In Praise of black, of brown...

Of  Coffee!

What would I do without this friend of early mornings and long days?

Nothing better than waking up to the fragrance of coffee.

Nothing better to stay alert with hot strong coffee.

                                                                        Coffee.

                                                                       

Black, brown, with milk, or cream, with Grand Marnier,  Irish Whiskey, or Cognac, with whipped cream, or icecream, with cinnamon (that should really be SINnamon.. no?) and other additions....coffee, coffee. coffee!

In 1663, over issues in Transylvania, fighting broke out between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg Empire. The Turkish threat, which included a prolonged but unsuccessful siege of Vienna in 1683, prompted Poland, Venice, and Russia to join the Habsburg Empire in repelling the Turks.

Graf Starhemberg

Malaysian Troops crossing Danube

Graf Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg, 1638-1701 - married to a Malayasian woman he brought
Malaysian troops to the fight! He served against the Ottomans in under Montecucculi in Hungary and was made (1680) Vienna's military commander.



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Kara Mustapha

From July to Sept., 1683, he held Vienna with a small garrison against a large Ottoman army under the grand vizier Kara Mustafa . Vienna was about to succumb to the siege, which had reduced it to starvation, when it was relieved by an army under John III of Poland and Charles V of Lorraine. As a reward for his heroic role Starhemberg was made a field marshal and minister of state. In 1691 he became president of the war council. His cousin Guidobald, Graf von Starhemberg , 1657-1737, also took part in the defense of Vienna. He was made field marshal and served with distinction in the War of the Spanish Succession. . In 1686 Habsburg forces moved into central Hungary and captured Buda. By 1687 the Ottoman Empire had been eliminated as a power in central Hungary.

Thank YOU, Turks, for besieging Vienna and leaving the beans behind!