The Decisive Battles of World History

Lecture 18: 1571 Lepanto—Last Gasp of the Galleys

x Accordingly, the Holy League was formed, consisting of the Papal

States, Spain, Venice, Genoa, Tuscany, Naples, Sicily, and the

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approximately 200 ships, 30,000 soldiers, and 40,000 oarsmen.

x Command of the coalition settled on Don Juan of Austria. The

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and there was tension among them, especially between the

Spanish and the Venetians.

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about 200 galleys and more than 100 lighter combat vessels manned

by roughly 30,000 soldiers and 50,000 oarsmen. Thus, the scale

of the Battle of Lepanto was enormous, involving approximately

140,000 men on board nearly 600 ships.

x Although the Holy League had been formed to defend Cyprus,

assembling the forces took far too long, and the Turks were able to

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The only fortress holding out on Cyprus while the Christians assembled their

forces was Famagusta, but after a bitter siege, this, too, fell to the Turks.

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