Suleiman the Magnificent

Captures Belgrade. The fortress had resisted Ottoman sieges for 70 years. He's 26. The following year he takes Rhodes from the Knights Hospitaller after a five-month siege. Christian Europe starts paying attention.

Destroys the Hungarian army at the Battle of Mohacs. King Louis II of Hungary drowns fleeing the field. Hungary is partitioned. Most of it becomes Ottoman territory. The battle lasts about two hours.

Marries Hurrem, a former slave from Ruthenia. She's the first concubine an Ottoman sultan has formally married in centuries. She becomes his chief advisor. Her influence reshapes the court and ushers in the era historians call the Sultanate of Women.

At the peak of his power. The empire stretches from Algeria to Iraq, from Hungary to Yemen. 25 million subjects. His chief architect Sinan builds the Suleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul. Suleiman writes poetry under the pen name Muhibbi. He goldsmiths. The Ottomans call his era their Golden Age.

Dies in his tent during the siege of Szigetvar, Hungary. He is 71. His death is hidden from the army for 48 days to prevent panic. His body is carried back to Istanbul. The longest-reigning Ottoman sultan. His son Selim II inherits an empire that has already begun to crack.