Today in History: Suleiman the Magnificent becomes Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, 1520 (Turkey)

Suleiman's father entrusted his son with the governorships of different regions within the Ottoman Empire from the age of 17. When Suleiman was 26 in 1520, Selim I died and Suleiman ascended the throne. Although he was of age, his mother served as co-regent.
The new sultan immediately launched his program of military conquest and imperial expansion. In 1521, he put down a revolt by the governor of Damascus, Canberdi Gazali. Suleiman's father had conquered the area that is now Syria in 1516, using it as a wedge between the Mamluk sultanate and the Safavid Empire, where they had appointed Gazali as the governor. On January 27, 1521, Suleiman defeated Gazali, who died in battle.
In July of the same year, the Sultan laid siege to Belgrade, a fortified city on the Danube River. He used both a land-based army and a flotilla of ships to blockade the city and prevent reinforcement. Belgrade, part of modern Serbia, belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary in Suleiman's time. The city fell to Suleiman's forces on August 29, 1521, removing the last obstacle to an Ottoman advance into Central Europe.
Before he launched his major assault on Europe, Suleiman wanted to take care of an annoying gadfly in the Mediterranean—Christian holdovers from the Crusades, the Knights Hospitallers. This group, based on the Island of Rhodes, had been capturing Ottoman and other Muslim nations' ships, stealing cargoes of grain and gold, and enslaving the crews. The Knights Hospitallers' piracy even imperiled Muslims who set sail to make the haj, the pilgrimage to Mecca that is one of the Five Pillars of Islam.


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