Battle of Lepanto
On 7 October 1571 the Holy League fleet—a coalition of Spain, Venice, the Papacy, and other Christian powers—defeated the Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Lepanto in the Gulf of Corinth, killing some 30,000 Ottoman sailors and destroying 210 Ottoman galleys. The battle ended Ottoman naval expansion into the western Mediterranean and checked the threat to Spanish possessions in Italy and North Africa. It did not, however, end Ottoman power in the eastern Mediterranean, and the Ottomans rebuilt their fleet within a year. Lepanto was celebrated across Christian Europe as a providential victory and inspired some of the most memorable literature of the era, including Cervantes—who fought in the battle—and G.K. Chesterton's later poem.
- Year: 1571 CE
- Category: Military
