# Siege of Gyula (1566)

The siege of Gyula was a military siege undertaken by the Ottoman Empire from July to September 1566 on the town of Gyula, situated on the Military Frontier and under Habsburg rule. It was part of the Habsburg–Ottoman war of 1565–1568 and the wider Little War in Hungary. The castle capitulated after two months of resisting the Ottoman attack, making it the longest 16th-century siege in Hungary.

## Background

On 29 August 1526, the forces of the Kingdom of Hungary were defeated at the battle of Mohács by the Ottoman Empire. Both Hungary and Croatia became disputed territories with claims from both the Habsburg and Ottoman empires. On 1 January 1527, the Croatian nobles convened the Parliament at Cetin, unanimously electing Ferdinand I, Archduke of Austria as their king. In return for the throne, Ferdinand promised to defend Croatia from Ottoman invasions.
The siege of Vienna in 1529 was the first attempt by Suleiman the Magnificent to capture the Austrian capital. This siege signalled the pinnacle of Ottoman power and the maximum extent of Ottoman expansion into central Europe. Following this unsuccessful siege, Ferdinand launched a counter-attack in 1530 to regain the initiative. Suleiman's response came in 1532 when he led a massive army of over 120,000 troops to besiege Vienna once more. Ferdinand withdrew his army, leaving only 700 men with no cannons and a few guns to defend Güns. Suleiman came to join him shortly after the siege of Güns had started. The city was offered a surrender on favourable terms and, although the offer was rejected, the Ottomans retreated, leading to a peace treaty between Ferdinand and Suleiman. John Zápolya was recognized as the King of Hungary by the Habsburgs, although as an Ottoman vassal. In 1537, Ferdinand attacked Zápolya's forces at Osijek in violation of the treaty. The siege was a disaster of similar magnitude to that of Mohács, with an Ottoman relief army destroying the Austrian force at Gorjani. Rather than attack Vienna again, Suleiman invaded Otranto in southern Italy. At the naval Battle of Preveza in 1538, the Ottomans inflicted yet another defeat on the Habsburg-led coalition.
A further humiliating defeat was inflicted on the Habsburgs in the 1541 siege of Buda. In April 1543, Suleiman launched another campaign in Hungary, taking back Bran and other forts and returning much of Hungary to Ottoman control. In August 1543, the Ottomans succeeded in the important siege of Esztergom. Another peace agreement between the Habsburgs and the Ottomans lasted until 1552, when Suleiman decided to attack Eger. However, the siege of Eger proved futile, and the Habsburg victory temporarily reversed a period of territorial losses in Hungary. Their retention of Eger gave the Austrians good reason to believe that Hungary was still contested ground and the Ottoman campaign in Hungary ended, until its revival in 1565.

## Siege

Upon learning of the approaching Ottoman army, Emperor Maximilian II began collecting taxes known as Türkensteuer [de] (Turkish taxes) from his subjects in order to create an army that was initially planned to consist of 100,000 soldiers. However, the Turks were not idle and when Maximilian was waiting for the arrival of troops from various corners of his empire, the Ottomans besieged the town of Gyula on 2 or 5 July 1566. Pertev Mehmed Pasha [tr] was sent by Suleiman the Magnificent with 27,000–30,000 men to capture the fortress. The garrison was manned by 2,000 Hungarian, Croatian, and German soldiers under the command of László Kerecsényi [hu]. On 1 or 2 September, the garrison capitulated when the Sanjak-bey of Varat, Yahyalı Mehmed Bey, led a final assault into the fortress after 59 to 63 days of conflict. It was the longest 16th-century siege in Hungary. Meanwhile, Kerecsényi was taken prisoner and executed a year later.