Battle of lepanto

College Battle of Lepanto On 7 October 1571, a fierce battle between the holly league commonly known as the catholic Christian soldiers, led by Pope Pius V of Spain Venice and the Ottoman galleys took place at the edge of the Gulf of Corinth. The battle lasted for less than five hours and within the five hours, history was changed. Commanded by Don John, the catholic fleet, which consisted of 206 galleys and 6 galleasses, was able to defeat the Ottoman Galleys. This battle was to determine who would take control the Mediterranean Sea a much-contested sea with both Christians and the Ottomans Muslims fighting for it. In his arguments, Victor Hanson insists that the west did not rise to power by accident. He studies western military actions and how the western world has been rising over the past years. He insists that the west was able to acquire this military success due to their political, social and economic practices that they carried out different to other nations. He strongly links the Christian victory at war to the capitalism system of governance that was present in Venice. Can Victors theory be used to describe the victory of the catholic church over their Ottoman rivals or is there more that was in place to ensure their win? Before the battle, the Ottoman Muslims controlled most of the vast empires of the Mediterranean seas. They were brutal and would attack most of the Christian cities destroying and killing innocent people. Most of the kingdoms at the time feared the Turks and would never engage in any war with them due to their fierce nature in war. Due to this, the Pope was in a very compromising situation as the Muslims were attacking most of his cities. For this reason, the Christians had to organize an attack that would finally rescue them from the Turks. On that fatal day, the holy league organized a naval fleet that contained heavy artillery (Capponi 234). The Christians were less in number compared to the Turks and their main advantage is that they had large vessels that were of high quality compared to their enemies. The Christians also allowed their sailors to have weapons and so this was a bigger advantage to them considering that the naval force of the Turks did not allow their sailors to have weapons since they were slaves. The battle was fierce and only ended when the holly soldiers got into the Turks ship and beheaded the leader of the Turks hence making the other soldiers to lose hopes of the war. Many changes came with the end of the war. Most of these events were dramatic. First in more than 200 years, a naval ship that belonged to the Muslim forces had been defeated. In addition to this, they had lost their ships and most of their men. Christian ships and slaves were also freed and allowed to go back home. Due to this, Europe became the superpower of the Mediterranean and the Muslims never attacked the Europeans again. This war was therefore a major victory to the west. They were able to defeat the Turkish forces and as a result have complete control of the Mediterranean seas (Capponi 134). It is clear that the Christians won the war due to the good financing that that they got from the western states. The capitalist Christians had better ships and most of their soldiers had better weapons compared to those of the Turks. In addition to this, the Christians had many ships compared to the Turks an irony since the Turks had been in control of the area and was expected to have more ships. This shows that the capitalism system in Venice was much superior to the Turks system of governments. Victor Hanson is therefore right to point out that the war was won by the Christians not because of their tactics at war or their number but due to their system of government that was strong and was able to finance the war. Victor Hanson’s theory is therefore a strong argument that looks real and is able to explain how the west got its powers. It is necessary to conclude that the west has been able to obtain different victories not only in war but also in other political as well as economic issues due to their culture, economy as well as politics. Most of the economic principles that the west have used have seen a lot of success all around the world. It is due to this that most of the world has adapted to the western form of doing things and as a result, they have been a lot of success. Work cited Capponi, Niccolo?. Victory of the West: The Great Christian-Muslim Clash at the Battle of Lepanto. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2007. Print.