To an onlooker in 1526, the Ottomans looked unstoppable. In the span of two centuries
they had crushed the Byzantine remnants, conquered their rivals in Anatolia, and swept through
Eastern Europe. Egypt, the seat of mighty empires for six centuries, was reduced to
an Ottoman province. And at Mohacs the Hungarian kingdom that had held them at bay for a century
and a half was shattered by Sultan Suleiman. But at Eger and Malta the Ottomans were turned
back, and their struggle with the Austrian Habsburgs over Hungary continued. Today, with
the Siege of Szigetvár, we will talk about Suleiman’s last campaign.
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During the 1550’s, John Sigismund Zapolya retained the increasingly meaningless title
of King of Hungary, but was reduced to rulership of Transylvania as his overlord Suleiman’s
attention again turned to his Eastern frontier and to Malta. From the death of his mother
in 1559 until the next breakout of war in 1566, John ruled a Kingdom theoretically at
peace, but was forced to deal with several revolts among the old Hungarian nobility.
The wealthy Melchior Balassa in 1561 defected to the Austrian Emperor Ferdinand, bringing
most Hungarian territory outside of Transylvania and the direct Ottoman pashaliks with him.
Without Ottoman support, John’s attempt to bring Balassa back in line ended in disaster
at Hadad in 1562. Ethnic tensions within Hungary also brought about further revolts, while
John’s conversion to Protestantism fueled court division in staunchly Catholic Hungary.
As his vassal’s kingdom dealt with this internal strife, the aged and gout-stricken
Suleiman assembled his army in 1566, intending to strike again at Eger - this time aiming
to seize it, before continuing on to Vienna. But with Suleiman now too feeble to personally
lead, the real leadership of the army fell into the hands of the ambitious Grand Vizier
Sokollu Mehmed Pasha. Leading the local Balkan army was his nephew Mustafa, the beylerbeyi
of Bosnia. Mobilization was slow for the massive army
that left Constantinople, and after departing on May 1st it took Suleiman and Sokollu Mehmed
Pasha a full 49 days to reach Belgrade, where Suleiman met with Zapolya and promised to
bring the whole of Hungary into his vassals’ hands. During this time Mustafa captured two
cities, Dvor na Uni and Krupa, while encountering minimal Habsburg resistance.
As Suleiman and his Grand Vizier marched towards Eger, a small Habsburg army, composed mostly
of Croatians, struck at Siklos to Suleiman’s south, routing an Ottoman army out of Greece.
The Hungarian-Croatian army was led by Nikola Subic Zrinski, a general who had fought with
distinction at the Siege of Vienna decades earlier. After his victory at Siklos, he had
the Ottoman commander, Sanjak-bey Mohammed of Trikala executed. This drew the ire of
Suleiman, as Mohammed was a favourite of the Sultan. The insult of his execution, combined
with the threat Zrinski posed unchecked in Southern Hungary, caused the main Ottoman
army to change course to eliminate Zrinski in his base at Szigetvár, near Pecs.
Szigetvár was no great prize. While it had foiled minor Ottoman advances in past wars,
it held little strategic value for Suleiman’s current campaign, especially with the Habsburg
army assembling at Vienna. And even before Suleiman had arrived at Szigetvár, his diversion
was costing the Ottomans, with several cities in Northern Hungary falling to the Austrians.
But with an army of over 100,000 facing fewer than 3,000 in Szigetvár, Suleiman expected
it to be a short siege. Mustafa would serve as both a general and
a diplomat, with both Ottoman and Habsburg records remembering him positively. Less beloved
was the ambitious Şesuvar, Bey of Szolnok, who marched with Suleiman to Szigetvar. Şesuvar
was infamous among the Hungarians as a brutal overlord, among the Austrians as a marauding
plunderer, and among his peers in the Ottoman elite as a self-serving careerist with no
regard for the laws and treaties of the Sultan. Yet he was able to command unswerving loyalty
from his own soldiers, as the coming siege would demonstrate.
Suleiman arrived at Szigetvár on the 5th of August 1566. Though lightly manned, its
unusual layout made it a difficult fortress to attack. It was split into three sections:
the old town, the new town, and the citadel, each on a separate island connected only by
narrow causeways. The nearby Almas river fed an artificial lake encircling the three fortress
islands. Though the scorching summer of 1566 had caused the lake protecting the fortress
to become shallower than normal, there was no sign of fear from the defenders, who had
decorated the walls with bright red cloth as if in celebration. A single cannon was
fired to welcome the Ottomans, who began their siege in earnest with an assault on the New
Town on August 6th. Despite support from large batteries of Ottoman
cannons, the attack was repulsed with heavy losses, and despite having far fewer guns,
the defenders were able to carry out an effective counter-barrage against the Ottoman cannons.
But in the face of the overwhelming Ottoman numbers, this victory was short-lived. Under
the aggressive guidance of Şesuvar Bey, the Ottomans launched another fierce attack on
August 9th, capturing the New Town. The first of the three island forts were now in Ottoman
hands, but at great cost. Between the two assaults Suleiman’s army suffered more than
3,000 casualties, compared to 300 losses for Zrinyi’s Croat and Hungarian army, which
withdrew in good order to the Old Town. The Old Town was a more difficult prize; well
defended and difficult to approach. But Şesuvar had little patience for anything but constant
offensives. After ten assaults in ten days, the Old Town fell as well on August 19th.
