The Ottoman-Hungarian War (1521–1526)

The Ottoman-Hungarian wars began after the Turks conquered Western Bulgaria in 1396. Military operations took place mainly on the territory of Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and the Danube principalities. In 1456, the crusading army of Janos Hunyadi defeated the army of Mehmed II near Belgrade . This victory for 70 years stopped the advance of the Turks deep into the Hungarian territory, but could not prevent the fall of Serbia (1459), Bosnia (1463) and Herzegovina (1481). As a result, the Turks reached the border of Hungarian Croatia, and already during the campaigns of 1480–1481 made major raids on Croatia , Slavonia , the Hungarian Your and Zala committees, the Austrian Krayno and Styria , and also penetrated into Northern Italy ( Friul ) ^{[1] [ 2]} .

Subsequently, hostilities took place in Bosnia, Croatia, Slavonia, the Belgrade area and Transylvania. Engaged in the conquest of Eastern Anatolia, the wars with the white-ram Turks and the Mamluks , the Ottoman Empire reduced the pressure on the Hungarian borders, and in 1503 concluded with King Vladislav the Danube world for 7 years. It was renewed in 1510, 1513, and after the war of 1517–1518 a three-year truce was signed. At the same time, peace treaties did not stop an undeclared war: Ottoman raids, city sieges and Hungarians' retaliatory strikes ^[3] .

The military potential of Hungary at the end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th centuries significantly decreased in comparison with the times of Matyash Hunyadi . Kings from the Jagiellonian dynasty were forced to give up the prerogatives of the central government in favor of the magnates. In 1492 the permanent mercenary army was dissolved. An attempt to organize a new crusade in 1514 against the Turks who captured Knin led to a powerful popular uprising , after which the authorities feared to resort to convening a people's militia even in the face of the Ottoman threat ^{[4] [5]} .

In 1520, the Turks seized several fortresses in Bosnia and Dalmatia . The new Sultan Suleiman I sent a request to the Hungarian king to pay tribute, but they considered the Turkish envoy a spy and drowned in Tisza . In 1521 Smederevsky Pasha opened hostilities against the Hungarians, then Suleiman attacked the southern borders of Hungary with large forces. Fortresses of Sabac , Zemlin (Zimon) and Belgrade were besieged. The Sabbat garrison, which consisted of only one hundred people, was killed in battle, but managed to sell their lives dearly, putting seven hundred Turks ^[6] . Then Zemlin fell. The defenders of the Belgrade citadel, besieged by the Grand Vizier Piri Mehmed Pasha and the Sultan, repulsed 20 attacks, but without receiving the promised help from Ferdinand Habsburg , the Poles and the Czechs, on August 20 they capitulated. There were 400 people left. The Turks killed the captured Hungarians, and the Bulgarians who participated in the defense were deported to Istanbul ^{[7] [8]} . King Lajos II fought with the Turks at Tolna , voivode Istvan Bathory at Petrovaradin , and Janos Zapolya in Transylvania against the Akinji corps under the command of Mohammed Michal oglu. After the capture of Belgrade, the Turks invaded Srem , where they occupied several cities, including Slankamen , Mitrovica , Karlovtsy , Ilok . Leaving 3 thousand Janissaries in Belgrade, the Sultan returned to Istanbul ^[8] .

In 1522-1524, large-scale hostilities were not conducted, since the sultan was busy conquering Rhodes , and then planning a war with Iran. The Persian Shah Tahmasp I , in turn, tried to make a military alliance with Charles V and Hungary, but because of the distance of distances such an alliance could not bring great benefits. In 1522, Turkish attacks continued on Transylvania, Croatia and Slavonia. Unable to organize the defense of all these territories, the Hungarian king handed over the defense of Croatia to the Austrian archduke Ferdinand Habsburg ^[8] . The governor of Transylvania, Janos Zapolyai, invaded Wallachia several times to support the Rada of Afumac against the Turks. Valashsky ruler informed the Hungarians about the Ottoman plans; it was assumed that in the event of a new Turkish campaign against Hungary, the Vlachs, together with Zapolya, would strike at the flank and rear of the Ottomans, but by 1526 Radu Afumats was forced to submit to Istanbul ^[9] .

In 1525 it became clear that the Ottoman Sultan was preparing a general offensive against Hungary. The mediation of the Poles, who offered the Turks peace with Hungary, was rejected. The foreign policy situation was unfavorable for the Hungarians. Francis I , captured by the Spaniards in the Battle of Pavia , began secret relations with the Turks, and in the spring of 1526 he received the consent of the Sultan to the alliance against the Hapsburgs. In May 1526, the Cognac League united France, Venice and Rome against the Hapsburgs, allies of Hungary. Under these conditions, the appeal of Lajos II for help to Venice, the pope and Henry VIII did not give any result. Emperor Charles V was opposed to the Ottomans, but forced to fight on several fronts, he considered the defeat of the French and their ousting from Italy their first task, the second - repelling Turkish aggression in the Mediterranean, and only in third place was the defense of the Middle Danube, which he provided to his brother Ferdinand ^{[ 10]} .

