The Ottoman troops guarding Jerusalem had received no official orders, and besides, what they had been doing could not be allowed to fall into the hands of foreign armies.
Thus, as expected, the Ottoman army refused the Austrian Empire's request to enter the city and demanded that the news be verified with Ankara.
But the Austrian troops had little patience, and they trusted these Ottomans even less.
Before the Ottomans could even set up their cannons, the Austrian army had already blasted open the city gates with rockets.
Battle was on the verge of erupting. Yet the Ottomans' Holy City Guard could at best be considered a local security force; they were simply incomparable to the Austrian Empire's regular army.
After only half an hour, the Ottoman forces defending the city declared their surrender. The Austrian army remained extremely cautious, though. They had been burned once during the Battle of Constantinople—who knew whether the enemy was merely pretending to surrender?
Fortunately, the War Department had already developed an entirely new surrender procedure: the Ottomans were to take the initiative and leave the city and the trenches.
At first, the Ottoman Holy City Guard felt humiliated and refused the Austrian army's demand.
But as more and more Austrian soldiers arrived, they ultimately changed their minds.
In truth, conditions within Jerusalem were far better than the Austrian soldiers had imagined. After all, many people had lived here for generations.
This was not the first or second time the Ottomans had carried out massacres; everyone had long since learned to take precautions. Many people had weapons in their hands. Though crude, even a few kitchen knives and sharpened wooden sticks were enough to make others wary.
The imagined scenes of carnage did not appear. Although a few unlucky souls were beaten to death