Battle Of Lepanto Research Paper

Throughout history, there have been few enemies that have clashed more times than the Christians and Muslims in the sixteenth century. The Christians of Europe were made up mostly of Spanish, Venetian, and Papal forces battle against their Muslims foes hailing from the Ottoman Empire. These two adversaries displayed very distinct battle tactics, however, both sides played a role in one of the most bloodies naval battles in history on October 7th 1571 at the Battle of Lepanto. Through the course of history, it appeared that the Ottomans were always on the offensive, whether they were charging the doors of Rhodes or Malta, or battling at the gates of Birgu, the Ottomans always seemed to be charging forward. On the contrary, due to this aggressive
They failed to trust each other on the field of battle and were very quick to second guess each other’s decisions. This indecision, along with the lack of cohesiveness caused many operational failures whether it pertained to movement and maneuver or sustainment. As previously mentioned, due to the bellicose fighting style of the Ottomans the Christians were mainly forced to fight on the defensive, which after a prolonged period of time can have a very negative effect on an army. For example, during the battle at Malta, the Christians failed to defend the St. Elmo stronghold after a long grueling battle. The battle was long and gruesome; the Christians pounded the attacking Ottomans with cannons, arquebuses or small firearm, while taking shelter behind small makeshift barricades. As the battle raged on, Christian leader La Valette constantly sent requests for reinforcements, supplies, or any aid available to help defend St. Elmo from the Muslims. The siege of Malta finally broke in 1565 when the Christians pushed back the Muslims and successfully defended Malta from Muslim control. The siege that lasted for three months led to at least 7000 dead for the Christians, compared to almost 20,000 dead Muslims. While these numbers may seem tactically in favor of the Christians, the loss of St. Elmo could have been prevented with better strategy and sustainment on behalf of the
Both sides were very stubborn; neither side would surrender until they had made every attempt possible to be victorious. Christian leader Marco Antonio Bragadin displayed examples of this tactic in Famgusta while battling the Muslims to the bitter end. Bragadin refused to surrender until all of the food was gone and until practically all of his soldiers were dead, even then Bragadin chose death rather than convert to Islam, making him a martyr in the eyes of the Christians. For the Ottomans, resilience was seen at Rhodes as Suleiman and his men fought to a stalemate with the Christians after battling heavy storms while refusing to retreat from the