Battle of Lepanto
7 October 1571 · in Battle View, played out step by step on the ground where it was fought
A fleet of the Holy League led by Don John of Austria defeated the Ottoman navy in the Gulf of Patras in October 1571. It was one of the largest galley battles in history.
The sides
- Holy League, led by Don John of Austria: about 64,000 men
- Ottomans, led by Ali Pasha: about 71,000 men
States that fought: Ottoman Empire, Republic of Venice, Spanish Empire, Papal States.
How it went
Battle of Lepanto
The Ottomans have taken Cyprus from Venice. Pope Pius V binds Spain, Venice and smaller Catholic states into a Holy League, and its fleet under Don John of Austria, the young half-brother of Philip II, finds the Ottoman fleet at the mouth of the Gulf of Patras.
Two fleets
The fleets form up in lines some 6 km long, north to south, the League's left near the shore. In front of its line Don John has towed six galleasses: big merchant galleys turned into floating gun platforms.
The galleasses
The Ottoman galleys row forward and the galleasses open fire. Their heavy guns sink and scatter galleys as the line streams past them, and it reaches the League ragged.
Along the shore
In the north Mehmed Siroco tries to slip between Barbarigo and the coast, in water the Venetians think too shallow. Barbarigo swings his line round and pins the Ottoman wing against the shore. Barbarigo is killed by an arrow in the eye; Siroco is pulled from the water and killed.
The flagships
In the centre Ali Pasha's Sultana rams Don John's Real, and the two flagships lock together. Soldiers storm back and forth across the decks; on the third assault Ali Pasha is killed, his head raised on a pike, and the Ottoman centre gives way.
Uluç Ali's stroke
In the south Uluç Ali, the best seaman on either side, edges south as if to outflank Doria, who follows him and opens a gap. Uluç Ali turns and darts through it into the right of the League's centre, and takes the flagship of the Knights of Malta.
The reserve
Santa Cruz brings up the reserve and Don John turns to help. Uluç Ali gives up his prize and gets away with some thirty galleys, the only part of the Ottoman fleet to escape.
Lepanto
By evening the Ottomans have lost nearly all their fleet, some 30,000 men killed or taken, and 12,000 Christian galley slaves are set free. The League has lost 17 galleys and some 7,500 dead. Among its wounded is Miguel de Cervantes, who loses the use of his left hand. The Ottomans rebuild their fleet within a year, but never again rule the whole Mediterranean.
Some 200 galleys a side, the largest galley battle ever fought; counts of ships and men differ from source to source. Men are crews and soldiers together, many of the rowers slaves or convicts.
People and wars
- Miguel de Cervantes (1547 CE – 1616 CE): Spanish novelist, playwright and poet whose Don Quixote (1605, 1615) is widely regarded as the first modern novel and one of the greatest works of world literature.