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 Naupactus or Nafpaktos (Greek:
Ναύπακτος, Latin:
Naupactos; Italian,
Spanish and Portuguese: Lepanto), is a town in the prefecture of
Aetolia-Acarnania, Greece, situated on a bay on the north side of the
straits of Lepanto. The harbor, once the best on the northern coast of the
Corinthian Gulf, is accessible only to the smallest craft. The origin of
Naupactus comes from the two Greek words: ναύς naus ship, boat and
πήγνυμι pêgnumi, pegnymi builder, fixer. Distance from Patras
is about 15 km NE and about 215 km NW of Athens with the new Rio-Antirio
bridge.
In historical times it belonged to
the Locrians; but about 455 BC, in spite of a partial resettlement with Locrians
of Opus, it fell to the Athenians, who peopled it with Messenian refugees and made
it their chief naval station in western Greece during the Peloponnesian war. Two
major battles were fought at this location.
Battle of Naupactus (429 BC) and Battle of Lepanto
1571.
The
Battle of Naupactus (429 BC)
was a naval battle in the Peloponnesian War. The battle, which took place a week
after the Athenian victory at Rion, set an Athenian fleet of 20 ships, commanded
by Phormio, against a Peloponnesian fleet of 77 ships, commanded by Cnemus.
In the battle, the
Peloponnesians drew the Athenians out from their anchorage at Antirio by sailing
into the Corinthian gulf, moving as if to attack the vital Athenian base at
Naupactus. The Athenians were forced to shadow their movements, sailing eastward
along the northern shore of the gulf. Attacking suddenly, the Peloponnesians
drove nine Athenian ships ashore and pursued the others towards Naupactus;
victory seemed securely in their hands. At the entrance to the harbor of
Naupactus, however, the last Athenian ship to reach the harbor turned the tide
by circling around an anchored merchant ship to ram and sink its leading
pursuer. Confusion set in among the Peloponnesians, and the newly emboldened
Athenians set out after them and routed them.
In all, the Athenians
recaptured all but one of their nine grounded ships and seized six Peloponnesian
ships to boot. This surprising victory preserved Athens' naval dominance and
kept Naupactus secure; the arrival of an additional 20 Athenian ships shortly
afterwards secured the victory and put an end to Sparta's attempt to take the
offensive in the Northwest.
In 404 it was restored to the
Locrians, who subsequently lost it to the Achaeans, but recovered it through
Epaminondas.
Philip II of Macedon gave Naupactus to the
Aetolians, who held it till 191 BC, when after an obstinate siege it was
surrendered to the Romans. It was still flourishing about 170, but in Justinian
It's reign was destroyed by an earthquake. It was again destroyed by earthquakes
in 553 and in the 8th century and so on.
In the Middle Ages it fell into the hands
of the Venetians, who fortified it so strongly that in 1477 it successfully
resisted a four month's siege by a Turkish army thirty thousand strong; in 1499,
however, it was rumoured to have been sold by the Venetians to Beyazid II (Turks
invading forces). The mouth of the Gulf of Lepanto was the scene of the great
sea fight in which the naval power of the Ottoman Empire was nearly completely
destroyed by the united papal, Spanish, Habsburg and Venetian forces (Battle
of Lepanto, October 7, 1571). In 1678
it was recaptured by the Venetians, but was again restored in 1699, by the
treaty of Karlowitz to the Ottomans.
In the war of independence it finally
became Greek once more (March 1829). After World War II and the Greek Civil War,
its buildings were rebuilt while its architecture remain.
«Στην σύγχρονη
Ευρωπαϊκή πραγματικότητα, ο δήμος Ναυπάκτου, από τη χρονιά 2007, αλλάζει το
ύφος και το περιεχόμενο των εκδηλώσεων.. αφού καθιερώνει, διαπολιτισμικές,
ιστορικές και καλλιτεχνικές εκδηλώσεις, στοχεύοντας στη σύμπραξη των λαών
που συμμετείχαν το 1571, στην ιστορική για την Ευρώπη, Ναυμαχία της
Ναυπάκτου (Lepanto)»
Την ικανοποίησή τους εξέφρασαν
και οι τέσσερις Πρέσβεις (Ιταλίας, Μάλτας, Κροατίας και
Αυστρίας) τόσο για τη συνεργασία, όσο και για το αποτέλεσμα και το
περιεχόμενο των εκδηλώσεων, κατά τη συνέντευξη τύπου που παραχώρησαν προς τα
ελληνικά και ξένα Μέσα Επικοινωνίας.
