Battle of Lepanto 1571. Battle of Lepanto. Holy League - Holy War

00:05 - REGNUM

On the afternoon of October 7, 1571, in the Gulf of Patras of the Ionian Sea, Spanish, Italian and Venetian ships finished off the defeated Ottoman fleet. The event entered the historical chronicles as the naval battle of Lepanto. The participation of a 24-year-old Spanish nobleman brought additional fame to this battle. Miguel Cervantes de Saavedra. The future author of "Don Quixote" in 1570 was enlisted as a soldier in the regiment Marine Corps Spain, stationed in Naples, and in September 1571 sailed aboard the Marquis galley, which became part of the Holy League fleet, towards the Ottoman flotilla. Sick on the day of the battle with a fever, Cervantes honestly fought with the Turks and Berbers and was wounded three times - twice in the chest and once in the forearm of the left hand, forever losing its mobility.

Then the vassal of the Turkish Sultan, the Crimean Khan Devlet Giray burned Moscow, 39 Russian cities, countless villages and stole a huge number of subjects of the Russian Tsar to the slave markets of Europe and Asia Ivan IV, known to us by the nickname "Grozny". Having received military aid from the Sultan Selima II Drunkards, Devlet Giray I was going to finally deal with the restless Moscow ruler.

In general, the Turkish war drums then sounded louder and were not going to stop.

Every event has its own history and further consequences. The prehistory of the battle of Lepanto began in September 1566, when the Turkish sultan died during a military campaign at the age of 73. Suleiman the Magnificent. One of his sons who took the throne Selim II the Drunkard became the initiator of events, one of which was the battle of Lepanto.

The Ottoman Empire was at the height of its power. The fleet of the Sultan and his vassals felt great in the expanses of the Mediterranean, Adriatic, Ionian and Black Seas. In Europe, the Ottomans reached almost as far as Vienna, and the Christian states could not oppose them with anything but endless squabbles among themselves.

The Holy Roman Empire was actually a collection of microscopic Germanic states. Spain preferred to plunder the newly acquired overseas colonies. Another major political player of that time, the Venetian Republic, tremblingly kept its trade, preferring not to quarrel with Istanbul and not notice the piratical pranks of Turkish vassals.

Became new in 1566 Pope Pius V who believed the restoration of Christian control over the Mediterranean the most important task, did not meet with reciprocal enthusiasm from the European rulers.

This state of affairs could continue for a long time if the new Sultan Selim II the Drunkard did not decide to earn military authority. The closest target was the island of Cyprus, which was a colony of Venice, two thousand kilometers away from it.

There were periods in the history of the island when devout Muslims owned it, so there were no problems with the ideological justification of this war. In February 1570, the Sultan Selim declared a holy war to the infidels, and on July 1, 1570, a Turkish expeditionary force landed in Cyprus. The Venetians decided to defend themselves in the fortresses of Nicosia and Famagusta, sending a request for help to the metropolis.

Already on September 3, 1570, the Ottomans took Nicosia by storm, killing almost the entire garrison and local residents. Famagusta, thanks natural features terrain, held on.

Venice began to search for allies, but all were limited to expressing sincere sympathy and advice of varying degrees of value. Moreover, earlier Venice itself actively opposed any attempts at anti-Turkish initiatives, fearing damage to its trade.

Who knows how events would have developed if the process had not intervened Pope Pius V, persistently reminding European monarchs of their Christian duty to fight against "Muslim barbarians". Pius V was more convincing than the Venetian merchants, and the king of Spain Philip II ordered to send a fleet of 50 galleys to help Venice.

It is worth noting that Pius V did not limit himself to oral and written appeals and also equipped a small squadron. On September 1, 1570, all the fleets connected on the island of Crete with the Venetian fleet of 120 ships and headed for Cyprus, where the Famagusta fortress was still holding. But the campaign failed, as the Allied command was afraid to leave the Turkish fleet in its rear Piali Pasha of two hundred ships, based on the island of Rhodes. It never came to a direct battle in 1570.

Both sides were dissatisfied with this circumstance. Venice replaces fleet commander Girolamo Zanu to a more decisive Sebastiano Venera, and Istanbul sent to Rhodes who promised the Sultan decisive success Ali Pasha. In addition, the Spanish king, under pressure from the Pope, ordered the entire Mediterranean fleet of Spain to participate in hostilities. While fleets waited out winter storms in ports, Pius V actively engaged in the creation of a more concrete military coalition.

May 25, 1571 in St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome, representatives Pius V King of Spain Philip II and the Venetian government solemnly signed the document establishing the Holy League against the Ottoman Empire. The members of the league pledged to field 200 galleys and 50,000 soldiers against the enemy. The military command of the contingents of the Holy League was assigned to stepbrother Don King of Spain Juan of Austria. They decided to start active hostilities in the summer of 1571.

