Posted on 05/20/2019 1:52:00 PM PDT by Perseverando
Spain led the Holy League to defeat the Ottoman Turkish Navy at the Battle of Lepanto near Corinth, Greece, in 1571.
Hilaire Belloc wrote in The Great Heresies (1938):
"This violent Mohammedan pressure on Christendom from the East made a bid for success by sea as well as by land.
... The last great Turkish organization working now from the conquered capital of Constantinople, proposed to cross the Adriatic, to attack Italy by sea and ultimately to recover all that had been lost in the Western Mediterranean.
... There was one critical moment when it looked as though the scheme would succeed.
A huge Mohammedan armada fought at the mouth of the Gulf of Corinth against the Christian fleet at Lepanto.
... The Christians won that naval action and the Western Mediterranean was saved.
But it was a very close thing, and the name of Lepanto should remain in the minds of all men with a sense of history as one of the half dozen great names in the history of the Christian world."
Funded by gold from the New World, the Spanish navy helped save Western Civilization from being overrun by Islam, but it declined to follow up on the victory of Lepanto.
Instead of freeing Mediterranean coasts and islands from Ottoman control, Spain decided to crush the Reformation in Holland and England.
In 1572, the Spain sent the Iron Duke of Alba to subdue Antwerp and surrounding Dutch cities , killing thousands, in what is called "The Spanish Furies," 1572-1576.
In 1588, King Philip of Spain was the most powerful leader in the world, after whom the Philippines were named.
On MAY 19, 1588, Philip sent his invincible Spanish Armada to invade England.
Consisting of 130 ships with 1,500 brass guns and 1,000 iron guns,
(Excerpt) Read more at myemail.constantcontact.com ...
Cervantes served on board one of the Spanish ships and was wounded. He sometimes referred to himself as “el manco de Lepanto”.
I didn't realize that the victors at Lepanto were the same 'Spanish Armada" that attacked the Netherlands and England, and was eventually defeated.
Tremendous history. Thanks for posting. BUMP!
I hate when people sink my invincible stuff.
I certainly wasn’t expecting that.
The Armada was “defeated” mostly by a violent storm that swamped its ships, and by Philip’s choice of an inexperienced officer to command the expedition. England’s victory was not the result of superior naval tactics, like those it employed centuries later at Trafalgar, but by a series of blunders on the part of the Spanish, coupled with plain good fortune.
The weather was against them. I wonder who is in charge of that.
Should have given the command of the Armada to Don Juan-he would have focused on sinking the smaller British fleet rather than just transporting the Duke of Palmas Army. The weather got them and poor leadership (it always does) sank the Armada—not Tudor England’s guns.
Don't let him get to ya, it's just what he does.
We know who is in charge and we know that Obama was not helping.
“the same ‘Spanish Armada” that attacked the Netherlands and England, and was eventually defeated.’
The weather was against them. I wonder who is in charge of that.
No the ships were entirely different.
Lepanto was fought between fleets of oared galleys, with auxiliary masts and sails.
The Armada campaign was fought between fleets of sailing ships, although the Spanish brought a few oared warships up from the Med. These didn’t fare well in the choppier waters off the west coast of Europe. The English Channel can be plenty choppy, and don’t even get me started on the North Sea and the Bay of Biscay.
Generally, the Spanish fleet did well as long as they kept to their natural habitat in the Med.
Against the English — a seafaring race as they never tire of reminding us — they fared poorly, but not as poorly as some of the propaganda of the time might suggest. The 1588 campaign was a disaster for the Spanish, but the Spaniards subsequently rebuffed various English aggressions against their commerce.
Unlike the Napoleonic period, England never enjoyed maritime dominance during the Elizabethan period. Power, certainly, but it was a closely contested fight all the way.
*ping*
Nothing like a flaming Spanish Galleon
IronJack is right; mostly weather.
PING
Thanks fieldmarshaldj. There's been a great deal of recent revisionism about the English victory over the Spanish Armada. Drake had experienced the Spanish use of fire ships during his own raid on Spanish ports in 1587, and filed that information away. The use of fire ships by the English navy was indeed his suggestion.
Thanks TN.
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