Timeline Thursday 7 October 1571

Events on Thursday 7 October 1571 2

• 1571 Battle of Lepanto -- the naval check The Battle of Lepanto (7 October 1571) is the largest naval battle since antiquity -- 400+ ships, 150,000 men. A Holy League fleet under Don John of Austria destroys the Ottoman navy off the Greek coast. It is the first major Ottoman military defeat and the end of Ottoman naval supremacy in the western Mediterranean. Cervantes loses his left hand at Lepanto. But the strategic impact is limited: the Ottomans rebuild their fleet within a year and take Cyprus (1571) regardless. Lepanto is more symbolically than strategically decisive -- it breaks the myth of Ottoman invincibility at sea.
• 1571 Battle of Lepanto -- the naval turning point The Battle of Lepanto (7 October 1571) is the largest naval engagement since antiquity. A Holy League fleet of 212 galleys under Don John of Austria faces an Ottoman fleet of 251 galleys in the Gulf of Patras. The Holy League wins comprehensively -- 40 Ottoman ships sunk, 130 captured, 30,000 Ottoman sailors killed or captured, 15,000 Christian galley slaves freed. Among the Holy League wounded is Miguel de Cervantes, who loses the use of his left hand. The Ottoman navy is rebuilt within a year -- but Lepanto ends Ottoman pretensions to western Mediterranean dominance and breaks the psychological aura of Ottoman naval invincibility.