Siege of Eger ( 1552 ) The Siege of Eger occurred during the 16th century Ottoman Wars in Europe . In 1552 the forces of the Ottoman Empire led by Kara Ahmed Pasha laid siege on the Castle of Eger , located in the northern part of the Kingdom of Hungary , but the defenders led by István Dobó repelled the attacks and defended the castle . Later , the siege has become an emblem of national defense and patriotic heroism in Hungary . Background . The Ottoman Sultan , Suleiman the Magnificent , commenced his expansion of the empire in 1520 after the reign of Selim I . He began assaults against Hungarian and Austrian influenced territories , invading Hungarian soil in 1526 . The Hungarian Army was crushed at the Battle of Mohács and the way was paved for an attack on the Danube Basin . The battle also brought about the death of the King of Hungary and Bohemia , Louis II , leading to a disputed claim for the throne . The Austrian Emperor Ferdinand I succeeded to the Bohemian throne but was challenged to the Hungarian throne by the pretender John Zápolya whose claim was backed by nobles and the Sultan . The power struggle continued beyond John ' s death in 1540 when his son , John II Sigismund Zápolya succeeded to the throne . It was not resolved until he renounced the throne in 1570 when he was succeeded by Maximilian I . The Ottomans met resistance during the Siege of Güns ( Kőszeg ) in 1532 , where a force of 800 men under Miklós Jurisich managed to hold back the Ottoman armies . However , this only delayed their campaign by 25 days , and they continued to close in on Buda , finally occupying the capital in 1541 . Buda became the seat of Ottoman rule in the area , with the Ottoman supported John II governing the occupied territories . The loss of Christian forts at Temesvár and Szolnok in 1552 were blamed on mercenary soldiers within the Hungarian ranks . When the Turks turned their attention to the northern Hungarian town of Eger in the same year few expected the defenders to put up much resistance , particularly as the two great armies of the Ottoman lords Ahmed and Ali , which had crushed all opposition previously , united under Eger . Eger was an important stronghold and key to the defense of the remainder of Hungarian soil . North of Eger lay the poorly reinforced city of Kassa ( present day Košice ) , the centre of an important region of mines and associated mints , which provided the Hungarian Kingdom with large amounts of quality silver and gold coinage . Besides allowing a take - over of that revenue source , fall of Eger would also enable the Ottoman Empire to secure an alternative logistic and troop route for further west - ward military expansion , possibly allowing the Turks to lay sieges on Vienna more frequently . Castle . The Castle of Eger is located east of the town on a hillside . Its actual location was not ideal from a military point of view - the castle overlooks only the southern and western parts of the walled town - however , it had the advantage over the Ottoman forces as it provided excellent locations for gun positions . The castle comprised an inner and outer fortress with a gate tower to the southeast and 6 bastions on the walls - the Earth Bastion and Prison Bastion to the northwest , Sándor Bastion on the north wall , Bolyky Bastion on the northeast corner , Bebek Bastion on the eastern corner of the outer fortress and the Dobó Bastion on the western wall . The Varkoch gate sat on the southern wall of the inner fortress while a further bastion , Church Bastion , lay at the centre of the wall separating the two parts of the fortress . The fortress of Eger was built on the ruins of an earlier stone fort , which replaced an ancient earthen encampment , possibly erected by the Huns . This made Eger ' s foundations stronger than usual and greatly hindered the work of Ottoman miners . As was usual during sieges at that time , both the attackers and the defenders tried to dig tunnels under the walls and plant gunpowder charges to either open gaps into the fortress or destroy the attacker ' s trenches . None of these attempts were successful during the siege of Eger . Siege . The old Hungarian data and Gárdonyi ' s value of the size of the Ottoman Army ( 150 - 200 , 000 men ) are romantic exaggeration . In reality the Ottoman army numbered 35 - 40 , 000 men from the Rumelian army ( and an Anatolian contingent ) and the troops of Ahmed Pasha from Buda . The Ottomans had 16 zarbuzans ( very large siege cannons ) as well as 150 medium and smaller pieces of artillery and a fleet of two thousand camels , which proved to be highly useful in the collection and transportation of wood to the site used for the construction of temporary siege platforms . The defenders had 6 large and about a dozen smaller cannons and about 300 trench guns with ample