On this day The Mad Monarchist remembers the Battle of Lepanto. Seen above are the top commanders of the victorious fleet: (left to right) Don Juan of Austria (overall commander and leader of the ships of Spain), Marcantonio Colonna (commander of the ships of Papal Rome) and Sebastiano Venier (commander of the ships of Venice). We also remember all of those who contributed to the victory: The Kingdom of Spain, The Duchy of Savoy, The Republic of Genoa, The Papal States, the Knights of Malta and the Republic of Venice taking care to note that while the Ottoman Empire was 'down' they were by no means 'out' and remained a force to be reckoned with for some time to come.
Interestingly enough, the Vatican can still raise a merchant fleet.
ReplyDeleteThis was mainly an Italian-Iberian affair then. Were all the other Europeans busy?
Yes, Spanish and Italians for the most part. As for the rest of Christendom, it's actually worse than being too busy. Germany (the HRE) had been fighting the Turks but had negotiated a cease-fire with them and didn't want to end the truce (they were also battling internal divisions) and France was actually allied with the Turks against the Spanish. Things worked out well in the end for the Christian side but that could have been another item on the list of how damaging the on-going Hapsburg-Bourbon feud was for Christendom.
ReplyDeleteI should also add that Portugal was fighting the same fight but were just already engaged in other areas more vital to their own interests. The original goal of the alliance put together by Pope Pius V was to relieve the Turkish siege of Cyprus which belonged to Venice. They were not in time to do that but it shows why this was considered of paramount importance to the Italians, the Venetians especially. The Knights of Malta were obviously concerned and the Turkish commander had vowed to stable his horses in the Vatican Palace and turn St Peter's into a mosque so there was plenty of motivation for the Pope and the Romans. Genoa likewise had previously had extensive holdings in the eastern Mediterranean and turning back the Ottoman tide was obviously in their interests as well.
ReplyDeleteWell, France always had a pragmatic approach to the Ottomans. I think we sort of forgot what Poitiers was about and trusted the Easterners to deal with the issue.
ReplyDeleteIt does make a difference if the threat is immediate or against a neighbor you don't particularly like very much. Oddly enough considering the problems with Islamic radicalism in northern Europe today, Protestant countries like England or Holland were even more pro-Muslim. The Dutch had a slogan that translates to something like, "Better Turk than Pope".
ReplyDeleteI could also add (just to make the French feel better) that despite such history as the Crusades and the siege of Vienna, in World War I the Germans and Austrians both sent forces to the Middle East to defend the Ottoman Empire and, in an odd twist of history, fighting to keep the Holy Places from being taken by the Christian powers of Britain, France and Italy. Such is the way of politics and alliances, it sometimes makes for strange bedfellows.
ReplyDeleteBenjamin Disraeli? The Crimean War? we could some names as well!
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ReplyDeleteThe Muslim Turk Navy was making raids up and down both coasts of the Italian Peninsula. Battle of Lepanto truly critical for Christianity. A Spanish Galleon carried a copy of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe from Mexico City. The Battle was only 40 yrs after the apparition in Tepeyac.
ReplyDeleteFrench, Germans and the Lowlands did not fight then and are doomed now. What the Turk navy could not do then, 200+ yrs of self-destruction has ushered in the moral, spiritual, and physical end of Europe, thus paving the way for the Muslim to take it by reproducing immigrant workers.