The Ottoman Naval Power:
Mediterranean Sea as the Sea of the Ottoman Turks
Kazuhiko Ranmabayashi5. December. 1995.
The Ottoman Navel Power:
Mediterranean Sea as the Sea of the Ottoman Turks
The Ottoman Turkish Empire was one of the greatest empires in the history. The images of this Empire are usually the great army power, Sultan's harem, Islamic religion and so on. The people usually do not imagine the naval power of the Ottoman Empire; however, there was the naval power in the Ottomans. Also, the Ottoman naval power once ruled the most part of Mediterranean Sea.
Around the year of thirteen hundred, the Ottoman dynasty was emerging in the Asia Minor. Perhaps, no one thought, this a little Turkish dynasty that emerged in between the Mongolian Empire and the Byzantine Empire, was going to be one of the greatest empires in the history. In 6 April 1326, the Ottomans conquered the city of Brusa, near the Sea of Marmora. The reason they decided to expand to the West, not to the East, was natural; it was because the East, the Mongolian Empire was strong, but the West, the Byzantine Empire was weak. However, the Ottoman did not have any influence on the Mediterranean Sea, though the Ottoman conquered the most part of the Asia Minor.
However, the Ottoman conquered the city of Gallipoli in 1354. Gallipoli is not in Asia; it is in Europe. Besides, Gallipoli was the important point of the Dardanelles Strait that connected the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara. At this time, The Venetian ambassador to the Byzantine Empire in Constantinople sent warning to the Venetian Republic; however, the Venetian Republic and any other nations in the western Europe did not make any action for it. It was because the people in the Byzantine Empire hated the western Europeans who demanded them to be converted to Catholics. It did not worth to help the Byzantine Empire. Also, to the Venetians, the center of spice trading was not Constantinople any more but Alexandria in Egypt. Constantinople was still the important city for trading, but the western Europeans did not have any problem to go to Constantinople by ships because the Ottomans did capture Gallipoli, but they placed only small amounts of soldiers.
However, only five years after the conquest of Gallipoli, 1359, their deliberated invasion to the Balkan peninsula started. At that year, what the people of Constantinople could do, was only helplessly looking at the march of the Ottoman army from Asia Minor to Europe. Three years after, Adrianople was captured by the Turks. A year after, Philippopolis fell. All of the region of Thrace had been conquered by Turks completely. In 1365, the Ottoman Turks transferred their capital city from Brusa in the Asia Minor to Adrianople. This action showed nothing but that they place their base in Europe, not in Asia. The countries close to Thrace, Bulgaria, Macedonia and also the Byzantine Empire, were shocked. The Ottomans made Bulgaria and Macedonia, which was officially the Byzantine territory, to be subject states and put tax and military service. Even Byzantine Emperor had to pay tax, and the Emperor or a member of the Imperial family had to join the army of Sultan when Sultan went to the expedition.
Although the Byzantine Emperor had to sign this humiliated treaty, he did not just obey it. The Emperor himself visited Hungary to request reinforcements, but the Hungarian King said that he want to be faithful to be Pope because he is a Catholic. Then, the Emperor went to Rome. The Vatican, just came back from Avignon, did not have power to form the crusade from the western European nations at all, but they were haughty to the Emperor. They demanded the Catholicize of the Byzantine Empire, and the Emperor was baptized to be a Catholic. However, after he went back to Constantinople, he realized that his action in Rome had no meaning at all because every one in Constantinople said, "Better the turban of the Turk than the tiara of the pope" (Asimov 258). In 1370, the Emperor requested reinforcements to the Venetian Republic, too, but it did not happen because the Venetians were busy fighting Genoa. In the mean time, the Ottoman fought and won the wars continuously. In 1385, Sofia, the capital city of Bulgaria, fell, and Thessaly, the capital city of Macedonia, fell. The Byzantine Empire was almost the subject state of the Ottoman Turks: when the Byzantine Imperial family had trouble with the succession of the throne, Sultan decided who the successor would be: Sultan Bayazid I ordered to destroy a part of the rampart of Constantinople.
Every one must have thought that the life of the Byzantine Empire would not be long. In 1402, the Byzantine Empire was only the city of Constantinople and part of the Peloponnisos peninsula. However, in 1402, when the Ottomans was laying siege to Constantinople, the incidents that the people of Constantinople were glad happened. Sultan Bayazid I and his army fought against Timur and his army, and Sultan Bayazid I was defeated completely. The Sultan was captured, and the Turkish army disappeared. The civil war was going on, and this disorder did not finish even after the death of Timur and the fall of Timur Empire. It took them twenty years to recover the order in the Ottoman Empire. In the mean time, the countries, had been subjected by the Ottomans, had recovered their own orders: the Byzantine Empire also recovered their own orders. However, the peace did not last so long.
