lepanto

Context: The Battle of Lepanto is said to be one of the greatest Victory of Europeans over the growing Ottoman Empire in the 16th Century. It is pointed to be the decline of the Ottomans, which isn’t really true, but we’ll get there. The Holy League failed to capitalize on that victory, and in...

If Spain was never formed and the catholic monarchs never married could Aragon dominate the Mediterranean alone? Or were castilian Manpower, dutch money, and peruvian gold the reason why the Catholics could break the Ottoman domination of the mediteranean sea? I'm assuming that this Aragon would...

Two years after the great victory at Lepanto, John of Austria led the Holy League fleet in conquering Tunis. However, the very next year, the Ottomans retook the city and subdued the presidio of La Goleta with an immense fleet. This was about the most a galley fleet in the 16th century...

So reading about the battle of Lepanto, one of the things that stood out to me was the importance of reserves; the Christians were able to hold off the Ottoman left's attempted envelopment long enough for their right to return to action thanks to their reserve. By contrast, the Ottomans had...