The Battle of Siget from August 6 to September 7, 1566.

The Battle of Siget from August 6 to September 7, 1566.

In the Habsburg-Ottoman war from 1551 to 1562, the Ottomans besieged Siget (Hungarian: *Szigetvár)* in the spring of 1556, but the defenders under the command of Mark Stančić (Hungarian: Horváth Stancsics Márk) managed to defend the fort.

In August 1561, Marko Stančić died, and in September of the same year Count Nikola IV Zrinski (Hungarian: Zrínyi Miklós) was appointed as the new captain of Siget, at his own request.

The conflict between the Ottoman vassal and the pretender to the Hungarian throne, Duke of Transylvania Sigismund Zapolya and the Czech, Hungarian and Croatian king Maximilian II. Habsburg, and the failure of the siege of Malta in 1565, influenced the decision of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent to break the truce concluded in 1562. At the age of 72 he undertakes the 13th campaign for his 45-year reign.

The victory of the Croatian ban Petar Erdody near Obreska on September 10, 1565, over the army of the Bosnian Sandjakbey Mustafa Sokolović, when ban with 4,000 infantry and 1,000 horsemen defeated 12,000 Ottomans, contributed to the final decision on the war. In January 1566 the Habsburg ambassador in Constantinople was imprisoned and war was declared against the Empire.

Sultan Suleiman set out from Constantinople on May 1st with the main army accompanied by Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha, and when provincial troops joined him along the way, the sultan had the largest army he had ever assembled.

The main body of the Ottoman army crossed the Danube near Petrovaradin and headed towards Eger(German: Erlau). Zrinski was regularly informed about all movements and actions of the Ottoman army because he had a well-organized intelligence service.

On June 17, 1566, when Zrinski learned that a smaller Ottoman detachment with supplies was camped next to town of Siklos, he sent a detachment of 1000 infantrymen and 500 horsemen under Gaspar Alapić, Nikola Kobak, Petar Patačić and Vuk Papratović, who destroyed the camp with a sudden attack, killed many soldiers and and one sanjakbey and confiscated supplies.

When the sultan found out about the defeat at Siklos, he ordered to abandon the campaign on Eger and to occupy Siget.

The siege of Siget began on August 6 with the arrival of the main force under the leadership of Sultan Suleiman, who had 90,000 Ottoman soldiers, 12-15,000 Tatar allies and some vassal Moldavian troops and about 300 cannons. Together with the support staff, the Ottoman army numbered 150,000 men.

Before the siege, Zrinski assembled a force of about 2,300-2,600 soldiers, mostly from his personal forces.

Most of the defenders were Croatian, with a significant Hungarian contingent.

When the Sultan appeared before the fortress, he saw the walls covered with red cloth, as if for a solemn reception, and a great cannon thundered once to greet the mighty warrior ruler.

Siget was divided by water into three parts: the old town, the new town and the castle - each of which was connected by the following bridges, and to the land by embankments. Although it was not built on a special elevation, the inner castle was not directly accessible to the attackers. This was because the other two castles had to be captured and secured before the final attack on the inner castle could be launched.

Ottoman attacks began on August 7 at the weakest defense point, the new town. Since the Janissaries carried out that attack without preparation, they were repulsed with heavy losses.

Zrinski, aware of the defensive weaknesses of the new town, set fire to it on August 9, and the defenders retreated to the old town. With constant attacks, the Ottomans managed to conquer the old town on August 19, but with the loss of 3,000 soldiers, and 800 remaining defenders of Siget retreated to the castle. Some prominent defenders also died that day: Martin Bošnjak, Petar Botoš, Jurij Matijaš and others.

The first assault on the castle began on August 26. The Janissaries led the attack under commander Ali aga, but after two hours of fighting are repulsed. Ali aga himself and the Egyptian governor Ali Pasha Cazi and 1000 soldiers died.

A new big onslaught began on August 29, the anniversary the Battle of Mohacs in 1526 and the fall of Belgrade in 1521. In the next three days, around 4,000 Ottoman soldiers died, including Ali Portuk, the artillery commander.

