Conquests in Europe in 1522 Upon succeeding his father, Suleiman began a series of military conquests, eventually leading to a revolt led by the Ottoman-appointed governor of
Damascus in 1521. Suleiman soon made preparations for the
conquest of Belgrade from the
Kingdom of Hungary—something his great-grandfather
Mehmed II had failed to achieve because of
John Hunyadi's strong defense in the region. Its capture was vital in removing the Hungarians and Croats who, following the defeats of the
Albanians,
Bosniaks,
Bulgarians,
Byzantines and the
Serbs, remained the only formidable force who could block further Ottoman gains in Europe. Suleiman encircled
Belgrade on 28 August 1521, with 250,000 Turkish soldiers and over 100 ships. and began a series of heavy bombardments from an island in the
Danube. Belgrade was made the seat of the
Pashalik of Belgrade (also known as the Sanjak of Smederevo), and quickly became the second largest Ottoman town in Europe at over 100,000 people, surpassed only by
Constantinople. The road to Hungary and Austria lay open, but Suleiman turned his attention instead to the Eastern
Mediterranean island of
Rhodes, the home base of the
Knights Hospitaller. Suleiman built a large fortification,
Marmaris Castle, that served as a base for the
Ottoman Navy. Following a five-month
siege, Rhodes capitulated and Suleiman allowed the
Knights of Rhodes to depart. The conquest of the island cost the Ottomans 50,000 to 60,000 While Suleiman was campaigning in Hungary,
Turkmen tribes in central Anatolia (in
Cilicia) revolted under the leadership of
Kalender Çelebi. Some Hungarian nobles proposed that
Ferdinand, who was the ruler of neighboring Austria and tied to Louis II's family by marriage, be King of Hungary, citing previous agreements that the
Habsburgs would take the Hungarian throne if Louis died without heirs. the Austrians inflicted the first defeat on Suleiman, sowing the seeds of a bitter Ottoman–Habsburg rivalry that lasted until the 20th century. His second attempt to conquer Vienna failed in 1532, as Ottoman forces were delayed by the
siege of Güns and failed to reach Vienna. In both cases, the Ottoman army was plagued by bad weather, forcing them to leave behind essential siege equipment, and was hobbled by overstretched supply lines. In 1533 the
Treaty of Constantinople was signed by Ferdinand I, in which he acknowledged Ottoman suzerainty and recognised Suleiman as his "father and suzerain", he also agreed to pay an annual tribute and accepted the Ottoman grand vizier as his brother and equal in rank. of Hungary with Suleiman in 1556 By the 1540s, a renewal of the conflict in Hungary presented Suleiman with the opportunity to avenge the defeat suffered at Vienna. In 1541, the Habsburgs attempted to lay siege to Buda but were repulsed, and more Habsburg fortresses were captured by the Ottomans in two consecutive campaigns in 1541 and 1544 as a result, by
Johann Peter Krafft, 1825 Suleiman, set out on his 13th expedition,
Siege of Szigetvár on 1 May 1566, at the age of 72, after an absence of approximately 13 years. The Ottoman army, which arrived in Belgrade on 27 June and was joined by Sigismund Zapolya's forces, arrived in
Szigetvár on 2 August. Suleiman arrived at the siege on 5 August and settled in his tent on a hill from which the siege could be seen. On 6 September, Suleiman died in his tent, one day before the fall of Szigetvár. His death was kept secret with great effort, with only the Sultan's innermost circle knowing of his demise. This was because the Ottomans feared that their soldiers would give up the battle if they knew that their leader had died, so his death was kept secret for 48 days. A courier was dispatched from the camp with a message for Suleiman's successor,
Selim II.
Ottoman–Safavid War , summer 1554 Suleiman's father had made war with Persia a high priority. At first, Suleiman shifted attention to Europe and was content to contain
Persia, which was preoccupied by its own enemies to its east. After Suleiman stabilized his European frontiers, he now turned his attention to Persia, the base for the rival
Shia Muslim faction. The
Safavid dynasty became the main enemy after two episodes. First, Shah
Tahmasp killed the
Baghdad governor loyal to Suleiman, and put his own man in. Second, the governor of
Bitlis had defected and sworn allegiance to the Safavids. In 1535 Suleiman made a grand entrance into Baghdad. He enhanced his local support by restoring the tomb of
Abu Hanifa, the founder of the
Hanafi school of Islamic law to which the Ottomans adhered. Attempting to defeat the Shah once and for all, Suleiman embarked upon a second campaign in 1548–1549. As in the previous attempt, Tahmasp avoided confrontation with the Ottoman army and instead chose to retreat, using scorched earth tactics in the process and exposing the Ottoman army to the harsh winter of the
Caucasus. under Suleiman, (in red and orange) including
Ottoman vassals. In 1553, Suleiman began his third and final campaign against the Shah. Having initially lost territories in
Erzurum to the Shah's son, Suleiman retaliated by recapturing Erzurum, crossing the Upper Euphrates and laying waste to parts of Persia. The Shah's army continued its strategy of avoiding the Ottomans, leading to a stalemate from which neither army made any significant gain. In 1555, a settlement known as the
Peace of Amasya was signed, which defined the borders of the two empires. By this treaty, Armenia and Georgia were divided equally between the two, with
Western Armenia, western
Kurdistan, and western Georgia (incl. western
Samtskhe) falling in Ottoman hands while
Eastern Armenia, eastern Kurdistan, and eastern Georgia (incl. eastern Samtskhe) stayed in Safavid hands. The Ottoman Empire obtained most of
Iraq, including Baghdad, which gave them access to the
Persian Gulf, while the Persians retained their former capital
Tabriz and all their other northwestern territories in the Caucasus and as they were prior to the wars, such as
Dagestan and all of what is now
Azerbaijan.