Nevertheless, until mid-September, the Holy League fleet was not able to put to sea. In the meantime, the defense of the fortress of Famagusta came to a tragic end: the defenders of the fortress, exhausted all their resources, agreed to an honorable surrender. Honor was expressed in the general massacre, and the head of defense Marco Antonio Bragadino was given a special honor - from a living Bragadino skinned.

Such news infuriated the entire fleet of the Holy League. On September 16, the fleet left Messina, by September 27 reached Corfu, the governor of which reported the Turkish fleet, which had gone towards the port of Lepanto.

The battle became inevitable, as the Turkish commanders received a message from the Sultan Selima II look for the enemy and give him a fight. The desire of the Sultan coincided with a similar attitude of the command of the fleet of the Holy League.

On the morning of October 7, 1571, the opponents met. The allied fleet consisted of 206 galleys and six galleasses. The Turkish navy had 208 galleys and 120 smaller ships capable of moving men from ship to ship in combat.

If the number of ships and people on board were approximately equal, then the Ottomans were seriously inferior to the Holy League in armament. Not only was there on European ships more guns and an arquebus, but also in the number of boarding teams, the Turks were clearly weaker. They counted on the soldiers who were on 120 small ships.

However, the galleass became the main trump card of the Holy League fleet. These large high-sided hybrids of galleys and sailboats, with heavy artillery on board, were veritable mobile fortresses on the water against which the Ottoman boarding parties could do little.

The battle formations of both fleets formed almost a mirror image: the center, two wings and a reserve. Two armadas, more than five hundred ships, began to draw closer to the creaking of galley oars and the roar of drums beating the rhythm for the rowers. At about 11 o'clock, one of the galleasses sent the first casualty of the battle of Lepanto to the bottom with a third volley - one of the large Turkish galleys began to sink. After the melee began, the galleass proved to be even more effective. Unlike galleys, which have dense rows of oars on both sides, the galleasses could conduct a firefight in both directions, and, if desired, approach the enemy “side to side”. At the same time, the high sides of the galleasses hung over the decks of Turkish ships, also creating an advantage. The effect was mitigated only by the fact that there were only six of them in the Holy League fleet. However, these six ships also forced the Ottomans to mix their battle formations, which made it difficult for them to act together.

Commander of the right flank of the Turkish fleet Mehmed Sulik Pasha tried to make a detour, but as a result, his ships were pressed against the shallows of the swampy coast and covered with dense fire from the cannons and falconets of the sailors of the Holy League. The crews of the right-flank Turkish ships panicked, and they tried to swim ashore. Christian rowers rebelled on part of the Ottoman galleys, and this hastened the defeat of the Turkish right flank. By one in the afternoon, the right wing of the Ottoman fleet ceased to exist, and its commander Mehmed Sulik Pasha was taken prisoner wounded.

In the center of the battle there was no time for detours - there were ships of both fleet commanders and the most capital ships. Quite quickly, they grappled in boarding battles, during which the Europeans combined edged weapons with fire from an arquebus, and the Turks fought hand-to-hand with the support of numerous archers.

Interestingly, the Ottoman commander himself Ali Pasha during the battle, he fired from a bow when the flagship galleys "Real" and "Sultana" at 11:40 converged in a boarding battle. More and more ships came to the grappled flagships from both sides, trying to provide support to their commanders. As a result, a small island of almost 30 ships gathered, on the decks of which there was a wild massacre. In the midst of the battle, the captain's galley was able to approach the Turkish flagship from the stern and attack its crew from a new direction. It has become turning point the entire battle - the flagship Turkish galley "Sultan" was captured, and he Ali Pasha was killed in battle, and his severed head was impaled on a pike.

The capture of the Sultana shook the entire center of the Turkish fleet, whose ships began to retreat randomly. So the main forces of the Ottoman fleet were also defeated.

The southern flank of the Turkish flotilla acted more successfully. Trying to get around each other, both wings of the opponents broke away from the main forces. Commander of the Ottomans here Uluj Ali Pasha wisely used the advantage in the maneuverability of his ships, most of which were small fast ships of the Barbary pirates. Here, the Turkish ships succeeded in disengaging the ships of the Holy League and with their main forces attacked a detachment of 16 galleys, which was trying to close the gap between the center and flank of the Christian fleet. Crew Uluj Ali Pasha boarded the galley of the Knights of Malta and captured it. However, here, too, a large galleass said its weighty word, supporting its own with artillery fire.

Uluj Ali Pasha decided to maneuver again and with 30 galleys went to the center to help the flagship Ali Pasha. But it was already too late. private success Uluj Ali Pasha could no longer influence the outcome of the battle. He ordered his ships to retreat. As a trophy, the Turks tried to drag the captured Maltese galley in tow, but it had to be abandoned soon after.

Until three in the afternoon, the fleet of the Holy League finished off the defeated enemy. Pursuit of 30 fast galleys Uluj Ali Pasha had to be canceled due to damage and crew losses. The fatigue of the sailors from many hours of battle also affected.

