Early Modern Wars 1500–1775

By Amber Books Ltd

The Early Modern era was a transformative period in the history of warfare. Armies became larger and increasingly professionalized, while gunpowder weaponry changed warfare forever with new firearms and artillery. The Early Modern Wars 1500–1775 – the third volume in the Encyclopedia of Warfare Series – charts this explosive era of invasion, revolt and civil war. A chronological guide to conflict on every continent, including the wars of the Ottoman Empire, the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) that decimated much of central Europe and the Seven Years’ War that saw some of Frederick the Great’s most famous victories, this volume gives a comprehensive guide to wars from throughout the period, covering the battlegrounds both on land and at sea. Featuring full colour maps illustrating the formations and strategies used, plus narrative descriptions of the circumstances behind each battle, this is a comprehensive guide to the conflicts of the early modern world. The Encyclopedia of Warfare Series is an authoritative compendium of almost five millennia of conflict, from the ancient world to the Arab Spring. Written in a style accessible to both the student and the general enthusiast, it reflects the latest thinking among military historians and will prove an indispensible reference guide.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Amber Books Ltd
• Release date: Sep 16, 2013
• ISBN: 9781782741213

Book preview

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WARFARE

EARLY MODERN WARS

1500–1775

This digital edition first published in 2013

Published by

Amber Books Ltd

74–77 White Lion Street

London N1 9PF

United Kingdom

Website: www.amberbooks.co.uk

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Publishing Manager: Charles Catton

Project Editors: Sarah Uttridge and Michael Spilling

Design Manager: Mark Batley

Design: Colin Hawes, Andrew Easton and Rick Fawcett

Cartographer: Alexander Swanston at Red Lion Media

Consulting Editors: Marcus Cowper and Chris McNab

Proofreader: Alison Worthington and David Worthington

Indexers: Malcolm Henley, Michael Forder and Penny Brown

With thanks to Patrick Mulrey, Ben Way and Martin Dougherty

for their assistance

Copyright © 2013 Amber Books Ltd

ISBN: 978-1-78274-121-3

All rights reserved. With the exception of quoting brief passages for the purpose of review no part of this publication may be reproduced without prior written permission from the publisher. The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. All recommendations are made without any guarantee on the part of the author or publisher, who also disclaim any liability incurred in connection with the use of this data or specific details.

www.amberbooks.co.uk

Titles available in the Encyclopedia of Warfare series:

Ancient Wars

c.2500BCE–500CE

Medieval Wars

500–1500

Early Modern Wars

1500–1775

Revolutionary Wars

1775–c.1815

Imperial Wars

1815–1914

World Wars

1914–1945

Modern Wars

1945–Present

CONTENTS

OTTOMAN WARS 1500–1775

ITALIAN WARS 1495–1504

INDIAN AND SOUTH-EAST ASIAN WARS 1500–1775

WAR OF THE LEAGUE OF CAMBRAI 1508–1516

FOURTH RUSSIAN LITHUANIAN WAR 1512–22

SLOVENIAN PEASANT REVOLT 1515

SPANISH CONQUEST OF LATIN AMERICA 1520–1680

Spanish Conquest of the Yucatán

ITALIAN WARS 1521–59

War of the League of Cognac

GERMAN PEASANTS’ WAR 1524–25

SCOTTISH INTERNAL CONFLICTS 1526–1603

JAPANESE INTERNAL CONFLICTS 1526–55

ETHIOPIAN-ADAL WAR 1529–43

SWISS WARS 1529–31

POLISH-MOLDAVIAN WARS 1531

UPRISING IN ENGLAND 1536–37

REBELLION IN POLAND 1537

SWEDISH UPRISING 1542–43

ANGLO-SCOTTISH CONFLICTS 1542–1688

ITALIAN WARS 1542–46

SCHMALKALDIC WAR 1546–47

PRAYER BOOK REBELLION 1549

RUSSO-LIVONIAN WARS 1554–1656

JAPANESE WARS 1560–1615

SINHALESE–PORTUGUESE WAR 1562–1638

FRENCH RELIGIOUS WARS 1562–1628

NORTHERN SEVEN YEARS’ WAR 1563–70

IRISH INTERNAL CONFLICTS 1565–80

ISLAMIC INVASION OF INDIA 1565

PERSIAN INVASION OF GEORGIA 1567

REVOLTS IN PHILIPPINES 1567–1601

REVOLT IN GRANADA 1568

EIGHTY YEARS’ WAR 1568–1648

REVOLT IN ENGLAND 1569–70

UNREST IN RUSSIA 1570

RUSSO-TURKISH WAR 1570–74

REVOLT IN THE BALKANS 1573

MUGHAL CONQUESTS 1573–75

DANZIG REBELLION 1577

PORTUGUESE INVASION OF MOROCCO 1578

STRUGGLES FOR THE PORTUGUESE THRONE 1580

RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN SIBERIA

ANGLO-SPANISH WARS 1587–96

JAPANESE INVASION OF KOREA (IMJIN WAR) 1592–98

ANGLO-IRISH WARS 1595–1602

REVOLT IN FINLAND/SWEDEN 1596

POLISH-SWEDISH CONFLICTS 1598–1658

AFRICAN WARS 1599–1764

Tunisia

BALKAN WARS 1599–1600

AMERICAN COLONIES/FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 1622–1774

