Upon the opposite shore, connected by a fine bridge three
quarters of a mile in width, was the beautiful and opulent city of Buda.
In possession of these two maritime towns, then perhaps the most
important in Hungary, the Turks rioted for a few days in luxury and all
abominable outrage and indulgence, and then, leaving a strong garrison
to hold the fortresses, they continued their march. Pressing
resistlessly onward some hundred miles further, taking all the towns by
the way, on both sides of the Danube, they came to the city of Raab.
It seems incredible that there could have been such an unobstructed
march of the Turks, through the very heart of Hungary. But the Emperor
Charles V. was at that time in Italy, all engrossed in the fiercest
warfare there. Throughout the German empire the Catholics and the
Protestants were engaged in a conflict which absorbed all other
thoughts. And the Protestants resolutely refused to assist in repelling
the Turks while the sword of Catholic vengeance was suspended over them.
From Raab the invading army advanced some hundred miles further to the
very walls of Vienna. Ferdinand, conscious of his inability to meet the
foe in the open field, was concentrating all his available strength to
defend his capital.
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