The Turkish fleet suffered a complete defeat. The trophies of the Holy League fleet were 170 Ottoman ships. After news of the fate of the Famagusta garrison, prisoners were taken reluctantly. The Holy League lost 10 galleys, 10 thousand people were killed, 21 thousand people were wounded. How many of the wounded died later, given the hot climate and the level of medicine at that time, is unknown. It is worth noting that the Allied fleet was able to leave the place of the victorious battle only with the help of 15 thousand Christian rowers taken from the captured Turkish galleys. On October 23, the fleet of the Holy League arrived on the island of Corfu, from where the Venetians went north, and the rest of the ships went to Messina. How did the victory at Lepanto affect further events? Surprisingly, almost none.

In the Stambul Uluj Ali Pasha told Selim II Drunkard his version of the reasons for the defeat, after which he became the commander of the Ottoman fleet, which in a fairly short time restored and successfully returned Tunisia to Istanbul in 1574, conquered by the victorious battle of Lepanto don Juan of Austria in 1573.

Died in May 1572 Pope Pius V, and the members of the Holy League quickly lost interest in it. Spain took up its own issues in the Netherlands and the fight against English pirates.

Venice quickly calculated the prospects for an independent struggle against the Ottoman Empire and signed a peace treaty, renouncing the rights to Cyprus and pledging to pay the Turkish Sultan 900,000 ducats in three years.

Interestingly, in Spain, which left its ally without any support, this was considered a betrayal and a spit on all the heroes of the battle of Lepanto.

Summing up, we can say that in these events, technological and numerical superiority ensured a one-time military success, which was prevented from developing and using diverging interests allies who tried to counteract a less technically advanced, but more stubborn and purposeful enemy.

After 200 years, not far from the site of the Battle of Lepanto, the Admiral's squadron Petra Konyaeva during the First Archipelago expedition, he will win the first large-scale victory of the Russian fleet in a long struggle against the Ottoman Empire. The results of this victory will be very different ...

Battle of Lepanto (1571)

In the 16th century, there was a struggle between the maritime powers for dominance in the Mediterranean. A particularly sharp rivalry unfolded between Spain and Turkey. In 1570, the Turkish Sultan Selim II unleashed a war with the aim of capturing the island of Cyprus and further expansion into Italy and Spain. The war was called the Cyprus War and lasted from 1570 to 1573. The Spanish-Venetian rivalry at sea contributed to the implementation of the plan of the Turkish Sultan.

Pope Pius V managed to organize an anti-Turkish Spanish-Venetian coalition, called the Holy League. And it included Italy, Spain, the Papal States and the Italian principalities. Juan of Austria was appointed commander-in-chief of the allied fleet. The Turkish fleet was commanded by Muezin-Zade-Ali (Ali Pasha).

On October 7, 1571, at Cape Scrofa, at the entrance to the Gulf of Patras of the Ionian Sea, a sea ​​battle, which went down in history under the name of Lepantsky. The battle involved a fleet of 250 Spanish and Venetian ships and a Turkish fleet of 275 ships. As much as the Battle of Lepanta was desirable for the Christians, it was just as undesirable for the Turks. The Turkish fleet had already been at sea for 6 months, was weakened after a series of battles against coastal fortified points, and was in great need of boarding troops. The fleet Holy Empire was supplied with the then best troops in Europe - the Spanish.

Time played into the hands of the Turks, since in October the navigation of the rowing fleet in the Mediterranean ended and the battle became impossible. For this reason, Juan of Austria sought to immediately engage in battle with the Turks.

The Turkish commander-in-chief, in obedience to the order of the Sultan, re to meet the Christian fleet. Intelligence of Juan of Austria noticed the sailing Turkish fleet before the Turks noticed the allies, but reported incorrect data about the Turkish fleet. Don XI gave the signal to "build a line of battle." The Turkish fleet consisted of 210 galleys and 65 galliots. The Allies had 203 galleys and 6 galeas. Qualitative advantages were on the side of the allies: firstly, they cut off the bows of their galleys and arranged shields and traverses on them; secondly, according to tactical and technical data, the Turkish artillery was inferior to the artillery of the allied fleet, thirdly, only 2,500 arquebuses were in service with the Janissaries, the rest of the Turks were archers and did not have protective equipment. All the allies had soldiers firearms and protective equipment. On Turkish ships, the number of soldiers was no more than 30-40, and the Allies had at least 150 soldiers in each galley.

The battle order of the Turks consisted of a center, two wings and a small reserve (5 galleys, 25 galliots). The weakest was the right wing (53 galleys, 3 galliots) under the command of the king of Alexandria, Megmet-Sirocco. The strong center (91 galleys, 5 galleys) was led by Ali Pasha, and the left wing (61 galleys, 32 galleys) was led by the Algerian king Ulug Ali.

According to the plan, the battle order of the allies was to consist of the center under the command of don Juan (62 galleys), the right wing led by the Genoese Doria (58 galleys), the left wing led by the Venetian Barbarigo (53 galleys) and the reserve under the command of the Marquis Cardo. The galleys, which had strong artillery and a large number of soldiers, were supposed to be pushed forward to repel the first onslaught of the enemy and create favorable conditions for the attack of the Turks by galleys.

