Battle of Mohács and the Ottoman conquest of Hungary
- Date
- 29 August 1526
- Category
- Military & conflict
- Region
- Kingdom of Hungary
- Era
- Early Modern
- Significance
On 29 August 1526 Suleiman the Magnificent destroyed the army of King Louis II of Hungary at Mohács. The Ottoman force of around 45,000, with disciplined janissaries and massed artillery, overwhelmed the Hungarian host within hours; the young king drowned while fleeing the field.
The battle effectively ended the independent medieval Kingdom of Hungary. In its aftermath Hungary was partitioned: the Ottomans absorbed the central plains, the Habsburgs claimed the west and north, and a vassal principality of Transylvania emerged in the east. Mohács pushed the Ottoman frontier deep into Central Europe and set the stage for direct conflict with the Habsburg dynasty, including the sieges of Vienna. For Hungarians the battle became a national catastrophe and a lasting symbol of lost statehood, while for the Ottomans it marked the high tide of their advance into the heart of Europe.
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Empires active in 29 August 1526
- Songhai Empire1464 CE – 1591 CE
- Ming Dynasty1368 CE – 1644 CE
- Inca Empire1438 CE – 1533 CE
- Ottoman Empire1299 CE – 1922 CE
- Solomonic dynasty1270 CE – 1974 CE
- Mughal Empire1526 CE – 1857 CE
Related military & conflict events
- Defenestration of Prague and the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War23 May 1618
- Fall of Beijing and the Ming–Qing transition1644
- First Battle of Panipat and the founding of the Mughal Empire21 April 1526
- First Ottoman Siege of Vienna27 September – 15 October 1529
- Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire1532–1533
- Fall of Tenochtitlan and conquest of the Aztec Empire13 August 1521
Further reading
The wider story
Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire
Fast-paced narrative of Portugal's seaborne empire.
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