In the previous episode of our series on Ottoman history, we covered the beginning of the war
between the Ottomans and the Holy League, and the conquest of Cyprus by the generals
of Sultan Selim II. But that wasn’t the end of the war. The Ottomans, inspired by
a relatively easy takeover of the crucial island, were planning campaigns in the heart
of the Mediterranean, which led to the iconic battle of Lepanto.
Cyprus now belonged to the Ottomans, though it would be two months before news of Famagusta’s
fall reached the Holy League. Despite the fact that the alliance with Spain had allowed
Venice to purchase grain from Spanish Sicily cheaply, this source simply could not cover
losing access to the produce of Egypt, and famine choked their maritime Empire. They
hoped that Sokollu Mehmed Pasha, who had long collected bribes from Venice, might help,
but the vizier’s influence was at an all-time low, so this hope was misplaced.
In 1571 the Ottoman fleets roamed with impunity, mercilessly raiding Venetian islands in the
Ionian Sea, setting the stage for the battle both sides had been hoping for in the previous
year. The Ottomans sought to consolidate their conquests in the Balkans with the capture
of Cattaro in northern Dalmatia before the end of the campaign season, but were forced
to withdraw after a short, failed siege. Their fleet initially took shelter in Greece from
the coming winter storms, but an order received on September 9th from Sokollu Mehmed Pasha
in Constantinople ordered it back to sea. Sokollu Mehmed Pasha wished Cattaro taken
immediately - the fleet would winter not at Lepanto but at Cattaro.
There was only one problem. The Holy League fleet had not been idle, and had pursued Uluch
Ali’s raiders from the North Adriatic to Greece. By the time Sokollu Mehmed Pasha’s
order arrived the Holy League fleet had reached Otranto, and stood between the Ottomans and
their destination. If the fleet was to reach Cattaro, it would need to overcome the 206
galleys and 6 heavy Venetian galleasses of the combined fleet - one of the largest navies
assembled since antiquity. However, while seeking battle had not been
his initial intent, Muezzinzade Ali Pasha was confident. His fleet was larger, at 278
ships to 212, and thus far the Ottomans had been victorious in nearly every major naval
battle they had participated in. In addition, captain Kara Khodja, another raider, had misreported
the Holy League fleet as being much smaller than its true size after his reconnaissance.
The Ottomans began to mobilize soldiers and rowers to replace those that had departed,
with confusing and contradictory orders costing them most of a month.
By the 3rd of October, as the Ottomans ships remained in port, the Holy League fleet reached
Cephalonia. On the 6th they scouted out the Ottoman fleet and left Cephalonia for the
Curzolari islands. On the 7th, as the Ottoman fleet sought to leave the Gulf of Patras for
the open sea, the two fleets came together in what would be immortalized as the Battle
of Lepanto. In the center of the Holy League fleet was
Don Juan’s flagship, La Real, nearly half again as long as an average galley at 60 meters.
The center was where the Holy League was strongest, with 24 of the larger western galleys backing
Don Juan, and with the large but slow Venetian Galleasses arranged ahead of the fleet to
bombard the approaching Ottomans. Not counting the Galleasses, the Holy League center counted
66 ships, the strongest of the three detachments. However, they also faced off against a very
strong Ottoman center, with Muezzinzade Ali’s flagship, the Sultana, leading the great Turkish
armada. As Muezzinzade was more of a land commander, and lacked the disgraced Piyale
Pasha’s naval skill, he had concentrated much of the Ottoman strength - 87 ships - in
a double center line, rather than taking advantage of his larger fleet to outflank the Christians.
The 54-ship left wing of the Holy League fleet was primarily comprised of smaller Venetian
line galleys under the command of Barbarigo, the Venetian Quartermaster General of the
Sea. Mehmet Sirocco, the Bey of Alexandria, faced him on the Ottoman right. Sirocco had
positioned his ships in an arc to better flank the Christians. However, with only 58 ships,
his command was much smaller than the center or the Ottoman left under Uluch Ali, meaning
his arc stretched the single line of galleys worryingly thin.
The Holy League Right, finally, was under the command of Gianandrea Doria and counted
50 ships. This theatre of battle most favoured the Ottomans. Uluch Ali had brought a sizeable
fleet of corsairs with him from Algiers to add to the regular Ottoman navy, leaving his
wing greatly oversized at 101 ships. In preparation, both commanders led their
flagships in prayer, before a crucifix on La Real and an ornate Sufi banner on Sultana.
Muezzinzade Ali Pasha also addressed the rowing slaves before battle was joined, promising
them freedom if the Ottomans should be victorious. Finally, the silence of the two fleets was
broken by a cannon firing from Sultana. Though well out of range, the noise carried to the
Holy League fleet, and its meaning was clear. The battle had begun.