The battle began at 11-12 noon with the deployment of the Allied fleet. The right wing of the allies under the command of Doria went far ahead and broke away from the center, and 8 galleys of the Sicilian captain Cardo fell behind. There was a danger of dispersion of forces. Don Juan ordered the Christian oarsmen to be attacked and given weapons. At that time, he himself, in a boat with a raised cross in his hand, passed along the line of courts, trying to raise the morale of the teams with a promise on behalf of the pope of absolution.

After that, the galleasses of the center and the left wing came forward. The wind died down, calm came. Don Juan returned to the flagship tack and raised the signal "to fight." Turks and allies moved forward.

There were three battle centers. The situation required skillful maneuvering and interaction of combat units.

On the left wing, the Turks managed to surround the allies. Due to ignorance of the terrain, the allied fleet was unable to cling to the shallows, and the Turks managed to go around it along the coast and attack from the rear. A boarding battle began, during which the advantages of the allies in numbers and weapons affected. By 1230 hours, the right wing of the Turks was defeated. The environment did not provide success. From 12 o'clock fighting turned around in the center. Here the Turks had best forces, and the battle was especially stubborn. The flagship galleys of Don Juan and Ali Pasha were at the epicenter of the battle, and the Pasha was killed. The outcome of the battle is the victory of the allies. However, she proved unstable.

From 14:00 to 16:00, the defeat of the Turkish fleet was completed. The main maneuvers at this stage were Ulug-Ali and Doria. At the moment of crisis, Ulug-Ali (the left wing of the Turks), with most of his forces, suddenly turned to the center, attacked and crushed his right flank. However, the allies did not lose their heads. Don Juan, having finished with the enemy's flagship lehr, rushed to the aid of the right flank. At the same time, the Allied reserve (Krutz) entered the battle and brought the right wing of Doria closer from the rear. The encirclement of the courts of Ulug-Ali was brewing, the Cahors fled with 13 ships. Another 35 Turkish ships managed to escape and escape. During the battle, the allies sank 20 enemy galleys, and 200 ships turned out to be their trophies. (Razin, p. 365.)

As a result of the defeat of the Turks, 12 thousand slave slaves were freed. The Allies lost more than 7 thousand people killed, counting the dead rowers, of whom there were about 2.5 thousand on the Venetian galleys alone, including 15 Venetian captains in this battle, Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote, commanded a platoon of Spanish soldiers and was twice wounded. The Turks lost 30 thousand people and 224 ships.

The Battle of Lepanto ended the dominance of the Turkish fleet in the Mediterranean. The allied fleet won a victory, but its results were not used to the full. Instead of vigorous action, there were disputes about future plans. After losing a whole month, the Allied fleets dispersed to ports. The Turkish Sultan was given the opportunity to restore his fleet, and by the spring of next year, the Turks had built 220 galleys. The fleet went to sea under the command of Ulug-Ali, who, acting very carefully, won the campaign in 1572.

The Holy League broke up, and in March 1573 the government of Venice signed an agreement with Turkey, according to which they conceded to the Turks and paid a large indemnity. The Turks reasserted their dominance in the eastern Mediterranean.

The Battle of Lepanto in 1571 or the Third Battle of Lepanto is a naval battle that took place on October 7, 1571 in the Gulf of Patras near Cape Scrofa. Warring parties were represented by the combined forces of the Holy League, which included Spain, the Republic of Venice, the troops of the Pope, the Order of Malta, Genoa, Sicily, Naples, Savoy, Tuscany and Parma, and the fleet of the Ottoman Empire opposing them.

League Forces

The forces of the united Holy League represented the most powerful and numerous fleet that Europe had ever seen. In total, a fleet of about 300 different ships gathered, of which 108 Venetian galleys, 81 Spanish galleys, 32 galleys put up at the expense of the pope and other Italian states, in addition, the fleet included 6 huge Venetian galleasses. The total number of ship crews was approx. 84 thousand people, of which about 20 thousand soldiers from the boarding teams.

A. B. Snisarenko, describing the review of the fleet, gives a slightly different composition: 81 galleys and 12 Spanish warships under the command of the Genoese Gian Doria, 12 papal galleys led by the Vatican admiral Marcantonio Colonna, 108 galleys, 6 galleasses and 2 warships of the Venetian admiral Sebastian Venier, 3 Maltese galleys, 3 galleys of the Duke of Savoy and a number of other small vessels.

In addition to ship teams, the fleet included boarding teams of 12 thousand Italians, 5 thousand Spaniards (among them the future author of Don Quixote Miguel Cervantes) and 3 thousand volunteers from other countries and regions.

Turkish forces

The Turkish fleet consisted of about the same number of ships, about 210 galleys and 66 galleots. The total number of teams and boarding detachments could reach 88 thousand people (of which about 16 thousand were in boarding teams). Ali Pasha Muezzinzade was at the head of the Turkish fleet.

