The New Sultan
Suleiman the Magnificent succeeded his father Selim I in 1520, at twenty-six. He had already gained wide fame for valor in war, loyalty in friendship and skill in governing the Ottoman provinces. His pleasant face and courteous manner won him a warm welcome in a Constantinople tired of the grim looks of Selim. An Italian historian who met him shortly after his accession described him as tall, strong and muscular, with a very long neck, a very aquiline nose, a thin beard and mustache, a yellowish, sickly complexion and a grave, calm look, more like a student than a sultan. Eight years later another Italian wrote that he was pale as a dead man, melancholy, very fond of women, liberal, proud, hasty, yet sometimes very gentle and kind.
Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, the Habsburg ambassador to the Sublime Porte, wrote of the Habsburgs' most stubborn enemy with full sympathy. He had always shown a prudent and moderate character, and even in youth, which in the opinion of the Turks excuses every sin, his life had been free of fault, for from the first he avoided drinking and the other unnatural habits common among the Turks. Those who always looked for flaws in his conduct could charge him with nothing worse than excessive attachment to his wife. Since the time he chose his lawful wife he had remained entirely faithful to her, though no law forbade him concubines and mistresses.
It should be said, though it sounds flattering, that Suleiman was undoubtedly the greatest and most high-minded Ottoman sultan, in ability, wisdom and character no less than any great ruler of his time, although we see that he was sometimes guilty of cruelty, jealousy and vengefulness. Let us now look, as spectators from the long view of history, with complete impartiality, at his dealings with Christendom.
Nine Hundred Years of Conflict
The military quarrel between Christianity and Islam was by then nine hundred years old. It began when the Muslim Arabs took Syria from the Byzantine empire (634) and was lengthened by the Arabs' yearly advances, by the Crusades and by the Moorish conquest of Spain. Christendom had made up for Islam's advances in the first Crusades, wars that hid the economic aims and political crimes of both sides under a cloak of slogans and religious zeal. Islam then took its revenge by capturing Constantinople and the Balkans. Spain drove out the Moors. Pope after pope called new Crusades against the Turks. Selim I vowed to build a mosque in Rome. Francis I declared to the Western nations that they must uproot the Ottoman state and share its wealth as spoil.
This plan was halted by religious strife in Germany, by the revolt of Spain against Charles V and by Francis's own change of mind, when he thought of asking Suleiman for help to bring down Charles V. Just as Lutheranism owed its success to Suleiman, perhaps Suleiman was saved from his predicament by Luther.
Belgrade and Rhodes
Every state tries to extend its frontiers, both to add to its wealth and revenues and to place wide defensive lands between its borders and its capital. Suleiman considered attack the best defense. In 1521 he took the Hungarian strongholds at Sabac and Belgrade, and after securing his western flank he turned his forces against Rhodes. There the Christians under the Knights Hospitaller had prepared a strong fortress, and in Suleiman's eyes this was a dangerous place for foreigners in a sea that belonged entirely to the Ottoman state.
In truth, the raiding ships of the Christian knights in one corner of the Mediterranean did to Muslim trade what the corsairs of Algiers did to Christian trade in another. When Muslims were captured in these knightly raids, they were usually put to death. Ships carrying pilgrims to Mecca were often stopped on the pretext that they might have hostile intentions. One Christian historian writes that Suleiman had no reason or excuse to attack Rhodes. A distinguished English historian adds that the common good lay in the island's joining the Turkish realm.
Suleiman began the attack with 300 ships and 200,000 troops. The defenders, under their grand master, Philippe de Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, fought the besiegers for a hundred and forty-five days and finally surrendered on honorable terms. The knights and their fighting men would leave the island safely within ten days, the remaining inhabitants would have complete religious freedom and they would be exempt from tribute for five years. On Christmas Day Suleiman asked to see the grand master. He comforted him, praised his brave defense and gave him fine gifts. After he left, Suleiman told his grand vizier Ibrahim Pasha how much it grieved him to have to drive that old Christian from his home and belongings.
