Radio War Nerd EP #214 — Republic of Venice , Pt. 4: Mediterranean Battles of 16th century
Guest: Annibale, Italian war nerd
Recorded: January 17, 2020
BANGKOK — The War Nerd unexpectedly lands in Bangkok just in time to bring you the fourth installment of our series on the amazing & strange history of the Venetian Republic empire with the popular, highly-decorated war nerd-vet Annibale. In this installment, we first discuss the assassinated Iranian general Qassem Suleimani—Annibale explains why Suleimani reminds him of André Provana de Leyni, a brilliant Italian military strategist of the 16th century. Then we segue into Mediterranean Europe of the mid-16th century, Ottoman expansion, and the battles in Cyprus, Malta, and the monumental Battle of Lepanto (also: EP 111), which ended Ottoman hegemony over the Mediterranean Sea.
Images & maps:
*Mid-16th century Mediterranean
*Siege of Malta, 1565
*Venetian fortress San Luca, Famagusta, Cyprus
*Battle of Lepanto, 1571
Listen to our Venice Republic series with Annibale: Part I: Rise Of Venice (EP 207); Part II: Meet the Ottomans (EP 208); Part III: War of the League of Cambrai (EP 209).
Total time: 2:31:48
Comments (8)
Has there been an episode of RWN on Eugene of Savoy/that era in general?
No but we should do one!
Given that John has apparently been blacklisted by the Indian government, he might as well go full in on pissing off Modi and, say, try to get Arundhati Roy on the podcast to talk about the Naxalite rebellion.
How and why did North Africa have a preexisting navy in the 16th c?
Muslim privateers and raiders were active in the Mediterranean since the VIII century. They even managed to build a great fortress / port / logistical base near Saint Tropez called "Farakhshanit" (and translated in Latin as "Fraxinetum") from were they launched long distance naval and land raids. In general however Muslim navies were active from African and Spanish bases since a long time, and managed several incredibly complez and bold operations like the attempt to conquer Sardinia then destroy Pisa in 1015, failed because of while Pisa was sacked, the Pisan and Genoese naval reaction was overwhelming. It's a great story
The commander of the Knights of St. John at the siege (La Vallette) has himself been a galley-slave for 6 years. Also, Anibale mentioned the slave trade in the Mediterranean. Iris Origo wrote an essay on the eastern slaves in Tuscany about the people who were brought from the Black Sea region and from Africa to be slaves for the Tuscans. The essay is called "The Domestic Enemy: The Eastern Slaves in Tuscany in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries"
Sorry to hear you were not given a visa for India. Tourists have actually been deported for talking about the current demonstrations on Facebook, so the whole ‘writer’ (and perhaps this podcast?) thing was probably responsible.
Cant wait to listen. I've heard that for the ottomans the material losses at lepanto were not significant for them. I remember reading somewhere that they rebuilt the fleet relatively quickly but the loss of so many officers and captains really hurt