Page 24 - The Age of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent

ship the Ottoman navy sailed from one victory to another. peace treaty with the Habsburgs, Süleyman was free to con-
His first task was to capture Coron and Tunis; then he under- front the Safavids, who had taken Tabriz and were ravaging
took systematic raids on the coastal towns of Italy and Spain. Georgia. During this campaign, which took place in 1548-
Assured that the Mediterranean was in good hands, Süley- 1549, the Ottomans advanced into Hamadan and Isfahan,
man embarked on his next offensive, moving this time and recaptured Tabriz, Van, and most of Georgia. As soon as
against the Safavids in the east. During the campaign of Süleyman withdrew his forces and returned to Istanbul, Tah-
1534-1536 the Ottomans captured Tabriz and then Baghdad, masp began attacking Erzurum and Van, forcing the sultan to
annexing parts of Azerbaijan and Iraq. Meanwhile the sultan launch yet another confrontation with the Safavids.
had concluded a treaty with the French to join forces in at- The third war with Iran, lasting from 1553 to 1555, re-
tacking the Habsburgs in the Mediterranean. In the spring of sulted in the conquest of Nahçivan (Nakhichevan) and Revan
1537 Süleyman moved into Albania and Greece and besieged (Yerevan). Süleyman decided to spend the winter of 1555 in
the fortress on the island of Corfu as a prelude to the inva- Amasya. There peace treaties with the Habsburgs and Safav-
sion of Italy. The fortress held out and he was forced to lift ids were signed; by the former, its delegation headed by
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the siege. Baron Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, a six-month cease-fire was
The following year the sultan embarked on his eighth cam- obtained, and by the latter the Ottoman-Safa vid boundaries
paign, which resulted in the annexation of southern Molda- were determined.
via. While he was preoccupied in the Balkans the greatest Ot- During these years Süleyman lost two of his sons. §ehzade
toman victory at sea took place. On 28 September 1538 Mustafa, his eldest son, was accused of plotting to depose
Barbaros Hayreddin confronted at Preveza Andrea Doria, him to take over the sultanate and was killed by the royal
who commanded the six-hundred-vessel armada that in- executioners when he came to see his father near Konya in
cluded the combined forces of the Holy Roman Empire, the the fall of 1553. Cihangir, Süleyman's frail youngest son, died
papacy, the Italian states of Venice, Genoa, and Florence, in shortly after.
addition to ships supplied by Portugal and the Knights of Although battles continued on the western front in the en-
Malta. Within five hours Barbaros Hayreddin emerged as the suing years, the Habsburgs ceased to be a major threat after
victor, inflicting such a devastating blow to the Europeans the death of Charles V, and Süleyman did not lead an impe-
that they could not recover for three decades and terminating rial campaign for some ten years. He was made desolate by
their hopes to contain Ottoman supremacy in the Mediterra- the death of his beloved wife Hürrem in 1558, and torn by
nean. This was the greatest age for the Ottoman navy, its dar- the feud between his sons, Bayezid and Selim, which devel-
ing captains claiming major Mediterranean ports and vying oped into a civil war by the spring of 1559. The battle of
with the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean. The period between Konya resulted in the defeat of Bayezid, who fled with his
1520 and 1540 was one of continual-victories for Süleyman. four sons to the court of Tahmasp, where Bayezid was held
The conflict over the supremacy of Hungary resumed when for ransom and eventually sold to the Ottomans. In 1561
John Zápolya died in 1540 and left an infant son on the Bayezid and his sons were delivered to an Ottoman delega-
throne. Ferdinand, quick to take advantage of the situation, tion in Kazvin and were promptly executed.
moved in and besieged Budapest. Süleyman was compelled The following year an eight-year peace treaty was signed
to secure Budapest by formally annexing Hungary, which in with Ferdinand, who was now the emperor of the Holy Ro-
1541 became a province controlled by an Ottoman governor. man Empire, having succeeded Charles V. In 1565 the Otto-
Another siege of Budapest by the Austrians forced the sul- man navy attempted to capture Malta, the domain of the
tan to embark on his tenth campaign in 1543. Meanwhile Knights of Saint John since their expulsion from Rhodes in
Barbaros Hayreddin, sent to aid the French in Marseilles, was 1522. The attack, led by Turgud Reis, who lost his life in the
attacking Nice and other ports on the Mediterranean. Süley- battle, was unsuccessful and was repelled by the knights.
man once again asserted his sovereignty over Budapest and The same year problems developed on the Austrian-Otto-
went on to conquer Peç (Pecs), Estergon (Esztergom), and man frontier and Süleyman decided to lead his army once
Estonibelgrad (Székesfehérvár). In 1547 he signed a five-year again, leaving Istanbul on May 1566. This was his seventh at-
peace treaty with the Habsburgs in which Ferdinand was al- tempt to secure Hungary, a struggle that had begun within a
lowed to keep a portion of Hungary, paying in return a year of his accession to the throne. The Ottoman forces ar-
yearly tribute. The same year the Franco-Ottoman alliance rived at Szigetvár on 6 August and besieged the fortress for a
was renewed by Henry II, who had succeeded Francis I and month. Süleyman was seriously ill when he embarked on his
was convinced that his monarchy would survive against campaign and could barely ride his horse. During the siege of
Charles V only with the sultan's support. the fortress he lay sick in his tent; he died on the eve of 7
Charles V in return had allied himself with Tahmasp, the September, a few hours before Szigetvár fell. The grand vezir
Safavid ruler of Iran, forcing Süleyman to curtail his cam- Sokollu Mehmed Pa§a felt that the announcement of his
paigns in order not to fight on both fronts. After signing the death would be detrimental to state security unless the new

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