Battle of Szigetvár

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Battle of Szigetvár
Part of the Ottoman-Habsburg wars
Johann Peter Krafft: Zrínyi's Charge from the Fortress of Szigetvár (1825)
Date 6 August 1566 – 8 September 1566 Location Szigetvár, Hungary Result Ottoman victory
Belligerents
Habsburg Monarchy Kingdom of Hungary Kingdom of Croatia	Ottoman Empire Crimean Khanate Moldavia
Commanders
Nikola Zrinski (Miklós Zrinyi) †	Suleiman the Magnificent †, Sokollu Mehmet Paşa
Strength
2,300 Croats and Hungarians, 600 able-bodied men by the end of the siege[1]	80,000 Ottomans 12-15,000 Tatars 7,000 Moldavians casualties1= Entire garrison wiped out in a final sortie
Casualties and losses
	Heavy; Suleiman dies during siege of natural causes.

The Battle of Szigetvár (Croatian: Sigetska Bitka, Turkish: Zigetvar Savaşı) was a siege of the small fort located in Szigetvár, Hungary between 6 August and 8 September 1566, fought between the defending forces of the Habsburg Monarchy under the leadership of Croatian ban Nikola Šubić Zrinski (Hungarian: Zrínyi Miklós) and the invading army of the Ottoman Empire under the nominal command of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.

The battle is perhaps famous today, in Hungary, for inspiring the Hungarian-language epic Szigeti veszedelem, written by Zrinyi's great-grandson; at the time, its importance was considered such that Cardinal Richelieu was reported to have called it "the battle that saved civilization."^[2]

[edit] Preparations for the campaign

The Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent was 72 years old^[3] , had reigned for 46 years and had been in command of 12 military campaigns so far during this reign. He had not commanded a military campaign for the last 11 years. He had taken command at this, his 13th^[4] , campaign at the insistence of his Grand Vizier Sokullu Mehmed Pasha, who was the real operational commander of the Ottoman forces. The Ottoman forces had started off from Istanbul on 1 May 1566 with a spectacular procession. The Sultan was not able to use his horse and was carried in a covered horse carriage all the way from Istanbul. The Ottoman army had arrived at the site of castle of Szigetvár on the 6th August 1566. The big war tent of the Sultan was erected on the Similehov hill. The Sultan had to stay at his tent during the whole of siege and had to get verbal reports of the progress of the siege from his Grand Vizier.^[5]

[edit] The siege

Zrinski built up a force of around 2300 warriors prior to the siege, consisting of his own personal forces and those of his friends and allies. The defenders were majority Croatian^{[citation needed]}, with a significant Hungarian contingent represented in both the men-at-arms and the leadership. The siege began in August of 1566, and the fortress defenders were able to repel the Ottomans until sometime in September. Despite being undermanned and greatly outnumbered, the defenders were sent no reinforcements by the imperial army from Vienna.

After many days of exhausting and bloody struggle, the defenders retreated into the Old City; with the majority of the defenders already dead, this was their last stand. The Turks tried to lure Zrinski into submission, offering him rule over all of Croatia under Ottoman influence but they were rejected.^{[citation needed]}

While the siege was still continuing Suleiman the Magnificent died before daybreak on Saturday, 7 September. The death appears to have been of natural causes, though the stress and fatigue of the difficult siege certainly played a role. The Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha decided to keep the news secret so that it would not ruin morale at the end of the siege. Several contemporary accounts, such as the ones used later by Zrinyi for his epic, account Suleiman's death to Zrinski's hand.^[6]

[edit] The final battle

Szigetvár campaign 1566, Tatars as avantgarde. From Tarih-i Sultan Süleyman ("Zafarnâma"), History of Sultan Süleyman, Dublin, chester Beatty Library

The next day the final battle was conducted. The castle of Szigetvár was burnt down to ruined walls by mining and burning huge heaps of woods put around it at all corners. In the morning, September the 7th, the all-out attack by the Turks began: fireballs, "Greek fire", concentrated cannonade, fusillade. Soon, the last Croat-Hungarian stronghold within Szigetvár was set ablaze. The entire Turkish army swarmed against the Old City, drumming and yelling, "..their flags darkening the skies.^{[cite this quote]}" Reportedly, Zrinski prepared for the last charge, addressing his brothers-in-arms:

"..Let us go out from this burning place into the open and stand up to our enemies. Who dies - he will be with God. Who dies not - his name will be honoured. I will go first, and what I do, you do. And God is my witness - I will never leave you, my brothers and knights!^{[cite this quote]}"

The defender Zrinski wearing a silk robe, carrying a hanging golden key on his breast and wearing a hat with a crane aigrette, started an exit in force from the castle at the head of 600 of his troops. He was heavily wounded at his chest and his head by Ottoman bullets^[7] . Thus, at the end, the heroic obstinate commander, who survived a siege lasting 36 days, his dead body was beheaded by a sword lying on an Ottoman cannon ^[8]. The Turks took the fort and effectively won the battle. Only seven defenders managed to get through Turkish lines.

[edit] Aftermath

Nikola Šubić Zrinski, preparing for the final battle.

One disputed view by a historian asserts that before leading the final sortie by the garrison, Zrinsky ordered a fuse lit to the powder magazine. After cutting down the last of the defenders, the Turkish besiegers poured into the fortress. Hundreds perished when the magazine exploded^[9]. This, however, is not corroborated by any of the Ottoman chroniclers.

Only four surviving defenders were later ransomed from the Turks. One of them was Gašpar Alapić, Zrinski's nephew who would become a ban himself and crush the Croatian and Slovenian peasant revolt. Another was Franjo (Ferenc) Črnko, Zrinski's chamberlain, who later wrote the only first-hand report of the siege. His detailed report, published in Croatian, German and Latin, includes a poignant description of Zrinski's last hours before the final sortie.

The battle is believed to have delayed the Ottoman push for Vienna that year. It is obvious that the long journey and the siege had a detrimental effect on the old Sultan's health^[10] and his subsequent death meant that any advances were postponed; the Grand Vizier had to turn back with the army to the Ottoman capital, Istanbul and deal with the succession of the new Sultan, Selim II.

[edit] Depictions in culture

The battle was immortalized in the epic poem The Peril of Sziget (Szigeti veszedelem in Hungarian) (1664) by Zrinski's great-grandson, Nikola Zrinski, also a ban of Croatia. This was one of the first such epics in the Hungarian language. Arguably the best work of Ivan Zajc is the opera Nikola Šubić Zrinski where the battle is depicted and sung about (U boj, u boj). Hungarian comics artist, Endre Sarlós made a 90 page European-style comic album, by the title Szigetvár ostroma (The siege of Szigetvár). The comics' approach is neutral, based on historical facts (as seen by non-Ottoman sources) and detailed research rather than the Hungarian epic poem.

[edit] References

• Dupuy, R. Ernest and Dupuy, Trevor. The Encyclopedia of Military History. New York: Harper & Row, 1970. ISBN 0-06-011139-9
• N. Sakaoğlu, Bu Mülkün Sultanları (Sultans of this Realm), Oğlak, 1999.
• Stephen, Turnbull (2003). The Ottoman Empire 1326 - 1699. New York: Osprey. 

[edit] Notes

Military history of the Ottoman Empire portal