The siege of Temesvár was a military conflict between the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...

and the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

in 1552. The siege resulted with a decisive Ottoman victory and Temesvár came under Ottoman control for 164 years.

Background

After the

Battle of Mohács The Battle of Mohács (; hu, mohácsi csata, tr, Mohaç Muharebesi or Mohaç Savaşı) was fought on 29 August 1526 near Mohács, Kingdom of Hungary, between the forces of the Kingdom of Hungary and its allies, led by Louis II, and thos ...

in 1526, the Hungarian Kingdom split into two parts. The western part of the country came under the control of Ferdinand I from the

House of Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

, the eastern side came under the control of

John Zápolya John Zápolya or Szapolyai ( hu, Szapolyai/ Zápolya János, hr, Ivan Zapolja, ro, Ioan Zápolya, sk, Ján Zápoľský; 1490/91 – 22 July 1540), was King of Hungary (as John I) from 1526 to 1540. His rule was disputed by Archduke Fer ...

, a Hungarian noble. Zápolya asked the help of

Suleiman the Magnificent Suleiman I ( ota, سليمان اول, Süleyman-ı Evvel; tr, I. Süleyman; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the West and Suleiman the Lawgiver ( ota, قانونى سلطان سليمان, Ḳ� ...

Ottoman emperor against Ferdinand. After the death of John in 1540, he was succeeded by his one-month-old son,

John Sigismund Zápolya John Sigismund Zápolya or Szapolyai ( hu, Szapolyai János Zsigmond; 7 July 1540 – 14 March 1571) was King of Hungary as John II from 1540 to 1551 and from 1556 to 1570, and the first Prince of Transylvania, from 1570 to his death. He was ...

. Ferdinand in 1541 tried to capture

Buda Buda (; german: Ofen, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Budim, Будим, Czech and sk, Budín, tr, Budin) was the historic capital of the Kingdom of Hungary and since 1873 has been the western part of the Hungarian capital Budapest, on the ...

, the capital, but he was defeated by Suleiman's army. The Ottoman emperor occupied Buda after the victory and sent the young Hungarian king with his court to Lippa (today ''Lipova'', Romania); in 1542 they moved to

Gyulafehérvár Alba Iulia (; german: Karlsburg or ''Carlsburg'', formerly ''Weißenburg''; hu, Gyulafehérvár; la, Apulum) is a city that serves as the seat of Alba County in the west-central part of Romania. Located on the Mureș River in the historical ...

(today ''Alba Iulia'', Romania), which later became the capital of the Principality of Transylvania. Even after this event, Ferdinand didn't give up his dream about the unification of the Hungarian Kingdom under his rule. With

George Martinuzzi George Martinuzzi, O.S.P. (born Juraj Utješenović, also known as György Martinuzzi, Brother György, Georg Utiessenovicz-Martinuzzi or György Fráter, hu, Fráter György; 1482 – 16 December 1551), was a Croatian nobleman, Pauline m ...

's help, the eastern part of the country in 1550 came under Habsburg rule, which caused the attack of the Ottoman army against Hungary. In 1552 two Ottoman armies crossed the border into the Hungarian Kingdom. One of them – led by Hadim Ali Pasha – started a campaign against the western and central part of the country whilst the second army – led by

Kara Ahmed Pasha Kara Ahmed Pasha (executed 29 September 1555) was an Ottoman statesman of Albanian origin. He was Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire between 1553 and 1555.İsmail Hâmi Danişmend, Osmanlı Devlet Erkânı, Türkiye Yayınevi, İstanbul, 1971 ...

– attacked the fortresses in the

Banat Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of T ...

region.

The siege

In the summer of 1552, the Ottomans arrived at Temesvár, which was the most important city in the Banat region. The Ottoman army numbered about 30,000 men, Temesvár was defended only by 1,900 men, 700 of whom were merchants. The Ottoman artillery started destroying the wall on 27 June, then the Ottoman infantry assaulted the wall on 3 July and 6 July, without any success. At the time of the battle, a Hungarian army led by Mihály Tóth tried to liberate the city under the siege, but his army was defeated in the battle of Szentandrás (today

Sânandrei Sânandrei (formerly Sântandraș; hu, Szentandrás; german: Sanktandreas; sr, Светандраш, Svetandraš) is a commune in Timiș County, Romania. It is composed of three villages: Carani, Covaci and Sânandrei. Name Geography Sâna ...

, Romania). The city fell soon after.

Aftermath

After the capture of Temesvár, the sultan established the

Temeşvar Eyalet The Province of Temeşvar ( ota, ;ایالت طمشوار Eyālet-i Tımışvār), known as Province of Yanova after 1658, was a first-level administrative unit (eyalet) of the Ottoman Empire located in the Banat region of Central Europe. B ...

which was composed of four

sanjak Sanjaks (liwāʾ) (plural form: alwiyāʾ) * Armenian language, Armenian: նահանգ (''nahang''; meaning "province") * Bulgarian language, Bulgarian: окръг (''okrǔg''; meaning "county", "province", or "region") * el, Διοίκησι� ...

s. Temesvár remained under Ottoman control even after the

Treaty of Karlowitz The Treaty of Karlowitz was signed in Karlowitz, Military Frontier of Archduchy of Austria (present-day Sremski Karlovci, Serbia), on 26 January 1699, concluding the Great Turkish War of 1683–1697 in which the Ottoman Empire was defeated by the ...

and was recaptured by the Christian forces only in 1717.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Siege of Temesvar (1552) History of Timișoara Temesvár Temesvar Temesvar (1552) 16th century in Hungary 1552 in the Ottoman Empire 1552 in the Habsburg monarchy