American Colonies/French and Indian War 1754–1774

THE BRITISH IN INDIA 1600–22

DUTCH-PORTUGESE WAR 1602–54

POLISH-RUSSIAN CONFLICT 1605–60

IRANIAN CONFLICTS 1609–25 94

KALMAR WAR 1611–13

ICELAND 1615

VENETIAN NAVAL CONFLICTS 1618–1700

THIRTY YEARS’ WAR 1618–48

MANCHU INVASION OF KOREA, 1627

VIETNAM 1627–1775

COSSACK UPRISING 1630–59

PIRACY, 1631

FRANCO-SPANISH WAR 1635–59

BISHOPS’ WARS 1639–40

THE FIRST ENGLISH CIVIL WAR 1642–46

The Civil War in Scotland

CHINESE QING DYNASTY WARS 1644–83

INDIAN AND SOUTH-EAST ASIAN WARS 1646–1740

AFRICAN COLONIAL WARS 1647

SECOND ENGLISH CIVIL WAR 1648–51

REVOLT IN POLAND 1651

ANGLO-DUTCH WARS 1652–74

REVOLT IN TAIWAN 1652

REBELLION IN FRANCE 1652

REVOLT IN SWITZERLAND 1653

INTERNAL CONFLICT IN SWITZERLAND 1655–1712

NORTHERN WARS 1656–77

DANO-SWEDISH WAR 1658–60

SCOTTISH-COVENANTER WARS 1666–79

MUGHAL EMPIRE 1671

THE FRANCO-DUTCH WAR 1672–79

POLISH-OTTOMAN WAR 1672–76

LIPKA REBELLION

RUSSO-TURKISH WAR 1676–81

STREITSI UPRISING 1682

MONMOUTH REBELLION 1685

WAR OF THE GRAND ALLIANCE 1688–97

WAR OF THE GLORIOUS REVOLUTION 1689–92

CHINESE-MONGOLIAN CONFLICT 1696

PERSIAN AFGHAN WARS 1700–50

GREAT NORTHERN WAR 1700–21

WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION 1701–14

HUNGARIAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE 1705

BULAVIN REBELLION 1707–08

JACOBITE REBELLIONS 1715 AND 1745–46

WAR OF THE QUADRUPLE ALLIANCE 1718–20

JACOBITE RISINGS 1719–46

WAR OF THE POLISH SUCCESSION 1733–35

WAR OF JENKINS’ EAR 1739–48

WAR OF THE AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION 1740–48

INDIAN AND SOUTH-EAST ASIAN WARS 1750–75

SEVEN YEARS’ WAR 1756–63

RUSSO-TURKISH WAR 1768

KOLIYIVSHCHYNA UPRISING 1768–69

PRELUDE TO AMERICAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE 1770

RUSSO-POLISH CONFLICTS 1771

PUGACHEV’S REBELLION 1774–75

AUTHORS AND CONTRIBUTORS

HOW TO USE THE MAPS

KEY TO THE MAP SYMBOLS

GENERAL INDEX

MAPS

Diu, 1509,

Rhodes, 1522

Mohács, 1526

Vienna, 1529

Malta, 1565

Lepanto, 1571

Khotyn, 1621

Safavid Empire, c.1660

Zenta, 1697

Garigliano, 1503

Panipat, 1526

Panipat II, 1556

Ravenna, 1512

Novara, 1513

Flodden, 1513

Orsha, 1514

Tenochtitlán, 1519–21

Cortes’ Conquest of the Aztecs, 1519–21

End of the Incas, 1524–1566

Bicocca, 1522

Pavia, 1525

Ceresole, 1544

Langside, 1568

Pinkie Cleugh, 1547

Mühlberg, 1547

Prayer Book Rebellion, 1549

Sampford Courtenay, 1549

Kawanakajima, 1561

Anegawa, 1570

Nagashino, 1575

Japan, c. 1580–1600

Takamatsu Castle, 1582

Sekigahara, 1600

Dreux, 1562

Coutras, 1587

Morisco Revolt, 1568

Eighty Years’ War, 1568–1648

Habsburg Empire, c.1600

Nieuwpoort, 1600

Spanish Armada, 1588

The Downs, 1639

Sacheon, 1592

Hansando, 1592

Chinju, 1592

Anglo-Irish Wars, 1595–1602

Yellow Ford, 1598

Kinsale, 1601–02

Kircholm, 1605

Swedish Empire, 1600–60

King Philip’s War, 1675–76

French-Indian Wars, 1755

Fort Necessity, 1754

Fort William Henry, 1757

Louisbourg, 1758

Ticonderoga, 1759

Quebec, 1759

Klushino, 1610

Thirty Years War, 1618–48

Breitenfeld, 1631

Lutzen, 1643

Nördlingen, 1634

Rocroi, 1643

Trinh-Nguyen War, 1627–73

Dunes, 1658

Bishop’s Wars, 1639–40

Edgehill, 1642

English Civil War, 1642–43

English Civil War, 1643–44

Marston Moor, 1644

Newbury II, 1644

Naseby, 1645

Qing Dynasty, 1644–1683

Ulan Butung, 1690

Preston, 1648

Worcester, 1651

Anglo-Dutch Wars, 1652–77

Gabbard Shoal, 1653

Medway, 1667

Nyborg, 1659

Sinsheim, 1674

Khotyn, 1673

Boyne River, 1690

Culloden, 1746

Fleurus, 1690

Jao Modo, 1696

Narva, 1700

Poltava, 1709

Stralsund, 1715

War of Spanish Succession, 1701–1714

Blenheim, 1704

Ramillies, 1706

Oudenarde, 1708

Malplaquet, 1709

War of Jenkins’ Ear, 1739–48

War of the Austrian Succession, 1740–48

Mollwitz, 1741

Dettingen, 1743

Fontenoy, 1745

Lauffeld, 1747

Plassey, 1757

Seven Years’ War, 1756–63

Minorca, 1756

Lobositz, 1756

Prague, 1757

Rossbach, 1757

Leuthen, 1757

Minden, 1759

Quiberon Bay, 1759

Torgau, 1760

FOREWORD TO THE SERIES

by Dennis Showalter

The Encyclopedia of Warfare offers five characteristics justifying its possession. First, it is chronological. Its entries reflect a fundamental characteristic of history. History is linear. It starts somewhere in time. It goes somewhere in time. Its events interact in a temporal context. And the encyclopedia’s chronological perspective enables making connections that otherwise might remain obscure. It contextualizes, for example, the 1147 siege of Lisbon with the Crusader-Turkish wars of the same period – and in the process demonstrating the comprehensive aspect of Christian–Muslim rivalry. Lisbon was far from Jerusalem only in terms of miles.

