But not for long, unfortunately. After Mátyás' death weaker kings came into power and although Hungary had successfully resisted the Turks since their appearance in the Balkans in the XIV. century, it was no longer able to do so: a huge Turkish army crushed the Hungarians at the battlefield of Mohács in the dark year of 1526.

After Mohács Hungary was torn into three parts (see map):

* the central areas were under direct Turkish control,
* a strip in the north-west remained legally the kingdom of Hungary but fell into the hands of the Habsburgs (thus the Habsburgs became Hungarian kings on a hereditary basis for the rest of the kingdom's existence),
* The eastern part became the more or less autonomous principality of Transylvania. It tried to maintain the illusion of Hungarian independence but was in reality under Turkish influence (though its role as a safe-haven for Hungarian culture in these bloody centuries was very important).

Worse than that, the next 150 years was a series of wars between the Turkish and the Habsburg empire. Hungary had the honour to provide the battlefield for these wars. As a result, the country was devastated: most towns had been destroyed and the population which used to be 4 millions at the end of the XV. century (in Mátyás' time) decreased to only 3 millions at the end of the XVII. century.

The battle of Mohács is perhaps the most tragic moment in Hungarian history. It marked the fall of a proud kingdom and put an end to Hungarian independence for four-hundred years. The tragic effects of Mohács influence the country's history to the present day and explain the famous Hungarian pessimism too well.

More at: The Fall of The Medieval Kingdom of Hungary: Mohacs 1526 – Buda 1541