The Siege of Szigetvár, aka ’the battle that saved civilization’

Forty years after the legendary Battle of Mohács, another event of high importance in the fight against the Ottoman Empire took place, the Siege of Szigetvár. The Hungarian and Croatian forces united under the command of Nikola Zrinski (Miklós Zrínyi, as Hungarians know him) stopped the Ottomans who were on their way to siege Vienna.

The siege of Szigetvár took place when the Ottoman Army led by the 72-years-old Suleiman was advancing towards Vienna in 1566. The Ottoman forces were stopped by a small army assembled by a Croatian -Hungarian nobleman and general, Nicola Zrinski, at Szigetvár. Suleiman’s intention was to punish Zrinski for his victory over a Turkish encampment near Siklós and then march on to Vienna, but he got more than he bargained for: his quick endeavour took him a month and even his life.

The Ottomans arrived near Szigetvár on the 6^th of August, and after realising that they are not able to break down the walls protecting the city due to the moors and the gutter that surrounded it, they began draining these on the 12^th of August. Three days later the first clash between the Hungarian-Croatian defenders and the attackers took place, though it was an Ottoman victory. It did not take the Ottomans long to tear down the walls of the fortress, but even though they broke down the city walls by August 19, the castle itself still stood.

Mysteriously, on the 40^th anniversary of the Hungarian success at the Battle of Mohács, Zrinski’s forces were able to gain victory over the Ottomans on the 29^th of August.

The siege lasted for exactly a month, from August 6 until September 6. The final battle, when the Ottomans destroyed the walls surrounding the castle, took place on the 7^th of September, a day after Suleiman died. The sultan’s demise was, however, kept secret from the army in fear of disillusionment. According to historians, this secret was guarded by the late sultan’s inner circle for 48 days.

The most heroic and interesting part of the siege is the final battle. Once the Ottomans broke into the remains of the city, Zrinski ordered his men to fling open the castle’s gates, and the moment the Ottomans entered the castle, the defenders fired a mortar filled with broken iron, killing 600 Ottomans.