The encyclopedia is also comprehensive. It eschews a Western-centric perspective that too often sacrifices understanding for familiarity. The chronological chapters are subdivided by time and place. Thus they integrate the ancient wars of China and of South and South-East Asia, the battles of early Rome and those of Ireland in the twenty-fifth century BCE (a single entry, to be sure, but meriting consideration!) Cross-referencing cannot be easier. And that cross referencing enables not merely juxtaposition, but comparison on a global scale of war’s methods and war’s consequences.

The encyclopedia is concise. Its entries honour a time-tested formula. They address ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘when’, ‘where’, ‘why’, and thereby offer frameworks for further investigation of taproots and ramifications. But that does not mean a ‘one size fits all’ template. Events recognized as important – Hattin, Gettysburg, the Somme – are more fully developed without distorting the essentially economical format. Nor are the entries mere narratives. They incorporate analytical dimensions relative to their length and insightful whether phrases, sentences or paragraphs – like the comment that Crusader Jerusalem’s 1187 surrender to Saladin involved ransoming most of the population ‘at reasonable rates’!

The encyclopedia is user-friendly and clearly written. Not only are its more than five thousand entries individually intelligible. The graphics synergise with the text, enhancing rather than challenging or submerging it. The maps in particular are models of their kind, both accurate and informative.

Finally the encyclopedia is concentrated on warmaking. It eschews military history’s framing concepts, whether economic, cultural or gender, in favour of presenting war at its sharp end. That enables covering the full spectrum: wars and revolutions, campaigns and counter-insurgencies, battle and sieges. And in turn the encyclopedia’s format facilitates integrating, rather than compartmentalising, war’s levels and war’s aspects. In these pages Marathon and Hastings, the rise of the Roman Empire and the British Empire, become subjects for comparison and contrast.

The Encyclopedia of Warfare, in short, admirably fulfills the definition of a work that provides information on many elements of one subject. Its value, however, is also in context. This work makes broader contributions to military history’s reference apparatus, and to its reference mentality, on two levels. The encyclopedia complements the electronic era’s meme of ‘six degrees of separation’. The idea that everything is no more than six steps away from everything else is a natural byproduct of websurfing, where a half-dozen mouse clicks can lead far away indeed from the original reference point. It also encourages diffusion: engagement on peripheries at the expense of the centre.

The Encyclopedia of Warfare encourages and facilitates refocusing on war’s essential elements: the planning, conduct and result of using armed force. Diffusion is a natural aspect of the currently dominant approach to military history as an academic discipline. The concept of pivotal events has been overshadowed by an emphasis on underlying structures: reaching out from the operational towards the institutional, the political and the social dimensions. War’s sharp end at best jostles for place. It can lose out to an intellectual disdain that is also aesthetic and moral. Warfare, in the sense of making war, is arguably to the twenty-first century what sex allegedly was to the Victorians. It involves emotions nice people do not feel and actions nice people do not perform. Writing about it becomes the new pornography, pandering to appetites best left neither nurtured nor acknowledged.

The encyclopedia contributes balance and perspective to this discourse. Its contents reinforce the specific, unique nature and function of armed forces compared to any other institutions. Its entries demonstrate that warmaking has had a direct, significant impact on human affairs; that combat has fundamentally altered history’s course in both short and long terms. To understand this is to understand the world in which we live. And The Encyclopedia of Warfare enables that understanding in an impressive fashion.

DENNIS SHOWALTER

June 2013

Early Modern Wars 1500–1775

The Early Modern era was a transformative period in the history of warfare. Armies became larger and increasingly professionalized, while gunpowder weaponry introduced firearms and artillery into both naval and land warfare.