When the battle was joined, the wind was blowing from the East, spurring the Ottoman ships
forward to meet the Holy League. The four galleasses ahead of the Christian center,
slow and heavy ships normally used in defensive operations, fired several powerful volleys
into the Ottoman fleet as it approached, sinking several galleys, while the lighter guns of
the Ottoman ships remained fairly ineffectual. The much higher decks of a Galleass also made
it difficult to board, negating the Ottoman numbers advantage as the Ottoman fleet swarmed
around the larger ships. However, despite their intimidating size, the role the Galleasses
played in the larger battle is questionable. Early in the battle the wind shifted, eventually
carrying the clumsy Galleasses past the parted Ottoman lines, after which they were hardly
in a position to participate. On the Holy League’s Left, Mehmet Sirocco
lead his smaller galleys in a daring flanking action. Though this arm of the battle was
close up against the shore, the shallower draft of the Ottoman galleys allowed them
to safely traverse the sandbars to get around their Christian opponents. With greater numbers,
this tactic might have been effective. However, four ships of the Holy League Vanguard were
quick to reinforce Barbarigo’s contingent, quickly followed by another 9 ships from the
reserve. These tilted the numbers in favour of the Christians, and Sirocco’s ships,
spread thin, found themselves surrounded and overwhelmed individually.
Cut off from the rest of the Ottoman fleet, the Ottoman right was now trapped between
the reinforcing Christian ships and the shore. The fighting was brutal though, and with fewer
of the professional Spanish Tercio on this Venetian-dominated flank, it was very costly
for both sides. Barbarigo fell to an arrow through the eye as he raised his helmet’s
visor to shout orders over the din. Marino Contarini, his nephew and part of the reinforcing
Vanguard, fell not long after, though not before crippling Sirocco’s flagship. But
their deaths did not go unanswered long. Another of their kinsmen, Giovanni Contarini, sank
Sirocco’s flagship, plucked the injured captain from the water, and executed him by
beheading as the Ottoman right wing routed. In the center, Muezzinzade Ali Pasha brought
his flagship straight on to grapple with La Real. This mentality, akin to an honorable
battlefield duel, was unfortunately unsuited to the realities of this brutal naval combat.
The collision of La Real and Sultana marked the beginning of one of the bloodiest engagements
in the whole battle, as several galleys from each side pulled up along the stricken flagships
to unload their soldiers into the fighting. However, despite the skill and bravery of
the Ottoman soldiers, the Spanish and Genoese Tercio infantry were better suited to the
battle at hand. The final nail in the Ottoman coffin was that, similarly to the battle by
the shore, many of the ships of the Ottoman center had split from formation to find the
gaps in the Holy League lines in an attempted envelopment. But without sufficient numbers,
a tactic such as this merely allowed the foremost ships to be overwhelmed in detail. Had the
battle in the center lasted long enough for Uluch Ali to break the outnumbered Christian
left, the day might still have been won for the Ottomans. But after two hours of heavy
fighting, Muezzinzade Ali lay dead, Sultana captured, and the exquisite Ottoman banner
had been made a trophy on La Real. The Holy League’s Right, led by Gianandrea
Doria, had the most difficult task of all. They faced an enemy that outnumbered them
2-to-1, led by one of the most talented Ottoman admirals at Lepanto. Here Christian losses
were severe, with no survivors on several galleys, and terrible casualties throughout
the outnumbered fleet. Battle was joined later here than in the center, and Sultana and La
Real were already locked in battle when Doria engaged. But while the Venetian chroniclers
would vilify Doria for his cautious approach to the battle, the Genoese and Spanish galleys
- as well as a small contingent of Maltese galleys that helped check Uluch Ali’s advance
- performed far better than their Venetian counterparts in the frantic fighting.
In addition, as the Ottoman goal was for the oversized Left to break through and flank
the Holy League’s center, every delay was to the advantage of the Christian fleet. When
the fleets met, the outer Venetian squadron broke and scattered. Unfortunately for the
Ottomans, by this time the battles in the North and Center were essentially won for
the Holy League, and as Uluch Ali broke through the Christian lines to loop around behind
the center, he saw that numerous galleys, including the La Real, were now bearing down
on him. Even worse, with the wind blowing from the West, thirty of his ships that still
remained mobile and unengaged were now trapped. Eight managed to escape, including Uluch Ali,
rowing hard into the wind with the Christians pursuing. Behind them lay the wreckage of
what had yesterday been the most formidable fleet in the Mediterranean, as surrounded
ships and pockets of Ottoman resistance were wiped out or surrendered. Uluch would manage
to round up the rest of the escaped Ottoman ships, and would return to Constantinople
with 87 in total, but most of the great Ottoman armada was destroyed or captured in the span
of four brutal hours. The Holy League’s victory can be explained
by a number of sizeable advantages they had over the Ottomans: The Ottoman fleet was equipped
for an amphibious assault, and while the Ottoman fleet was greater in number, the Holy League
fleet held an almost 2-for-1 advantage in guns. The carnage of Lepanto was gruesome
and terrible. Even for the victorious Holy League, the battle had been bloody, with over
8,000 dead. The Venetians had suffered the worst casualties, and had brought the largest
fleet to Lepanto. On the Ottoman side, some modern estimates run as high as 40,000 dead
outright. Lepanto had been one of the bloodiest battles of the era.
When news of the victory at Lepanto reached Christian Europe, it was met with shock and
elation. The scale of the victory gave new weight and importance to Pius V and the Papacy,
giving hopes that the perpetual Holy League signed in May might finally turn back the
Ottoman conquests in Europe. Lepanto was immortalized in poetry and painting as the pivotal battle
of Islam against Christianity. But for all the glory Lepanto brought, its
actual impact on history was not immediately seen, as the Holy League failed to follow
up on their victory. 2 years later, the death of Pius V caused Venice to sue for peace and
for the League to dissolve. Venice lost Cyprus and was forced to pay a war indemnity.
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