Editing Battle of Mohács (section)

===The Role of Firepower===
The earliest type of Turkish [[hand cannons]] are called as "Şakaloz", which word came from the Hungarian hand cannon "Szakállas puska" in the 15th century.<ref>{{cite book|author=Brett D. Steele|title=The Heirs of Archimedes: Science and the Art of War Through the Age of Enlightenment|publisher=[[MIT Press]]|year=2005|page=120|isbn=978-0262195164|url=https://www.google.com/search?q=+%24akaloz+Hungarian|access-date=11 February 2020|archive-date=10 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221110133123/https://www.google.com/search?q=+$akaloz+Hungarian|url-status=live}}</ref>
Hungary had a long tradition of unusually extensive use of handheld firearms ([[arquebus]]) as early as the 15th century, for example in the famous [[Black Army of Hungary|Black Army]] of the late ruler King [[Matthias Corvinus]] (r. 1458 - 1490). The Hungarians abandoned the use of the bow and crossbow completely in the last decade of the 15th century and switched entirely to firearms.

The Ottomans obtained most of the [[arquebus]]es for their janissary army from Hungarian and Venetian gunsmiths. This phenomenon was so widespread and severe, that in 1525 the Hungarian Parliament had to pass a law against the export of Hungarian-made arquebuses for the Ottoman Empire.<ref name="web.archive.org"/>

Contrary to popular belief, the Hungarian infantry was so well equipped with arquebuses that, it had an unusually high firepower in a comparison with contemporary Western European standards. Both armies faced a tactical challenge, namely that they could not move their firepower very well. As a result, they were only able to use them effectively if they fired from a defensive position.
The question was who could force the other to start the attack on the battlefield, that is, to attack positions that could then be defended with cannons and arquebuses.<ref name="ReferenceB"/>

Only half of the jannisaries used arquebuses and muskets, the other half still belonged to the traditional archery. The Ottomans have no numerical superiority regarding to handheld firearms during the battle of Mohács.
<ref>{{cite book|author=Nic Fields|title=Lepanto 1571 The Madonna's Victory|publisher=[[Pen & Sword Books]]|year=2021|page=148|isbn=9781526716538|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GcktEAAAQBAJ&dq=janissary+archery+moh%C3%A1cs&pg=PT148}}</ref>

During the battle, the Ottomans utilised the [[firearm]] kneeling position, [[List of inventions in the medieval Islamic world#Ottoman Empire|the first of its kind]], with 200 ''tüfenks'' ([[muskets]]) forming "nine consecutive rows and they fired their weapons row by row" in a "kneeling or standing position without the need for additional support or rest".<ref name="Ágoston 2008 24">{{Citation |last=Ágoston |first=Gábor |title=Guns for the Sultan: Military Power and the Weapons Industry in the Ottoman Empire |page=24 |year=2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SadmQgAACAAJ |location=[[Cambridge]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0521603911}}</ref> This method was later adopted by the [[Ming dynasty|Chinese]], with writer Zhao Shizhen deeming Turkish muskets superior to European ones.<ref name="Needham 1986 449–452">{{cite book |last=Needham |first=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Needham |title=Science & Civilisation in China |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=1986 |isbn=978-0-521-30358-3 |volume=7: ''The Gunpowder Epic'' |pages=449–452}}</ref><ref name="Cambridge University Press">{{cite book |last1=Needham |first1=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Needham |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hNcZJ35dIyUC |title=Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 7, Military Technology: The Gunpowder Epic |date=1987 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-30358-3 |page=444}}</ref> [[Volley fire]] with [[matchlocks]] was also first used in this battle by [[Janissaries]].<ref name="Andrade 2016 149">{{cite book |last=Andrade |first=Tonio |author-link=Tonio Andrade |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1jRJCgAAQBAJ |title=The Gunpowder Age: China, Military Innovation, and the Rise of the West in World History |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-691-13597-7 |location=[[Princeton, New Jersey]] |page=149}}</ref>

The Ottomans deployed the largest field artillery of the era, comprising some 300 cannons, while the Hungarians had only 85 cannons,<ref name="Jeremy Black 2013 85"/> though even this number was greater than other contemporary Western European armies deployed on the battlefields during the major conflicts of Western European powers.