Some people refer to the current war as the
GWoT (Global War on Terror). Others call it WWIV (
Norman Podhoretz). We at Gates of Vienna prefer to call it
GIJ3W: The Great Islamic Jihad, Third Wave.
This conflict of cultures has endured for more than a millenium. The first wave began with the
conquest of Mecca by Mohammed in 630 CE. It crested in Al Andalus (Moorish Spain) in 711, only receding in 1492 when
Los Reyes Católicos entered Granada.
The second wave began when Osman
raided Western Byzantium in 1299 and founded the Ottoman Empire. It crested during the reign of Süleyman I in the 16th century, and receded after the failure of the
second siege of Vienna under Kara Mustafa in 1683.
From our perspective at the dawn of the 21st century it is hard to realize that a little more than three centuries ago the whole of Christian civilization was threatened. When the Turks stood at the
Gates of Vienna it seemed that all of Europe would be overrun by the legions of the Prophet.
This war never ended.