These evidences of indecision and alarm in their leader filled the Turks with dread.  They saw their cavalry battalions flying in confusion, heard the triumphant trumpets of their foes, learned that the dreaded Polish king was at the head of the irresistible charging columns, and yet beheld their commander pressing the siege as if no foe were in the field.  It was evident that the vizier had lost his head through fright.  A sudden terror filled their souls.  They broke and fled.  While Sobieski and the other leaders were in council to decide whether the battle should be continued that evening or left till the next morning, word was brought them that the enemy was in full flight, running away in every direction.

They hastened out.  The tidings proved true.  A panic had seized the Turks, and, abandoning tents, cannon, baggage, everything, they were flying in wild haste from the beleaguered walls.  The alarm quickly spread through their ranks.  Those who had been firing on the city left their guns and joined in the flight.  From rank to rank, from division to division, it extended, until the whole army had decamped and was hastening in panic terror over the plain, hotly pursued by the death-dealing columns of the Christian cavalry, and thinking only of Constantinople and safety.

The booty found in the camp was immense.  The tent of the grand vizier alone was valued at nearly half a million dollars, and the whole spoil was estimated as worth fifteen million dollars.  The king wrote to his wife as follows: 

“The whole of the enemy’s camp, together with their artillery and an incalculable amount of property, has fallen into our hands.  The camels and mules, together with the captive Turks, are driven away in herds, while I myself am become the heir of the grand vizier.  The banner which was usually borne before him, together with the standard of Mohammed, with which the sultan had honored him in this campaign, and the tents, wagons, and baggage, are all fallen to my share; even some of the quivers captured among the rest are alone worth several thousand dollars.  It would take too long to describe all the other objects of luxury found in his tents, as, for instance, his baths, fountains, gardens, and a variety of rare animals.  This morning I was in the city, and found that it could hardly have held out more than five days.  Never before did the eye of man see a work of equal magnitude despatched with a vigor like that with which they blew up, and shattered to pieces, huge masses of stone and rocks.”

Sobieski, on entering Vienna, was greeted with the warmest gratitude and enthusiasm by crowds of people, who looked upon him as their deliverer.  The governor, Count Ruediger, grasped his hand with affection, the populace followed him in his every movement, while cries of “Long live the king!” everywhere resounded.  Never had been a more signal delivery, and the citizens were beside themselves with joy.