August 29, 1526

Battle of Mohács

Ottoman victory at Mohács and the death of Louis II

A twenty-year-old king disappeared during the rout, and how he died has been argued over for five centuries.

29 August 1526, on the plain near Mohács

On 29 August 1526, Suleiman I's Ottoman army met the smaller Christian army of Louis II on the plain near Mohács and won a decisive victory.

The Christian army included Hungarian, Czech, Croatian, Polish, German and other Central European troops, commanded principally by King Louis, Archbishop Pál Tomori and George Zápolya.

Louis chose to fight before several expected forces, including John Zápolya's, could join him. Estimates put the Ottoman main army at 60,000–80,000 against roughly 25,000–27,000.

The king who vanished in the retreat

Louis II died while fleeing the defeated army. Recent landscape research supports death while crossing the Csele watercourse along the Danube, although the exact mechanism and location remain debated.

The traditional account has him drowning in the flooded stream. Historians continue to discuss whether drowning, crushing or violence after the battle caused his death.

What was left of the kingdom's leadership

A large part of the Hungarian political and ecclesiastical leadership fell with the army. A museum study identifies 16 knight-bannerets, 12 magnates and 7 prelates among the high-ranking dead, besides Louis himself.

Survivors fled toward Pécs and Buda. The royal chancellor István Brodarics escaped and wrote the most important Christian narrative source for the battle.

The Ottomans remained near Mohács for several days and executed many prisoners — 1,500 in Brodarics's account, about 2,000 in the Ottoman campaign diary — before marching north.

Sources

Researched 24 Aug 2026 8 sources not yet audited

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What the sources leave uncertain

The date and Ottoman victory are certain, but army strengths, casualty totals, battlefield location, and parts of the tactical sequence remain under active historical and archaeological study.
The traditional account says Louis drowned in the flooded Csele stream. Recent work supports death at a Csele crossing but disputes older reconstructions of the watercourse; other historians continue to discuss whether drowning, crushing, or violence after the battle caused his death.
Contemporary Christian and Ottoman sources disagree about the number of prisoners executed after the battle.