In the the 16th century, the Ottoman Caliphate was the dominant power in Europe and Turkish pashas were ruling in Budapest and Belgrade. The Austrian envoy in Constantinople Busbecq believed it was only a matter of time before the armies of Islam conquered the rest of Europe
Christian slaves freed
In an attempt to check Ottoman expansion, Pope Pius V put together a coalition of Catholic maritime states leading to a rare victory for Christendom in the great naval battle of Lepanto in the Greek seas in 1571. Miguel de Cervantes, the Spanish author of Don Quixote, was wounded in the war
Although nearly
8,000 died on both sides, the Christian armies captured 117 galleys and lost only 12 in return. They also liberated about 15,000 enslaved Christians, says the Encyclopaedia Britannica
‘Fleet of wretched infidels’
With the Pope leading the Christians, it would be tough to downplay the war’s religious aspect. The Ottoman one-line report: “The fleet of the divinely-guided empire encountered the fleet of the wretched infidels, and the will of Allah turned the other way.” As a military report, this may be lacking in detail, but not in frankness, quips historian Bernard Lewis