In June 1422, Constantinople had been laid siege by the army of Sultan Murad. Sultan Murad could not conquer Constantinople because of its triple ramparts, but the mental shock that the Byzantine Empire got was too big, and the Byzantine Emperor signed the treaty to become the subject state again. Then in 1430, Sultan Murad attacked the city of Thessaly of Macedonia. Once Thessaly had conquered by the Ottomans forty-three years ago, but it had been liberated for the Greeks: the people of Thessaly requested the Venetian Republic to govern the city. The Venetians lost Thessaly, but they got the right of free trade in the Ottoman Empire. The people of the Turk were originally shepherds, and unlike Arabs, they never had been good at trading. Therefore, it was all right for the Turks to let the western Europeans to take the role of trading.
However, things were changed when Mehmet II became Sultan in February 1451. He was only the nineteen year-old, did not have much trust from soldiers, and did not have good relationship with ministers. Also, there were rebellions led by one of the member of Ottoman family in Asia Minor. Therefore, the Europeans thought that he first had to recover the order in the Empire, and there would be no invasion for while. However, this young Sultan took the actions that no one was expecting: the first thing he did after he became Sultan was killing his brothers, then he got Janissaries' trust by raising their payment and went to suppress the rebellion. While he was successfully suppressing the rebellion, he renewed the treaties with every nation. However, once the rebellion was done, he ordered to call out one thousand of the construction labors. Everything was done in ten months after he became Sultan. The enlistment of construction labors made the people of Constantinople feared. They talked about it, but no one could say the reliable answer. Even ministers in the Ottoman Empire did not know anything; Sultan Mehmed II did not tell to any one any thing, and the year of 1451 was passed.
In spring of 1452, the construction labors moved to the Bosporus strait. The intention of the Sultan Mehmed II was building a castle in the European side of the Bosporus strait: there was already the castle in the Asia side of the strait. The Byzantine Emperor Constantine protested it because construction was placed in the Byzantine territory, but Mehmed II just sent back the first messengers and killed the second messengers. The construction started on fifteenth of April by three ministers and five thousand labors. Without any obstructions, "Rumelihisari" was completed on thirty-first of August (Arnotto 268). The purposes of this castle were clear that the base for attacking Constantinople and to take the control of the Bosporus strait from the Byzantine Empire and the ships of the Italian maritime city-states, Venice and Genoa. Mehmed II ordered to place cannons to both Asian side and European side castles, then he imposed the toll.
While Sultan Mehmed II was getting ready to attack Constantinople, the Byzantine Emperor was trying to get reinforcements from the western Europe, but there was the problem of unification of church. The Byzantine side said that the reinforcements first otherwise they cannot persuade the citizens. On the other hand, the Vatican said that the unification of the Eastern and the Western Church first otherwise they cannot persuade the western Europeans to join the crusade. The Emperor, who knew the necessity of the reinforcements, thought there was no choice but unification of the churches, which was actually converting to the Catholic; however, the people of Constantinople thought, "Better the turban of the Turk than the tiara of the pope (Asimov 258)," and many of the high government officials had distrusted the Catholic people. They thought that even if the unification succeeded, the western Europeans might not send the reinforcements because the Catholic nation that fought against the Ottoman Turks was only Hungary, had been invaded by the Turks. However, Emperor Constantine thought that there was no time for doubting because the young Sultan did not change the decision, conquering the Byzantine Empire, even though most of the ministers were objecting to decision.
There was really no rational reason to attack Constantinople then because though it was the capital city of the Byzantine Empire, the imperial territory was only in the city, and they did not have any military power. Also, in a sense, Constantinople was the free city: merchants of each nation had their own community, and churches, temples and mosques were existing peacefully. Trading was going very well, and the Turks were getting enough profit from Constantinople. However, the ambition of Sultan Mehmed II was rebuilding the empire as Islamic empire after destroying it.
Emperor Constantine sent messengers to the western Europe to tell the tensed situation, but Pope Nicolo V who was man of culture, did not have any interest in wars. German Holy Roman Empire did not united power at all. French king was busy pushing the English out of France. English king was busy fighting in France. Spain was not yet to become a nation. Milan, Florence, Venice, Rome, and Naples were fighting each other in the Italian peninsula. No western European nation was in the situation that could send large reinforcements.
