The pictures below are of the Kariye Mosque and it is interesting to compare the turn-of-the- century postcard with a recent picture. With a difference of a century the photographers have chosen exactly the same angles to take their pictures and there are very few differences. The Mosque was built in the 4th century by Justinian as the church of St Saviours of Chora and was converted into a Mosque by Suleiman's grandfather, Bayazit. Suleiman would have known this building well and it would have been no different than it is today.

The reasons for the Ottoman Turks warlike and combative nature are not easily discernible at this distance but the fact remains that Suleiman's three forebears were hungry for conquest and territory and spent much of their lives achieving those aims. It has been put forward that the very nature of Islam demands a hostile stance to non-Islamic neighbours, there is always territorial acquisition in the equation or it may quite simply have been that they enjoyed a warlike way of life. Whatever the truth of the matter and it is probably a combination of all three, Suleiman followed their lead and eventually came to be more formidable than any of his predecessors. Throughout his long reign, Suleiman was absolutely ruthless in the face of any threat to his authority and in a very short time he was to illustrate that very clearly. An insurrection in Damascus in 1521 saw Suleiman dispatch an army under Ferhad Pasha with orders to crush the rebellion. His orders were carried out to the letter and Ferhad massacred the dissident Turkish force and sent the head of the leader back to Constantinople where Suleiman was said to have been delighted. The Ottoman Empire was constantly in turmoil and Suleiman's attention was soon drawn to the many clashes between turk and Magyar on the Hungarian/ turkey border. The Hungarian patriot John Zapolya, fresh from his triumph in putting down a bloody Peasant Revolt in his own country, made the fatal mistake of leading an army 10,000 strong into Turkish territory where they found that a Turkish army was a totally different prospect to a Hungarian peasant army and they were soundly thrashed. Unfortunately for the Hungarians, this was not good enough for Suleiman and he at once began the mobilization of an army to invade Hungary.

The Hungarian temerity in entering Turkish territory was soon to be repaid a hundred-fold for Hungary was in a very weak condition at that time and in no condition to resist. The call went out to neighbouring Christian countries who made warlike noises and held meetings which all came to nothing with The Pope, The Doge, The King of Poland and Emperor Charles all wringing their hands in helplessness. Meanwhile, Suleiman marched at the head of a Turkish army 100,000 strong, accompanied by 33,000 camels and 10,000 wagons carrying provisions and arms which split into a two-pronged attack on entering enemy territory. The first battle took place at Sabac where the town, besieged and bombarded mercilessly fell after 16 days with all the defenders massacred.

Suleiman kept a diary of his campaigns and the following lines are indicative of the casual attitude to the cruelty and harsh conditions prevailing on both sides. The omnipotence of the Sultan is also clearly illustrated ; Suleiman refers to himself in the third person. "On July 7 came news of the capture of Sabac ; a hundred heads of the soldiers who had been unable to escape across the Save were brought to the camp. The next day these heads were stuck on pikes alonside the road to the camp and Ahmed Pasha was granted an audience to kiss the Sultan's hand. Suleiman visited the city and ordered the building of a new bastion and surrounding moat and commanded that a bridge should be thrown across the river so that the army might cross to the northern bank. He sat in a shelter nearby to encourage the men working on the bridge by his presence. The Pashas, armed with rods also encouraged them to work hard."

A Grand Viziers Helmet

The army duly crossed the river and headed out to join up with Piri Pasha who was at the walls of Belgrade. There was then a furious bombardment and siege in which many Turkish soldiers lost their lives; Suleiman recorded; " Assault; moat is filled with corpses; five or six hundred men are lost." Most of these were Janissaries who had been to the fore when the fighting was thickest. The defenders fought tenaciously but were finally defeated as much by their leaders who fought harder among themselves than they did against the Turks, but finally the city fell. The inevitable massacre ensued and the survivors were taken into captivity and slavery.

Janissary Bow and Arrows

Suleiman returned to his capital in triumph --he had achieved what Mehmed the Conqueror had failed to do in capturing Belgrade. The whole of the Christian world looked on in trepidation as well they should for Suleiman would return again and again to Eastern Europe but for the time being a new conquest had caught his gaze and for the first time Turkish troops would face The Knights of St John on the island of Rhodes.