Vast was the army which Solyman raised. He had been years in gathering
men and equipments. Great work lay before him, and he needed great means
for its accomplishment. It is said that three hundred thousand men
marched under his banners. So large was the force, so great the quantity
of its baggage and artillery, that its progress was necessarily a slow
one, and sixty days elapsed during its march from Constantinople to
Belgrade.
Here was time for Ferdinand of Austria to bring together forces for the
defence of his dominions against the leviathan which was slowly moving
upon them. He made efforts, but they were not of the energetic sort
which the crisis demanded, and had the Turkish army been less unwieldly
and more rapid, Vienna might have fallen almost undefended into
Solyman's hands. Fortunately, large bodies move slowly, and the sultan
met with an obstacle that gave the requisite time for preparation.
On to Belgrade swept the grand army, with its multitude of standards and
all the pomp and glory of its vast array. The slowness with which it
came was due solely to its size, not in any sense to lack of energy in
the warlike sultan.
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