User:Dylansmitt127/Battle of Mohács

I'm going to give greater context of the prior campaign so that the context of how the war effected the battle. There's almost 5 years of information I could help the reader to understand why Mohacs was so important. With the help of sources I could explain how the Hungarians lost their allies and became vulnerable for Ottoman expansion, especially as the Ottomans were reaching their prime with conquests in the Middle East and Africa and the Balkans. While the Hungarians were in turmoil. Also, there's many things I could do with the battle itself as my sources have great detail on how the battle played out and any statistical data.

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The geography of the area meant that the Hungarians could not know the Ottomans' ultimate goal until the latter crossed the Balkan Mountains, and when they did, the Transylvanian and Croatian forces were farther from Buda than the Ottomans were. Contemporary historical records, though sparse, indicate that Louis preferred a plan of retreat, stating, according to the eye-witness account of Chancellor Brodarics, "If the enemy were to seize the land between Mohács and Pozsony, and even to lay it waste, Hungary would suffer less harm than if such a great army, and with it the King and so many dignitaries and soldiers, were to be destroyed in a single battle." The Hungarian war council, however – without waiting for reinforcements from Croatia and Transylvania only a few days march away – made the fateful decision of choosing the battlefield near Mohács, an open but uneven plain with some swampy marshes that would make them vulnerable to the Ottoman artillery.

The Ottomans had advanced toward Mohács almost unopposed. While Louis waited in Buda, they had besieged several towns (Petervarad, Ujlak, and Eszek), and crossed the Sava and Drava Rivers. At Mohács the Hungarians numbered some 25,000 to 30,000 soldiers and comprised of around 15,000 armored cavalry, and 10,000 infantry from mostly Bohemia, Moravia, and the German states. The only external help was a small contingent of Polish troops (1,500 soldiers and knights) led by the royal captain Lenart Gnoiński (but organized and equipped by the Papal State). The Ottoman army numbered around 50,000- 60,000, though some contemporary and modern-day historians put the number of the Ottoman troops at 100,000. Most of the Ottoman Balkan forces registered before this battle were described as Bosnians or Croats.

Suleiman could not believe that this small, suicidal army was all that the once powerful country could muster against him, so he waited at Mohacs for a few days before moving cautiously against Buda. On 31 August, 2,000 Hungarian prisoners were executed as the Sultan watched from a golden throne.