->"... the grandest occasion the past or present has seen, or the future can hope to see..."
-->-- '''Miguel de Cervantes''' DonQuixote, Second Part, ''The author's preface.''

During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, there was a constant naval war between the Christian States and the Muslim ones in the Mediterranean. When there was not a major campaign involved with this it was a handy excuse to be {{Pirates}}. Circa 1570, the Republic of Venice was entering a prolonged decline in Mediterranean dominance and the Ottoman Empire was extending its hegemony into the world's oceans.

By the reign of the Sultan Selim II (affectionately known as Selim [[TheAlcoholic the Sot]]), TheEmpire was recovering from its failed attempt to conquer Malta. The Ottomans turned their gaze toward Cyprus which was rich in sugar, and an important base, under the authority of the Venetians at the time. The Ottomans invaded Cyprus, and the threat provoked an alliance among the Mediterranean Christian states chief among whom were Venice and Spain. The Turks managed to conquer the island, but the Christian fleet arrived to defeat them in a battle of annihilation. The [[{{Irony}} ironic]] result was that the Turks lost the main battle but ended up with the island. However, arguably this was a PyrrhicVictory for the Turks as so many skilled sailors and warriors had been lost that the Turkish fleet would be incapable for a generation (the galleys themselves would be rebuilt quickly but fleets at the time depended so much on the skill of sailors that it was something of a bluff) by which time its preferred methods were so obsolete that recovery was impossible.

This battle was a CrowningMomentOfAwesome and celebrated as such. It was the last major galley battle before galleys were superseded by [[WoodenShipsAndIronMen great sailing warships]].

A rare option in the TableTopGame ''{{Diplomacy}}'', where Italy attacks Turkey, is named 'The Lepanto Gambit'.

----
!!This historical event provides examples of:
* AFatherToHisMen: The Turkish admiral, Ali Pasha, was a genuine rarity among Turkish (or for that matter European) high command in that he treated those under him decently, even the galley slaves. One account has him telling them before the battle that, "If we win, then I swear by God and His Prophet to free you all. If we lose, then God Himself has seen fit to free you."
* TheAlliance
* {{Badass}} : Several...
* BadassArmy : The Turks and Spaniards were Badass Armies that had adapted to seafaring. The Venetians were more used to fighting at sea then on land making them a Badass Navy. However, the Venetians had not fought seriously [[RetiredBadass for a while]] and some wondered whether they still "had it". As it turned out, [[UnderestimatingBadassery they did]].
* BattleCry: ''Vive San Marco'' for the Venetians.
* BigBadassBattleSequence
* BoardingParty: How most of the battle was actually fought
* ChurchMilitant
* EnemyMine: The battle's result was celebrated even by the Protestant enemies of the Spaniards. 
* [[UrbanLegend Folktale]] : It was said that the Sultan ordered the campaign [[SillyReasonForWar simply because he was a drunkard]] and Cyprus had a lot of wine. [[YouShouldKnowThisAlready Of course]] [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem being Sultan]] he could already have as much wine as he wanted anyway. He probably didn't mind the possibility of taxing the sale of wine to other drunkards though in RealLife.
* CoolVersusAwesome: Three of the greatest fleets of the galley era meet that day.
* TheEmpire : The Ottoman Empire; because the story is almost always told from their enemies' perspective.
* DirtyBusiness : One of the first things done after the victory was to separate the most skillful sailors and warriors from among the prisoners and [[MundaneSolution cut their throats]] to prevent them from serving the Sultan again. The rest were MadeASlave.
** Apparently the Spaniards and Venetians ''did'' read the EvilOverlordList.
* DudeWheresMyReward : In his joy at Don Juan's [[WarIsGlorious glorious victory]], Phillip of Spain rewarded Don Juan by putting him in charge of the [[EightyYearsWar endless war]] against the Dutch rebels.
* EnemyMine : The Venetians' and Spaniards' opinion of one another
* TheFederation : The Spaniards; because the story is told from Venice's and Spain's perspective.
* GalleySlave
* HeyItsThatGuy : The Spanish Renaissance writer Miguel de [[Literature/DonQuixote Cervantes]] was serving with the Spanish Fleet during the battle and [[BadassBookworm distinguished himself]].
** TheWoobie: The Christians won, but Cervantes lost an arm and was captured by the Turks, spending years in an Algerian prison in horrible conditions.
* LandOfOneCity : The Venetian Republic
* LetsGetDangerous : Venice
* MerchantCity : Venice (duh)
* MoreDakka : One reason the Christian fleet won was its mastery of the proper tactics for gunpowder weapons. A number of Turkish galleys were sunk before battle was joined. Once the fighting was on the Spanish, who had caught on to the fact that muskets could be taught to anyone who was reasonably brave, and thus they could make peasants into [[WeHaveReserves reserves]], whereas the Turks still thought of muskets as sort of a [[WrongGenreSavvy replacement for bows]] and used them individually rather than in volley fire.)
** An inversion of RockBeatsLaser, in fact. Most Ottoman shipmen were still armed with crossbows while their opponents brought lots of arquebuses with them.
*** More a complication then an inversion. Bows had a lot of advantages over arquebusses but arquebusses had the big advantage that they were easily learned. Thus Europeans could actually ''manufacture'' soldiers, so to speak.
* TheMutiny : On noticing their chance, a number of [[GalleySlave galley slaves]] in the turkish fleet did this.
* NewRomanLegions : The Venetians and other Italians.
* [[NewSpanishArmada The Old Spanish Armada]]
* NightmarishFactory: The Venetian Arsenal which could turn out scores of galleys in a few weeks and really did give nightmares to every prince around. Dante actually saw fit to [[IllTakeThatAsACompliment compare it with]] {{Hell}}.
* PantheraAwesome: The Lion of St Mark, the symbol of Venice.
* {{Plunder}} : According to tales, there was lots of this. Apparently, Ottoman aristocrats sometimes took family treasures with them to battle; they feared [[ObstructiveBureaucrat taxmen]] more then their enemies.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge : The Christian fleet thought of it as this. Especially the Venetians, who had just heard tales of Ottoman [[RapePillageAndBurn atrocities]] on Cyprus. 
* SeasonFinale : The end of the galley era of NavalGazing. Next season is WoodenShipsAndIronMen.
* ShroudedInMyth : Lepanto became this almost immediately after it was fought.
* StiffUpperLip : It is said that Don Juan danced a jig on the deck while going into action to show his contempt for the danger.
* TheRepublic : Venice, as a long-existing medieval example of a republican-like country.
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: From the Venetians' point of view, the alliance with Spain and Genoa was this. 
* TurksWithTroops
* WarriorPrince : Don Juan of Austria, illegitimate son of Charles V and leader of the Christian fleet.
* WonTheWarLostThePeace: Yes, the Holy League won the battle but the Ottoman Empire won the war, and Cyprus became an part of the empire.
* WorthyOpponent : Ali Pasha, the leader of the Ottoman fleet.
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!!Depictions in fiction

* ''"Lepanto"'', a poem from GKChesterton

* DonQuixote:
** The first part of the novel has the Captive Captain tale: A Spanish captain, Ruy Pérez de Viedma, narrates how he was charging against a turk galley when the wind changed and his men couldn’t follow him, and so the turks [[MadeASlave made him a slave]]:
--> I may say, in short, that I took part in that glorious expedition, promoted by this time to be a captain of infantry, to which honourable charge my good luck rather than my merits raised me; and that day—so fortunate for Christendom, because then all the nations of the earth were disabused of the error under which they lay in imagining the Turks to be invincible on sea-on that day, I say, on which the Ottoman pride and arrogance were broken, among all that were there made happy (for the Christians who died that day were happier than those who remained alive and victorious) I alone was miserable; for, instead of some naval crown that I might have expected had it been in Roman times, on the night that followed that famous day I found myself with fetters on my feet and manacles on my hands. It happened in this way: El Uchali, the king of Algiers, a daring and successful corsair, having attacked and taken the leading Maltese galley (only three knights being left alive in it, and they badly wounded), the chief galley of John Andrea, on board of which I and my company were placed, came to its relief, and doing as was bound to do in such a case, I leaped on board the enemy's galley, which, sheering off from that which had attacked it, prevented my men from following me, and so I found myself alone in the midst of my enemies, who were in such numbers that I was unable to resist; in short I was taken, covered with wounds; El Uchali, as you know, sirs, made his escape with his entire squadron, and I was left a prisoner in his power, the only sad being among so many filled with joy, and the only captive among so many free; for there were fifteen thousand Christians, all at the oar in the Turkish fleet, that regained their longed-for liberty that day.
** The second part of the novel has a great TakeThat against {{FanFiction}} author Avellaneda, who wrote a ContinuationFic to DonQuixote and [[DudeNotFunny wrote some words making fun of Cervante’s wounds]] [[UnacceptableTargets (he got those as a war veteran)]]:
--> What I cannot help taking amiss is that he charges me with being old and one-handed, as if it had been in my power to keep time from passing over me, or as if the loss of my hand had been brought about in some tavern, and not on the grandest occasion the past or present has seen, or the future can hope to see. If my wounds have no beauty to the beholder's eye, they are, at least, honourable in the estimation of those who know where they were received; for the soldier shows to greater advantage dead in battle than alive in flight; and so strongly is this my feeling, that if now it were proposed to perform an impossibility for me, I would rather have had my share in that mighty action, than be free from my wounds this minute without having been present at it.

13th Nov '12 7:54:56 PM MrFable

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->"... the grandest occasion the past or present has seen, or the future can hope to see..."
-->-- '''Miguel de Cervantes''' DonQuixote, Second Part, ''The author's preface.''