Battle

Fernando Bertelli: Battle of Lepanto (engraving)

The allied fleet blocked the Turkish ships in the Gulf of Patras. The Turkish commander believed that the Allied forces were anchored off the island of Kefalonia, and Don Juan of Austria himself believed that the Turks were in Lepanto.

On the morning of October 7, 1571, both fleets, quite unexpectedly for both sides, met at the entrance to the bay, 60 km from the city of Lepanto (Nafpakt). The shore, which up to the time hid the forces of the opponents, is low, and the Spaniards had seen the sails of the Turkish fleet earlier. It was much more difficult for the Turks to detect the Allied rowing ships. Nevertheless, the Turks noticed the Christians and began to line up in battle order. The sails were lowered and the formations were made at the oars. The battle order of the Turkish fleet, as well as on land, consisted of a center, two wings and a small reserve located behind the center (5 galleys, 25 galliots).

The right wing of the Turks (53 galleys, 3 galliots), led by the king of Alexandria, Megmet Sirocco, was the weakest. The center (91 galleys, 5 galliots) was commanded by Ali Pasha himself. The left wing (61 galleys, 32 galliots) consisted mainly of Algerian pirate ships, and was led by Uluj Ali. At the head of many ships were also sailors who fled from Europe and converted to Islam (the Venetian Hassan, the Frenchman Jafar, the Albanian Dali-Mami). Uluj Ali, a Calabrian by origin, was preparing for a career as a priest, but was kidnapped by pirates. Having been captured, he changed his faith and name (his real name is Ochchali), made a career and became the pasha of Tripoli.

In general, the forces of the Turkish fleet stretched for 8 - 10 km.

The Allied fleet formed up in the same order of battle. The center was headed by Don Juan of Austria himself (62 galleys). The right wing (58 galleys) was under the command of the Genoese Giovanni Andrea Doria, great-nephew of the famous admiral Andrea Doria, who many times defeated the Turks and Algerian pirates. The left wing of the allies (53 galleys) was under the command of the Venetian Barbarigo. The reserve of 30 galleys was under the command of the Marquis Cruz. Don Juan also ordered the Christian oarsmen to be unchained and armed.

The battle began with the advancement of both the Turks and the allies forward. Judging by some sources, the allies deliberately pushed forward the heavy galleys, and then pulled the main part of the galleys to them in order to meet the Turks with a united front at the time of the collision. The Turks, on the other hand, moved in one line, and when the moment came to collide, their light galleys were in front, and the slow galleys fell behind. The forces of both sides met and at the same time three centers of struggle arose.

The left wing of the allies, due to ignorance of the terrain and fear of running aground, kept a distance from the coast. The Turks took advantage of this. The galleys from the right wing circled the allies along the coast and attacked from the rear. Part of the Turkish galleys wedged between the center of the enemy and his left wing. As a result, the entire left flank of the Christians was surrounded.

Barbarigo was forced to accept the boarding battle in the environment, but the advantage of the allies in armament and in the number of boarding teams immediately affected. Each Allied galley had at least 150 soldiers, and Turkish ships in this area had 30 to 40 boarding soldiers on board.

In the afternoon, the Turks, who surrounded the stronger Barbarigo, were defeated. The encirclement of the enemy gave nothing. In the center, where the main forces of the rivals collided, the battle was stubborn. The main objects were the flagship galleys of Don Juan of Austria and Ali Pasha. Eventually Ali Pasha was killed in a shootout. His head was raised on a long pike, which caused panic among the Turkish sailors. The center of the Turks began to give in and retreat.

The commander of the left wing of the Turkish fleet, Uluj Ali, made the following maneuver - from for the most part with his wing, he turned to the center and hit the side of the forces of Juan of Austria. Ali Pasha's flagship galley was already finished, and Juan, breaking general order, began to turn towards the ships of Uluj Ali. At the same time, the Allied reserve under the command of the Marquis Cruz entered the battle.

The commander of the right flank of the allies, Doria also turned and began to approach the center order of battle allies, right on Uluj Ali.

Uluj Ali's ships could be surrounded, so he began to withdraw from the battle. However, before leaving the battlefield, he managed to capture the Maltese flagship galley.

Losses

The defeat of the Turkish fleet was complete, historians disagree only in assessing the losses. The following figures are most often given: the Turks lost 224 ships, including 117 were captured by the allies. On Turkish ships, 12 thousand slaves were captured and released. At least 10 thousand slave rowers (Christians, since Muslims could not be kept in slavery) died along with the sunken ships. Up to 15 thousand Turkish soldiers and sailors were killed. There is no consensus on the number of prisoners. They give numbers from 300 to 5 thousand Turks. Turkish guns were captured 30.

Allied losses were much less. Dupuis believes that the Allies lost 13 galleys, 7566 people were killed and 8 thousand wounded, although this figure may be somewhat underestimated.

In this battle, Miguel Cervantes distinguished himself, who commanded a platoon of Spanish soldiers in the Marquis galley. Cervantes was wounded twice: in the chest and in the left arm, which then did nothing for him all his life.

