Siege of Szigetvár
| Siege of Szigetvár Battle of Szigeth | |||||||||
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| Part of the Ottoman–Habsburg wars Ottoman wars in Europe Ottoman–Habsburg War of 1565–1568 | |||||||||
Nikola IV Zrinski's charge from the fortress of Szigetvár (painting by Johann Peter Krafft, 1825) | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Nikola IV Zrinski † |
Suleiman I # Sokollu Mehmed Pasha | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
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2,300 – 3,000 Croats and Hungarians
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50,000 – 100,000
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Almost entire garrison wiped out. 2,300 – 3,000 killed in combat. | 20,000–30,000 total casualties | ||||||||
The siege of Szigetvár or the Battle of Szigeth (pronunciation: [ˈsiɡɛtvaːr]; Hungarian: Szigetvár ostroma; Croatian: Bitka kod Sigeta, Sigetska bitka; Turkish: Zigetvar Kuşatması) was an Ottoman siege of the fortress of Szigetvár in the Kingdom of Hungary. The fort had blocked Sultan Suleiman's line of advance towards Vienna in 1566. The battle was fought between the defending forces of the Habsburg monarchy under the leadership of Nikola IV Zrinski, the former Ban of Croatia, and the invading Ottoman army under the nominal command of Sultan Suleiman.
In January 1566, Suleiman began his offensive campaign in Hungary. The siege of Szigetvár was fought from 5 August to 8 September 1566 and it resulted in an Ottoman victory. Some historians have viewed the victory as pyrrhic as there were heavy losses on both sides. Both commanders died during the course of the siege – Zrinski during the final charge, and Suleiman in his tent from natural causes. The siege lasted for a total of 33 days.
More than 20,000 Ottomans died during the siege, and almost all of Zrinski's 2,300-man garrison was killed, with most of the final 600 men killed on the last day. Although the Ottomans were victorious, the siege stopped the planned Ottoman push towards Vienna that year. Vienna was not threatened again until the Battle of Vienna in 1683.
The importance of the battle was considered so great that the French clergyman and statesman Cardinal Richelieu was reported to have described it as "the battle that saved (Western) civilization". The battle is still famous in Croatia and Hungary and inspired both the Hungarian epic poem The Siege of Sziget and the Croatian opera Nikola Šubić Zrinski.