It is estimated the Christians had 1,815 guns, while the Turks had only 750 with insufficient ammunition. The Turks had skilled and experienced crews of sailors, but were somewhat deficient in their elite corps of Janissaries.Īn important and arguably decisive advantage for the Christians was their numerical superiority in guns and cannons aboard their ships. Ali Pasha (Turkish: "Kaptan-ı Derya Ali Paşa"), supported by the corsairs Chulouk Bey of Alexandria and Uluj Ali (Ulich Ali), commanded an Ottoman force of 222 war galleys, 56 galliots, and some smaller vessels. The Ottoman galleys were manned by 13,000 sailors and 34,000 soldiers. Free oarsmen were generally acknowledged to be superior by all combatants, but were gradually replaced in all galley fleets (including those of Venice from 1549) during the sixteenth century by cheaper slaves, convicts and prisoners-of-war owing to rapidly rising costs. Many of the galleys in the Turkish fleet were also rowed by slaves, often Christians that had been captured in previous conquests and engagements. Also, Venetian oarsmen were mainly free citizens and were able to bear arms adding to the fighting power of their ship, whereas slaves and convicts were used to row many of the galleys in other Holy League squadrons. In addition, it carried almost 28,000 fighting troops: 10,000 Spanish regular infantry of excellent quality, 7,000 German and 6000 Italian mercenary, and 5,000 Venetian soldiers of exceptional worth. This fleet of the Christian alliance was manned by 12,920 sailors. Don Juan de Austria arrived on August 23. The various Christian contingents met the main force, that of Venice (under Venier), in July and August 1571 at Messina, Sicily. All members of the alliance viewed the Turkish navy as a significant threat, both to the security of maritime trade in the Mediterranean Sea and to the security of continental Europe itself. Vessels had been contributed by the various Christian states: 109 galleys and 6 galleasses from the Republic of Venice, 80 galleys from Spain and Naples/Sicily, 12 Tuscan galleys hired by the Papal States, 3 galleys each from Genoa, Malta, and Savoy, and some privately owned galleys. The Holy League's fleet consisted of 206 galleys and 6 galleasses (large new galleys, invented by venetians, which carried substantial artillery) and was ably commanded by Don Juan de Austria, the illegitimate son of Emperor Charles V and half brother of King Philip II of Spain. He also demanded that Venice deal with the pirates who operated in the surrounding seas. Selim at first demanded that Venice return the island, then invaded. Selim ignored this on the basis that Cyprus was properly part of the empire officially, Venice held the island as a tributary of the Sultan. Selim's advisers had warned against attacking Cyprus because at the time a treaty was in place between Venice and the Empire. The Ottomans retained Cyprus until 1878, when they ceded control to Great Britain but at Lepanto Selim's fleet was crushed. Suleiman's less able son, Selim II succeeded in taking Cyprus from the Venetians in August 1571. Under Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman fleet had won supremacy at sea led by admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa who had defeated a combined Holy League fleet in 1538. The Battle of Lepanto is situated within the broader context of the Ottoman-Habsburg wars, which it effectively ended as well as of wars between the Ottomans and the Republic of Venice. The Battle of Lepanto was the last major naval battle fought solely between rowing vessels Background
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |