The Battle of Mohács is the Symbol of Home Defence

The Duna-Dráva National Park Directorate, as the manager of the National Memorial Site of Mohács commemorates the victims of the Battle of Mohács on the Memorial Day of the battle every year. The mastermind of the Mohács Pilgrimage, Colonel Dr. Lajos Négyesi, a military historian followed the route of the Hungarian Army by bicycle in the past two years, but this year he made the distance of 180 km on foot. “Encouraged by the successful cycling pilgrimages of the past two years, I decided to perform the route also by walking, because our objective is that this pilgrim route could be completed by different modes of transport by 2026, the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Mohács. Thus, the next seven years will be devoted to preparation and acquiring experience, not only on our part, but for the villages, too" – Lajos Négyesi said to our question, and he recalled that on the 400th anniversary of the battle, in 1926, the Director of the Museum of Military History, Kamill Aggházy initiated that the settlements, where the Hungarian Army encamped, should place a memorial plaque, but this has been forgotten by now.

Therefore, on the 490th anniversary of the battle, in 2016 this tradition was revived. “Thanks to this we had a friendly welcome in every station of the route, so I can safely say, that we are on the right track" – he added. In the Battle of Mohács, fought on 29th August, 1526, the 25 thousand strong Army of the Hungarian Kingdom was facing the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire numbering nearly 70 thousand troops. “From our historic battles, the Battle of Mohács – similar to the Pozsony Battle in 907 and the Nándorfehérvár Battle in 1456 – is crystal clear about home defence" – Lajos Négyesi pointed out, adding that in 1526 a significant number of enemy troops invaded the country, and the Hungarian Army did all that they could within their power.

After the occupation of Pétervárad, the Sultan’s Army established a bridge across the Dráva, and crossed the river. Although Tomory and his six thousand soldiers arrived late at the Dráva, but in the following days they managed to defeat the Turkish front guard at the moors around Karasica. When the news about the success reached King Lajos, the Hungarian Army began the preparation for the battle at Mohács, which contradicts the later accusations that the Hungarian Army was caught unprepared and disorganised by the Turkish attack – the military historian said. Meanwhile the Turks were expecting the fights to continue, so they halted, and even ordered the cavalry units sent for incursion back to the main forces. The Rumelia Corps in the front were shortly caught up by the Sultan’s troops and the Anatolia corps as well. The Hungarian reconnaissance however ceased after the retreat of Tomori’s troops, thus in the following days the Hungarian Army was waiting for the enemy each day in battle order, which duly arrived on the 29th August in the afternoon to the Mohács battlefield. The defeat in itself would not have caused the downfall of the country, but the King’s death, and the division that followed, opened the way for the Turks.

Archive photos