Empires of the sea : the final battle for the Mediterranean, 1521-1580

An essential guide for military buffs and a comprehensive re - source for a transitional period in military history, Fighting Techniques of the Colonial Age shows in detail the methods by which European armies gained and lost ascendancy on the battlefields of the colonial era. From the tactics required to win battles in a period when op - ponents were often either heavily mismatched in technology, or employed entirely different strategies to outwit each other , Fighting Techniques of the Colonial Age explores this dynamic period of military history in full, covering campaigns including The Revolutionary War , The War of 1812, The Mexican War, the Crimean War , the Austro-Prussian War, the Franco-Prussian War, the Zulu War, the Sudan campaign, the Boer War and the Russo-Japanese War. In 1521, Suleiman the Magnificent, ruler of the Ottoman Empire at the height of its power, despatched an invasion fleet to the island of Rhodes. This was the opening shot in an epic struggle between rival empires and faiths, and the ensuing battle for control of the Mediterranean would last sixty years. Empires of the Sea tells the story of this great contest. Its brutal climax came between 1565 and 1571, six years that witnessed a fight to the finish, decided in a series of bloody set pieces: the epic siege of Malta; the battle for Cyprus; and the apocalyptic last-ditch defence of southern Europe at Lepanto - one of the single most shocking days in world history that fixed the frontiers of the Mediterranean world we know today. Military History - Modern Front Cover 1 Title 2 Bibliographic Data 3 Dedication 4 Contents 6 Prologue: Ptolemy’s map 13 I. Caesars: The Contest for the Sea, 1521–1560 18 II. Epicentre: The Battle for Malta, 1560–1565 101 III. Endgame: Hurtling to Lepanto, 1566–1580 197 Epilogue: Traces 298 Source notes 301 Bibliography 316 Author’s Note and Acknowledgements 322 Index 325 Illustrations 8 Back Cover 346 ISBN-10:,9780312590925,ISBN-13:,978-0312590925 "Contains 20 full-color tactical maps and accounts of key battles, including the Siege of Yorktown (1781), the amphibious assault on Valdivia (1820), the battle of Isly (1844), the defence of the Alamo (1836), the retreat from Kabul (1842), Little Big Horn (1876), Omdurman (1898), and many more"--Back jacket "Contains 20 full-color tactical maps and accounts of key battles, including the Siege of Yorktown (1781), the amphibious assault on Valdivia (1820), the battle of Isly (1844), the defense of the Alamo (1836), the retreat from Kabul (1842), Little Big Horn (1876), Omdurman (1898), and many more"--Back jacket Shows the Mediterranean as a majestic and bloody theater of war. This book presents the story of military crusading, Barbary pirates, white slavery and the Ottoman Empire - and the larger picture of the struggle between Islam and Christianity. Robert B. Bruce ... [et Al.]. Thomas Dunne Books. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.