The Battle of Mohács in 1526 resulted in a decisive Ottoman victory over the forces of King Louis II (r. 1526–1526), ushering in political chaos and civil war in the former Hungarian kingdom. Three years later, the Ottomans arrived before the gates of Vienna, initiating a siege from the south-east that lasted over two weeks between September 27 and October 15, 1529. Their intent to take over the Habsburg capital could have been both an effort to consolidate control over Hungary and move deeper into Europe. The failed Ottoman Siege of Vienna, however, resulted in two centuries of conflict between the Habsburgs and the Ottomans with the already devastated Hungary at the center of the crossfires.
The failure of the Ottoman campaign against Vienna in 1529 had further consequences beyond the center of the conflict. This event seems to have given new hope to traumatized Christian rulers and their subjects that perhaps the Ottoman armies could be halted from their steady advances into Europe. No other defensive operation against the Ottomans, especially after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, had been as dramatic and successful.
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