... had become known as Selim the terrible. While Selim had only been interested in war, Suleyman filled his palace with music and poetry. Suleyman himself came to write many poems of his own. Within a year of his ascension to the throne, the sultan led a campaign against the Ottoman Empire's Christian enemies, the Hungarians. Within twenty-eight days, the Turks led by Suleyman captured Belgrade, which was a strategically important city on the Danube. He then turned his attention toward the island of Rhodes, where lay a fortification of Christian knights, who had been terrorizing Turkish trading vessels. Suleyman gathered a huge army consisting of more cannons than had ever been amassed for any battle up to that time. The knights fought well and held the Turkish forces back for months. However, Suleyman was persistent and finally captured the fortification. The sultan's first two victories at Belgrade and Rhodes were feats ...

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