On 1 January 1523 the knights sailed for Crete, and eight years later they left it and made their permanent home on the island of Malta. But the sultan stained his victory, for he had the son and grandson of Prince Jem, who had become Christians, put to death so that they could not later be used by his enemies, like their father, as claimants to the Ottoman throne.
Mohacs, 1526
Early in 1525 Suleiman received a letter from Francis I, then Charles V's prisoner, in which the French king asked him to attack Hungary and then hurry to his rescue. The sultan answered: "Our horse is saddled and our sword is at our side." In fact Suleiman had long since decided to attack Hungary. In April 1526 he set out with 100,000 troops and 300 cannon. Pope Clement VII called on the Christian rulers to help the threatened country. Luther advised the Protestant princes of Germany not to move, since the Turks seemed to be messengers sent by God and resisting them was resisting God. Charles stayed in Spain.
The defeat of the Hungarian army at Mohacs was a moral and material defeat for Christendom. If Catholics, Protestants, emperor and pope had cooperated, Hungary might have recovered from this terrible blow. Instead, in the book's account, Lutheran leaders celebrated the Turkish victory. The book also adds that the Turkish army plundered Rome, which appears to be a confusion with the imperial sack of Rome in 1527.
The Siege of Vienna, 1529
In 1529 Suleiman besieged Vienna with 200,000 troops. Count Niklas von Salm, whom Ferdinand had put in charge of the city's defense, could see from the tower of St Stephen's Church the plains and hills around the city black with Ottoman tents, equipment and soldiers. This time Luther called on his followers to join the besieged, since he saw clearly that if Vienna fell the Turks' next target would be Germany. Throughout Europe it was rumored that Suleiman had vowed to force all Europe to accept the one true religion, Islam.
The Turkish sappers dug tunnel after tunnel to blow up a part of the city wall. But the defenders placed vessels of water at critical points and watched the tremors on the surface of the water to detect the underground work. Winter came, and the sultan's lines of communication could not supply provisions over so long a distance. On 14 October Suleiman urged his troops to a final decisive effort and promised them large rewards, but the men were worn out in spirit and body. The attack was repulsed with heavy losses, and Suleiman sadly ordered a retreat.
It was his first defeat. Even so, he still held half of Hungary and carried the royal crown of St Stephen back to Constantinople. He made his people understand that he had returned without victory because Ferdinand, by taking shelter in Prague, had refused to face him, and he swore that he would soon take Charles himself prisoner, who had dared to call himself emperor, and snatch from him the mastery of the West.
The Campaign of 1532
The West took his words seriously and Rome trembled. Clement VII, this time resolved to act decisively, even made his cardinals raise money to build fortifications at Ancona and other ports that the Ottomans might attack to enter Italy. In April 1532 Suleiman again set out westward. His departure from the capital was a spectacle. A hundred and twenty cannon went in front of the army, followed by 8,000 Janissaries, the best of the Ottoman army, in formation. A thousand camels carried supplies and 2,000 chosen horsemen guarded the sacred banner bearing the Prophet's eagle. Thousands of captive Christian boys, in gold-woven clothes and red caps with plumes, performed martial exercises with lances. The sultan's attendants were tall, handsome men, and among them Suleiman rode a chestnut horse, in a purple velvet robe embroidered with gold flowers and a white turban set with jewels. Behind him marched soldiers numbering 200,000. Who could withstand such splendor and power? Only the elements and distance.
To meet the flood of Turkish troops, Charles bestirred himself and, after much pleading, got the Imperial Diet to fund 40,000 men and 8,000 horses. With his brother Ferdinand he gathered another 30,000 soldiers and took a position at Vienna with this army of 78,000, waiting for the attackers. But the sultan was delayed in taking the small town of Guns, a strong place defended by only 700 men. For three weeks that handful repelled all Turkish attacks. Eleven times the Turks made a breach in the wall, and eleven times the defenders filled it with metal, corpses and despair.
At last Suleiman sent a letter of safe conduct and hostages to the commander, Nikola Jurisic, and invited him to talks. Jurisic accepted and was honored by the sultan and his grand vizier. Suleiman gave him a robe of honor and with a sad air praised his courage and skill, promising to give up the attack on the town. He sent him back to his fortress with an escort of Turkish officers. The torrent of the Turkish army, held up by 700 men, moved on toward Vienna.
