| Hungarian campaign of Suleiman | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Ottoman-Habsburg wars | |||||||||
 "The Great Gun", a 1518 allegorical representation by Albrecht Dürer of the Turkish menace for the German lands. | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Habsburg Austria Holy Roman Empire Kingdom of Bohemia Kingdom of Croatia Ferdinand's Hungarian kingdom |
 Ottoman Empire Moldavia John Szapolyai's Hungarian kingdom | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Ferdinand I |
Suleiman the Magnificent Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha John Szapolyai Peter IV Rareș | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
|
120,000 soldiers[1] (including 12,000 Janissaries)[2] 20,000 camels 300 guns 6,000 Hungarian horsemen[2] | |||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
|
20,000 dead (soldiers and civilians)[2] | 40,000 dead[2] | ||||||||
|
| |
|---|---|
Hungarian civil war (1526-38)
Ottoman-Habsburg War (1540–1547)
Ottoman–Habsburg War (1551–1562)
Habsburg-Transylvanian War (1556-1567)
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Suleiman I's campaign of 1529 was launched by the Ottoman Empire to take the Austrian capital Vienna and thereby strike a decisive blow, allowing the Ottomans to consolidate their hold on Hungary. This was in response to Ferdinand I's daring assaultonOttoman Hungary.
Suleiman's march to Vienna was also an attempt to assist his vassal, John Szapolyai who claimed the throne of Hungary. Suleiman sent his army of 120,000 strong north on the 10 May 1529. His campaign was marked by speedy success, on September 8 Buda surrendered to the Ottomans and John Szapolyai was installed as King of Hungary. Suleiman then went further taking Esztergom, Tata, Komárom and Győr[1] so that much of Ferdinand I's gains the previous two years were lost. On 27 September, Suleiman reached Vienna.
The arrival of the Sultan's massive host in Central Europe caused much panic across Europe - Martin Luther, who had believed that the Ottomans were God's punishment against the sins of Christians[3] modified his views and wrote the book the War with the Turks in 1529 urging that "the scourge of God" should be fought with great vigour. However, when Suleiman began besieging Vienna it would prove to be his first and most decisive blunder.