At the same time for the Habsburgs, the most important task was to receive the crowns of the Czech Republic and Hungary, and this was taken care of by Emperor Maximilian I , who concluded the Treaty of Mutual Inheritance with King Vladislav of Vienna in 1515. The help of the Austrian Archduke depended on the position of the German Reichstag, which provided funds for the war, but a reformation movement developed in Germany, at an early stage of which Luther and his supporters declared that the Turks were God's punishment and could not be resisted. A few years later, when this punishment was hanging over Germany itself, the views of the German religious teacher changed, but by that time Hungary had already fallen ^[10] .

The Polish king Sigismund I Old was associated with the Teutonic Order and Russia by wars, and therefore he was forced to make peace with the Turks on December 1, 1525, and could not help his nephew either. As a result, Hungary was left to itself ^[10] .

In 1525, the Turks conducted several private operations on the Danube: they invaded Croatia, were defeated in Srem from the militant Bishop Pal Tomori , and unsuccessfully besieged the Egg fortress, which was defended by Christoph Frangepan ^[11] .

Layosh II tried to get military aid from the assembly of the Hungarian nobility, but the Sejm on July 12, 1525 decided that the nobles themselves would not go to war, but would put up mercenaries in their place. The rich landowners had to equip 50 raters, the rest - to contribute money, which the committees had to collect people and pay them salaries. Church tithing also had to go to the maintenance of mercenaries. With such indifference of the ruling class to the fate of the country, it was difficult to hope for victory ^[12] .

On April 25, 1526, Suleiman, with a hundred-thousand army and 300 guns, marched from Istanbul, and in three months arrived in Belgrade. On July 27, after a 10-day siege, Petrovaradin was taken, then the Turks built a bridge over the Drava near Essek , burned this city and moved inland without meeting resistance, since the nobility quarreled with the king on the Sejm from April to June, and did not make any decision . Nador István Batory , who was supposed to protect Esek, retreated without a fight, citing disobedience among the troops ^[13] .

By the second half of August, the Hungarians managed to gather about 25 thousand people and 80 guns on the swampy plain near Mohach . A significant part of this army consisted of German, Czech and Serbian mercenaries. These forces were not enough for the general battle. Janos Zapolya and hurried to the aid of a significant army, and already reached Szegedin , but István Batory and other enemies of the Transylvanian governor on August 28 convinced the king to give battle with the available troops. On the morning of August 29, the Hungarians attacked the Turkish order. The Ottomans began a mock retreat, and lured the Hungarian avant-garde under artillery fire. The guns, which almost hit the fence, turned the Hungarians to flight, and those who had not been hacked down by Turkish horsemen, drowned in the swamp. Apparently, the king died there. According to Turkish estimates, the loss of the enemy amounted to more than 20 thousand people. Two thousand heads, among which were 7 bishops and several magnates, were put in a pyramid in front of the sultan's tent. The culprit of the defeat, Nador István Batory, managed to escape. Mohac was burned. Prisoners and peasants captured in the Hungarian camp were slaughtered on the orders of Suleiman (4 thousand). Only women were spared ^{[13] [14]} .

On September 10, the Sultan approached Boda , and the next day she was surrendered without a fight. The Turks looted and partially burned the Hungarian capital, taking out the royal treasury and the Corvinus Library . Having gathered the Hungarian magnates in Pest , the Sultan announced that he agreed to recognize Janos Zapolya and as a vassal king. Turkish troops advanced to Esztergom , collecting more booty. The loss of Hungary killed and stolen into slavery, allegedly, could reach 200 thousand people, that is, almost 1/10 of the population ^{[13] [15]} . September 24, the Ottoman army went back, and in November the Sultan returned to Istanbul. The Turks did not establish themselves on the Hungarian territory, and they did not deploy a single garrison north of Srem ^{[16] [17]} .

On November 10, 1526, part of the Hungarian magnates elected János Zapolja as king. Soon the Archduke Ferdinand made claims to the Hungarian crown and the next year began the war. In 1528, Zapolya, having suffered several defeats, fled to Poland and asked for the help of Suleiman. In 1529, the Sultan marched on Vienna, which opened a long series of wars with the Austrians on the Middle Danube.

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• Ottoman-Hungarian Wars
• The Austro-Turkish War (1529–1533)