European History: Reasons for the Battle of Lepanto (Essay Sample)

Type of Assignment: [Essay]
Category: [European History]
Academic level: [Undergraduate]
Style: [MLA]
Number of sources: [1 source]
European History
The Battle of Lepanto (Oct. 7, 1571) marks one of the shortest but grisly naval engagements that have ever been witnessed in the history of Europe. The war involves an allied group of Christian forces and the Ottoman Turks. However, the battle of Lepanto marked a historical incidence in Europe because of; the reasons behind the battle, the tactical conduct that was involved in the war, and the impact of the battle.
Reasons for the battle of Lepanto
The centre of contention for the battle of Lepanto was the Ottoman’s ambitions to invade the island Venice. Conversely, the venetians went into an alliance with Pope Pius II to defend and drive out the Ottomans. Under the umbrella of Holy League, Don John of Austria led the allied forces, with vessels from Genoa, Spain, Savoy, Venice, Malta and the Papal States, while the Ottomans were under the command of Ali Pasha (Hanson 48). For along a time Venice and the rest had suffered Turkish invasions as such the battle of Lepanto acted as the last opportune time to engage the Turks, thus seeking for retribution for decades of Islamic incursions that had taken place for many years.
Tactical Conduct
On the part of Turks, Ali Pasha led them with 65 galliots and 230 galleys (67). In a tactical move, Ali Pasha set his base at Lepanto, in a move deemed to intercept the Holy League fleet from the West. However, the onset of the battle happened after the two fleets came into each other’s proximity. Don John the leader of the holy league was aboard the galley Real. His tactical manoeuvre involved dividing his fighters into four groups. The Venetian s were grouped under Agostino Barbarigo, who took the left position while Don John took the centre position. The right position was taken by Giovanni Doria who was also in command of the galley Genoese, the rear was manned by Álvaro de Bazán. To achieve utmost success, Don John moved enough galleasses at the front and center in order to get adequate room to launch their attack. On the other hand, Ali Pasha occupied the center position in the Ottoman army while Chulouk Bey took the right and Ali Ulluj left positions.
At the onset of the battle, the holy League managed to destroy the Ottoman’s formation by sinking two galleys within 30 minutes (89). As the battle progressed, Doria realized that Uluj Ali’s defence line was longer than his, Doria moved south to avoid flanking, he also opened up a space between his line and Don John’s. This move deceived Uluj Ali into attacking the gap not knowing that it was a trap. Moving towards the north, Chulouk Bey succeeded in resisting the Holy League’s left flank. Nonetheless, the Venetians were determined and in time, they mounted a resistance that defeated the attack. However, the epicenter of the battle was between Real and Sultana, whereby the Spanish received stiff opposition as they tried to mount the Ottoman galley. Nonetheless, after several attempts, the Spanish managed to capture sultana, in the process killing Ali Pasha. The killing of Ali Pasha marked a demoralizing moment for the Ottomans especially after his head was hanged on a spike. At around 4 pm the Ottoman started to withdraw.
The Outcome
The outcome of the battle saw the holy League suffer a loss of 50 galleys with over 13, 000 causalities. The battle also led to freedom of Christian slaves who had been held in Ottoman ships for many years. On the other hand, apart from the death of Ali Pasha, the Turks lost over 25, 000 soldiers while over 35,000 soldiers were c