92
1500–1700
4
VICTORY AT
HAND
This 16th-
century Turkish
miniature from
Topkapi Palace in
Istanbul depicts
Hungarian troops
(left and above)
and Ottoman forces
(center and right)
at the Battle of
Mohacs. The
Ottomans skilfully
deployed artillery
and elite Janissaries
to overwhelm the
Hungarian force.
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93
MOHÁCS
◼
1526
Mohács
1526
◼
SOUTHERN HUNGARY
◼
OTTOMAN EMPIRE VS. KINGDOM OF HUNGARY
OTTOMAN CONQUEST OF EUROPE
In context
1
SULEIMAN THE MAGNIFICENT
During Suleiman’s reign as sultan from 1520
to 1566, the Ottoman Empire was at its most powerful. The sultan personally led
armies that conquered Belgrade, Rhodes, and most of Hungary, and annexed much
of the Middle East and North Africa. As well as his military leadership, he was a
great patron of culture and instituted major legal reforms. Indomitable until the
end, Suleiman died of illness while campaigning in Hungary.
4
TURKISH
JANISSARY
Translated as
"new soldier," the
Janissaries were elite
forces that were the
Ottoman sultans’
household troops
and the rst modern
standing army in
Europe. They were
strictly disciplined
and forbidden to
marry because their
loyalty was to the
sultan only. In battle,
the Janissaries’ main
mission was to
protect the sultan
and hold the center
against enemy attack.
The Ottoman sultan Suleiman
came to power in 1520, and soon
began expanding his empire into
Europe. After capturing Belgrade
in 1521, he turned his attention to
the kingdom of Hungary.
Meanwhile, King Francis I of
France, who had recently been defeated at the Battle of Pavia
in 1525 by the Habsburg Empire (see pp.88–89), had formed
a Franco-Ottoman alliance with Sulieman against the Holy
Roman Emperor Charles V. Francis asked his ally Suleiman
to wage war on Charles V: this request aligned neatly with
Suleiman’s own ambitions because the road to the Habsburgs
lay across Hungary. The country itself was weakened by
political disunity, and many Hungarian nobles failed to heed
the call of its king, Louis II, to mobilize against the enemy.
On August 29, 1526, a Hungarian force consisting of fewer
than 30,000 men with 50 cannon waited on swampy plains
near the town of Mohács, Hungary, to meet an Ottoman
force of 55,000–70,000 men with 200 cannon, headed
by Suleiman himself. The initial charge of the Hungarian
cavalry caused serious casualties to the Ottomans, but the
Hungarians were then torn apart by Turkish cannon re.
As the Hungarians fell back, they were encircled by the
fast-moving Ottoman light cavalry. The Hungarians were
annihilated, and King Louis was thrown from his horse
and killed as he tried to escape.
The defeat eectively ended the existence of an
independent Hungary at the time because it was absorbed
into Suleiman's Ottoman Empire. The Turks, meanwhile,
continued their advance into central Europe, which would
take them all the way to the gates of Vienna.
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