Following the decline of the Seljuk empire, many states emerged in Anatolia. One of these was the Ottoman principality. Attracting Islamic warriors due its hostility to the (Christian) Byzantine empire, the Ottomans rapidly conquered Anatolia in the 14th century CE, driving out the Byzantines, and subjugating other Turkish states there. By the end of the century, they had control of the Balkans, virtually destroying the Byzantine empire. However at that time, Timur the Lame (Tamerlane), a Mongol invader attacked Anatolia and defeated the Ottomans. Fortunately for the Ottomans, Timur then decided to go east to attack China. Following their recovery, Constantinople was besieged and eventually fell to the Ottomans in 1453, marking the end of the Byzantines. After a period of consolidation, Selim I, father of Suleyman I, began to expand the empire again, defeating the Safavids in the east, and then taking Syria and Egypt from the Mamelukes. Suleyman inherited an exceptional army and a huge treasury from his father's conquests of the Middle East.

• Also known as Kanuni Suleyman (Turkish), and Suleyman the Magnificent.
• Suleyman was born on 27 April 1495 in Trabzon. He was the son of Sultan Selim I, and Hafsa Hatun.
• When he was seven, Suleyman went to Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) and studied there under famous scholars.
• At the age of fifteen, he was given governorship of various provinces, eventually of Kaffa in the Crimea. Then after his grandfather, Sultan Bayezid II died, and his father succeeded him, he was transferred to western Anatolia.
• Selim I had his brothers, seven nephews and four of his own sons killed, so that there would be no disputes as to who would succeed him, and to remove the threat of usurpers & revolution.
• Later he returned to Istanbul as the regent and unopposed heir.
• In September 1520, Selim I died, and Suleyman succeeded him.
• Since Hungary was so feeble and adjoined Ottoman territory, Suleyman demanded tribute from King Louis II of Hungary. However Louis rejected this.
• He immediately decided to invade Hungary, due to its strategic importance, and the kingdom's weakness. Sabac was captured and on 21 August 1521, after a long siege, Belgrade was also captured.
• The following year, 1522, the Ottoman navy attacked the Knights of St John in Rhodes, taking the island, forcing the Knights to move to Malta.
• Suleyman then advanced again in 1526, further into Hungarian territory. Louis could only raise 20,000 troops to fight Suleyman's 100,000-strong force. The result was a rout of the Hungarian army in the Battle of Mohacs on 29 August 1526. Louis himself was killed on the battlefield.
• On 10 September 1526, Suleyman entered Buda. John Zapolya was installed as a puppet king, although Ferdinand I of the Habsburgs also claimed the throne.
• After Suleyman left, in 1527, Ferdinand annexed northern Hungary and proceeded south.
• In 1529, Khayr ad-Din (known as 'Barbarossa') captured Algiers for the Ottomans.
• Suleyman went back to Europe and drove the Habsburgs out of Hungary. He then laid siege to Vienna itself (the Habsburg capital) with a huge force. However, problems with supplying his troops and bad weather meant he had to raise the siege.
• After a second advance into Europe in 1532 when the Habsburg refused to confront him, Suleyman concluded a peace agreement with Ferdinand on 22 July 1533, whereby Ottoman rule over Hungary was recognised.
• The same year, Khayr ad-Din was appointed in charge of the Ottoman navy.
• In 1534, Khayr ad-Din captured Tunis and adjoining territories.
• During 1534 and 1535, Suleyman began a war against the Safavid dynasty in Persia. He conquered the rest of Asia Minor, Tabriz, and Baghdad during this invasion.
• A capitulation treaty was signed between Francis I of France, and Suleyman in 1536. This allowed French traders to come to the Ottoman Empire and trade, but whilst remaining under French jurisdiction. Also an alliance was formed against the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, and his brother, Ferdinand I of Austria.
• In 1538, the Ottoman navy of Khayr ad-Din met and destroyed the combined fleets of Venice, Genoa, and Spain. Venice ceded its territories including the Dalmatian coast, and the Ottomans were unopposed in the eastern Mediterranean.
• John Zapolya's death in 1540, led to Ferdinand invading Hungary in spite of his agreement seven years earlier. Thus, Suleyman had to drive out the Habsburgs again, and impose direct Ottoman rule of all of southern Hungary from Buda.
• John Zapolya's son, John Sigismund Zapolya, was given nominal control of Transylvania.
• Another invasion in 1548 to the east lasted two years with some more territory gain, since the Safavids were reluctant to face the Ottomans in open battle.
• Throughout his reign, many Muslim cities had many public construction projects, with mosques, fountains, schools, baths and palaces being built. This included the Suleymaniye Mosque, designed by a Greek architect, Sinan, and constructed between 1550 and 1557.
• Tripoli fell to Suleyman in 1551.
• A third expedition into Persia still could not defeat the Safavids, especially since he would have to return to Istanbul for the winter. So Suleyman agreed to a truce, the Peace of Amasya in 1555. The Ottomans could keep Iraq in return for no more invasions of Azerbaijan.
• Border conflicts between the Ottomans and the Austrians, which had continued since 1541, were resolved with peace negotiations in 1562.
• In 1565, the Ottoman navy tried to take Malta from the Knights of St John (who had only been there for 43 years since having fled Rhodes), but were defeated.
• During 1566, Suleyman led his army back into Hungary, where the castle of Szigetvar was besieged. Suleyman died whilst this was happening on 7th September 1566.

Ottoman Web Site - Kanuni Sultan Suleyman

A Brief History of Turkey