Battle of Lepanto

The battle of Lepanto was a decisive naval engagement fought Oct. 7, 1571, between a Turkish fleet of about 275 galleys under Ali Pasha against a Christian force of about 250 galleys and galleasses (much larger than galleys). The Christian fleet was mostly Spanish and Venetian, and was commanded by Don John of Austria.

The battle was fought in the Gulf of Patras, off western Greece, and the outcome was a massive victory for the Christian fleet. The Turks lost 233 ships and suffered about 25,000 killed and wounded, plus 8,000 prisoners, out of 70,000 engaged; Christians lost 7,650 dead and 8,000 injured from a force of 30,000.

Background

Suleiman I, the Magnificent (1520-66), took Belgrade and Rhodes, but failed in his siege of Vienna (1529). His son, Selim II (1566-74), was under the sway of Don Joseph Nasi, who persuaded Selim to declare war on Venice for the purpose of taking Cyprus, which at the time was under Venetian control.

The delicate military balance of power in the eastern Mediterranean finally tipped when the Turks occupied the island of Chios. The Turks laid seige to Famagusta, which fell on August 4, 1571, and threatened Cyprus. Pope Pius V then unified most of the Christian forces into a "Holy League" against the Turks. The Spanish found a leader for the polyglot collection of naval units in the person of Don Juan of Austria, bastard son of Emperor Charles V and half brother of King Philip II of Spain. The master engineers of Venice provided the fleet with the galleass, a ship able to carry numerous heavy guns.

Battle

Spanish novelist Miguel de Cervantes, who lost the use of his left hand in combat at Lepanto, called it "the most noble and memorable event that past centuries have seen or future can ever hope to witness."

Turks attributes the defeat to the inexperience of Uluç Ali Pasha, the admiral; the inefficiency of Pertev Pasha, commander of the marines; the misconceived orders from headquarters; and the fleet's undermanned complement.

The battle was the climax of a century-long development of conducting naval war with oar-propelled warships. In marked the first major use of naval artillery in the west.

Financially the Spanish imperial cost was approximately 1,225,000 escudos, of which the main Italian dependencies of Naples, Milan, and Sicily contributed over 440,000. These costs were partly offset by papal grants of income to the Spanish monarchy from religious taxes collected in Spain. With loot, sale of captured vessels, slaves, and the papal grants, the campaign showed a net profit to Spain. No estimates are availabel of the financial cost to Venice and the Ottoman Empire.

Outcome

To Europeans at the time the victory seemed to mark a turning point in the fortunes of Christendom. The impact was especially important in the first military triumph for decades in which Venice could take pride, and its effect on Venetian morale at all levels of society was incalculable. Venice had been at peace for a generation as Turkish pressure kept growing. Ever since the Turks had retreated from Malta in 1565, the Venetians had feared that Crete or Cyprus would be the next target for the unstoppable galleys of the Ottoman fleet. Victory was celebrated by drawing on the arts to create a popular iconography that reinforced civic unity by stressing the myth that Venetians lived in a perfect state. The Turks were portrayed as instruments of God's wrath at Venice and Christendom for their sins that could only be overcome with moral regeneration led by an angelic pope.

Pope Pius V (r. 1566-72) in gratitude for the victory inaugurated the feast of the Holy Rosary. He interpreted the Christian victory as the beginning of fulfillment of messianic prophecies current in the popular culture of the day. He specifically believed that the allied Christian princes were destined to reconquer Jerusalem and the Holy Land in a new crusade, and that would unite all Christians, including Protestants and Eastern Orthodox. However the Spanish king Philip II was reluctant to pursue that particular messianic quest because he was much more concerned about the Muslims in North Africa.

Recent historians have emphasized that the symbolic and emotional importance outweighed the military or diplomatic results, which were mixed. The Turks rapidly rebuilt their navy in the winter of 1571-72 and Venice subsequently reached a separate peace in return for the cession of Cyprus and the payment of a large sum in war indemnities.

Bibliography

• Beeching, Jack. The Galleys at Lepanto (1983). 267pp
• Capponi, Niccolò. The Victory of the West: The Great Christian-Muslim Clash at the Battle of Lepanto (2007) excerpt and text search
• Fenlon, Iain. "Lepanto and the Arts of Creation." History Today 45#9 (Sept. 1995) pp 24+., covers the memory and remembrance in Europe online edition
• Greene, Molly. "Beyond the Northern Invasion: the Mediterranean in the Seventeenth Century." Past & Present 2002 (174): 42-71., focus on long-term economic trade patterns. Issn: 0031-2746 Fulltext: OUP Jstor
• Hess, Andrew C. "The Battle of Lepanto and its Place in Mediterranean History." Past and Present 1972 0(57): 53-73. Issn: 0031-2746 in Jstor
• Hopkins, T. C. F. Confrontation at Lepanto: Christendom vs. Islam (2007), 208pp excerpt and text search
• Jordan, Jenny. "Imagined Lepanto: Turks, Mapbooks, Intrigue, and Spectacular in the Sixteenth Century Construction of 1571." PhD dissertation U. of California, Los Angeles 2004. 243 pp. DAI 2004 65(6): 2326-A. DA3135517

Fulltext: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses

• Konstam, Angus. Lepanto 1571: The Greatest Naval Battle of the Renaissance (2005). 96pp; excerpt and text search