|
This article explains the better-known Battle of Mohács of 1526. There was also another battle in the same locality in 1687. The Battle of Mohács ( or mohácsi vész; ; or Mohaç Meydan Savaşı) was a battle fought on August 29, 1526 near Mohács, Hungary. In the battle, forces of the Kingdom of Hungary led by King Louis II were defeated by forces of the Ottoman Empire led by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. The Ottoman victory led to Hungary being partitioned over the following decades between the Ottoman Empire, the Habsburg Monarchy of Austria, and the Principality Transylvania.
Preparations The Hungarians had long opposed Ottoman expansion in southeastern Europe, but the fall of Belgrade in 1521 meant that most of southern Hungary was left indefensible. As a counter to growing Ottoman power, Louis II, King of Hungary and Bohemia, entered into marriage with Maria of Austria in 1522, hoping to gain the aid of Habsburg Austria in the looming war with the Ottomans. The Ottomans saw the growing alliance as a threat to their power in the Balkans and planned to break this alliance. In an effort to forestall a complete military offensive and possible occupation of Hungary, the Ottoman government, or Porte, made the Hungarians at least one and possibly two offers of peace. It is unclear why Louis refused the peace offer from the Ottomans. It is possible that pressure from western Hungarian nobles, who were more heavily influenced by the proximity to growing Habsburg power, worried about future Austrian aggression should Hungary conclude peace with the Ottomans. However, a peace with the Ottoman Empire was not completely unheard of, as Poland had concluded a similar peace with the Porte a few years previous. Ultimately, efforts at a peaceful resolution failed and the Ottomans decided to use military power. To such ends in June 1526, an Ottoman expedition advanced up the Danube River to attack. The Hungarian army was divided into three main units: the Transylvanian army, tasked with guarding the passes in the Transylvanian Alps, numbered between 8,000 and 13,000 men under John Zápolya; the main army led by Louis himself; and another smaller force, commanded by the Croatian count Christopher Frankopan, numbered around 5,000 men. Resulting from the kingdom's geographical position, the Turkish army's ultimate goal could not be determined until it was crossing the Balkan Mountains. Unfortunately, by the time the Ottoman's army had crossed, the Transylvanian army was further from Buda than the Ottomans were. Contemporary historical records, though sparse, indicate that Louis preferred a plan of retreat, in effect ceding the country to Ottoman advances, rather than directly engaging the Ottoman army in open battle. The Hungarian forces chose the battlefield, an open but uneven plain with some swampy marshes near Mohács leading down to the Danube. The Ottomans had been allowed to advance almost unopposed. While Louis waited in Buda, they had besieged several towns and crossed the Sava and Drava Rivers. Louis assembled around 26,000 to 40,000 soldiers, while the Ottoman army numbered around 70,000 to 100,000 troops. The Hungarian army was arrayed to take advantage of the terrain and hoped to engage the Ottoman army piecemeal. Battle As with the the debate over the number of actual combatants there is considerable debate over the length of the actual battle. The start of the battle is generally placed at somewhere between 1:00 PM and 2:00 PM, but the exact length of the battle is difficult to ascertain. While some historians have placed the length of the battle at two to three hours, this seems unlikely given several important factors. The Ottoman army did not retreat from the field and enter camp after the battle; instead, the Ottomans remained on the field all night without food, water, or shelter. Given that the Ottoman historians all note that it was raining, it seems likely that had the battle been short and ended early in the afternoon, by 5:00 PM at the latest, and the Sultan would have ordered his army to camp or at least to return to their baggage. The few reliable sources indicate that Louis left the field at twilight and made his escape under cover of darkness; since the sun would not have set until 6:30 PM on August 29 1526, this would imply that the battle lasted significantly longer than two to three hours (perhaps as long as four or five). As the first of Suleiman's troops, the Rumelian army, advanced onto the battlefield, they were attacked and routed by Hungarian troops led by Pál Tomori. This attack on the right was successful in causing considerable chaos among the Ottoman ranks, but even as the Hungarian attack pressed forward, the Ottomans rallied with the arrival of more Ottoman forces. While the Hungarian right advanced far enough at one time to place Suleiman in danger from Hungarian arrows that struck his cuirass, the superiority of the Ottoman numbers and the timely charge of the Janissaries, the elite troops of the Ottomans, probably overwhelmed the attackers, particularly on the Hungarian left. The Hungarians could not hold their positions, and those who did not flee were surrounded and killed or captured. The king left the battlefield sometime around twilight but was thrown from his horse in a river at Csele and died, weighed down by his armor. Some 1,000 other Hungarian nobles and leaders were also killed. It is generally accepted that more than 10,000 Hungarian soldiers were killed in the initial battle, as well as a similar number of Ottomans. In the aftermath, the sultan gave orders to keep no prisoners. Two days later he wrote in his diary: "The Sultan receives the homage of the viziers and the beys, massacre of 2,000 prisoners, the rain falls in torrents." Reportedly among those 2,000 were several notable Hungarian leaders. Aftermath
Reference | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
| |