangerously "relevant." This is because so much of the violent history of the Catholic Church was in direct conflict with Islam.My reader may have heard of the Crusades, though he may not know anything about them, beyond what is taught in our schools: that they were some kind of hideous black mark against Christian civilization. He will certainly have heard of the Spanish Inquisition (ditto), but less certainly of the Reconquista (ditto). Over the years, I have taken the liberty of quizzing a few Canadian high school students on the Battle of Lepanto. First question: "Have you ever heard of it?" Since the answer to that was in each case, "No," further questions were unnecessary. To be fair, I have drawn a similar blank after almost every other question I have asked a Canadian high school student about world history for as long as I've been asking. And, when I haven't drawn a blank, I've almost wished I had. On this ninth anniversary of 9/11, I should like to take my reader back, briefly, to "9/10." But, instead of Sept. 10, 2001, I have selected 1683. There is limited space in a newspaper column, so history buffs among my readers will have to forgive my simple précis. I refer to the date of a very large, outdoor Papal Mass. It was not sung by the Pope himself -- at the time, Innocent III, one of history's great reformers -- but by his legate. The location was the hill of Kahlenberg, to the west of the walls of the city of Vienna, as they then were. The participants were 16,000 troops assembled by King John III Sobieski of Poland. They had come to face the armies of Mehmed IV: the Ottoman Sultan and Caliph, unquestionably the greatest power in the Islamic world, and perhaps the world generally, since the fall of Constantinople in 1454 had capped the Muslim conquest of the Byzantine Empire. Constantinople (now Istanbul) had itself only fallen after many attacks and sieges over centuries. Vienna had been under its own latest siege and bombardment since July. The first had been in 1529; another had continued for more than 20 years. This one was easily the largest: a force of more than 70,000 of the feared Ottoman Janissaries were backed by as many reserves, and all were supplied by a vast logistical network through the Balkans. Every conceivable preparation had been made, with the benefit of a sesquicentury of experience, to assure that finally Vienna would be taken. This in turn would open the Danube to further Ottoman conquests, into the heart of Europe. Fortified by the Mass, the Polish troops went into action. The main engagement was on Sept. 11, 1683 (making today the 327th anniversary). It was notably the largest cavalry charge in history. In the space of a few hours, the Ottoman armies were routed. At least 20,000 bodies were left on the field, mostly Janissaries, and all cannon were abandoned as survivors scattered in a wild, disordered retreat. On Sept. 12, there were mop-up operations. I wonder how many of my readers knew the significance of the date that al-Qaeda chose to launch its terror attacks on New York and Washington? We may not remember history, but they do. Those who were reading Islamist propaganda at the time, so far as it was translated, were aware of many "puzzling" historical references. The street cries of exulting Islamist radicals, from the West Bank and Gaza, to Arab neighbourhoods in Brooklyn and Detroit, echoed this propaganda. In the view of those who subscribe to the Islamist conception of "jihad," the tables of history were once again turning, and the Dar al-Islam, or "realm of peace" under Islamic rule, was once again advancing on the Dar al-Harb, or "realm of war" under Infidel rule, after a few centuries of setbacks. Likewise, fond references to "Andalusia" -- the era between the Muslim conquest of Spain and the Christian reconquest -- are common currency among all Islamist factions, and the intention to again recover that territory was articulated in the terror hits on Madrid in 2004. It is often said that the great majority of Muslims (like the great majority of Germans in the 1930s) want no part of some violent campaign to conquer the world. But if we are going to understand and defeat those who do want a part in it, it would help if we learned a little of the history.rn David Warren
© Ottawa Citizen
|
Top