Little War in Hungary

Ottoman–Habsburg wars in Hungary (1526–1568)

Date	1526 – 1568
Location	Kingdom of Hungary
Result	Hungary divided into Ottoman and Habsburg spheres of influence, as well as a semi-independent Ottoman vassal state of Transylvania.

Belligerents

Holy Roman Empire

Spain

Moldavia

John Szapolyai's Hungarian kingdom

Wallachia

Commanders and leaders

Archduke Ferdinand I

Ferrante I Gonzaga

Nikola Jurišić

Suleiman the Magnificent

John Szapolyai †

Vlad Vintilă de la Slatina

Peter IV Rareș

Holy Roman Empire

The Habsburgs and their allies and the Ottoman Empire engaged in a series of military campaigns against one another in Hungary between 1526 and 1568. While overall the Ottomans had the upper hand, the war failed to produce any decisive result. The Ottoman army remained very powerful in the open field but it often lost a significant amount of time besieging the many fortresses of the Hungarian frontier and its communication lines were now dangerously overstretched. At the end of the conflict, Hungary had been split into several different zones of control, between the Ottomans, Habsburgs, and Transylvania, an Ottoman vassal state.

Following Suleiman's unsuccessful Siege of Vienna in 1529, Ferdinand I launched a counter-attack in 1530 to regain the initiative and avenge the destruction brought by Suleiman's 120,000 strong army.

Suleiman's response came in 1532 when he led a massive army of over 120,000 troops to besiege Vienna again. Ferdinand withdrew his army, leaving only 700 men with no cannons and a few guns to defend Güns (Kőszeg). In the Siege of Güns, the Grand Vizier of the Ottomans, Ibrahim Pasha, did not realize how poorly defended Koszeg was; in fact Constantinople in 1453 stood a better chance. Nonetheless, under the leadership of Croatian Captain Nikola Jurišić, the city fought off every assault. The exact outcome of the battle is unknown, since it has two versions which differ depending on the source. In the first version Nikola Jurišić rejected the offer to surrender on favourable terms, and in the second version, the city was offered terms for a nominal surrender. In any case, the Ottomans withdrew at the arrival of the August rains. During their retreat, they suffered a defeat at the battle of Leobersdorf against an imperial army led by Frederick II, elector palatine.

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Wikipedia