Consequences

The largest naval battle of the 16th century, which put an end to Turkish power in the Mediterranean basin, was sung by Cervantes. In the introduction to the Instructive Novels, the author of Don Quixote wrote about himself in the third person: “In the naval battle of Lepanto, his hand was crippled by a shot from an arquebus, and although this mutilation seems to be a different disgrace, in his eyes it is beautiful, for he received it in one of the most famous battles that were known in past centuries and which may happen in the future ... ”The largest Spanish poet of that time, Fernando de Herrera, responded to the battle with an enthusiastic“ Song of the Victory at Lepanto ”; many other poets of Spain and Italy glorified the winners and, above all, Don Juan of Austria.

On October 7, 1571, 445 years ago, the bloodiest battle in the history of naval battles took place - the battle of Lepanto (Greece), in which the allied Spanish-Venetian fleet, inflicting a crushing defeat on the fleet of the Ottoman Empire, put an end to almost a century of domination of the Turks in the Mediterranean Sea . And this battle is also considered the last major battle of the galleys ...

The forces of the united Holy League represented the most powerful and numerous fleet Europe had ever seen. In total, a fleet of about 300 different ships gathered, of which 108 Venetian galleys, 81 Spanish galleys, 32 galleys put up at the expense of the pope and other Italian states, in addition, the fleet included 6 huge Venetian galleys. The total number of ship crews was about 84 thousand people, of which approximately 20 thousand soldiers were from the boarding teams. In addition to the boarding teams, the fleet included teams of 12,000 Italians, 5,000 Spaniards, 3,000 Germans and 3,000 volunteers from other countries and regions, among whom was the 24-year-old Spaniard Miguel Cervantes, the future author of Don Quixote. He commanded a platoon of Spanish soldiers in the galley "Marquis".

Juan of Austria

The Turkish fleet consisted of a roughly equal number of ships, about 210 galleys and 66 galleots. The total number of teams and boarding detachments could reach 88 thousand people. Ali Pasha Muezzinzade was at the head of the Turkish fleet.

The allied fleet blocked the Turkish ships in the Gulf of Patras. The Turkish commander believed that the Allied forces were anchored off the island of Kefalonia, and Don Juan of Austria himself believed that the Turks were in Lepanto.
On the morning of October 7, 1571, both fleets, quite unexpectedly for both sides, met at the entrance to the bay, 60 km from the city of Lepanto (Nafpakt). The shore, which up to the time hid the forces of the opponents, is low, and the Spaniards had seen the sails of the Turkish fleet earlier. It was much more difficult for the Turks to detect the Allied rowing ships. Nevertheless, the Turks noticed the Christians and began to line up in battle order. The sails were lowered and the formations were made at the oars. The battle formation of the Turkish fleet consisted of a center, two wings and a small reserve located behind the center (5 galleys, 25 galliots).

H. Luna. Battle of Lepanto (1887)

The right wing of the Turks (53 galleys, 3 galliots), led by Mehmet Sirocco, was the weakest. The center (91 galleys, 5 galliots) was commanded by Ali Pasha himself. The left wing (61 galleys, 32 galliots) consisted mainly of Algerian pirate ships, led by Uluj Ali.

Uluj Ali, a Calabrian by origin, was preparing for a career as a priest, but was kidnapped by pirates. Having been captured, he changed his faith and name (his real name is Ochchali), made a career and became the pasha of Tripoli. At the head of many ships were sailors who fled from Europe and converted to Islam: the Venetian Gassan, the French Jafar, the Albanian Dali Mami. The forces of the Turkish fleet stretched for 8-10 km.

The Allied fleet formed up in the same order of battle. The center (62 galleys) was headed by Don Juan of Austria himself. The right wing (58 galleys) was commanded by Giovanni Andrea Doria. The left wing of the Allies (53 galleys) was led into battle by the Venetian Barbarigo. 30 galleys under the command of the Marquis of Santa Cruz were placed in reserve. Don Juan ordered the Christian oarsmen to be unchained and armed.

Both fleets moved forward. According to some sources, the allies deliberately pushed forward heavy galleasses, and then pulled the main part of the galleys to them in order to meet the Turks with a united front at the time of the collision. The Turks, on the other hand, moved in one line, and when the moment of collision came, their light galleys were ahead, and their slow galliots fell behind. After the contact of the fleets, three centers of struggle arose simultaneously.

F. Bertelli. Battle of Lepanto (1572)

The left wing of the allies, due to ignorance of the terrain and fear of running aground, kept a distance from the coast. The Turks took advantage of this. The galleys from the right wing circled the allies along the coast and attacked from the rear. Part of the Turkish galleys wedged between the center of the enemy and his left wing. As a result, the entire left flank of the Christians was surrounded.

Barbarigo was forced to accept the boarding battle in the environment, but the advantage of the allies in armament and in the number of boarding teams immediately affected. Each Allied galley had at least 150 soldiers, and the Turkish ships in this sector had only 30-40 boarding soldiers on board.