Date: 7 October 1571 Location: near Naupactus, Gulf of Patras,
Greece
...In five months
the Ottomans have built 150 vessels with all the artillery and
equipment needed .... Already their general is prepared to set out to sea at the
end of this
month with two hundred galleys and one hundred galliots, of corsairs and
others... / should
never have believed the greatness of this monarchy, had I not seen it with my
own eyes.
DE NOAILLES, FRENCH AMBASSADOR IN
CONSTANTINOPLE, TO CHARLES IX ON 8 MAY 1572,
SEVEN MONTHS AFTER THE BATTLE OF
LEPANTO
0n 7 October 1571, the
allied fleet of the Holy League destroyed the Ottoman navy. Contemporaries
celebrated the victory of united Christendom over the 'infidel' Turks. Historians have claimed that the battle
signalled the 'decline
of the Ottoman empire' and rise of the West'. But did Lepanto yield major
strategic
advantage for the West?
Ottoman challenge: the conquest of Cyprus1570-71
By the second half of the 16th century the Ottoman empire had become a major power that
controlled the Balkans, the Middle East, the Black Sea
and the eastern Mediterranean. For Grand Vizier Sokullu Mehmed Pasha (1556-78), whose
politicall grand designs included the unsuccessful Don-Volga and Suez Canal projects (1569) to
encircle Istanbul's Safavid rivals and to counter Portuguese imperialism in the Red Sea and Indian
Ocean respectively, the conquest of Cyprus seemed a long-overdue task. This Venetian-held
island was a nuisance in the Ottoman-controlled eastern Mediterranean, for it offered a safe haven
for
Christian corsairs who endangered Ottoman lines
of maritime communication between the capital and Egypt, the richest province of the
empire and preyed on Muslim merchant and pilgrim ships. Failure to eliminate Christian
private ring would cause severe economic losses and weaken Istanbul's legitimacy in the Islamic world.
Cyprus was a tempting target too for its known richness in land and taxes as well as for its closeness to
Ottoman logistical bases, an important consideration given the war galley
fleets' limited radius of operation.
During the 1570 campaign the Ottomans mobilized some 208 to 360 vessels and
at least 60,000 land forces. Despite its up-to-date, 'trace Italians'
fortifications, Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, fell on 9 September after a
46-day siege. Shorter Ottoman lines of supply and reinforcement that enabled the
besiegers to outnumber the defenders at a ratio of 6 to 1, Ottoman skills in
siege warfare, the dismal performance of the Venetian relief fleet plagued by
typhus and desertions, the incompetence of Nicosia's Venetian commander, as well
as local support the Cypriots afforded the Ottomans against their detested
Venetian overlords, all played a role in the conquest. The ferocity of the
three-day sack of Nicosia persuaded the other Venetian forts to surrender,
except for the eastern port garrison of Famagusta, which was finally captured on
1 August 1571 after withstanding seven general assaults and 74 days of heavy
bombardment. Although the Ottomans agreed to generous terms of capitulation, the
massacre of Muslim pilgrims, kept in the garrison, provoked Ottoman retaliation.
On 5 August, the Venetian officers were beheaded and governor Bragadino, who had
ordered the killing of the Muslims, was skinned alive, his hide stuffed with
straw and paraded along the Anatolian coast and Istanbul.
Western response: the Holy League and the battle of Lepanto
On 25 May 1571 the Holy League of the Papacy
(Pope Pius V) Spain, Venice,
Genoa, Tuscany, Savoy, Urbino Parma and the Knights of Malta was proclaimed in
Rome. The League's purpose was to fight a perpetual war against the
Ottomans and the Muslims of North Africa, and to recapture Cyprus and the Holy
Land. The signatories agreed to provide 200 galleys, 100 ships, 50,000
infantry and 4,500 light cavalry along with the necessary weaponry and supply.
The fleet of 1571, led by Don Juan de Austria 23-year-old half-brother of
Philip 11, assembled in Messina in early September and reached Corfu or 26
September. Here the alliance was informer that the Ottoman navy, which had
raided Crete and Venice's Adriatic possessions during the summer, had returned
to Lepanto (a harbor town on the north side of the Gulf of Patras). On 4th October
the Christians learned of the fall of Famagusta and Bragadino's torture. The news sparked
desire for
vengeance, giving the fragile alliance unusual unity of purpose.