The Sultan tried to lure Zrinski into surrender, eventually offering him leadership over Croatia under Ottoman influence. Count Zrinski did not answer and continued to fight.

During the fiercest battles Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent died (6. September).

Grand Vizier Sokollu succeeded to conceal the sultan's death in front of the army, so that morale would not fall and defeatism would appear, so his death was kept a secret. Turkish sources state that the illusion was maintained for three weeks and that even the sultan's personal physician was strangled as a precaution.

A courier was sent from the camp with a message for Suleiman's successor Selim II. The courier may not have even known the contents of the message he delivered to Asia Minor in just eight days.

On the morning of September 7, the Ottomans set fire to the inner part of the castle with artillery, and the entire Ottoman army went on the attack.

Zrinski, seeing that the city was burning and that he could no longer stay in it, decided to break out of the city.

Zrinski took off his armor and put on noble clothes, and on his head "the hat he wore at the wedding". He had 100 gold coins tied to his ceremonial robe, as a reward for the janissary who would behead him.

Zrinski was preparing for the last assault by addressing his soldiers:

"Let's get out of this burning place into the open and confront the enemies. Whoever dies will be with God. Whoever doesn't die - his name is honored. I will be the first, and what I do, you do too. And God is my witness - never I will not leave you, my brothers and knights".

In noble clothes with his father's saber and a small round shield, Nikola Zrinski started to charge from the castle, leading his soldiers.

As the Ottomans advanced along the narrow bridge, the defenders suddenly flung open the gates and fired a large mortar filled with broken iron, killing 600 of the attackers.

Zrinski soon received two musket shots in the chest, and shortly afterwards was killed with an arrow in the head. His comrades, Vuk Papratović, Nikola Kobac, Petar Patačić, Lovro Juranić died in defense of the body.

The Ottomans beheaded the dead Zrinski and the day after the assault, on September 8, the heads of the defenders and Zrinski were impaled around the sultan's tent. The next day, Mehmed Sokollu sent Nikola's head to his brother Mustafa in Buda, and he passed it on to the Habsburg imperial camp, where Nikola's son, Juraj IV Zrinski took it in September 1566 and buried it in the Pauline monastery in Sveta Jelena, Croatia.

Nikola's body was buried by convert Mustafa Vilić from Banja Luka, a former prisoner of Nikola, in honor and memory of Zrinski's humane treatment of him.

A few captured defenders were spared by the Janissaries who admired their bravery, with only seven defenders who managed to escape through the Ottoman lines, among them Frano Črnko, Stjepan Oršić and Gaspar Alapić (later ban of Croatia).

Before leading the final sortie by the castle garrison, Zrinski ordered a fuse to be lit to the powder magazine. After cutting down the last of the defenders, the besiegers poured into the fortress. The Ottoman Army entered the remains of Szigetvár and fell into the booby trap.

The Vizier Ibrahim's life was saved by one of Zrinski's household who warned him of the trap when the Vizier and his troops searched for treasure and interrogated the survivors.

While inquiring about the treasure the prisoner replied that it had been long spent, but that 3,000 lbs of powder were under their feet to which a slow match had been attached. The Vizier and his mounted officers had just enough time to escape, but 3,000 Ottomans perished in the explosion.

Almost all of Zrinski's garrison was wiped out after the final battle. Ottoman casualties were also heavy, sources vary on the exact number with estimates ranging from 20,000 to 35,000.

Even if Suleiman had lived his army could not have achieved much in the short time that remained between the fall of Siget and the onset of winter. The prolonged resistance and heavy casualties delayed the Ottoman push to Vienna.

Peace between the Ottomans and the Habsburgs was concluded on February 17, 1568 in Edirne between Emperor Maximilian and the new Sultan Selim II. Siget will remain in Ottoman hands until 1689.

For Hungarians and Croatians, the fall of Siget (or Szigetvár) was a heroic defeat and is a memorable day in their history. To this day it remains an inspiration for literature and art.

The famous French Cardinal Richelieu wrote about the battle: "It took a miracle for the Habsburg Empire to survive. And that miracle happened in Siget" and called it "the battle that saved the civilization".