TRENDEAtlas of the Sultans · Wars, battles and treaties
Naval battle · 1571
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 arranged by Pope Pius V and led by the navies of the Spanish Empire and the Republic of Venice, 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 when they met the fleet of the Holy League which was sailing east from Messina, Sicily. 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".
| Date | 7 October 1571 |
|---|---|
| Location | Gulf of Patras, Ionian Sea, |
| Result | Holy League victory |
| Belligerents | Holy League Spanish Empire Venice Genoa Savoy Tuscany Order of Saint Stephen Order of Malta Papal States | Ottoman Empire Regency of Algiers |
|---|---|---|
| Commanders | John of Austria Álvaro de Bazán Luis de Requesens Sebastiano Venier Agostino Barbarigo (DOW) Gianandrea Doria Marcantonio Colonna Pietro Giustiniani | Ali Pasha † Mahomet Sirocco † Occhiali Caracossa |
| Strength | 85,900 men 212 ships | 88,000 men 274 ships |
| Casualties | 7,500–10,000 killed 13 galleys sunk or destroyed | 20,000–40,000 killed 200 galleys (117 captured, 83 sunk or destroyed) |
The Ottomans were quick to rebuild their navy. About six months after the defeat, more than 150 galleys, 8 galleasses, and in total 250 ships had been built, including eight of the largest capital ships ever seen in the Mediterranean. Occhiali set off with 200 of the new ships in July 1572, eventually coming onto Marcantonio Colonna with 164 ships from the Holy League on August 4 in the skirmish at Cerigo Channel. Colonna looked for a battle in absence of John of Austria, arranging a line of twenty galleons and carracks and six galleasses to cover his outnumbered galleys, but Occhiali opted to withdraw after failing to outmaneuver them, not wanting to expose his fleet to their artillery.
Took place during the reign of Selim II (1566–1574). Selim II
The atlas records this territorial change for the year:
Text: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), adapted for the atlas.