Military Museum

Finally, Sean and I (plus a couple other friends) decided to make the trip over to the Military Museum. When we arrived we were all impressed with he size of the museum. We were also, excited to see what we will find inside.
Once inside we attempted to go in chronological order, but we received the wrong directions and ended up beginning with the Napoleonic Wars. Nonetheless, we decided to stay and go a little backwards.I was very interested to see how Austrian society views Napoleon and his achievements. As I soon found out, Austrian society sees him very differently then I do.
The emergence of Napoleon on the European political and military stage had a tremendous effect on Austria. In the end, Austria decided to side with England and Prussia because it had an interest in protecting its newly acquired lands. The monarchy feared the post-revolution face of France. It posed a threat to the already established order. The Napoleonic Wars proved the French leader to be a skilled military commander with ambitions to conquer Europe. The resentment of the Austrians was further increased when the country lost some of its lands. This included parts of former Poland. Eventually, with combined forces, Napoleon was defeated and forced to abdicate. Nonetheless, Napoleon woke feelings of nationalism all over the continent. These emotions led to Revolutions in Austria and the reorganization of the European map at the Congress of Vienna.
Coming from Poland, I view Napoleon differently than most Austrians might. After the partitions of Poland by Austria, Prussia, and Russia the country disappeared off the map of Europe. Napoleon, on the other hand, restored part of it during his conquests in Europe.
After the Napoleonic Wars, we made our way over to the wars with the Ottoman Turks. This was a topic that Sean and I were very excited about. (Partly due to the Polish hussars that took part in the battle for Vienna in 1683). The truth is that the Kingdom of Poland-Lithuania kept the Turks at its borders for years, preventing their swift conquest of Europe. Thus, when the Turks took siege on Vienna it was the duty for Poland to come and help. Dr.O even said during our tour in the Vienna Museum that if it had not been for the Polish troops then the city would have been taken. In the museum, there is a painting of "The Siege and Relief of Vienna" and right below it a map with the drawn out positions of all the armies involved in the battle.
It took us a couple hours just to examine the first floor. We decided to return to the museum again and see the World War I and II displays another day.

German Word: weiß
English: white
Sentence: Mein Freund mag die weiße Farbe.