Austro-Turkish War of 1551-53

The restless and treacherous Ferdinand, despite the peace signed with the Ottoman empire in 1547, is determined to regain control of Transylvania, and finds it intolerable that the Ottoman Pashalik of Buda separates Transylvania from Habsburg-controlled Austrian, or Royal, Hungary.

Isabella, the queen mother of Transylvania’s young vassal king, protests to the Ottoman Porte in 1551 that Martinuzzi has assumed too much power and has attempted to have her surrender Transylvania in exchange for equivalent Austrian areas, especially Silesia.

Ferdinand besieges Lippa, the Transylvanian capital, in order to ensure this exchange, for which Martinuzzi acts as go-between.

Martinuzzi finally concludes the agreement with Ferdinand in 1551, by which he continues to be governor of Transylvania and is rewarded with the archbishopric of Esztergom (Gran) and a cardinal's hat at sixty-nine.

Süleyman dispatches an Ottoman army to Lippa and establishes a garrison there.

To forestall attack by the Turks, Martinuzzi resumes payment of tribute to the Porte in early December.

Ferdinand, however, suspects the cardinal's loyalty and has him killed on December 17.

Taking the responsibility of the murder on himself, he sends to Pope Julius III an accusation of treason against Martinuzzi in eighty-seven articles.

After long hesitation, and hearing one hundred and sixteen witnesses, the pope will exonerate Ferdinand of blame.

The Croatian Parliament had invited the Habsburgs to assume control over Croatia after the Ottoman Turks invaded the Kingdom of Hungary in 1526 and destroyed the Hungarian army at the battle of the Mohács.

The Ottomans had after many fierce battles conquered all of today's Slavonia bit by bit in 1529, 1536, 1540, 1543 and 1552, but not the whole of the late medieval Kingdom of Slavonia (its borders extending west to the Sutla river), with the Habsburgs ruling over the western remains around Zagreb, today considered the Central Croatian region.

The 1552 campaign is a series of tragic losses for Hungarians, including the loss of Christian forts at Temesvár and Szolnok, which are blamed on mercenary soldiers within the Hungarian ranks, and ...

...some heroic, if Pyrrhic, victories, that enter folklore—most notably the fall of Drégely (a small fort defended to the last man by just one hundred and forty-six men), and ...

...the Siege of Eger.

The latter is an important stronghold and key to the defense of the remainder of Hungarian soil.

North of Eger lies the poorly reinforced city of Kassa (present day Košice), the center of an important region of mines and associated mints, which provide the Hungarian Kingdom with large amounts of quality silver and gold coinage.

The fall of Eger, besides allowing a takeover of that revenue source, would also enable the Ottoman Empire to secure an alternative logistic and troop route for further westward military expansion, possibly allowing the Turks to lay sieges on Vienna more frequently.

When the Turks turn their attention to Eger, few expect the defenders to put up much resistance.

The Castle of Eger is a major végvár with more than two thousand men, but in poor shape and without outside help.

The defenders face two large Ottoman armies, commanded by the Turkish lords Pasha Ali and Pasha Ahmed, which had crushed all opposition previously.

The defenders are outnumbered about one to fifty in hand-to-hand combat, but many of the Ottoman troops are worn out and tired because of their long journey on foot, which had started in the Balkans in the spring of 1552.

The Turks had expected an easy victory, but the bravery of the castle's defenders, as well as commander István Dobó's inspired leadership, resist and repulse repeated Turkish assaults.

Even after the storage tower, containing twenty-four metric tons of black gunpowder, explodes and causes extensive structural damage, the invaders still cannot find a way into the castle compound.

After thirty-nine days of bloody, brutal and intense fighting, the Ottoman Army withdraws, beaten and humiliated.

The defenders' losses amount to about one third of their ranks, including those killed and permanently maimed in combat.

Dobó loses both of his squires.

According to modern historical research, several external factors had contributed the defenders' success:

• There was significant infighting between the two Ottoman leaders.

• Ahmed was the senior and contributed twice as many troops to the united army, but Ali showed more strategic talent and proved his skill in artillery, heavily damaging the castle walls with his battery of just four large siege guns.

• During the siege, the Ottoman army ran out of gunpowder and cannonballs (which were carved out of marble) at least twice, limiting Ahmed's use of heavy artillery for a week or more.

• The end of autumn had arrived earlier than usual with heavy rain and freezing nighttime temperatures.

• Reduced rice rations and allegations of corruption among the officers had caused discontent among the Ottoman troops.

Dobó and his officers resign after the Ottoman withdrawal in order to protest King Ferdinand's refusal to contribute any material help to the defense.

Gergely Bornemissza, appointed to take over command of the fortress, is subsequently ambushed, captured and hanged by the Ottomans.

The Habsburg and Ottoman empires had signed a temporary truce in 1547, which the Habsburgs had soon disregarded.

Two Imperial armies take the eastern part of central Hungary in the major but moderately successful campaign of 1552, pushing the borders of the Ottoman Empire to the second (inner) line of northern végvárs (border castles), which Hungary had originally built as defense against an expected second Mongol invasion—hence, afterwards, borders on this front have changed little.

The most important change is the Turkish capture of the Banat of Temesvár (Timisoara) in 1552, which the Ottomans make into a new province.

Temesvár will remain under Ottoman control even after the Treaty of Karlowitz and will be recaptured by the Christian forces only in 1717.

The Libyan city of Tripoli had been reconquered from the Habsburg empire in 1538 by a pirate king called Khair ad-Din (known more evocatively as Barbarossa, or Red Beard).

Turkish forces had make Libya a part of the Ottoman Empire in 1551, ending forty years of Spanish rule.

Tripoli now becomes a provincial capital of the Ottoman Empire and a major center of the Barbary pirates, whom the Ottomans see little reason to rein in, preferring instead to profit from the booty.

The coast gains renown as the Barbary Coast.

The Ottomans conclude an unofficial armistice with Austria in 1553, recalling their main army for a new campaign in the protracted Turko-Persian War that had begun in 1526.

The Austrians unsuccessfully attempt a diplomatic annexation of the disputed Austrian Hungary.

The Ottomans' annual campaign finally secures their influence over Transylvania (which had fallen under Habsburg control for a time) in 1556, while failing to gain any ground on the western front, being tied down in the second (after 1555) unsuccessful siege of the southwestern Hungarian border castle of Szigetvár.