450th Battle of Siget (Szigetvár) - Joint Issue Croatia - Hungary

THE BATTLE OF SIGET IN 1566

The Battle o Siget, a collision between a small number of Croatian and Hungarian soldiers and a huge Turkish army in summer 1566 determined the history of Europe for the next century. The Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (1494 -1566) initiated a war campaign through Hungary to Vienna. Modern organised Turkish army composed of 100,000 soldiers and 300 cannons came across an obstacle on their way - a town of Siget, with strategic importance for the defence of Croatia and Hungary. The defence of the town with only 2,500 soldiers was led by Nikola Šubić Zrinski (1508 -1566). So it happened that the strong Turkish army was stopped at the beginning of August on its way to the heart of Europe by a small number of Siget crew. Sultan, who was in a hurry to conquer Vienna, offered to Zrinski the power over Croatia and Slavonia in order to enable the huge Turkish army a safe and undisturbed passage toward west. Zrinski refused all Sultan's offers awaiting help from the King Maximillian, which never arrived. The Siege of Siget lasted a whole month. The fortress defenders were repelling repeated Turkish attacks and at the same time with their short but severe attacks were causing heavy losses to Turkish army. Because of huge losses and sudden and long-time slow-down the Turkish army was shocked and demoralised. At the beginning of September, Sultan Suleiman died and the Grand Vizier Mehmed Pasha Sokolović concealed his death from the soldiers and ordered the last attack on 7 September during which the Turkish soldiers succeeded to set on fire the castle of the Siget fortress. In that moment Nikola Šubić Zrinski ordered to the survivors of his crew to initiate the breakthrough. In the last heroic battle Nikola Šubić Zrinski lost his life and just a few among his crew managed to survive. The losses of Turkish army were about 30,000 dead so that the Turks withdrew back to the Turkish Empire. The Battle of Siget had a great echo in whole Europe and marked the beginning of the end of Turkish military supremacy.

Marko Vukičević