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The University High School Band
The History and Theory of Music

The Ottoman Empire in Europe

The Battle of Lepanto by Johannes Lingelbach

After the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman Empire did not simply put their feet up on the footstool, decide what to call it, and congratulate themselves on a job well done. Ottoman conquests continued into eastern Europe for the next several decades.

In the 1526 Battle of Mohács, the Ottomans under Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent killed Louis II, King of Hungary. Suleiman named a successor of his choice to replace Louis II, but so did the King of Austria, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I. Hungary was divided into "Royal Hungary" (under Austrian domination) and "Ottoman Hungary" (under Turkish domination), This led to a centuries-long conflict between the Ottomans and the House of Habsburg, the Austrian royal family whose relations included the rulers of Spain, Portugal, Bohemia, and the Netherlands.

By 1529, the Ottomans had steamrolled through eastern Europe and began the First Siege of Vienna with an army of 120,000 men. Although the Austrians had only about 20,000 men to defend the city, they managed to defeat Suleiman's attempts to dig under the city walls (a process called "undermining") and repelled the Ottoman assaults. The Austrians debuted a relatively new weapon, the "arquebus," one of the first types of firearm, to great effect. The Ottomans withdrew after 18 days.

In 1571, the Ottoman navy attempted to invade Europe by sea, sending a massive fleet of over 400 ships into the Mediterranean. They were met by the "Holy League," organized by Pope Pius V, consisting mostly of Spanish soldiers and Venetian ships. The two forces fought at the Battle of Lepanto. The result was an overwhelming European victory; Spain and Venice sank 230 Ottoman ships, while losing only 13 of their own. This marked the turning point in the wars of Ottoman expansion into Europe.