In the afternoon, the Turks, who surrounded the stronger Barbarigo, were defeated. The encirclement of the enemy ships did not give the Turks any benefit, since the enemy turned out to be much stronger in close combat. In the center, where the main forces of the rivals collided, the battle was stubborn. The main targets of the attack were the flagship galleys of Don Juan of Austria ("Real") and Ali Pasha ("Sultana").

The duel between Real and the Turkish flagship Sultana became one of the key episodes of the battle. After an exchange of gun salvos, as a result of which the Real's main mast was damaged, the ships collided head-on, with the Sultana ram penetrating the Real up to the fourth bench. A fierce boarding battle lasted about an hour, and other ships came to the aid of both flagships. The Spaniards repelled two Turkish attacks and captured the Sultana on the third attempt. Don Juan of Austria, clad in shining armor, showed an example of personal courage and was wounded in the leg. The Ottoman admiral Ali Pasha Muezzinzade was killed in a skirmish, his head was cut off by a Spanish soldier who impaled it on a pike and brandished it to give courage to his comrades. This caused panic among the Turkish sailors. The center of the Turks began to give in and retreat.
On the Sultana, the green banner of the Prophet, presented by Sultan Selim II to Ali Pasha at the beginning of the campaign, and gold worth 150,000 sequins were captured.

The commander of the left wing of the Turkish fleet, Uluj Ali, made the following maneuver - with a large part of his wing, he turned to the center and hit the side of the forces of Juan of Austria. Ali Pasha's flagship galley was already finished, and Huang, breaking the general order, began to turn towards the ships of Uluj Ali. At the same time, the Allied reserve under the command of the Marquis of Santa Cruz entered the battle.
The commander of the right flank of the allies, Doria also turned and began to approach the center of the allied battle formation, directly on Uludzh Ali. Uluj Ali's ships could be surrounded, so he began to withdraw from the battle. However, before leaving the battlefield, he managed to capture the Maltese flagship galley.

In total, about 550 ships participated in that battle on both sides. The defeat of the Turkish fleet was complete, historians disagree only in assessing the losses. The following figures are most often given: the Turks lost 224 ships, including 117 were captured by the allies. On Turkish ships, 12 thousand slaves were captured and released. At least 10 thousand slave rowers perished along with the sunken ships. Killed up to 15 thousand Turkish soldiers and sailors. Allied losses were much less. The Battle of Lepanto was the last major battle of the galley fleets in history.

Centuries have passed. Only historians remember the details of the Battle of Lepanto. But once it was considered one of the most important battles in history...
But literary scholars remember that Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was wounded twice in this battle. Shot in this fight left hand remained partially paralyzed for life. Returning home by sea, the future author of Don Quixote was captured by pirates and sold as a slave to an Algerian pasha. It was redeemed by missionaries only in 1580.
Cervantes, in the introduction to the Instructive Novels, wrote of himself in the third person:
In the naval battle of Lepanto, his hand was mutilated by a shot from an arquebus, and although this mutilation seems to be a different disgrace, it is beautiful in his eyes, for he received it in one of the most famous battles that were known in past centuries and which can happen in future...

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

In 1965, on the eve of the 400th anniversary of the Battle of Lepanto, the director of the Barcelona Maritime Museum, José Martinez-Hidalgo, put forward the idea of ​​recreating the ship "Real". The painstaking work on the development of drawings took several years. A group of enthusiasts and professional historians, based on ancient descriptions, drawings, engravings and models, managed to perform the most reliable reconstruction of a 16th-century sailing and rowing vessel, and on October 7, 1971, on the anniversary of the famous battle, it was launched. Currently, the recreated galley is on display at the Maritime Museum of Barcelona.

In the 16th century, there was a struggle between the maritime powers for dominance in the Mediterranean. A particularly sharp rivalry unfolded between Spain and Turkey. In 1570, the Turkish Sultan Selim II unleashed a war with the aim of capturing the island of Cyprus and further expansion into Italy and Spain. The war was called the Cyprus War and lasted from 1570 to 1573. The Spanish-Venetian rivalry at sea contributed to the implementation of the plan of the Turkish Sultan.

Pope Pius V managed to organize an anti-Turkish Spanish-Venetian coalition, called the Holy League. And it included Italy, Spain, the Papal States and the Italian principalities. Juan of Austria was appointed commander-in-chief of the allied fleet. The Turkish fleet was commanded by Muezin-Zade-Ali (Ali Pasha).

On October 7, 1571, at Cape Scrofa, at the entrance to the Gulf of Patras of the Ionian Sea, a naval battle took place, which went down in history under the name of Lepanta. The battle involved a fleet of 250 Spanish and Venetian ships and a Turkish fleet of 275 ships.

As much as the Battle of Lepanta was desirable for the Christians, it was just as undesirable for the Turks. The Turkish fleet had already been at sea for 6 months, was weakened after a series of battles against coastal fortified points, and was in great need of boarding troops. The fleet of the Holy Empire was supplied with the best troops in Europe at that time - the Spanish.

