Biography of Suleiman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire

On August 29, 1526, at the Battle of Mohács, the Hungarian Empire was conquered by the Ottoman Empire led by Suleiman the Magnificent. An excerpt from the article:

"Suleiman the Magnificent (November 6, 1494–September 6, 1566) became the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire in 1520, heralding the "Golden Age" of the Empire's long history before his death. Perhaps best known for his overhaul of the Ottoman government during his reign, Suleiman was known by many names, including "The LawGiver." His rich character and even richer contribution to the region and the Empire helped make it a source of great wealth in prosperity for years to come, ultimately leading to the foundation of several nations in Europe and the Middle East we know today...

...Ascent to the Throne
Suleiman's father entrusted his son with the governorships of different regions within the Ottoman Empire from the age of 17. When Suleiman was 26 in 1520, Selim I died and Suleiman ascended the throne. Although he was of age, his mother served as co-regent.

The new sultan immediately launched his program of military conquest and imperial expansion. In 1521, he put down a revolt by the governor of Damascus, Canberdi Gazali. Suleiman's father had conquered the area that is now Syria in 1516, using it as a wedge between the Mamluk sultanate and the Safavid Empire, where they had appointed Gazali as the governor. On January 27, 1521, Suleiman defeated Gazali, who died in battle.

In July of the same year, the Sultan laid siege to Belgrade, a fortified city on the Danube River. He used both a land-based army and a flotilla of ships to blockade the city and prevent reinforcement. Belgrade, part of modern Serbia, belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary in Suleiman's time. The city fell to Suleiman's forces on August 29, 1521, removing the last obstacle to an Ottoman advance into Central Europe.

Before he launched his major assault on Europe, Suleiman wanted to take care of an annoying gadfly in the Mediterranean—Christian holdovers from the Crusades, the Knights Hospitallers. This group, based on the Island of Rhodes, had been capturing Ottoman and other Muslim nations' ships, stealing cargoes of grain and gold, and enslaving the crews. The Knights Hospitallers' piracy even imperiled Muslims who set sail to make the haj, the pilgrimage to Mecca that is one of the Five Pillars of Islam.

Battling Oppressive Christian Regimes in Rhodes
Selim I had tried and failed to dislodge the Knights in 1480. During the intervening decades, the Knights used the labor of enslaved Muslims to strengthen and reinforce their fortresses on the island in anticipation of another Ottoman siege.

Suleiman sent out that siege in the form of an armada of 400 ships carrying at least 100,000 troops to Rhodes. They landed on June 26, 1522, and laid siege to the bastions full of 60,000 defenders representing various western European countries: England, Spain, Italy, Provence, and Germany. Meanwhile, Suleiman himself led an army of reinforcements on a march to the coast, reaching Rhodes in late July. It took nearly half a year of artillery bombardment and detonating mines under the triple-layer stone walls, but on December 22, 1522, the Turks finally forced all of the Christian knights and the civilian inhabitants of Rhodes to surrender.

Suleiman gave the knights 12 days to gather their belongings, including weapons and religious icons, and leave the island on 50 ships provided by the Ottomans, with most of the knights immigrating to Sicily. The local people of Rhodes also received generous terms and had three years to decide whether they wanted to remain on Rhodes under the Ottoman rule or move elsewhere. They would pay no taxes for the first five years, and Suleiman promised that none of their churches would be converted into mosques. Most of them decided to stay when the Ottoman Empire took nearly complete control of the eastern Mediterranean.

Into Europe's Heartland
Suleiman faced several additional crises before he was able to launch his attack into Hungary, but unrest among the Janissaries and a 1523 revolt by the Mamluks in Egypt proved to be only temporary distractions. In April 1526, Suleiman began the march to the Danube.

On August 29, 1526, Suleiman defeated King Louis II of Hungary in the Battle of Mohacs and supported the nobleman John Zapolya as the next king of Hungary. But the Hapsburgs in Austria put forward one of their princes, Louis II's brother-in-law Ferdinand. The Hapsburgs marched into Hungary and took Buda, placing Ferdinand on the throne and sparking a decades-long feud with Suleiman and the Ottoman Empire.

In 1529, Suleiman marched on Hungary once more, taking Buda from the Hapsburgs and then continuing to besiege the Hapsburg capital at Vienna. Suleiman's army of perhaps 120,000 reached Vienna in late September, without most of their heavy artillery and siege machines. On October 11 and 12 of that year, they attempted another siege against 16,000 Viennese defenders, but Vienna managed to hold them off once more and the Turkish forces withdrew."