About Me
Suleyman ruled from 1520-60. In his time was regarded as the most significant ruler in the world, by both Muslims and Europeans. His military empire expanded greatly both to the east and west, and he threatened to overrun the heart of Europe itself. In Constantinople, he embarked on vast cultural and architectural projects. Istanbul in the middle of the sixteenth century was architecturally the most energetic and innovative city in the world. While he was a brilliant military strategist and canny politician, he was also a cultivator of the arts. Suleyman's poetry is among the best poetry in Islam, and he sponsored an army of artists, religious thinkers, and philosophers that outshone the most educated courts of Europe.
BIOGRAPHY
1494 November: Born as the only son of sultan Selim 1.
Early 16th century: Süleyman becomes sacak beyi, governor in Kaffa in the Crimea.
Around 1512: He is moved to Anatolia, where he becomes governor in Manisa.
1520: Following the death of his father, Süleyman becomes the new sultan. He immediately sets out on campaigns against the Christian powers in Europe.
1521: Belgrade (today's Serbia) falls to the Ottomans.
1522: The island of Rhodes (today's Greece, EU) falls to the Ottomans. This meant the end of the rule of the Knights of St. John.
1526: Süleyman strikes a final defeat on the Hungarians at the battle at Mohacs. Their king is killed, and Süleyman supports the new king John -- who then accepts to be vassal to the Ottomans.
1529: Süleyman starts a short-lived and unsuccessful siege of Vienna.
1532: Important victory against Austria, where Ottoman loots large parts of the country. But still Austria is not put under direct rule from the Ottoman, as the sultan is mainly occupied with his Asian neighbours at this time.
1534: A campaign is launched against Persia.
1535: Both Iraq and the region of Erzurum is conquered from the Persians.
1538: The Ottomans win the sea battle of Preveza under the leadership of Khayru d-Din, known in Europe as "Barbarossa". This makes the Ottomans the leading power in the Mediterranean Sea.
1541- 62: War on Hungary that leads to few changes in the situation of Ottoman dominance.
1548: A second campaign is launched against Persia.
1549: The region around Van Lake comes under Ottoman control.
1551: Tripoli falls to the Ottomans, giving the empire control over all of the eastern Mediterranean coast from today's Macedonia to southern Tunisia (including today's Greece, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Egypt and Libya).
1553: Süleyman's son, Mustafa, rebels against his father's rule and gets many supporters in Anatolia. Süleyman's reaction is to have him executed.
1554: A third campaign is launched against Persia.
1555: A formal peace is signed between the Safavids of Persia and the Ottomans, without substantial changes in the borders between the states.
1559: Two other sons, Selim and Bayezid, start fighting over the succession to the sultanate.
1560: A strong Spanish campaign against Jerba is crushed by Ottoman troops.
— Süleyman's son Bayezid is executed, leaving Selim II heir of the sultanate.
1565: The Ottomans do not succeed in capturing Malta from the Knights of St. John.
1566 September 5 or 6: Dies near Szigetvár in Hungary.