Ottoman Wars 1500–1775

■ DIU, 3 FEBRUARY 1509

Aggressive Portuguese expansion in the Indian Ocean during the first decade of the sixteenth century threatened both the balance of power in the region and long-established Ottoman and Mamluk trading interests. This provoked an alliance between the Ottomans, Mamlûks, the Sultanate of Gujarat and the ruler of Calicut, who assembled a fleet of almost 120 vessels to oppose the 18 Portuguese warships under the Viceroy, Dom Francisco de Almeida, which were based at Fort Kochi, southwest India. The Portuguese fleet comprised:

• Five large carracks or naus: Flor de la mar (Viceroy’s flagship), Espírito Santo (Cap Nuno Vaz Pereira), Belém (Jorge de Melo Pereira), Great King (Francisco de Távora) and Great Taforea (Fernão de Magalhães). These were large vessels with high stern and forecastles and usually three masts. The foremast and mainmast were square-rigged, while the mizzenmast was lateen-rigged (triangular sail);

• Four smaller naus (each probably with three masts): Small Taforea (Garcia de Sousa), Santo António (Martim Coelho), Small King (Manuel Teles Barreto) and Andorinho (Dom António de Noronha);

• Four caravelas redondas, three-masted ships with a square foresail and lateen sails on the other two masts. They were probably up to 30m in length and averaged 50 tonnes (captains António do Campo, Pero Cão, Filipe Rodrigues and Rui Soares);

• Two caravelas Latinas (captains Álvaro Peçanha and Luís Preto);

• Two gales, probably two-masted, lateen rigged galleys with 25–30 oars per side, with three men to an oar. Like most galleys, a gale had only forward-firing guns, but could also carry up to 200 troops (captains Paio Rodrigues de Sousa and Diogo Pires de Miranda);

• One bergantim, a smaller, two-masted vessel with a square sail on the foremast and lateen- rigged on the other (captain Simão Martins).

The allied fleet commanded by Ottoman Adm Mir Hussein Pasha included approximately 100 vessels from Gujarat and Calicut, mainly small dhows of limited combat value. Its most effective warships were:

• Four naus from Gujarat

• Four Mamlûk naus

• Two caravelas

• Four galeotas (galliots), small galleys with two lateen-rigged sails and up to 20 oars per side

• Two gales.

Although heavily outnumbered, Almeida’s ships were armed with far more effective cannon than even the best allied vessels, while the 1500 Portuguese troops that it carried were more heavily armed and better armoured than their opponents.

Adm Mir Hussein Pasha deployed the allied fleet in the inner harbour at Diu, covered by shore batteries, which he hoped would offset the superior firepower of the Portuguese vessels. He also relied on the protection given by the narrow channel leading into the harbour, which was notoriously difficult to navigate. However, Almeida captured a local fisherman who agreed to pilot his ships through the harbour approaches. The battle began at about 11:00, when the prevailing winds and the incoming tide were favourable. The Portuguese initially concentrated their fire on the coastal batteries guarding the port and the allied fleet before turning on Mir Hussein Pasha’s ships.

The technological superiority of the state-of- the-art European vessels became obvious as the Portuguese blasted the enemy vessels with cannon fire, before closing in to board, taking two Turkish naus, two Gujarati naus and the two Turkish gales. In addition, two Turkish naus, two Gujarati naus and two Turkish caravelas were sunk. By 17:00, the wind began to change and Almeida ordered his fleet – which had lost no ships – to leave the harbour with their prizes.

■ CHALDIRAN, 23 AUGUST 1514

Sultan Selim I’s 60,000-strong Ottoman army defeated an Iranian army of 55,000 men commanded by Shah Ismail I at Chaldiran in north-western Iran. Selim lost 2000 men, but inflicted 5000 casualties on the Iranians.

■ MARJ-DARBIK, 24 AUGUST 1516

Sultan Selim I’s 65,000-strong Ottoman army defeated a Mamlûk army of 80,000 men commanded by Sultan Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri near Halab in Syria. The Mamlûk army was annihilated, losing 72,000 men, while Ottoman casualties totalled 13,000.