supplies of ammunition . Despite the difference in troop numbers , Eger ' s strong walls and the high morale of its defenders allowed the fortress to withstand five major assaults and continuous cannon fire ( excluding the ones stuck in the walls of the stronghold , almost 12 , 000 cannonballs landed inside the fortress before the siege ended ) . The fortress was defended by 2 , 100 - 2 , 300 people , a mixture of professional soldiers , insurgent peasants and a few dozen women . Among the approximately 1 , 530 combat - ready personnel there were only a handful of foreign mercenaries : Dobó had hired six cannonmasters from Germany in order to make the most efficient use of Eger ' s artillery . The defenders were commanded by István Dobó and his deputy István Mekcsey , who had assumed command in 1549 . Another noted officer , famous in Hungarian literature and folklore , was Gergely Bornemissza . He commanded a detachment of 250 Hungarian infantry , however it was his skill with explosives that was to make this young officer ' s name . During the siege Bornemissza devised primitive but lethal grenades and powder keg sized bombs to use against the attackers as well as a water - mill wheel packed with gunpowder which he rolled into the Ottoman ranks . His secret lay in the gunpowder not simply exploding but sparking even more fire . He loaded these weapons with oil , sulfur and flint in order to shower the enemy with burning missiles . The Ottomans had expected an easy victory , but the bravery of the castle ' s defenders , as well as Dobó ' s inspired leadership , resisted and repulsed repeated Ottoman assaults . Even after the storage tower containing 24 metric tons of black gunpowder exploded and caused extensive structural damage , the invaders still could not find a way into the castle compound . After 39 days of bloody , brutal and intense fighting the Ottoman Army withdrew , beaten and humiliated . The defenders ' losses amounted to about one third of their ranks , including those killed and permanently maimed in combat . Dobó lost both of his squires . According to modern historical research , several external factors contributed the defenders ' success . There was significant in - fighting between the two Ottoman leaders , Pasha Ali and Pasha Ahmed . Ahmed was the senior and contributed twice as many troops to the united army , but Ali showed more strategic talent and proved his skill in artillery , heavily damaging the castle walls with his battery of just four large siege guns . During the siege , the Ottoman army ran out of gunpowder and cannonballs ( which were carved out of marble ) at least twice , limiting Ahmed ' s use of heavy artillery for a week or more . The end of autumn arrived earlier than usual with heavy rain and freezing nighttime temperatures . Reduced rice rations and allegations of corruption among the officers caused discontent among the Ottoman troops . Despite the failure at Eger , the Ottomans had no reason to lament the campaign of 1552 , for they had taken Veszprem , Timișoara , Szolnok and Lipova as well as some twenty - five Hungarian strongholds . After the victory Dobó and his officers resigned , in order to protest King Ferdinand ' s refusal to contribute any material help to the defense . Gergely Bornemissza was appointed to take over command of the fortress . He was later ambushed , captured and hanged by the Ottomans . The fortress of Eger remained defiant of Ottoman attacks until 1596 when 7 , 000 defenders , mostly foreign mercenaries , capitulated to the Ottoman forces personally commanded by the Sultan , Mehmed III . The town remained in Ottoman hands for 91 years . Eger has become an emblem of national defense , a symbol of patriotic heroism , and the superiority of a national army over an unmotivated foreign mercenary force . In art and literature . Earliest records of the siege were recorded by the chronicler Sebestyén Tinódi Lantos in 1554 who wrote musical verses of the exploits of the people of Eger . It was not until the 19th century that the siege was seized upon by Hungarian writers as the basis of fictional accounts . The first was the poem " Eger " by Mihály Vörösmarty in 1827 . The most famous account was by author Géza Gárdonyi who wrote his popular 1899 historical novel " Egri csillagok " about the events of this period . It chronicles the events leading up to and including the siege and tells the tale of Gergely Bornemissza , as well as Captain Dobó , and his co - commander István Mekcsey . During the 1960s the novel was adapted into a feature - length film , which is still regularly shown on Hungarian television . Bertalan Székely ' s painting " Az Egri Nők " ( Women of Eger ) depicts the defense of the fortress , especially by the womenfolk , and hangs in the National Art Gallery in Budapest . References .