But at Vienna also Suleiman did not find his prey. Charles would by no means come out to fight, nor did he commit the madness of risking his strong defensive position in the gamble of battle. Suleiman, seeing that he had not taken Vienna when it had no emperor or fixed king and only 20,000 men to defend it, gave up fighting an army of 78,000 led by a young commander who had told his people he would welcome death in that war with open arms, as the noblest aim of a true Christian in this world. The sultan turned back, plundering Styria and Lower Austria and taking scattered captives to make up for his failure. Meanwhile he received bad news. While he was marching uselessly back and forth in Hungary, Andrea Doria had taken advantage of the chance to push the Ottoman ships back and take Patras and Coron on the Peloponnesian coast.
Peace Treaties and the Capitulations
When Ferdinand sent an envoy to Constantinople to propose peace, Suleiman received him warmly and said he was ready to conclude peace, "but not for twenty-five years or a hundred, but for two centuries, three centuries, or indeed forever" provided Ferdinand did not break his word. He said he would regard Ferdinand as his son. Still, for his consent Suleiman demanded a high price: Ferdinand must present the keys of the city of Gran as a sign of submission and respect. Ferdinand and Charles, who wanted to turn their forces against Christians at all costs, were ready to compromise with the Ottomans. Ferdinand presented the keys, called himself Suleiman's son and recognized the sultan's rule over most of Hungary (22 June 1533). No peace was made with Charles. Suleiman retook Patras and Coron, still cherishing the dream of planting one foot in Vienna and the other in Tabriz.
Suleiman took Tabriz and turned west again (1536), set theology aside and agreed to help Francis I in another war against Charles. The alliance treaty between Suleiman and the French king was drawn up on very friendly terms. Charles V, emperor of Spain, would have to give up Genoa, Milan and Flanders to France so that France and the Ottomans would make peace with him. French merchants would be allowed to sail and trade throughout the Ottoman empire, and in return the Turks would have equal conditions and rights. French consuls in the Ottoman empire would have legal authority in civil and criminal matters over all Frenchmen residing there, and French subjects would enjoy complete religious freedom.
The "Capitulations" became a model for all later treaties that Christian states made with Eastern countries.
Holy Leagues and the Peace of Prague
Charles also formed a triple alliance of his empire, Venice and the papal state, and Ferdinand joined them. Venice served for a short time as the alliance's shield against the Turkish attack, lost its possessions in the Aegean and on the coast of Dalmatia and had to accept a separate peace (1540). The next year Suleiman's client ruler at Buda died, and Suleiman annexed Hungary to the Ottoman empire. Ferdinand sent an envoy to Turkey to ask for peace, and another to Iran to urge the shah to attack the Ottomans.
In 1543 Suleiman marched west and took Gran and Szekesfehervar, annexing more of Hungary to the pashalik of Buda. In 1547, because he was busy with war against Iran, he made a five-year truce with the West, which both sides broke. Pope Paul IV asked the Ottomans for military help to crush Philip II, who had a stronger claim to the papacy than the popes themselves.
With the deaths of Francis and Charles, Ferdinand was free to extend his hand for peace to the Ottoman sultan. In the Peace of Prague (1562) Ferdinand recognized Suleiman's rule over Hungary and Moldavia, promised to pay 30,000 ducats in tribute annually and to pay in cash another 90,000 ducats for the arrears of past tribute.
Two years later Ferdinand joined his brother in death. Suleiman lived on in power after the death of all his great enemies and several popes. He now ruled Egypt, North Africa, Asia Minor, Palestine, Syria, the Balkans and Hungary. The Ottoman navy ruled the Mediterranean, and the Turkish army had shown its courage and fighting skill to East and West alike. The Ottoman state had shown it was no less than its rivals in statecraft and foreign policy. Christians had lost Rhodes, the Aegean and Hungary and had been forced to sign a humiliating treaty. The Ottomans now held in Europe and Africa, if not in the whole world, the strongest political power.