In 1683, the Ottoman army besieged the Austrian city of Vienna, as part of a steady push of conquest toward central Europe. The vastly outnumbered Viennese fought valiantly, and held out against strong efforts to tunnel under the city walls and blow up the city gates with gunpowder. Nearing desperation, and totally surrounded by Turkish forces, the Viennese sent a spy to penetreate the Turkish lines and reach the camp of Christian allied forces massed nearby. A Pole with experience in Turkish culture, dress and speech, walked through the Turkish army camps, observed their number and disposition, and reached allied forces.
With this inside information, the Polish forces, under John Sobieski, attacked, and defeated the Ottoman Turks under Kara Mustafa, and saved Vienna from the merciless slaughter that had been visited upon the rest of the countryside. The Turks left behind anything not essential to their flight, including 500 pounds of what was thought to be camel food. As payment for his service, the Polish spy, Georg Kolschitzky accepted the camel food, which he knew was coffee from his experience in Istanbul. With the coffee, he opened the first coffee shop in Vienna, and produced the first Viennese roast coffee.
One colorful story is that the local bakers, working at night, heard the tunneling sounds of the Turks, and saved the city by alerting the defenders. To celebrate the victory over the Turks, they created a special pastry in the shape of the symbol of the Turks, the cresent, which became the croissant. This story is likely not correct, as most historians attribute the croissant to French creation no later than 1850. WHATEVER!
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