In August 1452, the Venetian government sent order to Gabriele Trevisan, Vice-Admiral of the fleet in Crete, to go to Corfu to get the war funds and reinforcements and to go to Constantinople. It was before the castle Rumelihisari was being built. The Ottomans were publicly getting ready to attack Constantinople. They were building the great cannons in Adrianople. These cannons were built for attacking the triple ramparts by Hungarian technician Urban, who first tried to sell his techniques to the Byzantine Empire but had been refused. His cannons used "stone cannonballs weighing up to 1200 pounds (Asimov 260)," and had power to make eight feet's hall. In November, Isidore, former Metropolitan of Kiev, now the Roman Cardinal, came back from Rome. On twelfth of December, the first united mass took place, but the citizens' reaction was very cool, and no one heard that the western Europeans sent reinforcements. The only thing, Emperor Constantine could do, was to order the restoration of the ramparts and the collection of provisions. In the winter from 1452 to 1453, the Ottoman Turkish Empire was getting ready to attack Constantinople, but the Byzantine Empire and the western European nations were not really getting ready to deafened Constantinople.
n January 1453, Giovanni Giustiniani, Genes, lord of Chios, and his soldiers arrived to Constantinople. The Emperor was so happy to have this famous general and appointed him as commander of the Imperial army. Two galleys arrived from Trebizond and Crimean peninsula in Black Sea. Those were the all reinforcements, the Byzantine Empire got: five galleys from Venice, five galleys from Genes personal, three galleys from Crete, one galley from Ancona, one galley from Catalonia, and one galley from Provence. With ten Byzantine naval galleys, total number of naval galleys was only twenty-six. On the other hand, the Turks had more than one hundred galleys. The Byzantine navy blockade the entrance to the Gulf of Golden Horn by chains, so the Turkish navy could not come close to Constantinople from the Gulf of Golden Horn. (Norwich 326-7)
Unlike the navy, the difference between the Byzantine army and the Ottoman army was hopeless: four thousand nine hundred seventy-three Greek soldiers and about two thousand foreigners, total about seven thousand, but the Turkish army, by regulars alone, eighty thousand soldiers (Maclagan 121). The siege of Constantinople began on sixth of April, and it lasted forty-eight days, until twenty-third of May. The causes of the Turkish victory were the cannons of Urban, land transportation of the Turkish naval galleys from the Bosporus strait through Galata to the Gulf of the Golden Horn, and the strong decision of Sultan Mehmed II. Constantinople fell, and this was the first naval victory for the Ottoman Turkish Empire.
In 1538, Pope, Holy Roman Emperor and Venetian Republic made the Holy Alliance against the Ottoman Empire. The plan was:
Holy Roman Empire eighty-two galleys Venetian Republic eighty-two galleys Vatican thirty-six galleys total two hundred galleys (Bradford 136)
If the plan came true, it was going to be the greatest fleet ever exist in Mediterranean Sea. Even the Ottoman Empire did not have this much fleet at that time. However, each member of the Alliance had different intention, so the Alliance was not well organized. The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V wanted to attack North Africa, but Venetian Republic wanted to fight in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Finally, by the persuasion of the Pope, they made the plan, first destroy the Ottoman navy and then attack where would be the most effective. They had hard time to decide the commander: Spain wanted Andrea Doria, the Commander of the Spanish naval fleet, to be the Commander of the Alliance fleet, but the Venetians objected because he was the commander of naval mercenary fleet. He was a professional able naval commander, but the Venetians knew that mercenaries never fight until the end. However, the Venetians really wanted to have the Alliance fleet, and they were in a hurry, they decided accepted Andrea Doria as the Commander of the Holy Alliance fleet.
The promised day, in the middle of June, eighty-two galleys of the Venetian fleet arrived to the planed place Corfu. Also, the galleys of the Papal fleet were arriving, but there were only twenty-seven galleys, not as much as it planed. However, Andrea Doria's Spanish fleet did not arrive at all, and it was turning to August. The Ottomans knew that Christendom was organizing the Alliance fleet, and the Ottoman fleet, led by pirate Barbarossa, left Constantinople. Barbarossa captured island after island in Aegean Sea, and attacked Candia and Khania in the island of Crete. The only island the Ottomans could not capture was Crete. The Venetians were pressed but waiting for Spain. Then Andorea Doria's Spanish fleet arrive to Corfu, but he came with only forty-nine galleys. Besides, he did not make any action even after the galleys were ready to go. It was because a negotiation was going on between Charles V and Barbarossa. However, by the strong demand of the Venetians and the Vatican, Andrea Doria decided to depart from Corfu on twenty-fifth of September: but he had an order from Emperor Charles V -- not to have a battle that might provide profit only for Venetian Republic, and not start battle except surely the great victory was expected.
