Battle of Lepanto

The Battle of Lepanto (in Italian Battaglia gave Lepanto; in Turkish: İnebahtı deniz muharebesi naval battle of İnebahtı) was a naval battle that took place on 7 October, 1571 near of the Greek city of Náfpaktos (Lepanto in Italian).

Battle of Lepanto
Part of the Ottoman–Habsburg wars and Fourth Ottoman–Venetian War
The Battle of Lepanto, Paolo Veronese[1]
Date 7 October 1571 Location Gulf of Patras, Ionian Sea Result Holy League victory
Belligerents
Holy League：  Spanish Empire  Kingdom of Naples  Kingdom of Sicily  Kingdom of Sardinia  Papal States  Republic of Venice Republic of Genoa Duchy of Savoy Grand Duchy of Tuscany  Order of St. John	Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
John of Austria Álvaro de Bazán Alexander Farnese Luis de Zúñiga Carlo d'Aragona Tagliavia Gianandrea Doria Sebastiano Venier Agostino Barbarigo † Marcantonio Colonna Pope Pius V	Ali Pasha † Mahomet Sirocco † Occhiali
Strength
65,000 men: 30,000 sailors and oarsmen 35,000 soldiers[2] 206 galleys 6 galleasses[3][4][5]	67,000 men: 37,000 sailors and oarsmen 30,000 soldiers 222 galleys 56 galliots
Casualties and losses
7,500 – 10,000 killed[6] 13 galleys sunk or destroyed[7]	20,000 – 30,000 killed[8][9] 117 galleys captured 20 galliots captured 50 galleys and galliots sunk or destroyed
12,000 Christian slaves freed

They confronted in her the armed of Ottoman Empire against the one of a Catholic coalition, called Holy League, formed by the Spanish Empire, the Pontifical States, the Republic of Venice, the Order of Malta, the Republic of Génova and the Duchy of Savoy.

In this battle participated Miguel de Cervantes, that resulted injured and lost the mobility of his left hand, what cost him the nickname of «manco of Lepanto». This writer, that was very proud to having combated there, described it like «the more memorable and high occasion that saw the past centuries, neither expect to see the coming».^[10] Also it entered the history in the Quijote, through the #narration of the captive, as typical work of literature of border.

References

1. National Maritime Museum BHC0261, based on a 1572 print by Martino Rota.
2. John F. Guilmartin (1974), pp. 253–55
3. Konstam, Angus (2003). Lepanto 1571: The Greatest Naval Battle of the Renaissance. United Kingdom: Osprey Publishing. pp. 20–23. ISBN 1-84176-409-4. Retrieved August 29, 2012.^{[permanent dead link]}
4. Fernandez de la Puente y Acevedo, José (1853). Memoria histórico-crítica del célebre combate naval y victoria de Lepanto. Madrid, Spain: Real Academia de la Historia. p. 35.
5. Geoffrey Parker, The Military Revolution, pp. 87 – 88
6. Nolan, Cathal (2006). The Age of Wars of Religion, 1000–1650: Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization, Volume 2. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 529.
7. Confrontation at Lepanto by T. C. F. Hopkins, intro
8. William Oliver Stevens and Allan F. Westcott, A History of Sea Power, 1920, p. 107.
9. "Battle of Lepanto".
10. En palabras de Cervantes, Novelas Ejemplares, prólogo.