'The Defence of Kanizsa') in 1601, a small Ottoman force held the fortress of Naģykanizsa in western Hungary against a much larger coalition army of the Habsburg monarchy, while inflicting heavy losses on its besiegers.

The decisive defeat by Suleiman the Magnificent of King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia at the Battle of Mohács in 1526 brought about the fall of the Jagiellon dynasty.

Louis, the adopted son of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, was killed in this battle and died childless at nineteen.

Royal Hungary in the west came under Habsburg control and the Principality of Transylvania, or Eastern Hungarian Kingdom, became an Ottoman vassal state under János and later his son, who fled to Lippa with his mother after the fall of Buda.

The Habsburgs built 100–120 forts they called the Bastion of Christianity, with the most important at Croatia, Slavonia, Kanizsa, Győr, Bányavidék, and Upper Hungary.

When the war turned into the Bocskai revolt in 1604, both parties welcomed the 1606 Zsitvatorok peace, weary of destruction and the toll on their treasuries.

The Habsburg coalition had 100,000 men and 40 cannons, as well as soldiers from Italy, Spain, Hungary, Croatia, Malta, and Walloon and Italian mercenaries of the Vatican.

[citation needed] The Ottoman forces, consisting of only 6,000 Turkish men, 3,000 janissaries, and 100 small cannons, had limited food and weapons, so Tiryaki Hasan Pasha initially ordered his troops to use only their muskets.

Tiryaki Hasan Pasha used psychological warfare, pretending he had enough food and arms to resist coalition attacks for a long time.