The Role of Forests of Slavonia and Syrmia in the Ottoman Szigetvár Campaign of 1566

What is it about?

Based on published and unpublished archival material and relevant literature, the paper deals with the role of forests of Slavonia and Syrmia in the Ottoman military logistics, i.e., in the organization and conduct of the 1566 Szigetvár military campaign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. On its way through Slavonia and Syrmia towards Szigetvár, the Ottoman army crossed the pontoon bridges across the rivers Sava, in Syrmia near Šabac, and Drava, in Slavonia near Osijek. For the purposes of acquiring firewood for the army, the construction of riverboats, cannon storage facilities and the aforementioned pontoon bridges, the Ottoman army leadership organized the extraction of timber from the forests of eastern Slavonia and Syrmia. A review of Ottoman sources on the military campaign indicates that the Slavonian and Syrmian forests had an extremely important role in the organization and conduct of the Szigetvár campaign. It is difficult to determine the amount of timber obtained by cutting Slavonian and Syrmian forests and then spent for military purposes. Although in some Ottoman data on the exploited timber one can find precise figures regarding the amount of wood, in most cases it is impossible to even remotely determine how big the need for timber was. After all, it can be assumed that the timber requirement noted in the surviving archival sources makes up only a part of the overall timber requirement. The Ottoman military campaign of 1566 strained the logistical strengths of local administration along its route, and emphasized the natural resources, in this case Slavonian and Syrmian forests, on which the Ottoman state could have relied while devising the plans for penetration into Central Europe. It is possible that without such abundant forest resources available to the Ottoman army, the Szigetvár campaign would have evolved very differently, and that without the rapid construction of the Drava bridge near Osijek, the campaign would have been directed towards some other fortress instead of Szigetvár. Perhaps in this case the history of Europe in the 16th century would have taken a significantly different turn.

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Why is it important?

Based on published and unpublished archival material and relevant literature, the paper deals with the role of forests of Slavonia and Syrmia in the Ottoman military logistics, i.e., in the organization and conduct of the 1566 Szigetvár military campaign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. On its way through Slavonia and Syrmia towards Szigetvár, the Ottoman army crossed the pontoon bridges across the rivers Sava, in Syrmia near Šabac, and Drava, in Slavonia near Osijek. For the purposes of acquiring firewood for the army, the construction of riverboats, cannon storage facilities and the aforementioned pontoon bridges, the Ottoman army leadership organized the extraction of timber from the forests of eastern Slavonia and Syrmia. A review of Ottoman sources on the military campaign indicates that the Slavonian and Syrmian forests had an extremely important role in the organization and conduct of the Szigetvár campaign. It is difficult to determine the amount of timber obtained by cutting Slavonian and Syrmian forests and then spent for military purposes. Although in some Ottoman data on the exploited timber one can find precise figures regarding the amount of wood, in most cases it is impossible to even remotely determine how big the need for timber was. After all, it can be assumed that the timber requirement noted in the surviving archival sources makes up only a part of the overall timber requirement. The Ottoman military campaign of 1566 strained the logistical strengths of local administration along its route, and emphasized the natural resources, in this case Slavonian and Syrmian forests, on which the Ottoman state could have relied while devising the plans for penetration into Central Europe. It is possible that without such abundant forest resources available to the Ottoman army, the Szigetvár campaign would have evolved very differently, and that without the rapid construction of the Drava bridge near Osijek, the campaign would have been directed towards some other fortress instead of Szigetvár. Perhaps in this case the history of Europe in the 16th century would have taken a significantly different turn.

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