Suleiman Sultan: biography of a magnificent ruler

Turkish Sultan Suleiman, whose biography is inherently associated with his contemporaries with the magnificent age of the Ottoman Empire, is undoubtedly the greatest monarch of his country in its long history. After all, it was in his reign that the Ottoman Port reached its greatest territorial expansion and political success.

Suleiman Sultan: biography of the early period

The future sovereign was born in the city of Trabzon, on the north-eastern coast of Asia Minor. His father was the then ruler Selim I, and his mother was the daughter of a Crimean Tatar khan. Before reaching the age of eighteen, the young man was the father's deputy in Kaffe. And then he was sent to perform the same functions in Manisa. Traditionally, heirs of the throne of the Ottoman state were brought up and practiced in state affairs.

By the way, it was here that Suleiman Sultan, whose biography is closely connected with the peak of the empire's heyday, met two slaves of European descent who later played a very significant role in his personal life and the fate of the whole country. It is about the future of the great vizier Ibrahim Pasha and the brilliant Slavonian Roksolana. In 1520, the current monarch Selim I died, and in the hands of our hero is the entire Ottoman Empire.

Biography of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and his reign

He was the ninth state ruler. As soon as he ascended the throne, the new monarch begins a large-scale preparation for the grandiose external conquests. Within a year of being in power, the first military campaign was declared in Hungary. Turkish armies broke into the Balkans, as a result of which empires leave significant territory on the left bank of the Danube.

After the invasion of the Balkans, a siege and the conquest of the island of Rhodes in the Mediterranean Sea. The fact is that the latter has long been a haven for the Knights Hospitaller Order , which held back the Turkish expansion. Struggle against them began Selim I, but then the Ottoman attack was repulsed. And only his son managed to take the island in 1522.

Already in 1526 Suleiman again with the 80,000-strong army stands against Hungary. The result of this campaign was the actual destruction of the Hungarian state. The Turks came close to the borders of the Habsburg empire. Their armies made all continental powers tremble.

The next campaign was launched three years later against Austria. From September 27 to October 14, more than half a month the siege of Vienna continued. But the well-fortified city invaders could not take. As history later showed, it was this city that became the last frontier in the territorial expansion of the Ottoman ports to Europe. They did not take it now, they will not take it even after more than a century, after which the unhurried European reconquista in the Balkans will begin.

In the next three decades, Suleiman Sultan, whose biography was represented by continuous wars, three times unleashed conflicts with the Habsburgs, which again redistributed the territories of the destroyed Hungary.

In addition to the constant struggle in Europe, the Sultan was of political interest in the east, which resulted in constant conflicts with the Safavid Persia. This confrontation was also very successful for the Turks. The Persian dynasty was destroyed, and the Porte's troops, under the leadership of their irrepressible military leader, later made bold marches to Arabia and India. As a result of these campaigns, the Turkish state has significantly expanded its territorial possessions, having attained the highest power.

Suleiman Sultan, whose biography is represented by countless battles, he spent his entire life in campaigns. He died on May 1, 1566 during the next siege of one of the cities in the Balkans.