Editing Louis II of Hungary (section)

== War with the Ottomans ==
[[File:Nádasdy Mausoleum - II. Lajos király.jpg|left|thumb|King Louis II of Hungary ([[Nádasdy Mausoleum]], 1664)]]
After his father's death in 1516, the minor Louis II ascended to the throne of [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungary]] and Croatia. Louis was adopted by the [[Holy Roman Emperor]] Maximilian I in 1515. When Maximilian I died in 1519, Louis's cousin [[George, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach]], became his legal guardian.

Following the accession to the Ottoman throne of [[Suleiman the Magnificent|Suleiman I]], the sultan sent Behram Çavuş as an ambassador to Louis II to collect the annual tribute that Hungary had been subjected to, and Louis refused to pay. According to some accounts, he also had the Ottoman ambassador executed and sent the head to the Sultan, but there is no evidence for this. Rather, Çavuş was kept waiting years, virtually imprisoned in Buda, by way of revenge for Suleiman's father, Selim I, who from 1513 to 1519 had forced the Hungarian envoy Barnabás Bélayban, Ban of Serim, to travel with him on his campaigns into Persia and Egypt, and to find time to ask for financial help from western countries against the Ottomans.<ref>Bárány, Attila: ''A szulejmani ajánlat'' (Suleiman's offers to Hungary 1521–1526). Máriabesenyő, 2014, Attractor kiadó, https://issuu.com/dorian07/docs/b__r__ny_attila_-_szulejm__ni_aj__n </ref> Louis believed that the [[Papal States]] and other Christian States including [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor]], would help him. This hastened the fall of Hungary.

Hungary was in a state of near anarchy in 1520 under the rule of the magnates. The king's finances were a shambles; he borrowed to meet his household expenses despite the fact that they totaled about one-third of the national income. The country's defenses weakened as border guards went unpaid, fortresses fell into disrepair, and initiatives to increase taxes to reinforce defenses were stifled. By 1521 Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent was well aware of Hungary's weakness.

The Ottoman Empire declared war on the Kingdom of Hungary, Suleiman postponed his plan to besiege [[Rhodes]] and made an expedition to [[Belgrade]]. Louis and his wife Mary requested military aid from other European countries. His uncle, King Sigismund of Poland, and his brother-in-law, Archduke Ferdinand, were willing to help. Ferdinand dispatched 3,000 infantry troops and some artillery while preparing to mobilize the Austrian estates, while Sigismund promised to send footmen.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pálosfalvi |first1=Tamás |title=From Nicopolis to Mohács: A History of Ottoman-Hungarian Warfare, 1389–1526 |date=24 September 2018 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-37565-9 |page=385 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QJByDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA385 |access-date=17 December 2021 |language=en}}</ref> The coordination process totally failed though. Mary, although a determined leader, caused distrust by relying on non-Hungarian advisors while Louis lacked vigour, which his nobles realized.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hamann |first1=Brigitte |title=Die Habsburger: ein biographisches Lexikon |date=1988 |publisher=Piper |isbn=978-3-492-03163-9 |page=284 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jKdnAAAAMAAJ |access-date=17 December 2021 |language=de}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kohler |first1=Alfred |title=Ferdinand I., 1503-1564: Fürst, König und Kaiser |date=2003 |publisher=C.H.Beck |isbn=978-3-406-50278-1 |page=110 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1cVR2wbob0AC&pg=PA110 |access-date=15 December 2021 |language=de}}</ref> The Austrian military aid, although seemingly strengthening the border, even had the undesired effect of dissolving the unified leadership that the ''ban'' had held until that time.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fodor |first1=Pál |last2=David |first2=Geza |title=Ottomans, Hungarians, and Habsburgs in Central Europe: The Military Confines in the Era of Ottoman Conquest |date=26 July 2021 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-49229-5 |page=15 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DYxFEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA15 |access-date=17 December 2021 |language=en}}</ref> 

Belgrade and many strategic castles in Serbia were captured by the Ottomans. This was disastrous for Louis' kingdom; without the strategically important cities of [[Belgrade]] and [[Šabac]], Hungary, including [[Buda]], was open to further Turkish conquests.

[[File:Bohemia, Joachimsthaler 1525 Electrotype Copy. VF. Reverse..jpg|thumb|200px|Joachimsthaler of the Kingdom of Bohemia (1525) was the first thaler (dollar). This is its reverse side, with the Bohemian Lion and the name of Louis / Ludovicus.]]

After the siege of Rhodes, in 1526 Suleiman made a second expedition to subdue all of Hungary. 
Around the middle of July, the young King departed from Buda, determined to "either fight back the invaders or be crushed once and for all".{{sfn|Pálosfalvi|2018|p=385}} Louis made a tactical error when he tried to stop the Ottoman army in an open field battle with a medieval army, insufficient firearms, and obsolete tactics. On 29 August 1526, Louis led his forces against Suleiman in the disastrous [[Battle of Mohács]]. The Hungarian army was surrounded by Ottoman cavalry in a [[pincer movement]], and in the center the Hungarian heavy knights and infantry were repulsed and suffered heavy casualties, especially from the well-positioned Ottoman cannons and well-armed and trained [[Janissary]] [[musketeers]].
[[File:El_descubrimiento_del_cuerpo_del_rey_Luis_II,_por_Bertalan_Székely.jpg|left|thumb|250x250px|The discovery of the body of King Louis II after the [[Battle of Mohács]]. The 20-year-old king died when he fell backwards off his horse while trying to ride up a steep ravine of the Csele stream. ([[Bertalan Székely]], 1860)]]
Nearly the entire Hungarian Royal army was destroyed in nearly 2 hours on the battlefield. During the retreat, the twenty-year-old king died when he fell backwards off his horse while trying to ride up a steep ravine of the Csele stream.  He fell into the stream and, due to the weight of his armor, he was unable to stand up and drowned.{{sfn|Agnew|2013|p=59}} [[Suleiman the Magnificent]] expressed regret at the death of his young adversary. Upon encountering the lifeless body of King Louis, the Sultan is said to have lamented: "I came indeed in arms against him; but it was not my wish that he should be thus cut off before he scarcely tasted the sweets of life and royalty."<ref>{{cite journal|journal=National Geographic|last=Severy|first=Merle |title=The World of Süleyman the Magnificent |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=National Geographic Society |date=November 1987 |pages=580 |volume=172|issue=5 |issn=0027-9358}}</ref>

After the death of Louis, Ferdinand (as husband to Louis' sister Anna), contested for the crown of Bohemia and Hungary. His bid for Hungary split the opinion of the magnates, with the majority electing [[John Zápolya]]. This split would later cause the majority of Hungary to be ruled under the Ottomans.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Heer |first=Friedrich |url=http://archive.org/details/holyromanempire0000heer |title=The Holy Roman Empire |publisher=Phoenix Giant |year=1995 |isbn=978-1-85799-367-7 |location=London |pages=177 |language=en}}</ref>{{sfn|Johnson|2011|p=75}}