SOLIMAN commenced his reign under very favour able circumstances. The conquest of Egypt and the submission of Persia enabled him to direct his whole disposable force against the christians; and an insult offered to his ambassador at the court of Hungary, furnished him with a pretext for imme diate operations. He sat down before Belgrade with a large army, and this city, which was the bulwark of Hungary, and had so often successfully repelled the assaults of his predecessors, surren dered, it is supposed through treachery, after a short siege of four weeks. This important capture opened to him a passage into the heart of Hungary; and had he been enabled to prosecute his success, and to take advantage of the divisions which then agitated christendom, he might have planted the crescent on the walls of Vienna. But as the Otto man armies were composed principally of persons holding military fiefs, who were bound only for a limited term of service, and who were averse to remain after its expiration, Soliman was compelled to return to Constantinople.
Instead of opening the succeeding campaign on the Danube, Soliman directed his efforts against the knights of St. John, in the island of Rhodes. This institution was the avowed enemy of the Ot toman power, and was acknowledged to he the chief defence of Italy against the fleets and armies of the Turks. In its last struggle, however, it re ceived no assistance from the princes of Europe, and Venice even was in league with the Porte. It stood single-handed against the most fearful odds; and after a siege of six months, unexampled in that age for the military skill and determined valour displayed on both sides, it submitted to an honour able capitulation.
Soliman having restored tranquillity to Egypt, which had been distracted by the rebellion of his pachas, again turned his steps towards Hungary, which, during a long life, continued to he the prin cipal scene of his triumphs and his shame. Twenty five thousand Hungarians, under their young king Lewis, opposed themselves, at Mohatz, to 200,000 Ottomans. Their rashness was severely punished, for few of them escaped from this fatal field; and Lewis, with many of his prelates and nobles, fell in the engagement or pursuit. Buda, the capital,
opened its gates to the conqueror, and the whole kingdom was now at the mercy of Soliman; but af ter ravaging the country, and carrying off many captives, he retired with his army to Adrianople.
An insurrection in Anatolia, which at one time threatened to separate that province from the em pire, detained Soliman for three years from prose cuting his conquests in Europe; and during that period Buda was retaken by the Hungarians. At the same time Hungary was distracted by a dis puted succession between John Zapoli, waywode of Transylvania, and Ferdinand, archduke of Austria. Zapoli, unable to cope with the power of his rival, sought the protection of the Turkish sultan, and offered to hold the kingdom as a fief of the Ot toman crown. Soliman gladly accepted his sub mission, and now proceeded to Hungary, under the pretence of recovering the kingdom in behalf of his vassal. Buda surrendered at his approach, and the garrison was put to the sword. The principal for tresses on the Danube also yielded almost without opposition, and he sat down before Vienna with an army whose tents covered a space of six miles. Thirty days spent in almost continued assaults, and the loss of 80,000 of his bravest troops, proved the strength of the fortress, and the approach of winter warned Soliman of his danger, and compelled him to retire with vexation and disgrace from before the Austrian capital.
Exasperated by the dishonour done to his arms, Soliman prepared an immense armament for an other campaign. With an overwhelming force of 500,000 men, he marched without opposition to the confines of Germany, when he was stopt by the small fortress of Guntz. The emperor Charles V. awaited his approach under the walls of Vienna, but the boasting Ottoman shrunk from the contest; and after laying waste the open country, he hastily retired to Constantinople, leading with him a mise rable train of 30,000 captives, the sole fruits of all his pompous preparations.