This battle was a CrowningMomentOfAwesome and celebrated as such. It was the last major galley battle before galleys were superseded by [[WoodenShipsAndIronMen great sailing warships]].

A rare option in the TableTopGame ''{{Diplomacy}}'', where Italy attacks Turkey, is named 'The Lepanto Gambit'.

* ''"Lepanto"'', a poem from GKChesterton

13th Nov '12 7:45:56 PM MrFable

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5th Oct '12 11:59:51 PM Pyrite

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6th Sep '12 8:41:24 PM Narutaki2012

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** The second part of the novel has a great TakeThat against {{FanFiction}} author Avellaneda, who wrote a ContinuationFic to DonQuixote and [[DudeNotFunny wrote some words making fun of Cervante’s wounds]] [[UnaceptableTargets (he got those as a war veteran)]]:
--> What I cannot help taking amiss is that he charges me with being old and one-handed, as if it had been in my power to keep time from passing over me, or as if the loss of my hand had been brought about in some tavern, and not on the grandest occasion the past or present has seen, or the future can hope to see. If my wounds have no beauty to the beholder's eye, they are, at least, honourable in the estimation of those who know where they were received; for the soldier shows to greater advantage dead in battle than alive in flight; and so strongly is this my feeling, that if now it were proposed to perform an impossibility for me, I would rather have had my share in that mighty action, than be free from my wounds this minute without having been present at it.

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** The second part of the novel has a great TakeThat against {{FanFiction}} author Avellaneda, who wrote a ContinuationFic to DonQuixote and [[DudeNotFunny wrote some words making fun of Cervante’s wounds]] [[UnacceptableTargets (he got those as a war veteran)]]:
--> What I cannot help taking amiss is that he charges me with being old and one-handed, as if it had been in my power to keep time from passing over me, or as if the loss of my hand had been brought about in some tavern, and not on the grandest occasion the past or present has seen, or the future can hope to see. If my wounds have no beauty to the beholder's eye, they are, at least, honourable in the estimation of those who know where they were received; for the soldier shows to greater advantage dead in battle than alive in flight; and so strongly is this my feeling, that if now it were proposed to perform an impossibility for me, I would rather have had my share in that mighty action, than be free from my wounds this minute without having been present at it.

6th Sep '12 8:40:13 PM Narutaki2012

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* ''"Lepanto"'', a poem from GKChesterton

* DonQuixote:
** The first part of the novel has the Captive Captain tale: A Spanish captain, Ruy Pérez de Viedma, narrates how he was charging against a turk galley when the wind changed and his men couldn’t follow him, and so the turks [[MadeASlave made him a slave]]:
--> I may say, in short, that I took part in that glorious expedition, promoted by this time to be a captain of infantry, to which honourable charge my good luck rather than my merits raised me; and that day—so fortunate for Christendom, because then all the nations of the earth were disabused of the error under which they lay in imagining the Turks to be invincible on sea-on that day, I say, on which the Ottoman pride and arrogance were broken, among all that were there made happy (for the Christians who died that day were happier than those who remained alive and victorious) I alone was miserable; for, instead of some naval crown that I might have expected had it been in Roman times, on the night that followed that famous day I found myself with fetters on my feet and manacles on my hands. It happened in this way: El Uchali, the king of Algiers, a daring and successful corsair, having attacked and taken the leading Maltese galley (only three knights being left alive in it, and they badly wounded), the chief galley of John Andrea, on board of which I and my company were placed, came to its relief, and doing as was bound to do in such a case, I leaped on board the enemy's galley, which, sheering off from that which had attacked it, prevented my men from following me, and so I found myself alone in the midst of my enemies, who were in such numbers that I was unable to resist; in short I was taken, covered with wounds; El Uchali, as you know, sirs, made his escape with his entire squadron, and I was left a prisoner in his power, the only sad being among so many filled with joy, and the only captive among so many free; for there were fifteen thousand Christians, all at the oar in the Turkish fleet, that regained their longed-for liberty that day.
** The second part of the novel has a great TakeThat against {{FanFiction}} author Avellaneda, who wrote a ContinuationFic to DonQuixote and [[DudeNotFunny wrote some words making fun of Cervante’s wounds]] [[UnaceptableTargets (he got those as a war veteran)]]:
--> What I cannot help taking amiss is that he charges me with being old and one-handed, as if it had been in my power to keep time from passing over me, or as if the loss of my hand had been brought about in some tavern, and not on the grandest occasion the past or present has seen, or the future can hope to see. If my wounds have no beauty to the beholder's eye, they are, at least, honourable in the estimation of those who know where they were received; for the soldier shows to greater advantage dead in battle than alive in flight; and so strongly is this my feeling, that if now it were proposed to perform an impossibility for me, I would rather have had my share in that mighty action, than be free from my wounds this minute without having been present at it.

5th Aug '12 10:54:03 PM Narutaki2012

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5th Aug '12 10:51:50 PM Narutaki2012

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