Meanwhile, Ottoman scouts informed their
commanders
about the arrival of a Christian fleet in Cephalonia. At a war council held on 4
October, Petrev Pasha, commander-in-chief (serdar) of the1571 campaign and Uluc Ali Pasha, governor of Algiers, were of the opinion that ottomans should
take a defensive position in Gulf of Lepanto, citing the undermanned -re and
exhaustion of the navy. However, it was Moezzinzade Ali Pasha, admiral of
the navy, a land commander with no experience in naval
warfare, who prevailed. He ordered his fleet to attack the Christians. The opposing navies clashed on 7 October in Gulf of Patras. The numbers of
vessels given in the fact file are somewhat misleading, for they do contain the galiots in the Christian fleet and
exclude all fustas
smaller transport ships, from both navies. Estimated figures of soldiers and weaponry
indicate that the Holy League slightly outnumbered the Ottomans in terms of
combatants and auxiliaries – 62,100 to 57,700 – and had a substantial advantage
regarding firepower –1,334 to 741 guns. Ottoman accounts also underline that
their fleet was undermanned due to losses during the 1571 campaign and to the
fact that many of the soldiers aboard the coastal begs' ships had already left
for the winter.
The battle started before 11 am with the engagement of the
inshore squadrons. Ottoman commander Mehmed Suluk almost outflanked Agostino Barbarigo's
galleys maneuvering between the shoals and the Venetians. The Venetians lost
several galleys and Barbarigo was mortally wounded. However, unengaged galleys
of the Christian left wing and vessels from the rearguard sent in by another
Holy League commander, Don Alvaro de Bazan, turned the defeat into victory,
destroying the entire Ottoman right- wing in two hours.
Meanwhile, a fierce melee developed
between the Christian and
Ottoman centre, following head-on clash of the two flagships, Don Juar Real and
Ali Pasha's Sultana. Ali Pasha planned to counter Christian firepower
superiority byusing his reinforcements from the reserve until Mehmed Suluk and
Uluc Ali outflanked the Christian wings. Despite losses from the cannons of the galleasses (warships with auxiliary
oars), Ottornan galleys penetrated the Christian ranks and Ali Pasha's men even
boarded the
Real. Soon however, the Ottoman centre was
overwhelmed:
When Ali Pasha was killed and his Sultana taken by the Real
in tow, the Ottoman centre collapsed. All the Ottoman ships here were sunk or taken
and almost the entire population of their crews mercilessly massacred.
The clash between the seaward squadrons started later, for Uluc Ali and Gian
Andrea Doria, the most skilled sea captains on either side, both tried to
outmaneuver the other. While the bulk of his galleys
engaged Doria's right and centre, Uluc Ali managed to inflict serious damage
upon some 15
of Doria's galleys that had broken forma-on
at the left flank. Uluc Ali proceeded to attack the Christian
center's right flank in order to help the over whelmed Ottoman centre. It was too late.
Ali Pasha was already dead and Bazan sent his remaining reserve
against Uluc Ali. Realizing that he could not save the day, Uluc Ali escaped
into the open sea with some 30
galleys. The Christian dory was complete. The Holy League fleet destroyed almost the entire Ottoman navy with - crew and
ordnance.
Significance
When in 1572 an entirely rebuilt Ottoman navy emerged from
Istanbul under the new admiral, Uluc Ali, it seemed as if Lepanto had
altered the balance of power little. It is true that Cyprus was never regained
and that the Holy League collapsed as Venice concluded a treaty with Istanbul in 1573, and as Spanish resources were redirected to meet new
challenges in the Netherlands. It is also true that in 1574 the Ottomans retook Tunis, capturing also the
Spanish garrison of La Goletta. But Lepanto did save Venice and its remaining
Mediterranean possessions (most notably Crete) and the western Mediterranean
from further Ottoman conquests. While the galleys were rebuilt by 1572, it took decades for Istanbul to replace the crews,
especially the skilled Muslim marines, sailor-arquebusiers and naval archers.
And Uluc Ali was too good a seaman to challenge the Christians with his green
navy.
COMBATANTS
The Holy League
- (Venice, Habsburg Spain, the Papacy, Malta, Genoa, Savoy): 62,100
combatants; 2,300 rowers; 202-219 galleys; 6 galleasses; 1,334 guns
- Commander-in-Chief Don Juan de Austria; Agostino Barbarigo; Gian Andrea
Doria; Don Alvaro de Bazan
- 33 galleys lost/disabled; 23,000 dead/wounded
Ottomans
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