■ RIDANIYA, 22 JANUARY 1517

A Mamlûk force under Sultan Tuman Bay II took up a strong defensive position, which was stormed by Sultan Selim I’s 20,000-strong Ottoman army. The Ottomans lost 6000 men, but inflicted 7000 casualties on the Mamlûks.

■ BELGRADE II, 25 JUNE–29 AUGUST 1521

Suleiman the Magnificent marched along the Danube followed by supply boats. Building a bridge across the Sava failed because of floods, but a bombardment and attack was launched. Belgrade surrendered when a tower was destroyed.

■ RHODES, 26 JUNE–22 DECEMBER 1522

An Ottoman army of 100,000 men commanded by Sultan Suleiman I the Magnificent besieged the Knights Hospitaller’s stronghold of Rhodes, which was defended by a garrison of 7500 men under Grand Master Philippe Villiers de L’Isle-Adam.

The Turks blockaded the harbour and subjected the city to repeated artillery bombardments, followed by almost daily infantry attacks. They also attempted to demolish key sectors of the fortifications by mining – on 4 September two mines were detonated under the bastion of England, bringing down a large part of the wall. The Turks stormed this breach, but a counter- attack by the English brothers under Fra’ Nicholas Hussey and the Grand Master drove them back. Further major attacks in September and November were also repulsed, but the city’s supplies were running out and supplies were unable to get through. The Knights surrendered on 22 December after inflicting 50,000 casualties for the loss of 2000 men.

■ MOHÁCS, 29 AUGUST 1526

The Ottoman Empire had been expanding into the Balkans for decades, capturing Belgrade in 1521. In 1526, Sultan Suleiman I the Magnificent advanced northwards towards Budapest with an Ottoman army of 55,000, including Turks, Balkan militia and at least 9000 elite Janissaries. Opposing this army was the Hungarian King Louis II – who was only 19 years old – with an army of 40,000 men consisting of Hungarians, Croatians, Bohemians, Austrians and various European mercenaries. Louis’ field commander was Pál Tomori. The two armies met at Mohács, south of Budapest, to the west of the Danube River. Only part of the Hungarian army arrived on the field in time to take part in the battle, at least 10,000 reinforcements being too late to affect the outcome. Both armies included a mix of heavy and light cavalry, including mounted archers. Both armies also possessed a mix of light and heavy infantry, including some armed with early muskets in the form of arquebuses. The Ottomans had a significant edge in artillery with at least 160 cannon to 85 Hungarian cannon.

Both armies set up encampments, the Ottoman army with the Danube and marshy ground on their right flank, the Hungarian army facing south with the Danube on their left flank. It was late afternoon, but rather than wait for the next day King Louis decided to attack. Ottoman light cavalry manoeuvred towards the Hungarian right and the Hungarians launched a major attack with heavy armoured cavalry against Ottoman Rumelian light cavalry militia on the left of the Ottoman position. The Hungarian attack was successful, driving in the Ottoman left. The Hungarian cavalry then attempted to wheel in and attack the Ottoman centre, but ran into heavy fire from Ottoman artillery, firing stone projectiles for maximum anti-personnel effect. Elite Ottoman Janissaries, armed with arquebuses, provided close-range fire. Mounted Hungarian archers came close enough to fire at Suleiman in the Ottoman centre, one arrow glancing off of the Sultan’s armour. However, the Hungarian attack had become overextended and the horsemen suffered heavy casualties from Ottoman firepower.

With the Hungarian right engaged and out of position, Suleiman attacked the Hungarian left with Turkish regular cavalry, supported by more Janissaries. Ottoman artillery fire aided the progress of this attack. Ottoman cavalry on the left flank rallied and the Hungarian army was soon enveloped on both flanks. Suffering heavy losses, elements of the Hungarian army began to fall back and Pál Tomori was killed while trying to rally the troops. Many Hungarian infantry were trapped in the centre, while mounted troops fled in disorder. King Louis, caught up in the rout, was thrown from his horse while trying to cross marshy ground and fell into a deep creek. Dressed in heavy armour, the young king was drowned. By nightfall the Hungarian army was completely defeated.

