2: Battle of Mohacs – 1526
While Selim I solidified his sultanate’s supremacy, his son, Suleiman I (the Magnificent), expanded the empire in the East and West during his 46-year reign which began in 1520. During his rule, Ottoman expansion in Europe centered on the Mediterranean and Hungary. The powerful Habsburg dynasty was his main rival in Europe, and his chief ally was France. The first stage of the Habsburg-Ottoman wars took place from 1520 to 1526 with Hungary acting as a buffer between the warring empires.
The long Hungarian resistance against the Ottoman invaders started to crumble in 1521 with the fall of Belgrade in modern day Serbia. This left southern Hungary open to attack. King Louis II of Hungary was a weak ruler, but he tried to find a solution to the problem by marrying Mary of Habsburg in 1522. Suleiman saw this as the formation of a dangerous alliance that had to be destroyed. Louis reportedly refused at least one peace offer from the Ottoman central government. When the Turks took Petervard in July 1526, Louis rushed to assemble an army and met Suleiman at the Battle of Mohacs.
It was a complete disaster for the Hungarians right from the start. First of all, the Hungarian war council foolishly chose an open battlefield with swampy marshes. Then they engaged the enemy without waiting for reinforcements. The Hungarians had no more than 30,000 men against the 100,000 strong army of Suleiman. Instead of attacking the tired enemy as they waded through the marsh, the Hungarians waited until the Ottomans emerged as it would apparently have been ‘unchivalrous’ to attack an unprepared rival.
The Hungarian army was annihilated and lost at least 14,000 men. Louis II was killed as he attempted to flee the battlefield. The Ottomans ransacked Buda and returned home with 100,000 captives; they would return to take the city in 1541. Mohacs marked the end of any hope for Hungarian independence as Suleiman established Ottoman rule in all but the western part of the country. The rest of Hungary was divided among the Principality of Transylvania and the Habsburgs.