The Alliance fleet sailed with forming the battle formation. The lead were seventy-one sailing ships because the sailing ships were getting the effect from wind and were not easy to make the schedule. Two miles behind the sailing ships, there was the vanguard, the Papal fleet of twenty-seven galleys. The main fleet, Spanish fleet of twenty-five galleys from Genoa, Sicily, Naples, Malta, Monaco and Andrea Doria's own twenty-two galleys, went behind the vanguard. The rear guard fleet were sixty-five Venetian galleys. This fleet, total one hundred and thirty-nine galleys and seventy-one sailing ships, were the largest fleet that the Christendom ever had.
The Alliance fleet sailed to the south because they found out that the Ottoman naval fleet was sailing near the Preveza. However, when they came to near the Preveza, they found out that the Ottoman naval fleet was already in the port of Preveza and would not come out. The Alliance fleet tried to get the Ottoman out from the Preveza, but it did not succeed. The Ottomans' fired the cannons from Preveza, but it did not do anything either. Then the Alliance fleet went to farther south; however, a change was curing in the Ottoman fleet; Barbarossa did not want to move from Preveza, but ministers demanded to go out and fight. Barbarosa could not refuse it and got out from Preveza. The Ottoman fleet formed the battle formation, and chased the Alliance fleet. When the Ottoman fleet caught up with the Alliance fleet Doria called the heads of the Venetian fleet and the head of the Papal fleet and subjected them to run away because there was no port near there. However, both the Venetian and the Papal leaders insisted to open the battle, and Doria raised the sign to attack. The battle did not begin immediately because the Alliance fleet tried to change its formation: the strong Venetian fleet to the left wing and the weak Papal fleet to the right wing. When they were changing their formation, the wind changed, and the sailing ships had been left along. After the Ottoman fleet saw that happen, attacked the sailing ships, which were big but small number. The Venetian fleet was waiting for the order from Doria to charge, but the order did not come, and Doria's main fleet made strange action: the main fleet went near the Ottoman fleet that was attacking the Alliance sailing ships, but did nothing and went around to come back to the first place. The commander of the Venetian fleet asked Doria when he was going to order to charge, but he did not answer the question and did the same strange action. Two of the Venetian galleys could not wait and charge to the Ottoman fleet, but the two galleys were destroyed quickly. Finally, Doria commanded, but it was withdrawal, and the main fleet escaped to the north by going through just left side of the Ottoman fleet which was attacking the Alliance sailing ships. The Papal fleet followed the main fleet, and then the Venetian fleet had no chance but following those fleets.
It was very strange battle. The Ottoman fleet won, and the Holy alliance fleet lost, but both fleets did not lose many soldiers and galleys: material things they lost were both almost the same. Barbarosa got the prestige, and Doria got blame. Also, the Turks got confidence, but the Europeans lost confidence. What was most important, the Turks got Mediterranean Sea because while after the Battle of Preveza, no single nation could defeat the Turks in Mediterranean Sea.
In 1566, Selim II became Sultan. He was famous alcoholic, and his ministers were fighting each other. The ministers thought that in order to get this alcoholic Sultan's attention, they had to do something showy, but the Ottoman Empire was in the time of stability, so they did not have war or any thing. Unlike the Ottoman Empire, the western Europe was in the time of wars; Spain had a trouble with the Netherlands, and France was in the middle of the wars of religion. The Turkish ministers thought if they invaded the Venetian territory, no European nation could help the Venetians now. Sultan Selim II got interest in the invading the Venetian territory because this alcoholic Sultan always wanted the island of Cyprus because it was then the most famous wine producing district. The Venetian Republic knew what was going on in the Ottoman court, but the Venetians could not solve the problem by one city-state along. The Venetians requested Pope Pius V to form the Holy Alliance against The Ottoman Turks. Pope Pius V was like the spirit of the Counter Reformation, so he did not have any objection to form the Holy Alliance against the Ottoman Turks. However, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II just signed the treaty about Hungary, so they could not have any hope to him. After all, Spain was the best choice even though there was the memory of the Battle of Preveza.
