The Battle of Szigetvár was a monumental battle in the small fort of Szigetvár in Hungary in 1566 between the defending forces of the Kingdom of Hungary under the leadership of Croatian ban Nicholas Šubić Zrinski, and the invading army of the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. The Republic of Hungary (Magyar Köztársaság) or Hungary (Magyarország) is a landlocked country in Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia. ... Events January 7 - Pius V becomes Pope Selim II succeeds Suleiman I as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Religious rioting in the Netherlands signifies the beginning of the Eighty Years War in the Netherlands. ... The Kingdom of Hungary is the name of a multiethnic kingdom that existed in Central Europe from 1000 to 1918. ... The Republic of Croatia is a crescent-shaped country in Europe bordering the Mediterranean, Central Europe and the Balkans. ... Ban was a title used in some states in central and south-eastern Europe between the 9th century and the 20th century. ... Nikola Šubić Zrinski or Miklós Zrínyi, (1508-1566), Croatian and Hungarian hero, member of the Zrinski noble family. ... The Ottoman Empire at the height of its power Imperial motto El Muzaffer Daima The Ever Victorious (as written in tugra) Official language Ottoman Turkish Capital İstanbul ( Constantinople/Asitane/Konstantiniyye ) Sovereigns Sultans of the Osmanli Dynasty Population ca 40 million Area 12+ million km² Establishment 1299 Dissolution October 29, 1923... A sultan (Arabic: سلطان) is an Islamic monarch ruling under the terms of shariah. ... Suleiman the Magnificent Suleiman I (November 6, 1494 – September 5/6, 1566); in Turkish Süleyman , (nicknamed the Magnificent in Europe and the Lawgiver in the Islamic World, in Turkish Kanuni) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1520 to 1566 and successor to Selim I. He was born at...

The entrenched Croatian forces of Zrinski, "...two thousand and three hundreds of them", held off a vast Ottoman army (more than 90,000 men and 300 cannons) for several weeks. Despite being undermanned and greatly outnumbered, the imperial army would not send any reinforcements from Vienna. This article is about the city and federal state in Austria. ...

After many days of exhausting and bloody struggle, the defenders retreated into the Old City; with the majority of Croats already dead, their last stand. Turks have tried to lure Zrinski into submission, offering him rule over all of Croatia (of course, under their suzerainty). To no avail: "...nobody will point his finger on my children in contempt." In the morning, September the 7th, the all-out attack by the Turks began: fireballs, "Greek fire", concentrated cannonade, fusillade. Soon, the last Croat stronghold within Siget was set ablaze. The entire Turkish army swarmed against the Old City, drumming and yelling, "..their flags darkening the skies." Zrinski prepared for the last charge, addressing his brothers-in-arms: "..Let us go out from this burning place into the open and stand up to our enemies. Who dies - he will be with God. Who dies not - his name will be honoured. I will go first, and what I do, you do. And God is my witness - I will never leave you, my brothers and knights!" In the last decisive battle Zrinski was first wounded, then killed. Only seven defenders managed to get through Turkish lines. Historians consider that the Turks lost 18,000 cavalrymen and 7,000 elite janissaries. The jannissary corps was decimated. Depiction of Greek fire in the Madrid Skylitzes manuscript Greek fire (also called Byzantine fire and liquid fire) was a weapon used by the Byzantine Empire, said to have been invented by a Syrian Christian refugee named Kallinikos of Heliopolis. ...

The huge Ottoman army, the best Suleyman the Magnificent (who died during the siege) could gather, suffered heavy losses and was ultimately stopped in its tracks.

The battle was immortalized in the epic poem The Peril of Sziget (Szigeti Veszedelem in Hungarian) (1664) by Zrinski's great-grandson, Nicholas Zrinski, also a ban of Croatia. This was one of the first such epics in the Hungarian language. Events March 12 - New Jersey becomes a colony of Britain. ... See Nicholas Šubić Zrinski for the great grandfather. ... The Hungarian language is a Finno-Ugric language spoken in Hungary and in adjacent areas of Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, Austria, Slovenia (all territories lost after World War I). ...