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Concept
Battle of Lepanto
Summary
The Battle of Lepanto was a naval engagement that took place on 7 October 1571 when a fleet of the Holy League, a coalition of Catholic states (comprising Spain and its Italian territories, several independent Italian states, and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta) arranged by Pope Pius V, inflicted a major defeat on the fleet of the Ottoman Empire in the Gulf of Patras. The Ottoman forces were sailing westward from their naval station in Lepanto (the Venetian name of ancient Naupactus – Greek Ναύπακτος, Turkish İnebahtı) when they met the fleet of the Holy League which was sailing east from Messina, Sicily.
The Spanish Empire and the Venetian Republic were the main powers of the Catholic coalition, as Spain financed the league the most and Venice was the main contributor of ships. John of Austria, half-brother of Philip II of Spain, was named overall commander of the fleet, with his principal deputies and counsels being the Roman Marcantonio Colonna, the Venetians Sebastiano Venier and Agostino Barbarigo, and the Genoese Gianandrea Doria. Müezzinzade Ali Pasha was the commander of the Ottoman fleet.
In the history of naval warfare, Lepanto marks the last major engagement in the Western world to be fought almost entirely between rowing vessels, namely the galleys and galleasses which were the direct descendants of ancient trireme warships. The battle was in essence an "infantry battle on floating platforms". It was the largest naval battle in Western history since classical antiquity, involving more than 400 warships. Over the following decades, the increasing importance of the galleon and the line of battle tactic would displace the galley as the major warship of its era, marking the beginning of the "Age of Sail".
The victory of the Holy League is of great importance in the history of Europe and of the Ottoman Empire, marking the turning-point of Ottoman military expansion into the Mediterranean, although the Ottoman wars in Europe would continue for another century.
Official source
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