To the call of Pope Pius V, Philip II, King of Spain, answered if the commander of the Alliance fleet would be Gian Andrea Doria, he would be going to join the Holy Alliance. Gian Andrea Doria was the nephew of that Andrea Doria of the Battle of Preveza. He was also the marine mercenary commander and the commander of the Spanish navy. The Venetians refused the Philip II's words because they had not forgotten what Andrea Doria did. However, in June 1570, the Ottomans' expedition to Cyprus began. One hundred sixty galleys and one hundred thousand army soldiers went to Cyprus. The commander was Mustafa Pasha. The guard force in Cyprus was only four thousand, and others were the native people. The Venetian Republic first sent a supply troop to the city of Famagusta in Cyprus while they elected Sebastiano Venier as Proveditor-General, and sent with one hundred thirty galleys. Also, they sent Marco Querini, commander of the fleet in Crete, and his fleet to Corfu. These two fleets got together on fourth of August, but the members of the fleet were infected and were dying. It was not possible to go to Cyprus and fight against the Turks.
Mean while, the negotiation of forming the Alliance was going no where; the Pope hurried Spain, and Marcantonio Colonna, the Commander of the Papal army, persuaded the Venetians, but Pope could not understand what Philip II was up to, and the Venetians never listen that Gian Andrea Doria for the commander of the Alliance troops. However, Philip II, who could not ignore Pope any more, sent Gian Andrea to the east, but he did not like the idea that Marcantonio Colonna to be the commander of the Alliance troops, and the weaken Venetian fleet because of the infectious disease. The alliance fleet could not sail from Crete to Cyprus, and then Nicosia, the capital city of Cyprus, was fallen by the Turks.
In the winter of 1570 to 1571, there were four major problems in the Holy Alliance: the commander, the vice-commander, the target and finance. Finally, Don John of Austria, an illegitimate son of Charles V, was selected to be the commander of the Holy Alliance. Vice-commander was Marcantonio Colonna. The target was the Turkish main fleet anywhere in Mediterranean Sea. Finance was divided to eleven eighteenth from Spain and seven eighteenth from Venice. In May 25, 1571, the treaty was signed.
The first fleet that came to Messina in Sicily was the Venetian fleet. Then, by the help of the ground duke of Toscani, twelve galleys of the Papal fleet arrive to Messina. Supreme commander Don John and Gian Andrea Doria arrived to Messina on twenty-third of August. The total numbers of the naval galleys were:
Spain (Iberian peninsula and Malta) seventeen (Naples and Sicily) thirty-six (Genoa) twenty-two Vatican twenty-three Venice one hundred
Total
two hundred and eight(Bradford 177) Because of the infectious disease, the Venetians did not have enough soldiers for their galleys, so some of the Spanish soldiers got on the Venetian galleys. The fleet departed from Messina on twenty-eighth of September, and went through the southern tip of the Italian peninsula and got to Aeonian Sea. The Alliance fleet got the information that the Turkish fleet was in Lepanto, and the fleet sailed to Lepanto. On seventh of October 1571, the Alliance fleet formed the battle formation at the Gulf of Patras, the entrance to Lepanto. Also, the Turkish fleet left from Lepanto and was closing to the exit of the Gulf of Patras. The right wing of the Turkish fleet was fifty-three galleys, led by Mehmet Saulak. The middle body was Ali Pasha's ninety-four galleys. The left wing was formed by Ulch Ali's sixty-five galleys. Total number of galleys in the Turkish fleet was two hundred and twelve, four galleys more than the Holly Alliance fleet. (Norwich 483-488)
The battle of Lepanto was the largest and the last naval galleys battle, and this battle was ended by almost the perfect victory of the Christendom fleet. This victory of Lepanto affected on the western Europe so much. Actually, the Turkish navy was not destroyed completely, and the Ottoman Empire built the great fleet of one hundred sixty galleys. From the stand point of material things, the Turkish fleet did not change even a little; however, it was true that Christendom was set free from the inferiority complex to the Ottoman Empire. The victory of Lepanto proved that the Invincible Turkish fleets were not invincible.
The naval power of the Ottoman Empire began with the conquest of Constantinople in 1453. Its naval power grew rapidly, by giving the title of Pasha to the pirates in the North Africa and by using their power. The Battle of Preveza in 1538 was the greatest victory for the Empire because in this battle, the Turks defeated Venetian Republic, the best navel state in Mediterranean Sea. From this year, the Ottoman Turkish Empire was the best naval power in Mediterranean Sea; it was the sea of the Ottoman Turks. No one could defeat them, until the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. The Turks still had the power over Mediterranean Sea, but it was weakening and was not supreme any more.
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