Sultan Suleyman. The history of the magnificent commander

Sultan Suleiman, whose life history is inextricably linked with the Golden Age of the Ottoman dynasty, is the greatest ruler of his country in its entire history. It was with him that the Turkish empire reached its highest political power and large-scale territorial gains.

Early life story of Sultan Suleiman

The future ruler was born in the city of Trabzon (the former Greek colony of Trapezund, known for the preaching of Andrew the First-Called) in 1494. His father was Sultan Selim I, and his mother was the daughter of the Crimean-Tatar khan Mengli-Giray. Until the age of eighteen, the young man was a Beylerbey (viceroy) in the city of Kaffa, and later was sent to Manisa, becoming his father's viceroy there. It should be noted that Manisa was a kind of "educational nursery" for the future sultans of the empire, where princes practiced in the management of public affairs, according to Ottoman traditions. By the way, it is here that the future Sultan Suleiman, whose history is connected with the peak of the empire, gets acquainted with two European slaves, who later strongly influenced both his life and the destiny of the whole state: the Slavic Roksolana, who became his beloved wife, actually regent in the palace during Long military campaigns of the Sultan, as well as the mother of the next ruler Selim II, and a slave of Italian descent, who was destined to become friends with the young prince, and subsequently become his brilliant vizier and virtually almost important yshim person in the country, known by the name of Ibrahim Pasha. Selim I died in 1520, and Suleiman becomes a great sultan at the age of 26.

History of the Ottoman Empire: Sultan Suleiman and his government

He became the ninth ruler of the state. As soon as he entered the throne, he immediately begins preparations for large-scale conquests and the expansion of the Ottoman territories. A year later, the Hungarian war was declared in power, after which the Turkish army seized vast territories up to the Danube. Then follows the conquest of the Mediterranean island of Rhodes, where the knightly order of the Hospitallers, which held Turkish domination in this sea, had long since settled. The Turks tried to take possession of the island before, in the time of Selim I, but it was only possible to the new young ruler in 1522. Four years later Sultan Suleiman, whose history of transformation changes the whole face of Europe during this period, forcing the tremendous continental powers to tremble before the guise of a militant ruler, again invades with 80 thousand army to Hungary, effectively destroying this state and coming close to the borders of the Habsburg empire.

The next military campaign the commander begins three years later against Austria. Throughout the crescent, from September 27 to October 14, the famous siege of Vienna continues, but the Turks failed to take a well-fortified city. As history will show, Vienna has become the last frontier of the brilliant conquests of the Ottoman Porte. In the following decades, three more Austro-Turkish wars took place (in the forties, fifties and sixties of the 16th century), as a result of which Hungary was re-divided and the Turks gained new possessions in Europe.

In addition to constant incursions into the Balkans, Suleiman the Magnificent had political interests in the East. This led to constant clashes with the Safavid Persia, as a result of which the latter was destroyed. In 1538, the Ottoman Porte made a grand expedition to Arabia and India. As a result of all these campaigns, the state extended its territorial possessions to a significant part of the Hungarian kingdom, the Transcaucasus, Mesopotamia, North Africa, Arabia. At that time, the Ottoman Empire reached its peak in its history.

Sultan Suleiman: The History of Personal Life

As well as it is necessary to the east governor, Sulejman was rather ljubovobilnym the sovereign. In his life there were many mistresses from the harem. Among them, it is especially worth noting two rivals - Circassian Mahiderekan Sultan and Slavic Hurrem (also Roksolana). The latter, as a result of many years of intrigue, became the beloved wife of the Sultan and an extremely important person in public administration, effectively replacing the ruler during his military campaigns. The latter, by the way, was destined to die during one of his campaigns. It happened in 1566, during the siege of Szigetvar - a fortress in Eastern Hungary.