The Campaigns of Suleiman the Magnificent

July – August 1521

Belgrade

On coming to the throne Suleiman gave priority to two targets in the west: Belgrade, the key to Central Europe, and Rhodes in the Mediterranean. Both had once defied his great-grandfather Mehmed the Conqueror. Hungary was ruled by the young King Louis II, who had not yet established his authority. Suleiman had the fortress of Šabac (Böğürdelen), taken on the way on 7 July, rebuilt, calling it “the first fortress I have conquered”. Belgrade was taken by siege; the sultan entered the city on 30 August, the day after it fell. The campaign opened the road to Buda.

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28 July – 20 December 1522

Rhodes

Rhodes was a Christian outpost on the busy sea route between Cairo and Istanbul. The fleet put to sea on 4 June 1522; the sultan went overland to Marmaris and crossed to the island on 28 July. The bloody fighting ended with the surrender of the Knights of Rhodes on 20 December. Suleiman received their Grand Master, Philippe Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, and allowed the knights to leave the island. He entered the city, had the Friday sermon read in his name and left the island on 2 January 1523.

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29 August 1526

Mohács

The defeat and capture of King Francis I of France by Charles V in 1525 created a favourable moment for a move on Hungary. Suleiman left Istanbul on 23 April 1526; the fortresses of Petrovaradin and Ilok were taken, and he ordered that the villages, now regarded as Ottoman land, should not be burned. On 29 August the battle on the plain of Mohács was short; King Louis II lost his life and the Kingdom of Hungary in a sense came to an end. The sultan entered Buda unopposed on 11 September. Yet Buda was evacuated; János Szapolyai, elected by the Hungarian nobles, was recognised as king under Ottoman overlordship.

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September – October 1529

Before Vienna

In 1527 Ferdinand of Habsburg drove Szapolyai out of Buda. Suleiman set out again on 10 May 1529; according to the TDV encyclopedia, his first aim was to recover Buda and support Szapolyai. Much time was lost to the rains. Buda surrendered on 8 September and Szapolyai was crowned. The army arrived before Vienna on 27 September; after seventeen days the siege was lifted on the sultan's order. Even if the city were taken, it was understood that it could not be held; on the way back snow and cold caused great hardship.

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1533 – 1535

The Two Iraqs campaign: Tabriz and Baghdad

In the campaign against the Safavids, Grand Vizier İbrahim Pasha was sent ahead and entered Tabriz. Suleiman set out on 11 June 1534, heard on the way that the fortress of Van had been taken, and reached Tabriz on 28 September. The roads on to Baghdad had turned to mud under snow and rain; some wagons were burned and guns were buried in the mud. The sultan entered Baghdad on 30 November and had the tomb of Abu Hanifa built. Shah Tahmasp did not give battle; the lasting gain was Baghdad, while Tabriz passed back to the Safavids.

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28 September 1538

Preveza

The ships of Spain, the Papacy, Venice, Portugal, Malta and Genoa joined in a great allied fleet under Andrea Doria. The sources give different figures; against roughly 140 galleons and 168 galleys of the allies, Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha had 122 galleys. On 28 September the wind dropped and the galleons were becalmed; in a battle of five hours Barbarossa broke through the allied line and Doria withdrew. The victory settled Ottoman supremacy in the Mediterranean. The same year the sultan took the Black Sea coast of Moldavia on his Moldavian campaign, and a fleet was sent from Suez to Indian waters.

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August – September 1541

Buda becomes an Ottoman province

Szapolyai died in 1540; Ferdinand of Habsburg claimed all of Hungary and besieged Buda in May 1541. Suleiman arrived before Buda on 26 August. A vassal Hungarian kingdom no longer seemed possible: the infant king János Zsigmond was left Transylvania, while Buda became the seat of a directly ruled Ottoman province. The sultan entered the city on 2 September and held ceremonies marking it as an Ottoman city. On the 1543 campaign Esztergom and Székesfehérvár were also taken, widening the province.

1551 – 1555

Tripoli, Temeşvar and Amasya

On 15 August 1551 the fleet under Admiral Sinan Pasha took Tripoli. In Hungary a new campaign was launched to secure Buda, and Temeşvar (Timișoara) was conquered on 26 July 1552. In the east, the Nakhchivan campaign of 1554 saw no great battle, and Shah Tahmasp asked for peace. The Treaty of Amasya in 1555 meant that the Safavids recognised Ottoman rule over Baghdad, Basra, Van and Erzurum; it remained in force for about twenty-five years. Other gains of these years also light up on the map.

August – September 1566

Szigetvár and the death of Suleiman

The ailing sultan left Istanbul on horseback on 1 May 1566; the targets were the fortresses of Szigetvár and Eger. Defended by Count Miklós Zrínyi, Szigetvár held out through a month-long siege. On 5 September a bomb placed in a mine was fired and the fortress's powder store exploded; in a last sally Zrínyi was wounded and taken prisoner. Suleiman did not live to see the fortress fall: he died in his tent in the night of 6–7 September. His death was kept secret until Selim II reached Belgrade. With a reign of forty-six years he was the longest-ruling sultan. That same year Piyale Pasha took Chios.

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