 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source .(May 2024) |
| Conquest of Tunis (1573) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Belligerents | |||||
 Spanish Empire |  Regency of Algiers  Ottoman Empire | ||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||
| John of Austria Álvaro de Bazán | Muley Hamida | ||||
| Units involved | |||||
| 104 galleys 44 sail ships 60 small ships 20,000 soldiers | Unknown | ||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||
| None; engaging was unnecessary | Unknown | ||||
The Conquest of Tunis in 1573 was a Spanish campaign led by John of Austria to conquer Tunis.
With the victory of the Battle of Lepanto, John of Austria pushed for actions to capitalize on the Christian momentum. His first attempt to besiege Navarino in 1572 was fruitless, being forced to retire, although in its course his admiral Álvaro de Bazán captured an enemy galley commanded by a grandson of Hayreddin Barbarossa, after which they confirmed the Ottomans' mostly defensive attitude. A new grand campaign was cancelled with the disbanding of the Holy League and the negotiations between the Ottomans and the Republic of Venice, leading the Spanish Monarchy to ponder about a new conquest in Africa. Knowing the Spanish garrison in the La Goleta fort in Tunis was still besieged since the 1569 capture of the city by Occhiali, this was the chosen target. [1]
Although most of the Spanish Empire's resources were focused in the Atlantic Ocean, deeming the Mediterranean Sea was a theater free of strategic dangers after the outcome of Lepanto, Don John gathered 152 galleys, many of them Ottoman vessels captured in the battle. This would be one of the main displays of Hispanic naval power up to the point. [1] Don John would take 104 galleys and other support vessels while Giovanni Andrea Doria stayed in Sicily with 48 galleys, guarding against possible political turmoil in the Republic of Genoa. [1]
The capture of the city was bloodless. As long as John of Austria's fleet arrived in Tunis, the local population mutinied against the Turk garrison, capturing many of them. A galley with 220 Christian slaves were handed over to Don John, who gave the city's throne to Muley Mohammed, brother and enemy to Muley Hamida, Tunis' Ottoman ruler. [1]
The battle was followed by a campaign by the Ottoman fleet led by Occhiali, who performed minor raids before returning. However, Occhiali would retake Tunis the following year due to the disbanding of the Spanish fleet. [2]
The Battle of Lepanto was a naval engagement that took place on 7 October 1571 when a fleet of the Holy League, a coalition of Catholic states arranged by Pope Pius V, inflicted a major defeat on the fleet of the Ottoman Empire in the Gulf of Patras. The Ottoman forces were sailing westward from their naval station in Lepanto when they met the fleet of the Holy League which was sailing east from Messina, Sicily.
Don John of Austria was the illegitimate son of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Charles V met his son only once, recognizing him in a codicil to his will. John became a military leader in the service of his half-brother, King Philip II of Spain, Charles V's heir, and is best known for his role as the admiral of the Holy League fleet at the Battle of Lepanto.
The Holy League of 1571 was arranged by Pope Pius V and included the major Catholic powers of southern Europe, specifically the Spanish Empire as well as the Italian maritime powers. It was intended to break the Ottoman Empire’s control of the eastern Mediterranean Sea and was formally concluded on 25 May 1571.
Occhiali was an Italian farmer, then Ottoman privateer and admiral, who later became beylerbey of the Regency of Algiers, and finally Grand Admiral of the Ottoman fleet in the 16th century.
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Álvaro de Bazán y Guzmán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz, was a Spanish admiral and landlord. He took part, among others, in the seizure of the rock of Vélez de la Gomera (1564), the relief to the besieged during the Great Siege of Malta (1565), the quelling of the Alpujarras Rebellion (1569), the Battle of Lepanto (1571), the conquest of Tunis (1573), the incorporation of Portugal to the Hispanic monarchy (1580), and the conquest of Terceira (1582).
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Real was a Spanish galley and the flagship of Don John of Austria in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571.
The conquest of Tunis occurred in 1535 when the Habsburg Emperor Charles V and his allies wrestled the city away from the control of the Ottoman Empire.
The Fourth Ottoman–Venetian War, also known as the War of Cyprus was fought between 1570 and 1573. It was waged between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice, the latter joined by the Holy League, a coalition of Christian states formed by the pope which included Spain, the Republic of Genoa, the Duchy of Savoy, the Knights Hospitaller, and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
The conquest of Tunis in 1574 marked the conquest of Tunis by the Ottoman Empire over the Spanish Empire, which had seized the place a year earlier. The event virtually determined the supremacy in North Africa vied between both empires in favour of the former, sealing the Ottoman domination over eastern and central Maghreb, with the Ottoman dependencies in Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli ensuingly coming to experience a golden age as corsair states.
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Don Álvaro de Bazán, called the Elder (1506–1558) was a Spanish naval commander from an old Navarrese noble family who received several nobilary titles such as the rank of Admiral of Castile, Marquis del Viso, and General-Captain of the Galleys of Spain. He was the father of Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz, who surpassed him in fame. At the age of eight his son was appointed "Military Governor and captain of the fortress and city of Gibraltar". His command however was via his father. It has been speculated that this unusual appointment was intended to show Charles V's confidence but Bazán the Elder did not share that confidence and he suggested to no effect that Gibraltar's Line Wall Curtain be extended to the southern tip of the rock.
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