Estimates of Hungarian casualties vary, from 14,000 to 20,000 dead. Adding to controversy are estimates of 2000 prisoners executed by the Ottomans after the battle. Estimates of Ottoman casualties also vary, from 1500 to 7000 men. The decisive battle paved the way for the Ottomans to take Budapest and besiege Vienna within three years. Hungary did not exist as fully independent for nearly three centuries after the battle. The death of Louis without an heir meant that the Austrian Habsburg dynasty became the chief claimants to the throne of Hungary.

■ HUNGARIAN CAMPAIGN, 1527–28

Following the battle of Mohács, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent was forced to withdraw his field army from Hungary to counter threats to other provinces of the Ottoman Empire. This gave Archduke Ferdinand of Austria an opportunity to attempt to enforce his claim to the Kingdom of Hungary. In 1527–28 he defeated John Zapolya, the Ottoman-backed claimant to the Hungarian throne and captured Buda (now Budapest), Győr, Komárno, Esztergom and Székesfehérvár.

■ BALKAN CAMPAIGN, 1529

Following Ferdinand I’s daring assault on Ottoman Hungary, Suleiman launched an offensive to take Vienna. The 120,000-strong Ottoman army began its advance on 10 May 1529, taking Buda on 8 September and installing John Zapolya as King of Hungary. Suleiman went on to take Gran, Tata, Komoron and Raab, wiping out much of Ferdinand I’s territorial gains of the previous two years, before besieging Vienna on 27 September.

■ VIENNA I, 27 SEPTEMBER–15 OCTOBER 1529

The Ottoman Empire had won a decisive victory at the battle of Mohács in Hungary in 1526 and controlled most of the Balkans. The Austrian Habsburg Ferdinand I contested the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I the Magnificent for control of Hungary. Suleiman organized a huge Ottoman army in Bulgaria, consisting of Turks, elite Janissaries and various Balkan recruits in order to advance on the Habsburg capital of Vienna. The Ottoman army numbered at least 120,000.

With ample warning of the Ottoman advance, Ferdinand gave command of the Vienna garrison to Wilhelm von Roggendorf, who appointed Niklaus Salm to organize the defence of the city. Salm arrived in Vienna with German mercenary Landsknechts and Spanish musketeers, bringing the total garrison to 23,000. Suleiman’s army was depleted by marches on the way to Vienna, giving an effective Ottoman force of over 80,000. Salm reinforced Vienna’s walls with earthworks, which Ottoman cannon could not breach. The Ottoman besiegers dug mines under the walls to cause a collapse and broad breach. Ottoman mining efforts were detected and sorties at night were made by the garrison, successfully disrupting these efforts. One mine was completed and the Ottomans exploded gunpowder charges under the walls on 9 October, creating a breach. The garrison had detected the mine in time to have reserves of Landsknechts at the breach to meet and repel the Ottoman assault. The Ottoman army, suffering from lack of supplies and disease, launched a final assault in three columns on 14 October. This attack was repulsed and Suleiman decided to break off the siege, having lost 15,000 men. Vienna garrison casualties were light, most losses being among the civilian population.

■ CORON, 1533–34

The Ottoman fortress of Coron (now Koroni) in Messenia, Greece, was captured by Imperialist forces in 1532. The following year, it was besieged by an Ottoman army, which forced the surrender of its Spanish garrison.

■ BAGHDAD, 1534

Suleiman the Magnificent captured Baghdad from the Safavid Dynasty in a bloodless conquest, because its ruler had fled leaving the city undefended. It was a significant strategic and military gain for the ascendant Ottoman Empire.

■ TUNIS, 1535

Holy Roman Emperor Charles V destroyed Hayreddin Barbarossa’s fleet off Tunis after a costly yet successful siege at La Goletta. Tunis fell and a massacre of its inhabitants was carried out. Barbarossa managed to flee to escape to Algiers.

■ PREVESA, 28 SEPTEMBER