Q. & A. 711 to 1707 with solved Papers css 1971 to date

Political and Cultural History of Islam
worlds to the Sultan’s mind, and Sulayman drank in his Wazir’s wisdom with assiduity. They lived together: their meals were shared in common; even their beds were in the same room. The Sultan gave his sister in marriage to the sailor’s son, and Ibrahim was at the summit of power. Ibrahim deserved his success. He was great in war and in peace. He alone knew how to appease the Janissaries and he counselled and led the expedition against Vienna.
Accordingly in 1526 the Ottoman army, mustering at least

100,000 men and three hundred guns, marched north headed by the Sultan in person. Louis II of Hungary met him on August 29th on the fatal field of Mohacs with a far inferior force, and the result was disastrous to the Christians. The king, and many of his nobles and bishops, and over 200,000 Hungarians fell on the fatal post, where the encounter is known as ”The Destruction of Mohacs.” Buda and Pesth were occupied, the whole country roundabout ravaged, and

100,000 captives were driven back to be sold as slaves. The spoils of the palace of Matthias Corvinus and its famous library were added to those of the Palaeologi in the Seraglio at the Golden Horn. For over a century Hungary had been the rampart of Europe against the Turks. The campaign of Mohacs made Hungary an Ottoman province for a hundred and forty years.5
The ruling influence which the Sultan exercised over the appointment of his deputy, the nominal king of Hungary took him northward again in 1529 to his place own candidate upon the throne-Zapolya, formerly Voyvode of Transylvania, who had withheld his help from Hungary at the battle of Mohacs. The Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, brother of Charles V, however, claimed the throne, and Sulayman had to interfere in the civil war. Ferdinand in vain sent ambassadors to arrange a truce, and make terms with the indignant Sultan. The messengers were dismissed, and Ferdinand was told that the Sultan was coming, and would expect to meet him at Mohacs or at Pesth, or should he fail to appear, he would breakfast with him at Vienna itself. And he came with a vengeance, bringing a quarter of a million of men at his heels. In September 1529, the army retook often (Buda) from Ferdinand’s garrison, not without treason from within. Zapolya was restored, and the Sultan proceeded to execute his threat of advancing upon Vienna.
It is worth recording that Sulayman released the commander of Buda on parole that he would not fight against the Turks during
1 Lanc-Poole. P 116
Sulayman the Magnificent
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the campaign, and this generous act was done inspite of the murmurs Of the Janissaries, who were enraged at not being allowed to plunder the Hungarian capital, and even against the urgent representations of the Hungarians of Zapolya’s party, who were now ranged with the Sultan ready to attack their countrymen and besiege Vienna. For a century and a half the capital of Hungary remained a Turkish outpost.
On September 21st Sulayman crossed the Raab at Altenburg, and let loose his terrible troops of irregular cavalry or ”Sackmen, ” as they are called in contemporary German records, upon the stricken land. Far and wide these fierce riders forayed, under savage leader Mikhal Oglu, who was a descendant of Scant Beard Mikhal, a close ally of the first Usman. They carried devastation and misery among the villages, destroying and burning everything, and bearing off into captivity men, women, and children. Place after place surrendered, in terror of the Ottoman army and the scourge of the Sackmen. Pesth fell without a blow. The Archbishop of Gran surrendered his city, and sought refuge in the Sultan’s camp. Comorn was abandoned: Raab was burned: Altenburg betrayed, Burck, however, made a stout defence, and the Sultan, always pleased with a show of courage, accorded the garrison the lenient condition that they should only do him homage after the fall of Vienna.
Meanwhile Austria was striving to collect some adequate force wherewith to meet the overwhelming hosts of the Turks. Every tenth man was called out for service and the neighbouring states sent contributions to the army but it was still miserably unequal to the demand which was to be made upon its valour. Ferdinand implored aid of the empire and the Diet of Spires, moved by the rumour that Sulayman had sworn not to stop short of the Rhine, voted a puny force of 12,000 foot and 4,000 horse. Even this was not granted without interminable discussion, and the choice of a commander still remained a hotly debated question, when the Turks were already over the Save and had won their way into Pesth. ”There were not wanting men hard of belief, pedants of the true German stamp, who maintained that mere apprehension had exaggerated the danger; and finally it was agreed at Ratisbon, to which city the assembly had transferred itself, to send a deputation of two persons to Hungary to investigate the state of affairs on the spot. They went, and having the good fortune to escape the hands of he Turks, returned with evidence sufficient to satisfy the doubts of their sagacious employers.

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