The Battle of Szigeth or Battle of Szigetvár is a siege of the Szigeth Fortress in Baranya, which is along Suleiman's planned line of advance towards Vienna.
The battle is fought from August 5 to September 8, 1566, between the defending forces of the Habsburg Monarchy under the leadership of Croatian ban Nicholas Zrinsky (Croatian: Nikola Šubić Zrinski, Hungarian: Zrínyi Miklós), and the invading army of the Ottoman Empire under the nominal command of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.
The battle is an Ottoman victory, with heavy losses on both sides.
Both commanders die during the battle, Zrinsky in the final charge, and Suleiman the Magnificent in his tent from natural causes.
More than twenty thousand Turks fall in the attacks, and almost the entirety of Zrinsky's garrison is wiped out during the final battle.
Although an Ottoman victory, the battle delays the Ottoman push for Vienna this year.
After the battle, its importance is considered so great that the French clergyman and statesman Cardinal Richelieu is reported to have described it as "the battle that saved civilization."
Today, in Hungary and Croatia, the battle is still famous, for inspiring the Hungarian epic poem "Peril of Sziget" (Hungarian: Szigeti veszedelem), written by Zrinsky's great-grandson Nicholas VII of Zrin (Hungarian: VII. Zrínyi Miklós, Croatian: Nikola VII. Zrinski), and the famous Croatian opera "Nikola Šubić Zrinski" by Ivan Zajc.
