Siege of Pecs (1551)
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| Siege of Pecs | |||||||
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| Part of the Habsburg–Ottoman war of 1551–1562 | |||||||
 Siege of Pecs Castle with Sokollu Mehmed Pasha (bottom) leading his troops. Futūhāt-i jamīla. Istanbul, Topkapi Palace Museum, H. 1592.[1] | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
.svg){kind=small} Ottoman Empire |
 Hungarian, Czech, German and Spanish | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Malkoč Bey |
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  Location within Europe  Siege of Pecs (1551) (Hungary) | |||||||
The Siege of Pecs (1551), also Siege of Becskerek, was a military conflict between the Habsburg monarchy and the Ottoman Empire in 1551, in the city of Pécs in southwestern Hungary. The siege resulted with a decisive Ottoman victory.[1] It was part of the Habsburg–Ottoman war of 1551–1562.
After the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the Hungarian Kingdom split into two parts. The western part of the country came under the control of Ferdinand I from the House of Habsburg, the eastern side came under the control of John Zápolya, a Hungarian noble. Zápolya asked the help of Suleiman the Magnificent Ottoman emperor against Ferdinand. After the death of John in 1540, he was succeeded by his one-month-old son, John Sigismund Zápolya. Ferdinand in 1541 tried to capture Buda, the capital, but he was defeated by Suleiman's army. The Ottoman emperor occupied Buda after the victory and sent the young Hungarian king with his court to Lippa (today Lipova, Romania); in 1542 they moved to Gyulafehérvár (today Alba Iulia, Romania), which later became the capital of the Principality of Transylvania.
Even after this event, Ferdinand didn't give up his dream about the unification of the Hungarian Kingdom under his rule. With George Martinuzzi's help, the eastern part of the country in 1550 came under Habsburg rule, which caused the attack of the Ottoman army against Hungary.[1]
The middle of the country came to be occupied by Suleiman the Magnificent, due to his insatisfaction with the treaty of Alba Iulia.[2][3] Ottoman troops led by Sokollu Mehmed Pasha occupied central Hungary in autumn 1551.[3]
