The Siege of Szigetvár or the Battle of Szigeth (pronunciation: [ˈsiɡɛtvaːr] ; ; ) was a siege of the fortress of Szigetvár, Kingdom of Hungary, that blocked Sultan Suleiman's line of advance towards Vienna in 1566. The battle was fought between the defending forces of the Habsburg monarchy under the leadership of Nikola IV Zrinski (, ), former Ban of Croatia, and the invading Ottoman army under the nominal command of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent ( Süleymān).
After the Battle of Mohács in 1526, which resulted in the end of the independent Kingdom of Hungary, Ferdinand I was elected King by the nobles of both Hungary and Croatia. This was followed by a series of conflicts with the Habsburgs and their allies, fighting against the Ottoman Empire. In the Little War in Hungary both sides exhausted themselves after sustaining heavy casualties. The Ottoman campaign in Hungary ceased until the offensive against Szigetvár.
In January 1566 Suleiman went to war for the last time. The Siege of Szigetvár was fought from 5 August to 8 September 1566 and, though it resulted in an Ottoman victory, there were heavy losses on both sides. Both commanders died during the battle Zrinski in the final charge and Suleiman in his tent from natural causes. More than 20,000 Ottomans had fallen during the attacks and almost all of Zrinski's 2,300-man garrison was killed, with most of the final 600 men killed on the last day. Although the battle was an Ottoman victory, it stopped the Ottoman push to Vienna that year. Vienna was not threatened again until the Battle of Vienna in 1683.
The importance of the battle was considered so great that the French clergyman and statesman Cardinal Richelieu was reported to have described it as "the battle that saved (Western) civilization". The battle is still famous in Croatia and Hungary and inspired both the Hungarian epic poem The Siege of Sziget and the Croatian opera Nikola Šubić Zrinski.
Background
On 29 August 1526 the forces of the Kingdom of Hungary led by King Louis II were defeated at the Battle of Mohács by Ottoman forces led by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. Louis died in the battle which resulted in the end of the independent Kingdom of Hungary, as he died without an heir. Both Hungary and Croatia became disputed territories with claims from both the Habsburg and Ottoman empires. Ferdinand I from the House of Habsburg, brother of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, married the sister of Louis II and was elected King by the nobles of both Hungary and Croatia. On 1 January 1527, the Croatian nobles convened the Parliament at Cetin and unanimously elected Ferdinand I, Archduke of Austria as their king, and confirmed the succession to him and his heirs. In return for the throne, Archduke Ferdinand promised to respect the historic rights, freedoms, laws, and customs the Croats had when united with the Hungarian kingdom and to defend Croatia from Ottoman invasion.
The throne of Hungary became the subject of a dynastic dispute between Ferdinand and John Zápolya from Transylvania. Suleiman had promised to make Zápolya the ruler of all Hungary. Ferdinand set out to enforce his claim on Hungary and captured Buda from John Zápolya in 1527, only to relinquish his hold on it in 1529 when an Ottoman counter-attack stripped Ferdinand of all his territorial gains during 1527 and 1528. The Siege of Vienna in 1529 was the first attempt by Suleiman the Magnificent to capture the Austrian capital. This siege signalled the pinnacle of Ottoman power and the maximum extent of Ottoman expansion in central Europe.
Little War
The years from 1529 to 1552 were known as the "Little War". Following Suleiman's unsuccessful siege of Vienna in 1529, Ferdinand launched a counter-attack in 1530 to regain the initiative. An assault on Buda was driven off by John Zápolya, although Ferdinand was successful elsewhere—capturing Gran (Esztergom) and other forts along the Danube river, a vital strategic frontier.