Campaigns in the Indian Ocean in the 16th century Ottoman ships had been sailing in the
Indian Ocean since the year 1518. Ottoman
admirals such as
Hadim Suleiman Pasha,
Seydi Ali Reis and
Kurtoğlu Hızır Reis are known to have voyaged to the
Mughal imperial ports of
Thatta,
Surat and
Janjira. The Mughal Emperor
Akbar the Great himself is known to have exchanged six documents with Suleiman the Magnificent. Suleiman led several naval campaigns against the
Portuguese in an attempt to remove them and reestablish trade with the
Mughal Empire.
Aden in
Yemen was captured by the Ottomans in 1538, in order to provide an Ottoman base for raids against Portuguese possessions on the western coast of the Mughal Empire. Sailing on, the Ottomans failed against the Portuguese at the
siege of Diu in September 1538, but then returned to Aden, where they fortified the city with 100 pieces of artillery. From this base, Sulayman Pasha managed to take control of the whole country of Yemen, also taking
Sanaa. From 1526 until 1543, Suleiman stationed over 900 Turkish soldiers to fight alongside the
Somali Adal Sultanate led by
Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi during the
Conquest of Abyssinia. After the
first Ajuran-Portuguese war, the Ottoman Empire would in 1559 absorb the weakened Adal Sultanate into its domain. This expansion furthered Ottoman rule in
Somalia and the
Horn of Africa. This also increased its influence in the Indian Ocean to compete with the Portuguese Empire with its close ally, the
Ajuran Empire. In 1564, Suleiman received an embassy from
Aceh (a sultanate on
Sumatra, in modern
Indonesia), requesting Ottoman support against the Portuguese. As a result, an
Ottoman expedition to Aceh was launched, which was able to provide extensive military support to the Acehnese. The discovery of new maritime trade routes by Western European states allowed them to avoid the Ottoman trade monopoly. The
Portuguese discovery of the
Cape of Good Hope in 1488 initiated
a series of Ottoman-Portuguese naval wars in the Ocean throughout the 16th century. The Ajuran Sultanate allied with the Ottomans defied the Portuguese economic monopoly in the Indian Ocean by employing a new coinage which followed the Ottoman pattern, thus proclaiming an attitude of economic independence in regard to the Portuguese.
Mediterranean and North Africa defeats the Holy League under the command of
Andrea Doria at the
Battle of Preveza in 1538 from the 1530s. Having consolidated his conquests on land, Suleiman was greeted with the news that the fortress of
Koroni in
Morea (the modern
Peloponnese, peninsular Greece) had been lost to
Charles V's admiral,
Andrea Doria. The presence of the Spanish in the Eastern Mediterranean concerned Suleiman, who saw it as an early indication of Charles V's intention to rival Ottoman dominance in the region. Recognizing the need to reassert naval preeminence in the Mediterranean, Suleiman appointed an exceptional naval commander in the form of
Khair ad Din, known to Europeans as Barbarossa. Once appointed admiral-in-chief, Barbarossa was charged with rebuilding the Ottoman fleet. In 1535, Charles V led a Holy League of 26,700 soldiers (10,000 Spaniards, 8,000 Italians, 8,000 Germans, and 700 Knights of St. John) In August 1551, Ottoman naval commander
Turgut Reis attacked and
captured Tripoli, which had been a possession of the Knights of Malta since 1530. In 1553, Turgut Reis was nominated commander of
Tripoli by Suleiman, making the city an important center for
piratical raids in the Mediterranean and the capital of the Ottoman province of
Tripolitania. In 1560, a powerful naval force was sent to recapture Tripoli, but that force was defeated in the
Battle of Djerba. Elsewhere in the Mediterranean, when the Knights Hospitallers were re-established as the
Knights of Malta in 1530, their actions against Muslim navies quickly drew the ire of the Ottomans, who assembled another massive army in order to dislodge the Knights from Malta. The Ottomans invaded Malta in 1565, undertaking the
Great Siege of Malta, which began on 18 May and lasted until 8 September, and is portrayed vividly in the frescoes of
Matteo Perez d'Aleccio in the Hall of St. Michael and St. George. At first, it seemed that this would be a repeat of the battle on Rhodes, with most of Malta's cities destroyed and half the Knights killed in battle; but a relief force from Spain entered the battle, resulting in the loss of 10,000 Ottoman troops and the victory of the local Maltese citizenry. ==Legal and political reforms==