Lepanto 1571: The Greatest Naval Battle of the Renaissance (Praeger Illustrated Military History)

by Angus Konstam

Book Overview

This Osprey title details the course of one of the most crucial military campaigns of the Renaissance.For much of the 16th century the Mediterranean was a battleground between Christians and Muslims.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0275988570
• ISBN13: 9780275988579
• Release Date: September 2005
• Publisher: Praeger Pub Text
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.8" x 0.5" x 7.5"

Customer Reviews

Great story

Great story and the book gets right to the point. Although I'm not so sure about the author's approach on describing the battle by sections or areas as opposed to chronological developments. Nevertheless is great reading for history buffs

A Great Book About A Great Battle

This book sets the standard for all books in the Osprey Campaign series. It focuses on the battle, is well organized, and easy to read. Konstam and Bryan should be commended for a job well done. Anyone who has read an Osprey Campaign book will recognizes the familiar organization of the chapters. Essentially, the authors improve upon this well established pattern through effective writing. The chapter on Opposing Commanders provides a good example. A paragraph is devoted to each relevant character. In addition, the individual's name is highlighted in bold at the beginning of each paragraph. This simple element allows the reader to easily refer back to this chapter as needed. A significant portion of this book is focused on the battle itself. Although one might think this obvious, it is not the case in all Osprey books. The Battle of Lepanto consisted of action between three smaller divisions, the North, Center, and Southern "Battles." The author takes the time to inform the reader that he will discuss each action in its entirety instead of covering the whole battle simultaneously. The point is that the reader knows what the author is doing and doesn't have to guess. The Battle of Lepanto contains several significant figures, multiple countries, and a battle that has three significant actions. The complexity of this battle provides numerous opportunities for an author to write a confusing and jumbled narrative. The fact that Konstam and Bryan cover this battle in a clear and easy to read fashion is commendable. As noted above, this book sets the standard for which all Osprey books should strive to reach.

One of the best in Osprey Campaign series

I am a long time fan of Osprey Campaign series - I have all the 120 first titles - and this is definitely one of the very best. It is not very frequent - and not very easy - to combine historical accuracy with a great number of facts and statistics and in the same time to provide the reader with such a passionating narration. Felicitations to Angus Konstam.

A Must Have for an Osprey Fan

Much credit must be given to the author of this title, Angus Konstam, for delivering a clear, consise, and very enjoyable summary of the events leading up to Lepanto, the Battle itself, and its effects and aftermath. The maps in this Osprey installment is great, though not magnificent but other parts of the book definetley make up for that. The Order of Battle (Consisting of three pages) is very clear and interesting to look at, as is the introduction and the opposing fleets and commanders. Though at first one may be a little confused of the names of the admirals and captains both Christian and Muslim (there are plenty of Ali's flying around), but due to the very smooth progression of this installment one will nail the names down in no time. I am, though, a little bit disappointed at the lack of information drawn on the Ottoman commanders (they didn't even give a picture of Ali Pasha, the Ottoman admiral) in this section, they later make up for it when they clearly show their personalities during the battle. The Battle itself is the best part of the book, unlike many other Osprey campaigns that have a stronger prelude to battle than the battle proper. This part of the book has three parts of its own, the battle of the Christian left and the Ottoman right (which clashed first), the battle of the Christian and Ottoman centres (which is by far the most interesting), and the clash (though minor) of the Christian Right and the Turkish left. Though it might sound unattractive, it is truly a very good way to present the battle as each flank almost exclusivley fought with its opposite flank. Each clash is covered with great detail and imagrey (I was amazed at imagining 60 galleys packed together in an amazingly tiny space with thousands of soldiers confusedly storming each other's ships across broken oars seeing less than 5 yards ahead of them due to the choking smoke from the canon and musket, fighting desperatley with sword and pike), and is extremely clear. Never once was I confused as what happened (see Waterloo 1815 if you want a confusing summary), and even without the great 3D maps I could picture the battle, blow by blow. Coming to the 3D maps, they are very clearly laid out and colourful and not in the center of the two pages (thus allowing you not to tear apart the book), with seperate symbols units for the Venetian Galeasses, which might have very well became the desicive factor in the Christian victory. The 3 full colour battlescenes are extremely colourfull and well drawn, but do not show much in terms of actuall material other that banners and the such. The Aftermath is almost as strong as the long, clear, and vivid battle summary, showing that the battle was not as decisive at popularly thought. As the author states earlier in the book, Galley's can be rebuilt, but the lost lives cannot. In terms of lost lives, the Christians lost a little less than the Turks (around 25,000 each) even though the Tu

The High-water Mark for Islam

Modern readers accustomed to reading about Western military interventions in the Mideast should take time to consider the other swing of the pendulum. Osprey's Campaign #114, Lepanto 1571, is an excellent introduction to a time when Islam literally wielded a knife at Christian Europe's throat. Written by naval expert Angus Konstam, Lepanto 1571 is a clear and concise account of one of the most decisive naval battles ever fought, and one that also marked the high-water mark for Islamic aggression. Konstam does an excellent job detailing the various factors of strategy, leadership and ship design that resulted in this epic clash off the west coast of Greece. Lepanto 1571 begins with a short introduction and a campaign chronology. The sections on opposing commanders, opposing fleets and orders of battle cover thirteen pages. The section on opposing plans is quite good, followed by 17 pages on the early phases of the campaign and 39 pages on the battle itself. The maps are one of the strong suites in this volume and they comprise five 2-D maps (strategic situation in 1570-1571, the Cyprus campaign in 1570, the advance to Lepanto, the fleets close, the morning of Lepanto) and three 3-D "Birds Eye View" maps of the Battle of Lepanto. The three battle scenes (the battle lines close, the Venetian galleasses break up the Turkish line, and the flight of Uluch Ali) are decent - particularly for illustrating the colorful paint schemes of the galleys on both sides - but not great. It is also apparent that the author has done his research well on this subject and the bibliography is more than adequate for a volume this size. Konstam notes that it was the diplomatic intervention of Pope Pius V that resulted in the creation of the Holy League - an alliance of Spain, Venice, Genoa and other Christian states - that was the only "force capable of standing up to the Turks." Without this Papal involvement (which included 15% financing and troops), the Turks would have picked off the Christian states piecemeal. Even so, the League was always tenuous and threatened to fall apart on the eve of battle. After the victory at Lepanto at the death of Pope Pius V, the League did indeed disintegrate. Lepanto 1571 is a fine example of the problems of coalition operations even when faced with a dire threat. It is also apparent that even by 1571, Islam was beginning to fall behind the West militarily. Konstam notes that the six large Venetian galleasses "in the Christian fleet virtually amounted to a secret weapon, and represented the ultimate development of the oared warship." Indeed, the allies were so confident about the galleasses that they deployed them as an advance guard in front of the main battle line and these heavily armed ships were critical in disrupting the Muslim attack. It is also interesting that the allied fleet, under Don John, based its plan on firepower rather than maneuver. Although the rival fleets were equal in size, the Christians ha