With only the citadel left and Zrinyi’s men dwindling, the sickly Suleiman offered
favourable terms of surrender in the hopes of avoiding any further lost time. If Zrinyi
would turn over the citadel, he would be made lord of all Croatia under Ottoman vassalage.
In the early stages of the siege Zrinyi had been hoping for Austrian reinforcements from
the Imperial army at Vienna - by the time Suleiman’s offer was made, it was clear
to the defenders that no help was coming. But despite the seemingly hopeless position
he was in, Zrinyi ignored the offer and gave no response to the Ottomans, choosing instead
to fight to the last. Sokollu Mehmed Pasha, a native of Herzegovina
himself, also attempted to bypass Zrinyi and sway the defending soldiers directly. Letters
in Croatian and Hungarian were fired into the castle walls with arrows, promising to
spare the defenders if they allowed the Ottomans entry. This effort was met with no more success.
Unbeknownst to either Suleiman or Mehmed, Zrinyi had on the first day of the siege sworn
before his soldiers to defend Szigetvár to his last breath, and threatened the execution
of any soldier who neglected his duties or conspired with the Ottomans. If the Ottomans
wanted Szigetvár they would have to take it by force.
Taking advantage of the shallower water, the Ottoman army used debris to build their own
causeways to open up further points of assault. And true to form, Şesuvar Bey launched several
more direct assaults, supported by heavy cannon fire.
The first assault on the citadel was a failure, as was the second, launched on August 29th
- the anniversary of the Battle of Mohacs. Despite Şesuvar’s confident assertion to
Suleiman that the auspicious day would bring them their victory, the Ottomans remained
unable to enter the citadel. After another failure on September first, nearly a month
after the siege began, the relentless Ottoman attacks ceased. For the next few days they
held their positions in the Old Town, leaving the scant 600 remaining defenders to wonder
when the hammer would drop. Four days later, on September 5th, the Ottoman
sappers fired the mine they’d dug over the past two weeks. A massive explosion destroyed
a corner of the wall, creating a massive breach and setting many of the buildings inside ablaze.
Zrinyi knew the end was near, as an Ottoman attack through the breach could come at any
moment and would be impossible for his depleted force to fend off.
But to Zrinyi’s surprise, no attack came on September 5th or 6th. Despite the opening,
the Ottoman army continued to hold its position. To the rank-and-file Ottoman soldiers, the
delay was just as much a mystery. Only Sokollu Mehmed Pasha and a close inner circle knew
the true reason for the delay - Suleiman the Magnificent had died in his tent, aged 72,
but out of concern that news of Suleiman’s death might undermine morale, Mehmed kept
it secret for 48 days, even having the Sultan’s personal physician strangled.
As the army was brought back to order on September 7th for the final attack, Zrinyi readied his
men for a sortie, unwilling to let the final battle be on Ottoman terms. After a stirring
speech to his troops, Zrinyi had the fortress door thrown open and a large mortar fired
into the Ottoman troops massed on the causeway in preparation for the final assault.
With the ranks of Janissaries thrown into chaos, Zrinyi led his remaining soldiers in
a headlong charge against the enemy, taking the causeway before being enveloped by the
thousands of Janissaries in the Old Town. Zrinyi himself was hit by two bullets and
killed as the charge began, but the men he’d led fought to the last.
With the defenders gone, the Ottomans stormed into the battered citadel. Şesuvar Bey, after
being brought to Zrinyi’s body, had it beheaded, with the head sent to Sultan Selim as a trophy.
The Ottomans had not seen the end of Zrinyi’s resistance though, and shortly after the Turks
entered the citadel the powder magazine exploded, killing three thousand more after a siege
that had already cost them upwards of twenty thousand for little tangible gain.
After Szigetvár’s fall, despite the path to Vienna lying open, the Ottoman army’s
advance stopped. Winter was close upon them, the casualties suffered taking Szigetvár
had been in the 10s of thousands, and Suleiman’s death had shaken the Ottoman Empire to its
core. Szigetvár would be the only major Ottoman victory in the campaign Suleiman had intended
to finally unify Hungary under Turkish rule. With his nephew Sokollu Mustafa Pasha serving
as a diplomat, Sokollu Mehmed Pasha negotiated the treaty of Adrianople with the Habsburgs
on February 17th 1568, with Emperor Maximillian paying 30,000 ducats to Selim and granting
the Ottomans authority over Transylvania, Moldavia, and Wallachia.
Yet the cultural significance of the battle was far greater than its political or military
impact. Suleiman’s internal organs were buried where he had fallen, and an ornate
tomb was built over the site. Soon it developed into a prosperous settlement, with a mosque,
hospital, Sufi lodge and barracks, and for a century it served as a pilgrimage site for
Muslims all over the Empire. For the Christians, Szigetvár became synonymous
with resistance, so much so that Cardinal Richelieu would later declare it “the battle
that saved civilization”. In both Hungary and Croatia, Zrinyi became a national hero,
and the siege was immortalized in epic poems in both languages. Three centuries later the
memory of Szigetvár would even be used by Croatian Nationalists as a symbol of resistance
against the Austo-Hungarian Empire.
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