Greed Changes Things

Greed Changes Things

ACCORDING to history, during the height of the Ottoman Empire, a great army was sent by the Sultan to destroy a “gate city” to Europe; a fortified city along the Danube River in Austria. There was no comparing the Ottoman military strength of some Three Hundred Thousand armed soldiers to Europe’s fortress on the Danube which had only thirty thousand defenders along with a handful of several hundred clergy. The ultimate plans of the Sultan were to conquer all of the western lands but this “Gate City” to Europe stood as the only fortress against the Sultans plans and it had to be crushed and broken.

The Sultans army of 300,000 arrived in its entire splendor, encircling the walled city with its massive encampment. The Commanding Pasha set up his luxurious headquarters, tents, almost a city in and of itself, completely staffed with hundreds of servants, decorated with every possible comfort and proudly prepared him for an easy victory. It would have been nothing to destroy this minor obstacle within a few days but another decision was in the works. In and among all the intrigues of war there were specific privileges allowed; either to the individual soldiers or to the Commanding Pasha, called the rule of "Spoils." By tradition; if the city fell to the army, all its spoils, treasure and slaves would be divided among the soldiers. But if the city surrendered without battle, either by intimidation or by negotiation, then, all the spoils of victory would go directly to the Commanding Chief and in this case, the Commanding Pasha!

Here we have one of the very turning points of history, the planned invasion and the likely conquering of western civilization. This easy victory surely and undoubtedly would have changed the course of the world but meanwhile, another factor came into play...GREED! The Pasha in his GREED for more riches, made the decision to hold back, and begin starving out the city instead of attacking it immediately, bringing it into a slow surrender instead of a swift destruction; thereby taking the captured booty into his own treasury! The plan was simple, nothing extraordinary and not beyond military procedure, for his forces were very capable of leveling the city at any time if need be! But beyond the Pasha’s greedy knowledge, time was not working in his favor. For at that moment, unknown to him, two independent armies had gathered throughout Europe and were pressing towards the invaders encampment and would arrive within two weeks!

The two approaching armies soon combined, but were still far short of numbers in comparison to the Sultans forces. However the Pasha's decision to leave his soldiers idle and inactive, made them restless, and they soon became unruly, drunk and disorderly which left them unprepared for the surprise battle soon to come! Then unexpectedly the two armies finally arrived, joined forces with the city and attacked the Sultans unprepared forces and completely defeated them. The routed army, needless to say retreated in all directions with the Commander fleeing for his own life. Thereby leaving behind all his servants, luxurious living quarters and all of his personal treasures. Thus, the Sultans defeated army returned home in great shame and Europe was spared an Islamic invasion, because of one mans GREED for riches! Thus the history of the entire world was changed by that personal decision, put into motion by SELFISHNESS!

It is interesting to observe how this single decision, generated by Greed, turned out disastrous for its maker but favorable for those whose fate was so near to destruction! Herein we are given the privilege of "The Spoils" in this fatal error, thus becoming the recipients of some very IMPORTANT KNOWLEDGE…in the course of GREED and its CHANGING POWERS! Whatever Challenges or Obstacles we might face in this life, the motivation behind our decision could easily, and will, certainly effect the ultimate conclusion and its aftermath upon our personal HISTORY! Let not our motivations be GREED!