Time played into the hands of the Turks, since in October the navigation of the rowing fleet in the Mediterranean ended and the battle became impossible. For this reason, Juan of Austria sought to immediately engage in battle with the Turks.

The Turkish commander-in-chief, in obedience to the order of the Sultan, re to meet the Christian fleet. Intelligence of Juan of Austria noticed the sailing Turkish fleet before the Turks noticed the allies, but reported incorrect data about the Turkish fleet. Don XI gave the signal to "build a line of battle." The Turkish fleet consisted of 210 galleys and 65 galliots. The Allies had 203 galleys and 6 galeas. Qualitative advantages were on the side of the allies: firstly, they cut off the bows of their galleys and arranged shields and traverses on them; secondly, according to tactical and technical data, the Turkish artillery was inferior to the artillery of the allied fleet, thirdly, only 2,500 arquebuses were in service with the Janissaries, the rest of the Turks were archers and did not have protective equipment. All the soldiers of the Allies had firearms and protective equipment. On Turkish ships, the number of soldiers was no more than 30-40, and the Allies had at least 150 soldiers on each galley.

The battle order of the Turks consisted of a center, two wings and a small reserve (5 galleys, 25 galliots). The weakest was the right wing (53 galleys, 3 galliots) under the command of the king of Alexandria, Megmet-Sirocco. The strong center (91 galleys, 5 galleys) was led by Ali Pasha, and the left wing (61 galleys, 32 galleys) was led by the Algerian king Ulug Ali.

The order of battle of the allies according to the plan was to consist of the center under the command of don Juan (62 galleys), the right wing led by the Genoese Doria (58 galleys), the left wing led by the Venetian Barbarigo (53 galleys) and the reserve under the command of the Marquis Cardo. The galleys, which had strong artillery and a large number of soldiers, were supposed to be pushed forward to repel the first onslaught of the enemy and create favorable conditions for the attack of the Turks by galleys.

The battle began at 11-12 noon with the deployment of the Allied fleet. The right wing of the allies under the command of Doria went far ahead and broke away from the center, and 8 galleys of the Sicilian captain Cardo fell behind. There was a danger of dispersion of forces. Don Juan ordered the Christian oarsmen to be attacked and given weapons. At that time, he himself, in a boat with a raised cross in his hand, passed along the line of courts, trying to raise the morale of the teams with a promise on behalf of the pope of absolution.

After that, the galleasses of the center and the left wing came forward. The wind died down, calm came. Don Juan returned to the flagship tack and raised the signal "to fight." Turks and allies moved forward.

There were three battle centers. The situation required skillful maneuvering and interaction of combat units.

On the left wing, the Turks managed to surround the allies. Due to ignorance of the terrain, the allied fleet was unable to cling to the shallows, and the Turks managed to go around it along the coast and attack from the rear. A boarding battle began, during which the advantages of the allies in numbers and weapons affected. By 1230 hours, the right wing of the Turks was defeated. The environment did not provide success. From 12 o'clock the fighting unfolded in the center. Here the Turks had the best forces, and the battle was especially stubborn. The flagship galleys of Don Juan and Ali Pasha were at the epicenter of the battle, and the Pasha was killed. The outcome of the battle is the victory of the allies. However, she proved unstable.

From 14:00 to 16:00, the defeat of the Turkish fleet was completed. The main maneuvers at this stage were Ulug-Ali and Doria. At the moment of crisis, Ulug-Ali (the left wing of the Turks), with most of his forces, suddenly turned to the center, attacked and crushed his right flank. However, the allies did not lose their heads. Don Juan, having finished with the enemy's flagship lehr, rushed to the aid of the right flank. At the same time, the Allied reserve (Krutz) entered the battle and brought the right wing of Doria closer from the rear. The encirclement of the courts of Ulug-Ali was brewing, the Cahors fled with 13 ships. Another 35 Turkish ships managed to escape and escape. During the battle, the allies sank 20 enemy galleys, and 200 ships turned out to be their trophies.

As a result of the defeat of the Turks, 12 thousand slave slaves were freed. The Allies lost more than 7 thousand people killed, counting the dead rowers, of whom there were about 2.5 thousand on the Venetian galleys alone, including 15 Venetian captains in this battle, Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote, commanded a platoon of Spanish soldiers and was twice wounded. The Turks lost 30 thousand people and 224 ships.

The Battle of Lepanto ended the dominance of the Turkish fleet in the Mediterranean. The allied fleet won a victory, but its results were not used to the full. Instead of vigorous action, there were disputes about future plans. After losing a whole month, the Allied fleets dispersed to ports. The Turkish Sultan was given the opportunity to restore his fleet, and by the spring of next year, the Turks had built 220 galleys. The fleet went to sea under the command of Ulug-Ali, who, acting very carefully, won the campaign in 1572.

The Holy League broke up, and in March 1573 the government of Venice signed an agreement with Turkey, according to which they conceded to the Turks and paid a large indemnity. The Turks reasserted their dominance in the eastern Mediterranean.