The campaign of 1532 and Charles V
The paper discusses the activities of Charles V and his attitude to the campaign against the Turks, based on Spanish sources so far little or not quoted. On the other hand, it surveys the circumstances and the diplomatic, military, financial components of the campaign not from a Hungarian viewpoint, but rather with respect to Charles V’s imperial interests. It points out that in 1525 and 1529 Charles had been unable to join the campaigns against the Sultan because he was staying in Spain, and by the time he received the news of the Turkish offensive (the post got there in about two months), it was practically impossible for him to take appropriate measures.
The paper describes how the emperor came to an agreement, one after the other, with the King of France, the Pope, and the German Protestant Estates during 1530-31, in order to secure peace within and without the Empire in case of another Turkish war. The letters written by the Emperor reveal that in 1532 Charles intended to make war against the Turks only if the Sultan was personally to command his armies. He felt that he, the Emperor, the leader of Christianity was the proper opponent for the Sultan of the Turks. The paper points out that the approximately 100.000 strong mercenary army ordered by Charles to be gathered against the Turks was financed by the money offered by the German imperial Estates, and included Ferdinand’s soldiers (Austrian provinces, Bohemia, etc.) as well as Charles’s own troops from Spain, Italy and the Netherlands. These latter formed the major part of the army, and, consequently, the brunt of the expenses were also borne by Charles. According to the paper, Charles secured the funds for it from the several millions of gold pieces paid as ransom in 1529 by Francis I of France. Summing up contemporary opinions and Charles’s own view, the paper comes to the conclusion that the Turks, upon seeing the immense imperial army, gave up the idea of besieging Vienna and retreated without giving battle, which Charles and most of his contemporaries correctly regarded as a victory. The loser was Hungary, but that followed from the fact that when it came to the great powers’ relations, no one cared about the interest of this divided country.
