Empires of the Sea
In 1521, Suleiman the Magnificent, Muslim ruler of the Ottoman Empire at the height of its power, dispatched an invasion fleet to the Christian island of Rhodes. This would prove to be the opening shot in an epic struggle between rival empires and faiths for control of the Mediterranean and the center of the world.In Empires of the Sea, acclaimed historian Roger Crowley has written his most mesmerizing work to date--a thrilling account of this brutal decades-long battle between Christendom and Islam for the soul of Europe, a fast-paced tale of spiraling intensity that ranges from Istanbul to the Gates of Gibraltar and features a cast of extraordinary characters: Barbarossa, "The King of Evil," the pirate who terrified Europe; the risk-taking Emperor Charles V; the Knights of St. John, the last crusading order after the passing of the Templars; the messianic Pope Pius V; and the brilliant Christian admiral Don Juan of Austria. This struggle's brutal climax came between 1565 and 1571, seven years that witnessed a fight to the finish decided in a series of bloody set pieces: the epic siege of Malta, in which a tiny band of Christian defenders defied the might of the Ottoman army; the savage battle for Cyprus; and the apocalyptic last-ditch defense of southern Europe at Lepanto--one of the single most shocking days in world history.
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What Hacker News says
- One of the most fascinating historical connection points I've encountered comes from Richard Crowley's remarkable, "Empires of the Sea".
In the early modern period, the rowed galley was the premiere device of naval warfare. The need for oarsmen for the growing fleets of the powers of the time, the Ottomans and the Hapsburgs, drove slave taking by both Islamists and Christians to incredible scale and brutality.
The Ottoman's, through their high level of centralized control, taxation and organization were able to repeatedly put together massive galley fleets, which were often supplemented by Barbary corsairs and often led by Barbary admirals.
Europe's response was to put its new engines of capital to the same purpose. They had no other choice as Europe lacked a centralized administration. Charles V was the closest thing they had but his powers of conscription were limited. Charles however was able to pay for one of his most critically timed fleets with a surprise influx of gold. Charles afterall was king of Spain as well has Holy Roman Emporer and 2 million ducets worth of new world gold was his take on the shakedown of the Incans for the ransom of Atahualpa.
This gold hit Charles' bankers just in time to construct a fleet which turned back a major Ottoman advance. To me there is no better illustration of first just how long we've been living in a globalizing world and second just how joined at the hip colonialism, capitalism and European power are.
- For a good read on Lepanto and context, I recommend Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World: https://smile.amazon.com/Empires-Sea-Battle-Lepanto-Contest/...
- There's a fantastic book by Roger Crowley called Empires of the Sea that covers the Habsburg-Ottoman war for control of the Mediterranean. The early chapters go into great detail on the Siege of Rhodes, including Tadini's efforts, and how the lessons learned there would set the stage for later battles (particularly Malta and Lepanto) and the end of Ottoman supremacy. For anyone interested in this article or the era in general I can't recommend it enough.
- If you enjoyed that I would also highly, highly recommend "Empires of the Sea", also by Crowley. http://www.amazon.com/Empires-Sea-Battle-Lepanto-Contest/dp/...
- The Caesar of Rome title isn't because the sultans actually viewed themselves as a descendant of the Roman empire but rather the inheritors of their legitimacy to rule and is actually part of the prophecies of Islam. Thus for the Sultan to be legitimate, he must conquer Constantinople and Rome (eventually) and thus fulfill the prophecy. (Source: Empires of the Sea)
The comparison between China and Turkey as descendants of the Roman Empire is a bit of a stretch. China at least uses the same language (old Chinese poems written in the Tang dynasty and even Han dynasty can still rhyme correctly and make sense if read in Cantonese), holidays, culture, etc. Turkey doesn't use a romance language or Greek.
